merry merry chrissie

3 more sleeps until the kids can open their presents. Everyone is really excited in our house. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Stay safe!

Woohoowee

OK, so I never ever ever win anything! Until a couple of weeks ago that is. It was a promotion with The Advertiser (local newspaper) and SA Lotteries. Purchase a ticket for the Mega Draw on the 31st, go on line and enter to win a ipad...........and woohooweee, I won one. We so wanted one as well!!!

So then I needed a home for it. So I whipped up this, for now. This is what I really want from Minnie Cooper in Auckland.

Summer Cape

I found some bargain material and seeing the weather is so dodgey, I thought a Summer weight cape would be a great idea. So here it is.

Market Day!

My first ever market is on next Sunday at Cabin 453 on Brighton Road. I am going to have jewellery and other interesting bits and pieces on my table. So if you are around, pop in. And you could even purchase a delicious flat white while browsing!

School is out!

So that's it for TAFE. The year has whizzed by and I now have a Certificate IV in Visual Arts and Contemporary Craft, specialising in jewellery. It has been a fantastic year. I have met incredible people and learnt lots and lots. The sad thing is leaving all of this behind. And the even sadder thing is the campus at O'Halloran Hill is closing in 2013, and sure is winding down already. Which is a terrible terrible thing.

Summer?

To be honest this photo was taken a couple of weekends ago. The weather hasn't been all that great since. Tho they are threatening that it will be 35 degrees on Saturday. So that will be a pleasant change and we will be back to the beach!

End of term chaos

Here is the finished Bud Ring, you may remember seeing it in an earlier post - the actual bud with a wax band. Well it has now been cast in sterling silver and has a small peridot faceted stone in the nature claws.




This ring is for Mr Rockstitch. Thankfully he loves it. I used a wax gun, similar to a glue gun, and made a random ring. Then cast it in sterling silver.




This was a plastic toggle thingey I found in the not so trusty commodore after a visit with the mechanics. Perfect I thought for a plastic burnable piece. Just made a loop for a chain out of wax and cast it.

So everything is ready for hand in for assessment. One more term to go!

Schaffas

Wilson's Lesser Schaffasbok
Characterised by it's diminutive stature and blunt, geometric features, Wilson's Lesser Schaffasbok is surely the most peculiar of the world's antelopes. The Schaffasbok is native to the
lower slopes of South Africa's Drakensberg Mountains where it forages for mushrooms amongst the tall grasses.

Image One

Tait Wilson
Adelaide, Australia

http://www.themantisandthesparrow.blogspot.com/

Leave it to Weaver
The weaving pattern represents life, stitch by stitch, circle by circle, the lands, the water and all
living things are connected like family. We are all connected.

Lyn Niemz
Newton, South Australia
Ngarringjeri

Lacey
Home Sweet Home.

Kellie Campbell
Adelaide, Australia

http://www.parallaxdesign.com.au/

Schaffas?
The International Fauna Dossier describes a schaffas (Marcum-Schaffidius) as a gentle and un-aspiring creature of great mystery. This exhibition will demonstrate the various and complex forms that the schaffas adopts. Each artist was given the blank Schaffa.....

The exhibition was held at Black Sheep Advertising in Rundle Street. Fantastic.
http://www.shaffas.com/

Busy few weeks......

It has been a busy few weeks of late. I had to do a Tutorial Presentation for Art History. So coming from New Zealand I thought it wise to talk about someone I actually knew about. Michael Parekowhai. Above is one of his security guards, Kapa Haka.



This is a ring I am making in my Lost Wax Casting class. The bud - not sure what the heck it actually is - has a natural claw setting! I am going to cast it in silver and put something sparkly on it.



Max with his Elvis hair style. We had an incredible lunch out at 'The Greek' in Halifax Street in the city. The most deeeeeeeeeeeeeelicous food ever. Picture this, tasty Greek sausages on a bed of rocket with grilled orange quarters that had been soaked in ouzo. Put it all together, amazing.



