The Final Darwin

I went past to see my little paper sculpture in its exhibit at the Melbourne Museum today, here are some photos. It is in the top left hand corner of the display. And around the back I found this amazing specimen of pigeon.

Garlic Crop

I love gardening and not to be discouraged by our concrete backyard, last year I built a raised vegetable bed and I am now growing, corn, aubergine, cucumber, pumpkin, peas, beans, herbs, raspberries, strawberries, sunflowers tomatoes and lettuce in. After many months of waiting today I picked my garlic crop. It has been really exciting to plant out one head of garlic and from each bud a whole new bulb grew. I feel like Jason and his Argonauts planting the dragon teeth from which the warriors sprang from. It tastes amazing its actually juicy!!

Wolf Boy and The Red Velvet Curtains

I practiced by making my hand into a werewolf.

Our fantastically talented Wolf Boy in completed Make up.

Wolf Boy in his lair.

The Band Plays.

I have been co-producing and directing a new music video which we shot yesterday. It went really well and once again I am excited to see the final edit in a few weeks. There were two aspects to it a wild Wolf Boy and a Bar scene with the band playing. I did a crash course in special effects makeup and managed to turn an innocent twelve year old into a wild one. I have done a bit of make up before and successfully made a slit throat complete with pulsating arterial blood but this was a first try with tufts of fur. It was a great day, lots of work but exciting to see it all unfold in front of you. I will put up the completed video when it is done in mid January.

The Origin of Species

I have been working on a paper sculpture commissioned for the Melbourne Museum to celebrate the 200 anniversary of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. The brief was to make a fish jump from the pages of the book, a lizard crawl off it and a bird fly away from it. The creatures evolve out of the book its self. I handed it in today and it will be on exhibit from next Friday for six months in the foyer of the museum in Exhibition buildings, so if you are passing pop your head in you can see it for free it will be just to the right of the doors. Ill go past and take a photo of the final set up in the next few weeks.

Like a ship in the night

We have recently bought a new super deluxe mattress which has changes our life. The previous one was hard as a rock and lumpy and somehow managed to leave you with numb arms when you woke in the morning. Now we have a beautiful soft ocean of comfort I can't believe the difference it makes. I woke up this morning and saw my Polly Woodside model next to the bed and the colour of the sheets made me feel like I should take this photo.

Summer Knitting

It is hard to think of wool and needles when it is over 30 degrees Celsius outside, but its winter in New York and Christmas coming up so don't look at this picture Baby Gabriel or your Christmas surprise will be ruined. It has been fun to knit again I haven't done any for ages. I was pretty excited when I found this giant rick-rack for the straps. I have never seen any so big.

Small Magazine

I had my String of Heart Paper Chain and a little knitted scarf featured in Small Magazine this month. It is a fantastic publication and I often spend ages clicking on all the links and ending up on winding travels over the internet looking at beautiful things.

Day in the Country

We had a successful music video shoot last week and I look forward to seeing the final edit complete with animation in the next month or so. Here are a couple of stills from the day. I found this amazing quilt along with two others which also feature in the video in a clean cardboard box on the side of the road in Silver Lake L.A they are so beautiful, made of wool remnants and silk and I am guessing from the 1930's but I could be wrong. Now I have to get cracking on some extreme origami for a project for the Museum, I'll keep you posted how that comes along. I tied myself in a knot doing the paper crane so it could take some mind control to create the frill necked lizard or the pouncing bear!!

Maisy Brown Interview

My friend at Maisy Brown Retro has interviewed me for her blog, It's my first craft interview which is very exciting, you can click on the link and have a read and a look at her lovely site.

Northcote Night Market

I have been interstate on a holiday and to my friends Open Garden at Palerang in the New South Wales countryside, it was so beautiful Ill put up some photos soon, and then came down with the flu. This week I am a music video producer, hilarious, It seems to be going well we are almost organised for the shoot tomorrow and then on Thursday I am sharing a stall at the Northcote Night Market with Bridget, so come on down if you are in Melbourne and I can meet you in the flesh.

Rubiks cube finale

Cloud Busting Reversible Skirt

Down in the Orchard Pinafore Dress

Well my sewing has evolved from complicated calico knots and now the first of my new children's clothes starting to appear on my shop, I am quite happy with how they worked out here are a few pictures. You may notice some of my fancy string being used.

