Espy carpark

I just borrowed this pic from the talented Mr Ben Butcher over at Mess and Noise. It cheered me up as today I have a crook knee and am limping around on the hard, cold concrete floor of our studio. Can you spot me and Birdie and Adam? I can. It might make more sense of what I was babbling about here?

the blues

The blues. I was just spotted up to my elbows in the blues on clog next to some awesome shorts and some crafty ladies at the indigo dye workshop.

Make your own Blues name Starter Kit:
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, Dumb etc.)
b. plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Berry, etc.)
c. last name of Prime Minister (Rudd, Howard, Menzies, Keating, etc)
An example, Blind Lemon Johnson. That works.

But in a blind test, Adam named me Strait-leg Five Corner Page, and he is Crook-Back Paw Paw Holt. Not so blues, more dead-beat poetry by numbers or the beginning of an American Indian name. Which, by the way is a post I wrote 4 years ago. Perhaps it's time I hung up the towel, old blog.

Old blog. Now that gives me the blues.

friday

I dragged my tired and overworked boyfriend along to the Chicks on Speed performance. It started out with a talk and slideshow by Dylan Martorell, then they played, Dylan, with Alex and Melissa from the Chicks, all of them showcasing some pleasing hand made instruments. Most pleasing for me was the shoe-guitar feedback and the bum slapping beats, which reminds me of what I like about these ladies. It was funny, painful (look at that little red bum!) and pleasing and simple.


I also enjoyed seeing the lady from the plant craft cottage peeking out from backstage at it all. Which is another thing I liked about this, a rather incongruous bunch of things coming together in a productive and inclusive environment. Thanks Craft Victoria! It appeals to me, this bits of everything approach, as you may know, if you know me.

I really enjoyed it, and having visited the space a few times, it's nice to see it evolving. I was most excited by the tapestry theremin being woven on-site, and I fully intended to take a photo, but I am bad with photos, now I don't have a camera. (All photos by the man with a camera, Adam) Mostly I'd like to see it played, though I guess that will happen somewhere else, sometime later.

Later that night we drank too many beers and whiskey at home and rolled Wardy around in a barrel.

Dr Wango!

I just got all excited, Dr Peter Wango from the United Arab Emirates just contacted me regarding a business collaboration. I'm pretty pleased, as I just finished business school, and therefore I am a qualified business woman, open to collaboration.

Opportunity knocks! In the form of Dr Wango. Let's open the doors to that!

I guess I better stop being such a juvenile business woman.

indigo girls

I dyed some things blue, which is actually a good thing. Unlike Zoe and Pene, I like blue. I also liked going to the op-shop looking specifically for things to dye blue, as I have no white things hanging around.
Indigo is freaky plant magic. And I was quite happy to watch the ladies of the Plant Craft Cottage* mixing up the batch of dye. It looks like weird sickly yellow soup, but when you lift the fabric out it slowly reacts to the oxygen turning special blue. Cool.
And weirdly when you put it back in the dye to make it darker, it comes out yellow again. All that blue colour gone! waaah! where! ooooh! look! its back and its darker. PLANT MAGIC.

Alex showed us some videos, I wish I could remember what it was called, the first one with the colour coordinated dancing rainbow finale (they did grub dancing across the sand amongst other things) but unfortunately I have no brain. Lucky it was an age and skill level discriminate workshop. Melissa turned up, stripped off her skirt to dye it and said she was hoping it didn't turn out too hippy. All this hippy tie-dye! HaHa. I bet it did turn out hippy. There'll be a drum cirlce in craft victoria in no time. Oh, there is. A Chicks on Speed drum circle. For the love of the object instrument. Friday night. See you there.

*The Plant Craft Cottage is in the botanic gardens and I wanna hang out there as they all remind me of my grandma.

VIVE LA CRAFT!

Craft Victoria is hosting a whole Chicks on Speed extravaganza at the moment. I really like the idea of these workshops, and I'm sorry I missed the LUMP OF CLAY workshop with Irene Grishin-Selzer. I am loving playing with clay lately. Unfortunately I had school.


