Miss Minnie

the second part of the snap goes upside down!

 

Some time ago, an elderly friend of my Mum passed on her collection of buttons.  They are so amazing, in the collection were some buckles that I had no idea what to do with.  Add that to the boxes of leather scraps and wha lah! pink leather and suede, mother of pearl buckle and snaps equals cuff. I can't show you the other side because I buggered it up..   I love it! I think I will make more for the market.  I have decided to go with the perfect  resin stock I already have and will have a look over all the  resin seconds and see if I can finish them up and sell them off cheap.  It is the perfect venue to get rid of those and being the last for the year, it is my last chance before next April.  I will also try to get some up in the Etsy store :-)
EDIT** made another! I see a whole line of these coming ;-)

**Edit** does anyone know how to get mold off an old pen and ink sketch on paper?  any help grately appreciated.

well...

Silly me forgot to get a pic taken with me in it wearing my fab new Planet lime pinny!  Some bunting along the front would have been nice... My stand which was core-board on top of a perspex card stand that I picked up off the verge during "Bring out your dead week" worked really well, the good thing was that customers got to get in there and have a good look without feeling like they were being watched but the bad thing was that it allowed a shoplifter to pinch a piece! bugger.  All in all, this market was a learning experience.  I imagined that it was going to be better than PICA but I was wrong.  I am glad that it wasn't my first... There just wasn't anywhere near enough foot traffic and it could have done with more stalls.. I hope that the host of the market covered her costs.  It hasn't put me off participating in the next one but it was a bit of a disappointment. 

The good news was that I got to meet some more local bloggers in person! yay! Dy of Random Applique stopped by to say hello which was lovely, Hi Dy! you are so sweet and so like Meshell! who was busy at home prepping for her last Uni assignment, good luck Meshell can't wait to see the giant knitting! sounds fascinating.  Nicole of Craftapalooza also said hello! I wanted to tell Sondra off because I blame her for your lack of posting! typical girl, you go fall in love and forget us! hurry up and get over the honeymoon period gazing into each others eyes and let's see some crafting! :-) just kidding.  I love meeting bloggers, my sister is always amazed, there I am hugging people madly and chatting away like a normal person when the person she knows doesn't want to leave the house, EVER.  But you bloggers are different, you mean so much to me, it is great having people that I can share so much with without fear of betrayal or ridicule, you rock!  Speaking of rocks, my buddy Feli came along as well and helped us pass the afternoon while it was so quiet.  She also brought presents! a beautiful key fob for me and one for my sister, so sweet and so well made, can't wait to see them all on mass at the next market. 

We are confirmed for the next one in two weeks so that is exciting.  Ali J, Feli and I are banding together and staking out a corner stall with our wares, our work is all so different I think it will make for a great stall!  I am really looking forward to working with these two talented bloggers!  I took today off to get my house tidy but will be working like a slave for the next two weeks to get some different stuff ready.  Oh, I did buy something at the market.. I had birthday money burning a hole in my pocket so had to buy this by Stephanie Tackle (no site) it is ceramic mounted on a canvas frame (tool in there for scale).  It reminded me so much of the work by Mackenzie Thorpe which I will have to win lotto to ever own..

So, there we go, marathon post, thanks for sticking with me.  Expect some different work from me over the next two weeks.  Thanks to everyone who visited, purchased and made encouraging comments.

Love and first aid kits...

What do you think?  I am soo in love with these new pieces that I cast today.  I FINALLY got my custom mold/mould finished after 6 weeks of tweaking so these pieces are going to be super exe to cover all that time, labour and hair pulling. 
Yesterday, on my way home from the supermarket I saw a 92 year old man smack his head into the concrete at the bus stop.  I pulled over at the same time as a very cute trady and we administered first aid and called the ambulance.  The lovely old gent was ok but he really body slammed that concrete so we wanted to be sure.  Anyway, long story short, people, please keep a first aid kit and a towel and gloves in your car boot.  You never know when you are going to need it.  On a personal note, with my headspins/vertigo and associated anxiety I had always wondered how I would go if I ever had to deal with an accident.  It was great to see that I could handle it with very little stress, all the school first aid training and general compassion for another human being needing help came to the fore and my own head stuff took a back seat for 20 minutes.  Hope you are feeling better today Mr Neugent!

you say scavaging, I say recycling....

