SHE MADE IT HERSELF

ballooning

While working on ideas for the insert coin here project, I spent an evening trying to re-capture the essence of my 80's hobby of making spangly soft sculpture jewellery. (Oh yes people clearly I have no shame and have outed yet another dodgy pastime from my closet of crap craft) Anyhoo... I couldn't find any lycra in the fabric stash to get started, so was on the hunt for an equally stretchy alternative  - given we have an 18month old 'in-situ' we are a overly blessed with balloons. Snap! A whole new crap craft: Balloon embellishing.

Personally I think these are totally freaky, but Ramona was dead keen on me showcasing them to the world via HML. So here they are in all their poddy glory.

As you can see incredibly time consuming, alarmingly unattractive and complelely useless. Perhaps she was having me on.

BALLS!

SCORE!!!
For those of you that have not had enough ball talk over the last couple of weeks here is an update:
The first lot of balls from the Insert Coin Here roaming exhibition were at Craft Victoria.Which was a good thing because I was determined to snaffle up some goodies early, and well placed to get in first. I was also extremely lucky, because as it turned out the first 150 balls sold out in a couple of hours!

Imagine my delight as my first ball rolled out of the machine and I discovered i'd hit the $2 jackpot!

I'd been coveting this 'hairyman' since I saw him on the website - I LOVE LOVE LOVE cut and paste puppetmaster Alexander Ouchtomsky's weird little creatures, and this Micro Gunski (his official title) just seemed like he was made for me, or perhaps The Mighty Boosh (same thing tho really).

Anyhoo, I thought I should also pick up a little something for my compadre Rambo while I was at it...

and can you believe it - another Jackpot, a string and porcelain necklace by geometric ceramicist and jeweller extrodinaire Deirdre Hoban. wah-hay! I really want to head on down to Alice Euphemia next week and try my luck again, these machines are addictive - like art and craft pokies.

OH...

and while we're still talking balls I should let y'all know that tonight is the Insert Coin Here opening party  Launch at 1000 £ Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.  7-11pm The entry is free but the balls will cost you.

AND

I finally managed to crack a mention on the cool kid broadsheet Three Thousand yesterday... (I knew not even the uber hip could stay immune to diamond daves charms) the intern will be so impressed.
Oh and Craftbusters has been updated! what a hoot.

CAKE OF THE WEEK

bogunmisu

Monday was Labor Day here in Melbourne, which means a public holiday, which means a barbeque. This particular one was for my italian in-laws, and extended family, and while I would have loved to have whipped up a pav or cheesecake for the event all I had time to do was buy a packet of chocolate ripple biscuits and a couple of cartons of cream. Thankfully I also managed to have a delicious punnet of organic strawberries and some 70 % cocoa lindt chocolate hanging about. Having also splashed a little alcohol into the mix I realised that in fact  'the chocolate ripple method' is very similar to the tiramisu method (well kind of). Hence it's new monniker at ours: Bogunmisu. It certainly made it much easier to explain to the in-laws.

SHOWS OF THE WEEK

the emperors new clothes

We're not going far this week for our fashion festival fix - these three shows opening at Craft Victoria on Thursday night will provide enough to contemplate with a diverse range of garment related works made from books to body parts.

Kate James: The Work of Worry is Never Done

Kate James is worried: about animals, about people, about technique. In this exhibition she has created an exquisite range of horsehair Jewellery created using repetitive incredibly time-consuming and precise techniques that include horsehair hitching, tapestry, hand spinning, knitting, hairwork and rope-making.
The show is thematically centred around the concept of anxiety and these ancient craft techniques used to make works replicate a common feature of anxiety: whereby thoughts, images or actions are repeated over and over. While the use of hair in jewellery takes its cues from Victorian mourning jewellery, the art of Horsehair Hitching dates back to as early as 600-800 AD in Spain.

Interestingly it was a craft adopted by Midwest prisoners in the USA during the mid 19th century, as a measure to make constructive use of the prolonged time they had at their disposal while incarcerated. It takes about an hour to hitch 1 inch. And that doesn't take into account the time preparing and finishing the hairs for hitching. Very Definately Slow Craft.

Nicholas Jones & Warren Harrison: Without Bias
Book sculptor, Dandy and mustachiod and man about town Nicholas Jones and up and coming fashion designer Warren Harrison of made by warren have worked on a collab of late to create works that explores the technique of binding as a cross-over point in their respective practices. We love a collab, and we love books and as for fashion... well we just wish we had figures and bank balances that could indulge our passion properly.

In Without Bias, Harrison has incorporated basic book-binding techniques to create garments with a distinctively bookish twist.While Jones has made a series of sculptures from books about textiles, garment construction and fashion design which take their inspiration from the tools of the fashion trade (scissors, needles, thread).

Adele Varcoe : iFOLD: A NEW FASHION, A NEW YOU
Adele’s practice uses the body both as location and material, fashioning ‘garments’ by manipulating the skin you’re in. Apart from her extensive background in fashion she has also worked as a special effects artist on a range of b-grade movies. And you know how much we love both b-grade cinema AND a makeover show. This could well be our perfect exhibition.
All in All well worth coming to the openings on Thursday night just to see what Nick will be wearing, and perhaps what Adele will not.

BLOG OF THE WEEK

Due to popular demand the ladies of HML now have a permanent blog address for Craftbusters. Updated every Friday. Good for a craft laugh. Coz lets face it, it can be funny. Bookmark it, blog roll it, enjoy it!

www.craftbusters.blogspot.com

Blog Update

To discover my latest love, click here.

Image via style.com

OUTING OF THE WEEK

to market
I got a real bee in my bonnet this week about heading up to Daylesford for the farmers market and the Makers Market. I'd been seeing them pop up on other peoples blogs and the idea of staying in Melbourne doing housework just wasn't going to cut it. So the boys, Maggie and myself headed out despite the ominous clouds.

We were so lucky with the weather. We managed to get around the whole Farmers market and make it back to the car just as the heavens opened up. We then managed to find a parking spot on the main street just outside the Makers Market - miraculous!

The Makers Market was actually really sweet with lots of great kids clothes, some terrific music and most importantly shelter from the gathering storm

By the time we got back to the car the heavens had opened up and the drive to Woodend was the slowest we've ever had. Quite scary at the time, but incredibly beautiful. I took nearly 100 photos on the short drive!

We had to go via Woodend for one reason only...

despite driving in the rain and coming home to a flood in the bathroom it was a lovely lovely day.

oh and what did we get from the Farmers market? Beer made in someone's garage, olive oils infused with lemon and basil, kangaroo salami, lemons, potatoes,capsicum, corn, tangello marmalade, two kinds of feta, a butterscotch and date pudding for Easter, north African spice mix, and fresh pistachios on special request from Miss Pen Pen. 

From the Makers Market a little wool/cotton collar (reversible) for the Intern and a cute screen printed tee for Thom. 

We spent way too much money and got a little damp and cold. But what a great way to spend a Saturday!