Now I've sorta finished school I'm free to be an indigo girl. Yep, tomorrow I am dyeing something indigo, and If you know me you know I'm not against abit of tie-dye or group craft activity or even electroclash. So I'm there. I also love the sound of this FOR THE LOVE OF THE OBJEKT INSTRUMENT workshop with Dylan Martorell and Chicks on Speed. Anyone wanna come with me? We could make beautiful music together. Or retarded musical instruments at least.

chilly

I did make that bed. From the pallet. In time for Meg to stay. Now it just needs height. I'll have to find something. I'm keeping an eye out for bed sides. Preferably free ones.

I have been meaning to post a picture of my favourite cushion for ages. A gift from Pene at Christmas time. I'm so spoilt!
Which also reminds me, The beautiful shop is one year old. Happy Birthday Miss Pen! It's about time we all stocked up on soft fluffy socks to keep our toes warm. I have been in angora socks all week, so warm, so lovely. Our house is cold. Already. Must find a way to make it warm. Must get Ugg boots. Must make a huge curtain. Must get a heater.

bed

Bed is so good, for many reasons. Not least because in our new house, it isn't a mattress on the floor, it is a raised platform dedicated to your sleeping pleasure. A real bed! With clean sheets and warm soft doona. AND YET, I couldn't sleep properly. Incredibly comfortable, I lay there thinking about doing last years tax and building shelves and growing moss and getting to the pottery and picking up things from the framers and making fudge and numerous other irrelevant topics to ponder. Now I have to work in the same room as it pretending it's not there. Trying not to make eye-contact as I make a coffee in our kitchen/bedroom/bathroom.
I guess I better go out.

magical amazing fun lovely gay

I'm sure this must've been around forever, but, I just found it. And I clicked it, again, and again, and again and again, and again. I love that you need only cornify a few times, et voila!
comic sans! magical! glittery! inane! crap! internets!
It's a button. Click it.

happy birthday brookeeee

Easy Writer!
xxxxxxxxxxx

fashion capital

We went to Chadstone Fashion Capital TM last night, for some late night shopping. Actually, no.

It's where you go if you have a brand new iphone that needs fixing by a 18 year old genius at the genius bar in Melbourne's only apple store. Ouch. He didn't even fix it. I guess he sort of did, but now we are waiting on a part to arrive, so we can go back again and pick it up. Cool. Everything is cool in the apple shop.

We caught the peak hour train, walked a mile across a carpark and had ourselves a night out. A blank wander through the food court. A spot in a queue. A sit down on a bench for some people watching. People wearing the clothes from in the shops. This season's clothes from in the shops. Head to toe.

They have giant bamboo growing, which was nice to see. And I ended up pinching some cuttings for the garden, a trailing water plant. Hope it grows. Yeah, you can't take me anywhere.

That said, next up I need an excursion to Doncaster. I missed last year's work celebration, I helped make their christmas extravaganza, I was encrusting reindeer's antlers with glitter for weeks, and now, STILL I've never been. I may have missed my chance to see the reindeer in all their glory, but the donkey is still there... Anyone? A picnic lunch? A train and a bus and a walk across the carpark?

garden

This is the alien onion which grows it's babies on the side, then drops them off to grow more babies. And more babies and more babies until it takes over the world and eats our children.


These are funny little toes, lovely new plants from Irina.


And these are furry wee bear claws, also from Irina. I am loving the gardening. Good, as we still have a sea of concrete to cover.

the weekend's gone again

And I have prickles in my fingers after pinching prickly pear fruit from the laneway. I am already planning to go and get more for jam. Such good colour and flavour inside that irritable skin. Suffer for your preserves. Fool.

I also got some early figs from the giant tree. It is laden with nearly ready nearly reachable fat figs. It made 3 jars. I wish I had an oven to bake some scones.

day of the dead

St Kilda was alright on the night, lovely sea breezes and sunset. Dan Deacon had a dance off and a snake tunnel of people out through the poolroom, the carpark, the mens toilets and back into the front bar. High places concentrated hard on making rainforest music in the city. Beaches were like glowing beacons drifting out to sea and Panel had drunken sports men washing-up in the free bar. Confusing.