This is a sample of a bowl I am making for one of my jewellery classes. We have to make a 'wire object'. It is hopefully going to be a lot bigger than the sample. And I was inspired by my favourite jeweller of all time - Julie Blyfield.



Cooper finally lost one of his front teeth.



The boys and I went to a SALA exhibition by two friends at Tafe. Anna and Margaret made these hands out of clay and plaster. They were in one of the cells at the old Adelaide Gaol. Wonderful stuff.



The truly wonderful Monty gave the boys a book called "How to be an explorer of the world". The idea is to document and observe the world as if you have never seen it before. There are lots of projects and you write your results in the book. This photo is for Exploration #41 - Found Faces. You have to document any naturally occurring faces, in plumbing parts, fixtures, nature, human-made objects, in the clouds etc. Great fun.

whats up doc?

I just love this little green guy. Had to find props for a photography shoot, what better than a furry green rabbit. The chain I made last sememster. We were shooting our jewellery in a Digital Photography class....of course.

Twiggy

Some great graffiti in the windows of a building on Gawler Place in the city. Not sure if it's an empty building.....looks a bit like it. Fantastic use of windows. Just love Twiggy's dribbling eyeliner.

Butterfly Room

Singapore House, 203 Glen Osmond Road, Frewville, Adelaide.

Mr Rockstitch and I went out on a dinner date. We went to Singapore House, a relatively new restaurant in Adelaide. And in this restaurant is a room that one wall is full of these beautiful framed butterflies.

The decor is incredible. Stunning suspended lampshades, some look like birdcages. Taxidermy animal heads. Persian carpets. A dresser full of wonderful glasses and dinner sets. Truly truly amazing. So much to see.

Then the food.............a mixture of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian. Incredible. I can't wait to go back for more!

Week One of the school holidays.

Cupcakes for our picnic tomorrow.....iced by Cooper.



A stunning drawing by Max while we were travelling in the car. He does the most amazing detail illustrations.



And here he is. Max. Looking like a bit of a cool cat.



An awesome picture by Cooper.



I just love the Botanic Gardens in the Winter. Such a wonderful peaceful place.

The school holidays are going jolly well. Lots of trips to various skate parks. Karate Kid 2 on Friday - can it be as good as the first one? Nothing can beat the chop stick fly scenario. Train trip tomorrow with our good buddies, into the city, picnic in Rymil Park, via the groovey boutiques in Rundle Street, don't tell the kids!

Coffee Cup Necklace

I had a little scrap of sterling silver left over from another project and a little bit of extra time in the workshop, so I whipped up this baby.

After heating up and rolling out the silver, a little like pastry, to make the piece a bit bigger to fit the design. Cut it out with my jewellers saw. Drilled a hole for the handle to cup out the middle piece. Soldered on a bracket on the back to thread through the chain. Bit of sanding and tidying up the edges. Da dah!

The coffee cup is also going to be used on the medal, once I figure out the best way to make the ribbon detachable.

Finally!

I started crocheting grannie squares last winter (after lessons by the lovely Cathy at Brown Owls) Then summer came along and it was far too hot to crochet! Thankfully along came winter again and I could finish it. It's more a throw than a blanket.

Medal #2

While in the jewellery studio I snuck in a personal piece to make. The progression of my cross stitched medal brooche idea. This one is made with sterling silver and the bottom piece, which is actually the North Island of New Zealand (where I am from), is detachable. So you can wear the scroll as a brooche on it's own. The idea is to make different shapes to hang from the ribbon. I have an idea for another, so will pop it on as soon as I have made it!

Five Faves

Thought I would play along with Pip's Five Faves....

1. Groovy drawings by my eldest son Max.




My trusty Keep Cup. Perfect for travelling to school. Perfect for taking to footie games. Everyone who loves coffee or any kind of hot drink should have one.




3. Yes I am hooked on Masterchef, again! And now there is the magazine. Love it. Made 3 recipes in the weekend. The most scrumptious Apple Crumble. Pumpkin Gnocchi with Butter and Spinach - the most wonderfully light pillows of yumminess. Bruschetta with Proscuitto and Gremolata, and Pea and Pecorino and Garlic - enough said!