Last night I trespassed into the last China Factory left in Australia, which closed recently.  The factory is being torn down on November 3 and there are crates and pallets and piles of china EVERYWHERE! Now all of this is going to be smashed, yes, sorry people, smashed into rubble and carted off into landfill, so I ask you, what is worse, trespassing or letting it go to waste?  You make your moral judgement on that one while I run it all through the dishwasher!!!! To save you counting, there are 14 dinner plates, 14 large pasta bowls, 20 charger plates (the big ones that go under your dinner plate when you are being posh) 10 small pasta plates and 8 yes 8 milk jugs in two sizes no less, plus a heaps of other bits and pieces.  I just wish I knew a china artist on this side of the country, can you imaging all those jugs piles up and melted together?  plus there are all the slabs, moulds and props that go in the kilns there as well, it is so sad, so much waste, not to mention the boxes of padded plastic sheeting! I thought of you Feffakookan!

and yet another birthday cake...

 

Fantastic progress!

I have made AMAZING progress this week with my work.  The 16 on the left are finished and the 28 on the right are waiting for the finishing touch... amazing.    The heat is doing weird things to the colours on the prints but I can live with it.

Speaking of living with things.. this is the kitchen bench... otherwise known as my studio.  Yes, I have an entire room dedicated as a studio but it doesn't have a fridge, view or a spot for Miss Minnie to sit... so I do heaps of work here... and luckily for me, the Spam Man doesn't complain.. much :-)  Tomorrow the sewing machine will be coming out here to join the mess while I finish up an order for three clutches.. speaking of orders/commissions, I have FINALLY finished the piece for the wonderful Ali J!   We did a swap AGES a go! and my part of it was to use one of her AMAZING works in a pendant.  It has taken me forever and numerous castings before I was finally "happy" with it.  There are still a few lumpy bits on it but I have to just let it go or she is going to think I am never going to hold up my half of the swap! :-)  Please go and check out her blog, her work is amazing.
Tomorrow I will be drilling, casting and working on my oblong mold which I can't put off any longer.  I need it for my ballroom pieces arggggggggg.
Speaking of argggg, I have become one of those bloggers I get disappointed with.  I am behind with a prize package, (sorry Twitchy Fingers!) I haven't responded to a package from the lovely Ros, (I love the idea and am working on it) or posted the lovely things I received for my birthday (Sorry Ophelia, I do have an envelope half finished to go out to you)  I don't like being that kinda blogger.  I know first hand what it is like when you put effort and thought, not to mention postage $'s into sending something out and then it is unacknowledged.  That is not a dig.  I know how hard it is to keep everything up.  I will try to be a better blogger :-)

The hostest with the mostest!

Ahhhhhh... **sigh of relief**  The rellies were over yesterday for a family lunch with two visiting from Penang.  Buddhists no less.  Which just meant no beef so we still managed to have a Good Aussie BBQ!  Yes, we did throw a "shrimp" on the BBQ :-)  Other than them turning up 1 and a half hours early for lunch it was pretty easy as I had done heaps of prep the day before.

My family favorite Chocolate Pavola was a huge hit!  and it turned out beautifully.  There was even enough left over for dinner when my family came to help eat up all the leftovers.  I invented the double stack, it helps if it doesn't rise enough.

Sorry for the boring posts and the general lack of posts.  I don't know where I am with this blogging thing.  One of my favorite reads, The Silent K has recently left the blogsphere and I am thinking of taking a break as well... or maybe just changing the style of my posts, don't know.  Still madly preping for the next market in two weeks and then another two weeks after that! arggg.  Got to come up with an interesting eye catching way of displaying my work on a trestle table.. So I might be a bit quiet for the next couple of weeks, lots to do.. I have to turn all of these into pendants.... I am not even sure if there are enough hours of setting time to do it..

:-)  Have a great week everyone!  **big hug** to anyone who needs it.

The universe is truly wierd...

Yesterday I asked my sister to pick up a totem tennis from Big W where they were out on special... none left, ok I say, next time.  Then this morning I noticed my neighbours across the road had put out their "bring out your dead" council pick up rubbish (a week too late) and there on the top of the pile... IS A TOTEM TENNIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is even better than a new one because it is recyled!!!!!!!!!!!  Tomorrow I am going out looking for winning lotto tickets :-)  I am blessed.

Yes, Minnie's hair is pink.. again.  :-)  food colouring and too much time on my hands.  She got mail yesterday, how is this for a marketing concept?

Now, I am not a parent.. but really $60AU for a Pixel Chick piece of plastic shit that will break before the 5 year old works out how to use it? Call me old fashioned...  I just don't get it.