Upside Down Doll

I finally finished my rag doll I have been working away on, I am quite happy with how it turned out but it sure took a long time, I had one of these when I was little and just loved it, I remember if you sucked its hair it tasted strange.

How Long is A piece of String?

I love String. It's probably not a usual thing to have a strong affinity with but there you go. My favourite is white cotton twine, the sort that comes in a neat ball and is easy to bite through. It unravels endlessly and has a thousand uses. Tie up your tomatoes, do some cats cradle, use it for a shoelace, tie a mattress on the roof of your car and drive down the highway. But today I hit the coloured string bonanza. I went down a tiny one way street to do my taxes and found this beautiful cotton cord in a huge range of colours in a shop opposite. I am so excited I’m going to use it in everything. Who thought doing your tax would give you such an instant feeling of happiness.

Calico Rubik's cube

I am teaching myself to sew, it is the first time in my life I am actually managing to get somewhere with it without getting so frustrated I throw the machine out the window. I can't believe it's all going well and I am really enjoying it, well most of it. I am almost ready to put my series of panorama dresses on Etsy to sell. Anyway, one of the problems I ran in to was how the hell to make a reversible dress. It seems easy. Two pieces sew them together turn inside out and there you go. But each time I ended up with the front of the dress inside the back like stuffing in a pillow. It was mind bending. Finally I called my friends who run a fantastic fashion label called Alpha 60 and rode over with my calico Rubik's cube and the wonderful Adam showed me what to do. Here is a before and after.

Finished "Muppets"

I handed the four Alien/Rock star Muppet's over today and am now looking forward to seeing them in all their animated glory when the film clip is finished in a few weeks. I tried to give them all different personalities. They are loosely based on Slash, Joni Mitchell, Sid Vicious and a slug. See if you can work out which is what, its pretty easy.

"Muppets"

I thought I'd start documenting my prop making work.
This week I am working on a series of four "Muppet" style puppets for a film clip for Qua. I haven't made puppets before so its been fun learning how the process works. I got some great free on line tutorials at Project Puppets which helped me learn to do the articulated fingers. Then I just kind of made it up. The brief is to make four psychedelic alien/rock star Muppet. Here is the work in progress and I'll put up photos of the finished product tomorrow.

Temper Trap Sweet Disposition

Here is a music video for a song called Sweet Disposition that I directed recently for a band called The Temper Trap. It is a very beautiful song. You can also see it to the left of this posting as well as another Video that I Art Directed for a band called The Getaway Plan.

A Partridge, A Pear and A Tree

It has been a fun few months making lots of different projects for different people but I am so excited to have a few days spare to work on my own things again. I am going to make a series of Holiday decorations to sell on my Etsy site. Here is the first.
A Partridge, A Pear and A Tree

Busy Month

I have been busy with a lot of fun work over the last month and thought I would post some photos of some of the things I have been making. Here are some models I made for a T.V show that I also did some stop motion animation for. It is set in Antarctica and features a flock of penguins each as big as an aspirin and a Yeti. Tomorrow I start a series of Muppet like characters for a film clip and a gremlin-ish one for another one. It has been fun to get a random brief and then figure out how to get it done.

Hint #1 - If you Swallow a Pin.

My third grade teach Mrs Beamish once gave us a lecture on why you shouldn’t hold pins in your mouth. The lecture involved a diagram of a head and oesophagus with the heart placed at the base of the tube where perhaps the stomach should be. The pin would travel down your throat and stab you straight in the heart.
Here is a remedy I found in case you should swallow a pin. It is from a book called the Sunday companion dated August 18th 1894.

If You Swallow a Pin.

Drink one and a half grains of tartar emetic in a little water and immediately afterwards drink the whites of six eggs.
These two ingredients will coagulate upon the stomach, envelope the pin and bring them up.

There you go. Helpful hint Number One. I thought it best to put the most urgent first.

Adelaide

I am interstate for a few weeks making some models for a film production. I haven't really been here before and its been lovely so far, everyone is very friendly and the work is going well. It means I am hold with craft activities for a bit which is a shame as I was really getting in the swing of it. I'll just have to save up my ideas for when I get back.

Does a Bear Sit in the Woods

I just finished a mobile that has been in the pipeline for sometime but I have been distracted getting all my labels and rubber stamps made to pack things up with, and haven't been able to make the rest of my first series of mobiles. So here it is. Its called Does a Bear Sit in the Woods. I gave the Homing Pigeon Mobile to my brother for his birthday but will make a new one to sell on my little etsy site.