1950s Fashion Print.

Was nearby my most favourite bookshop the other day and couldn't resist popping in and adding another ten books to my wishlist. Every where I turned was another title to drool over (not counting Boganomics which, while making the list, was an exception for not being in the Art and Design section). If I had to choose just ONE of those books for my family to get me for Christmas (and I do, since we're on a the "Life's Not Just One Big Bookshelf" budget) it would be 1950s Fashion Print by Marnie Fogg. In addition to the beautiful quality of the prints and literal feast of mid century textile design  the cover is cloth bound. Do I need to say more????

Images Via.

Oh, I forgot to mention Marnie Fogg's campanion book to this (just in case some rich relative secretly finds my blog entertaining and is loitering here) Fashion Illustration 1930s to 1970s. It's cloth bound too. Like I say, just in case....

Canberra Zine Fair

A couple of weeks back now but here are some photos of my very first Zine fair. A lot of fun given I didn't know what to expect and only had a few cliches in my head styled mostly from the movies Chasing Amy and Ghost World. I had wondered  if sellers would be getting out their sketch books during quite moments and indeed some did. I myself arrived a little under prepared. You may be able to see that from my minimalist display (will know to bring a table cloth next time at the very least) and also was still sewing buttons on throughout the morning. In fact one potential lady customer asked if that (ie. me with my sewing kit attatching buttons) was all part of an installation art piece. "Please. Don't overthink it" muttered my charming and youthful neighbor Rafael, once the lady had gone (not buying one!), who had set himslef up brilliantly to sell his poetry/writings and had, I have to add, immediately put me at ease by telling me my own zine was "adorable". I was perhaps a little worried I wouldn't fit in, the Zine fair being billed as part of Youth Week at Gorman House. It turned out though I was far from the oldest Zine enthusiast attending. Glad though I had thought better of bringing the hot water bottle which had been pressed to my lumber region 24 hours previous the fair for an annoying torn muscle injury. That might have sent the wrong message totally. 

Anyway, down to business - My Zine was called Love Hate and and is essentially about my love-hate affair/ addiction with fashion magazines. I sold over 25 of the little things - $4.50 with buttons attatched and $2.50 without. While I also bought a fair few of the other Zines on offer as well as doing some swaps with other zine creators I certainly reached my goal of making enough to feed my other addiction - books. Win-win. I was too shy to get anyone to take a photo of me at my stall but some collectors from the National Library were there taking photos and you can see me hawking my wares ever so aggressively (not) right here.

Six Weeks Down.

Hard to believe I've made it through the first six weeks of my course, having completed the Sculpture and Printmaking components, simply because I didn't think I would.. I can't believe how intense the course is. Part of me wishes the pace was slower but if I'm honest another part of me is exhilarated by the challenge and having my skills pushed ahead like this. I worked really hard to complete the artists book that was to 'showcase' our lino efforts, thinking I would reward myself with some sewing projects afterwards but no time for that as it's right into the deep end now with painting - yikes! - and on goes the pace.......  I wish I could put up some photos of what I've done (the sculpture of my head - now abstracted in a surrealist style - to scare you and the bookmaking/lino print project because I really like it) but our main computer is out of action due to a virus (the whole thing now has to be emptied out and rebuilt) and I can't access my photos. I've had to satisfy myself with this beautiful image pinched from an Abundance recent post. Worth a visit there as Mady always has the most beautiful and inspiring images.

Another thing I'd like to put up is the zine I've made for the printmaking course. The first one I've ever made which was a lot of fun and exciting since I've always loved zines, though not done one myself. I'm even taking my teachers advice and have signed up for the Canberra Zine fair next week to try and make myself a neat $4.50. Oh all right, I hope to sell more than one, I can't lie, but if I make enough to buy a frivolous fashion magazine then I'll be happy. Actually I really want to read the book We Have Met The Enemy (have you heard of it?) about excess, temptation and addiction in our culture so I think I'll aim for that which will mean selling 8 of the little things. So wish me luck. I'll try and post it during the week (if only my partner could just get that little bit nerdier and fix the virus....). Hope you are having a great weekend.

XXX.

Pepper Stitches Mix Tape Cushion.

Pepper Stitches is the very clever person who did this embroidered cushion of a Mix Tape which I have been meaning to put up here ever since I saw it (ages ago now). I love this so much. Firstly because it is a really good design but also the great nostalgia for mix tapes it brings back. For anyone old enough to remember mix tapes were incredibly laborious and sometimes as you waited with your finger over pause for a song to end you wished there was an easier way of bringing together your choice songs. But as we realise now, that was the whole point - it was a labor of love. For the music or for the person we were making the tape for. That's what made them special and a really great way to say, as Pepper illustrates "I Like You". I guess that has been lost with the ipod - convenient and compact as they are. And the itunes store in their own kind of cleverness makes it hard to deliver your choice of songs to someone else in any kind of comparable way. A bit sad. I definitely miss the slow thoughtful process of the mix tape....

PS This clever design is available free to download from the Pepper Stitches blog along with several other great patterns here.

Regret.

