Rumble in the Jumble

Rumble and jumble are pretty high up on my favourite words list, so I was very happy when Pene sent through the flyer for this years studio sale.

It's a SALE!

So come RUMBLE IN THE JUMBLE in the amazing studio of the clever and industrious Penelope Durston. The sale also features the amazing Iggy and Lou Lou, Milly Sleeping, the talented ladies of handmadelife, Ramona and Beck, the crafty Miss Pen and plain ol' me.

This is a picture I took of Pene's studio in 2007. It will look different on saturday. Though I'm certain there will still be piles of good stuff to wade through.



Come prepared, it's CASH ONLY. It's this Saturday the 12th of December from 10am until 4pm at Studio 9 95 Victoria St in Fitzroy. The Victoria st just before Johnson st, not Victoria Parade.

Now I have to rustle through this mess to find some things to sell. There will be updates and more info here...

The Uniform Project

Today my woody brooch is featured on the Uniform Project in an appropriate 'Jane leaves the Jungle' outfit.



I wanted to contribute somehow as I have been following this project awhile and it really appeals to me, for both the cause and the joyful effect. Who doesn't love dress ups?

Below is a bit of the story from Sheena Matheiken (above) who has pledged to wear only one dress (designed by friend and designer Eliza Starbuck) for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion.

'I was raised and schooled in India where uniforms were a mandate in most public schools. Despite the imposed conformity, kids always found a way to bend the rules and flaunt a little personality. Boys rolled up their sleeves, wore over-sized swatches, and hiked up their pants to show off their high-tops. Girls obsessed over bangles, bindis and bad hairdos. Peaking through the sea of uniforms were the idiosyncrasies of teen style and individual flare. I now want to put the same rules to test again, only this time I'm trading in the catholic school fervor for an eBay addiction and relocating the school walls to this wonderful place called the internet.'

Most importantly the Uniform Project is also a year-long fundraiser for the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots movement that is revolutionizing education in India. At the end of the year, all contributions will go toward Akanksha’s School Project to fund uniforms and other educational expenses for children living in Indian slums. The total they have raised so far is $11154, which I think is brilliant. Contribute if you can!

And have a look at all these outfits based on the one dress. It makes me feel abit better about the seething mountain of scarves and shoes I have to live with, and makes me shut up about having nothing to wear.

Clowns are creepy

I found this pristine clown cross-stitch at the opshop on the weekend. It is both ugly and beautiful and a little bit creepy. I still have clown fears after watching 'It' at the age of 11.


I pulled it out of it's frame, unpicked all it's staples and chopped it into quarters. I worried about unleashing some scary clown / needlepointing Nanna voodoo. Then I stitched the pieces into zip purses, one for my only niece, one for me, one for a present and one for...
I dunno... Maybe you?



If you like the look of it, let me know what you'd put in it. Via Email or in the comments. This is a giveaway. I'll pick randomly from the best answers at the end of the week. One of a kind, there can be only one winner, etc.

In the cottage...

So I finally had a little time to take photos of my brooches in the cottage. I was shopgirl for a day. I also had time to take pictures of trodden magnolia petals. And dream of owning one gold leather pouffe and one patchwork tapestry pouffe for my sun room one day.



And despite canceling a BBQ due to gale force winds and storms, today, again it seems like it's almost spring, blossom.

Repeat Repeat

In a contemporary culture of increasing information overload, unlimited access and hyper-production 'Repeat Repeat' looks at how 6 artists, Carly Fischer, Annika Koops, Dell Stewart, Rachael Hooper, Adam Cruickshank and Natasha Frisch deal with some of these anxieties and humors in such a climate.


Rainbow, Dell Stewart 2008

All artists employ obsessive processes of production, or observation, perhaps to mimic the drive that surrounds them and also to provide an escape through the meditative qualities of work. Within each artists process is also the element of analogue copy-catting, an upside-down reversion to hand crafted production at the expense of faster, more efficient means.
Floating in between regressive nostalgia and progressive eradication, these artists deal with the strange place that the culture of repeat finds them in.

The exhibition opens tomorrow night, friday August 7th at platform, in the degreaves st subway from 6 til 8pm.

postcard

I just printed this postcard. It's available in the shops, the shops who stock my stuff. I'm sure if you asked nicely, they'd give you one. A comprehensive list of stockists is here. Alternatively, you could give me your address, and I'd probably post you one.

New Shops!

I am very lucky to be stocking my trinkets in amongst all the goodness in the Cottage. If you are in the neighbourhood, drop in and have a look.

Also, I have set up an online shop here, for those who can't make it to the shops. Perhaps your traipsing about days are over, and you merely hang out on the internet eating donuts, staring at pictures of the universe (wow a pony!) and buying jewels that you will never wear because you are too damn busy to go outside. That's okay! Just pile them up on the dresser. Or in a trunk.

Anyways,
Look here!

Perhaps pony friday just re-instated itself? Blame the universe.

