Miss Minnie

To market, to market..

I have about 28 days to get ready for my next market, don't worry Meshell, I won't count the hours just yet :-)   I don't have any new pieces so it will be pretty easy just cutting out and setting, not too much fiddling.  I am still struggling with my dancing figures, it is almost impossible to get suitable backgrounds.  I am playing with overlaying dancing instructions over the ballroom pics that I have found.  I can get these to the same scale as the little people.  Sorry, I can't remember who sent these to me?  was it you Twitchy? Sorry for the crappy pic but you get the idea hey?  The lady in the white dress is part of the instructions not the ballroom.  I have to make a new mold/mould that is oblong.  One of the things I have learnt recently is that the rubber I have been using may have been causing the bubbles.  I have switched to a different one so fingers crossed.

The next market is all day so I am going to need a lot more stock.  I still have to work out how many pieces I can make from the stock that I have.  Better do that tomorrow, it takes three weeks to get more stock... 

I will be doing more pieces just using images and illustrations.  Been playing heaps with my pinup girls.

  Pretty proud of myself, I typeset the definition using Photoshop, getting better and better at it all the time but not much faster :-)  These still break copyright *sigh*.  Have a great week everyone.

I made it to PICA!

Yes, can you believe that I made it?  I didn't sleep AT ALL last night through nerves... and I was sure that I was going to turn the car around before I got up that ramp but I didn't and I made it.  I had great feedback from the customers and the work was really well received which just blew me away.  I couldn't have made it without the help from my sister and from my wonderful blog friend Feli who I FINALLY got to meet in real life!  It was like meeting up with my best friend forever that I have known forever! it is amazing how much you connect with people via the net and when you meet up it seems perfectly normal :-) Feli, you were wonderful and so much help! having you there was fantastic and really helped my nerves.  Poor Nana, I was in a hugging mood, sorry Nana!   I also got to meet Miss Meshell! it was so great to see you!  I am so pleased that you made it and that you came and said hi :-) it was wonderful to meet you in person and I had the same feeling as meeting Feli, we all know so much about each other that it just seems like meeting an old friend you have known forever. 
The lovely Ali J also stopped off with my swap package even though I hadn't completed her custom piece! you're a sweetie, I love it even more in real life and it was great to meet you.  It was a pity you weren't selling because your work would have been really well received by the crowd.  Jayde also came and introduced herself to me and I had to go and check out her fantastic work in real life, of course I had to buy a piece of the cheesecake and  the beautiful strawberry ring!!! I love them both.  I heard that Tea for Bini was there but didn't get to meet her, the crowd was pretty full on at times and I did hang back away from the customers a bit until it was nearly time to go.  I asked the organisers about stats, apparently there were 80 applications and only 25 single stalls so it felt pretty special to be included.

Poor Feli, I kept asking her how much longer I had to stay, just like a little kid going "are we there yet?" So big pats on the back all around for making it.
 

Thanks you guys!

 

Thanks so much you guys for all the kind words of encouragement!  It is a great feeling knowing you guys are there with me.  I am looking goodish at the moment to make it on Sunday.  I set 15 today but only 6 came through unscathed.  The others will need a bit of sanding and re coating but will be ok, just more work I don't have the time to do :-) 

Pic 1. shows my stands, which have turned out ok I think, I am leaving those two with just a little hundreds and thousands showing just because. 
Pic 2.  shows what sometimes happens to the resin, it goes super hard super fast and smokes, it is very wierd and very annoying. 
Pic 3.  Minnie thinks she is being terribly neglected while I am so busy working.
Pic 4.  This is where I worked today, dragging this coffee table (that I got from the neighbours verge last weekend) in and out of the sun away from the rain.  I knelt on the cushion and my sister sat on the chair blowing into the resin dispersing bubbles.  It wasn't as fun as it sounded :-)
I think my car is actually going to be quite good for display, should be interesting.  For those of you who don't know, the market is a Car Boot Sale, an Artist's Car Boot but still a car boot.  Weird I know, who knows why but the Institute wants it that way so who am I to argue.  I will post heaps of pics and I am sure Miss Feli will have her camera at the ready, hey Feli?  No head shots ok :-) I am beginning to get nervous and excited.

Meshell you were right:-)

:-) My sister has been telling me this for weeks but after Miss Meshell suggested the same thing I thought "ok, I will sort through all my seconds and see if I can get some stock"  AND yes you were both right :-)  There is quite a bit there that just needed topping up and stringing and maybe it would be good to have some cheap pieces there to meet every price point.  If you look closely in the bottom right of the pic you will see the 15 piece mold that set over night.  YES YOU READ RIGHT.  I am about to set 15 new pieces RIGHT NOW.  Well when the sun comes back out from behind the clouds.... VERY EXCITED! Thanks Meshell and sis!

Why does WA have to stand for Wait Awhile?