Sharing here my efforts at the brief handed out at the beginning of last semester - a challenge involving 8 2D images constructed into a 3D form. Both the images and the form needed to reflect one of 5 states such as: Regret, Delirium, Malevolence, Zeal or Empathy. Each of the 2D images needed to use a different texture that also conveyed the chosen state. For me there wasn't much choice about it. I think about regret a lot. Not just my own personal regrets which can run deep, but also the nature of regret - what it means to live it: can it ever be resolved? And is there anything to be gained from it? I chose a diary as my 3D object, as a place where regrets can be tucked away, and created a book (out of a recycled, cloth bound one on meteorology!) which opened out in a visual timeline - a life time of collecting regrets. I hear people say they don't believe in having regrets and I think really? Is it ever that simple? There are always choices to be made and the wondering if you made the right one. And at some point we need to make peace with regret. These are the ideas I tried to convey. Love to hear others' thoughts on the subject...

Blue chairs and Floods.

Source.

Source

How beautiful are these chairs? The top one is fast becoming my dream chair, possibly replacing this one.

Week four of the school holidays and a fair amount of it spent inside due to the rain. Aastonishingly enough I am coping. Australian Summers are funny things. You pray this one wont bring devastating fires like so many do and instead you get a flood. Shocking to see what is happening in Queensland. How unimaginable to lose everything in such a way. I hope the rain will stop soon , that the waters will recede and these Queenslanders can begin to rebuild their lives. If you would like to make a donation to the relief effort a good site is the official one of the Queensland Government HERE.

Hope you are having a nice and peaceful evening!

X.

Affluenza Chandelier Update.

Only two more weeks until first stage assessment begins on my Affluenza Chandelier - the project I am working on for the Reclaim Reframe brief that pretty much forms all the assessment for this year's course work. The phrases "Bitten off" and "More than I can chew" keep coming to mind. At least I have settled on the two manafactured pre -used materials and the form my 3D structure will take (the chandelier). Above are the (time consuming) metal flowers made from the base of used flan tins that will decorate the outer tins (I will need at least double what is done here) and then plastic cutlery used as the "crystals". Getting more 'flowers' done and the putting it together so that it looks like the picture I have in my head (!!) is the next logical step. True to form I'm having stressful dreams about the whole thing!

Best Medicine.

Struggling this week with a virus that is refusing to make itself fully known. Coward. When that happens the best medicine is of course amazing imagery. My eyes can dance even if the rest of me can't. Enjoy!

By Vivienne Strauss

 

Cardboard cutouts from Orla Kielly via Creates Loves

 

source.

 

Source.

Tempsperdu

Reclaim, Reframe.

Have begun work on what is to be the the main project for this years study and supposed to draw on everything we have learnt so far. It will also be the main source of our grade for the year (no pressure!). As always when I see a brief I can't imagine how I'll ever begin to find a solution to it. Titled Reclaim Reframe we must use two recycled manafactured materials deconstructed and reformed into a 3D form which meets a percieved challenge in the area of one of following: Economics, Agriculture, Environment, Ergonomics...The difficulty here is the limit of two materials. To be honest I just let this go for a couple of weeks, completely at a loss. I don't feel comfortable with 3D and it did cross my mind, with the flu still in active residence, that this might just be my quit point. But it's early days to be giving up. I should at least see how I go, right? So here I am now with three old flan tins of various sizes and a book that 'speaks' to me -  "Affluenza" by Clive Hamilton. Hamilton is the founder and former director of progressive think tank The Australia Institute  and this book looks at how our increased wealth as a nation has not brought us increased happiness but instead tied us to longer work hours and a slavish devotion to consumerism. So somehow I have to reflect these issues in a piece of art. Seems a lot to ask of a flan tin doesn't it? So far my idea is to use the three outer tins as tiers for a chandelier and then cut up and rework the circular plates for hanging pieces. I'm calling it the Affluenza Chandelier (feel free to laugh). I've never worked with metal before so it's a real learning curve. Lucky I still have a second material to discover and I'm hoping when found it will magically bring the issues Hamilton so eloquently presents in his book come to life. Plastic forks perhaps??????

Marie Antoinette Meets Gidget.

It can be hard when entering my studio not to be slightly put off by the clutter, the dust and the unfinished projects leaning up against walls. On Saturday however while lying on the studio bed (it's also the spare room, kids craft space, tv room etc) with sunlight coming in at all directions I  only noticed the colours and textures. So I decided to take some photos of the small windows of perfect my eye caught - while ignoring the what needed finishing, fixing, dusting. Even the unfinished chandeliers seemed good enough as is. Hope you enjoy these photos like I enjoyed taking them. The discerning observer might even pick up a subtle leaning toward kitsch...
                            

                                  

  

The Magic Garage (aka The Wardrobe Project).

So here is the vintage wardrobe Ruby and I 'rescued' from the Salvos for a not small amount of cash ($130 to be exact). OMG, we said upon discovery, it is exactly what we are after. We'll just sand it back and paint it white and that will be it. After all that is all there is to furniture restoration right? First things first though, we'll have it delivered to my Dad's garage and work on it there. Dad knows a bit about these things. He'll 'guide' us. Plus, it has to be said, he does have a very special garage- for example it has been known to exhibit magical properties. Sometimes you can leave one of your trickier projects in there and when you return the next day it's done. I know, it's amazing. Elves, I expect. But I will tell you now - I am not relying on the elves. This wardrobe is to be a learning curve for me. Will post regular pictures of our hard work. And hard work it might be - it seems the previous owners gave it a decorative paint finish using some unknown medium. Super glue perhaps? 

Molly Hanna.

Gorgeous handcrafted jewellry from Molly Hanna in new York. Don't you wish you owned one? Or could make it yourself? Think of all the estate auctions she went to and all the old ladies who may have once owned and worn the costume jewellry gone into these. I think that's what makes them so special (besides how beautiful they look) - all the history that might be contained in just one piece.