In other news, I have work in the 'Perspective' exhibition at Craft Victoria, as part of the Craft Cubed festival which launches tonight. I am just this moment trying on an unfinished bastardized trouser-top I may save from the unfinished projects pile. Maybe. Lets face it, it's not like I have nothing to do, or nothing to wear.

And lastly, since we are talking about the universe. A little story about one of Saturn's moons.

I make stuff

Is the name of a 140 page full colour book by the editors of Hand Made Life, Ramona Barry and Beck Jobson. Containing images and interviews with 29 makers from around the world. Here's a peek into a page featuring one of my favourites, the stunning embroidery of Takashi Iwasaki. I can't wait to have a proper look at the launch on friday.

The book is available here, and soon here.

And...

Another reason to visit the ever lovely Alice Euphemia is they are having a jewelery and accessories sale this week.

Featuring treasures from Coconut Lu, Disce Mori, William Griffiths, Iggy and Lou Lou, Tru$t Fun!, Lucy Folk, Dani M Designs, Claire Taylor, Caracus, Birgit Holdinghausen, the delightful Dell Stewart and M.O.R.E!



Now might be the time to drag those bones in and make those coveted purchases. I have brooches and random scarves discounted, if you feel like brightening up your winter days.

Thursday 16th til Saturday 18th.

Shop 6, 37 Swanston St (cnr Flinders Lane)

THING

An invitation to our show. You can click on it to enlarge it for easier reading, or you can look at it over here or just come to our show at bus on tuesday night at 6pm. Overwhelmed by options?
Me too. But all of them involve looking at our show. See how I did that?
Yes, now what shall I make? A THING.

minus

The weather has decided not to bother with positive temperatures anymore, and my little frozen finger-tips tink tink on the keyboard, only because I've been out wandering the markets all morning... People have busted out the full length sleeping bag coats all around, and yet when you go out at night It's a burden to wear a big jacket...

I had a weird experience with a girl recognizing me from flickr at the gig we went to last night. Stranger on the other side of the world. Also saw mr Ian Wadley for beers and some faux sabbath german keyboard experiences in a smoky cave.

Have been busy making stuff when not sleeping or cooking or drinking beer or walking around in the cold.

Christmas has kind of snuck up on me despite all the quite delightful christmas cheer about the place... Ice skating in the square, tobogganing at Potsdamner Platz. Last christmas I was on a plane to New Zealand. It was cold there too. My memory has big holes in it. What did we do last night, let alone last year? Sometimes I wish I wrote more (and sometimes less) things down.

I hope you're all suitably festive for the season, and I don't necessarily mean drunk.

skin & bones

I have work in an exhibition which opens on tuesday night. I quite like it. It's at bus gallery. You could come. You'd also see works by some other people... Here they are with some links before I got bored of that idea...

Skin and Bones - Bus '07 Fashion and Costume Show

Featuring: Rebecca Joseph, Jason Hood, Dylan Martorell, Pegs Marlowe, Annie Wu, Josh Petherick, Nathan Gray, Isobel Knowles, Emily Kane, Chris Hill , Oliver Hextall, Dion Narnia, Christopher Schueller, Alison Bolger, Monica Syrette, Kym Maxwell, Dell Stewart and Louise Conroy.

Opening Tue 27/02/07 6-8pm 117 Lt Lonsdale St

Closing party Sat 17/03/07 6pm-midnight

Also open Wed/Fri 12-6pm Sat 12-5pm

bookish & sleepy (reprise)

okay i know, but look! sleepclub we made a book and you can see it here...

i also made some jungle treasures and you can see them here...

also if you are in melbourne this evening you could come to the launch... drink some beer... 6:30 in scott alley... off flinders lane...

now, have to make some christmas parcels to send to my nephews... choclate fudge again?

business

okay, so i finished some stuff for the shop...

if you, like me, have a thing for wood, fires and bananas; and unlike me have money to spend... go to alice euphemia and buy some... so i can buy some food... or not... maybe a beer... i'd like a beer...

big weekend

yeah... business IS booming



head firmly in the clouds, i slept right up here in the sky... and drank champagne and grinned like a winner, so much so, my cheeks still hurt from all that smiling... it was the inaugral sleep club ... it's off to a pretty good start i'd say, so yeah. a tip off, watch for real big things from sleep club...

i also met the one-boobed wonder woman, and she was wonderful... you?

business

i have been working with clever simon.

{ lost in the woods }

making pretty things...

cutting cutting (crooked) glueing glueing, & breaking breaking lots of blades on the nasty toothy saw that i love...

i am exited about the prospect of our new studio. which we get keys for today. we call it the penthouse... we are having drinks to celebrate tonight. at seven. nicholas building, level 9 studio three. we have a lovely view of that church, saint someone? paul? mark? and fedsquare and stuff and a delightful checker-board floor... wide window ledges to sit on and ponder what work should be done...



come look, if you're in the neigbourhood. all but sinister stalkies are most welcome...