How hard is it possible to kick ones self?  LAST week, before going away and therefore plenty of time ago for the stuff to have walked by itself across the nullarbor, I though to myself, I should order some Pinky Sil from Barnes in Newtown, you know the place Judy?.. just in case I need to make some super fast casts?.... ANYWAY I didn't, even getting it couriered is going to take between 2 and 4 days!! What is it with this country??? I know it is big but &^%$# in one of my jobs, I used Fedex and I could get something to the States, France or the UK faster than across Australia!
I bet there is someone somewhere along King St Newtown NSW Australia walking outside the shop right now as I am typing going to themselves "why do I feel like I should go in and buy 1kg of Pinky and send it to that wierd girl in Western Australia?"  :-)  to that girl I go, it's ok, it's too late, by the time it gets here I will have made do with my slower set stuff.  But hey girl? thanks for thinking of me :-)

Pendants stands have now been covered in gold cigarette packet papers.  They look better in person, good compromise I think.

Unmitigated disaster :-)

yes, the ULTIMATE mold/mould that I have been working towards over the last two months has been an unmitigated disaster... why am I smiling?  well the drugs (prescription) of course but also this MUST mean that I am EVENTUALLY going to be INCREDIBLY successful because I am working SO HARD and suffering incredibly for my art :-) oh really friends what can you do but laugh really?  But I will not give up, as soon as my sister gets here I am going out for more supplies, coffee obviously with cake but also fast set resin and super latex!  There are still 144 hours until I have to be at the Market.  Why am I waiting for my sister? well, I had a slight turn on sunday at breakfast out with friends.  Not a full vertigo attack with lovely vomiting just the slight giddy sensation and the hot flush which I think is due to the adrenalin that flushes through me as soon as I get the sensation.  So there you have it. 

The good news?  this weekend was bring out your dead weekend and I scored a fold up tresle table, ironically perfect for the market next weekend, a slightly dented but still great compost bin AND a coffee table that after some new wheels and a coat of paint will be fab in the family room! yay.  Did I mention that this was all gathered at 7.30pm? AND the rubbish truck came this morning so I would have missed out!  Have a great week everyone, must go only 143 hours left...

Stage 2.. the latex/RTV rubber, hopefully

... I know he is only 8 years old but seriously when you have a kitchen and lounge combined, that is of a decent size and there is ONE THING in the entire room that you have been told NOT TO GO NEAR.. how hard is it really?  yes, a small visiting hand was splogged into my UNSET mold/mould that is the culmination of two months work.. This has to work, as it is I am cutting my deadline seriously fine, if this fails I will not be at the fab Market on Sunday that was so hard to get into... fingers crossed please?

The ultimate mold/mould part 1...

Dear friends, here is part one of three parts of the ultimate mold/mould!  I spent today casting the pieces in pairs one square one oblong.  I will cast the final two pieces now and tomorrow will be part two, pouring the latex on... wish me luck.  In the background is another experiment with my pendant stands for the market... needs work :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

EDIT*  reading over this I think I haven't stressed my excitement at this stage 1.. People.. this is what I have been working towards for the last two months.. seriously.. all the trial and error and expense has been to get to this.  Yep, I think that covers it :-)

2 score and none...

Score meaning two EDIT twenty and none makes me 40 today.  I have been dreading this birthday for a number of years and a greater number of reasons which I will not be going into here.  Suffice to say, I have decided that the fortieth year, as I will be referring to it from now on, will be the Year of Discovery.  Which is apt as I am feeling more lost now than ever.  I don't feel right calling myself a Jeweller or an Artist.  I am no longer young.  I am a spinster and barren, legally.  I am no longer a PM (Project Manager) a PA (Personal Assistant) or an Admin.  Lots of the Spam Man's friends probably think I am a bum :-) Hi guys! So Discovery it is.  I will be an adventurer, a seeker, a slightly less fearless soul looking forward, not back.
   

If it is your birthday, Happy Happy Happy Birthday to you to!

Stand by for a pictorial retrospective!

Results are in!

Fascinating to see where you all live (my American visitors that is!) and the result speaks for itself I think.  But I do want to try just one little thing more.. you see, the stands are going to be used to display my work at a market, not photography, so I really need some pulling power to get people over to my work.  Weirdly, my pendants get most comments from men, just yesterday a guy in a cafe sent his wife out from the kitchen to check out my necklace.  So I need to draw people in from a distance  especially gift buying men who may just glance over and dismiss it.

I am packing up my resin and rubber and taking off for the weekend down south again.  Three days of wine, art, scenery, stars and beaches and only a little mold making! (I can't leave it at home now, we are at a crucial stage)  So have a great weekend everyone! 

Display options...

Me personally, I don't like those formal pendant neck things used to display jewellery (Aussie spelling).  But that is just me and I am not the customer.. so I am experimenting.  What do you think?
This is how they come.  I was super lucky and these were advertised for sale secondhand in my local paper and were at a local pearl shop so I didn't even have to go far to get them.  I don't think they have ever been used.

I just think this looks to precious, but I have to admit it does look exe.

Then there is this way... a dusting of hundreds and thousands.  You do lose the focus on the pendant but I thought it might look more fun when all ten are lined up?  So it is up to the vote.  There is a widget on the right side, trying to get it IN the post but... :-)

I am back to square one after going back to my original master for my molds which should be ready by Wednesday afternoon... I might have to take it with me on my mini break down to Margaret River.. wonder how the Spam Man will take to that idea? but hey, it is my birthday celebration and I'll resin if I want to! :-)
I am getting soo much better at photoshop.  Loving this image, will be playing more like this.