Image from Papercup

4. Just love this illustrator from New Zealand. And would just love one of these sweatshirts. Her name is Devon Smith and you can buy these from Papercup. Devons blog is here.




Image from www.annawilihighfield.com

5. The art of Anna-Wili Highfield. Stunning. She is a Sydney based artist and she makes incredible sculptures out of torn paper and copper pipe.

Journals and work in progress

Roman chain and journal work

I thought I would show you a little work in progress.

We are making chains in one of the jewellery classes and above is the start of a Roman Chain. It's weaving jump rings that have been squished. Which gets a little fiddly and it is really easy to loose your way if you don't concentrate.

Then there is the journal work on the right. For those who know me, this is the bit I love. Sticking bits here and there and making things look neat and tidy-ish. The kids at school think I am a nerd but they are a huge part at assessment time.

Mothers Day......a little late

Gifts for Granma


I had a wonderful Mother's Day. Truly spoilt. Woke to my boys with their cards. A present of magazines which I read in bed with my deelicious plate of scrambled eggs that my beloved made me. Stayed there for a couple of hours! Bliss.

Then he was back in the kitchen making scrummy things for a picnic down by the beach, in the sun! So nice.

And it didn't finish there. Gelati and coffee in Glenelg.

The best Mother's Day ever.

Cape of capes!

Wednesday was my day off of studying, so I had plenty of time to whip up a cape. I have been thinking about capes for ages and ages. Thought about knitting one but couldn't find a pattern and it would take weeks to make anyway. So off I went to Spotlight....joy. Though it kind of was joyful, most unusual.

Found the perfect pattern - New Look 6916. Found the perfect fabric which just happened to be on the sale table with an extra 50% off. Found the perfect cotton lining, looks like paisley but has skulls all over it.

Well the pattern wasn't 100% perfect. It didn't have a hood. And it had to have a hood. Took a few attempts at pattern making- doh! But it all worked out nicely.

Just needs to be a smidgen colder so I can wear it.

Lights

I wish I had thought of this. Aren't they the most beautiful light shades ever! They are made in Adelaide by a design company called Enoki.

love me love me not

Here are my "love me love me not" cherry blossom earrings. All ready for assessment next week. Phew. Now just have to make 3 other pairs of earrings.........

Softie Self Portrait

For another class - "Concept", our first Project is "The Creature Feature". We had to produce a hand-made "creature" as a form of self portrait or self expression.

Mine is all about juggling things so my creature has lots of arms. On the arms are bits and pieces like cooking utensils (all the cooking), tape measure (all the sewing), tattoo fabric (all the tattoos), handbag (all the handbags). Then sewn on are more snippets of me - moko (for NZ), green and blue eye (yes that's me!), couple of kids in my pocket.........(Max and Cooper) and not shown is a embroidered version of Mr Rockstitch who is on the back, and the whole thing is made out of pair of his old jeans.

It was heaps of fun. Wish I could show you all of the others from the class. Amazing stuff.

Final Pieces

It is almost assessment time for the first few jewellery projects. Week after Easter holidays and I am almost ready. Just a couple of pairs of earrings to create.

Above is my "Coathanger" pendant - funny that! I made it out of sterling silver and am really happy with it. Still has a few scratches on it.......so much sanding.




These two brooches are made out of brass. Sorry about the terrible pics - I can even see me in reflections! The shape was made using a perspex die and I had to come up with two variations from the same die. The bottom one, the base was made pressing a piece of lace into a softened piece of brass, then I soldered the two pieces together. Finally I have gotten over the fear of using solder!

Miss Gladys

I'm sure this is part of Fringe.....but I was wandering along Rundle Street yesterday and saw these marvellous pieces in the window of Miss Gladys. I should have really jotted down the names of the artistos...........but if you too are wandering along Rundle Street you could stop and check it out.