Dickens and dust

I finally did it! I managed to snatch a treasury.

Phoenix fire

And all is well! The computer very politely came back from the dead and I can access my life again! I was so lucky not to lose anything, not even my Firefox bookmarks- which I was surprised at as I'd had to uninstall it and re-install.

I've been working again too, finding inspiration in new things and methods, sorting objects into collections ready to start learning solder charm jewellery. I'm going shopping for the basics next week! Very excited about this, a genuine step forward in my artistic journey- learning a whole new skill.


I've also started formulating plans for an art exhibition sometime next April- the local gallery here is quite small so I can do an installation and have the scale work well. There's a wardrobe involved, but that's all I'll tell you right now.


I love this time of year, my head is abuzz with ideas. Christmas is over, the new year is around the corner...it's that little no man's land where people don't quite know what to do with themselves. I've always seen this time as a period where you should assess everything in your life- figure out what you want more of and what you want less of. I make a list of what I want to have in my life, then on New Years night I do a tarot reading. It sets me off to a good start- things always seem so much more interesting, exciting and full of possibilities. Having a plan is good. :)


I can feel next year to be very different to this one. I've come through a doorway into a new world. I feel different. The very first indications of this kind of change is of course in my work- my style changes slightly, or I'll be interested in something to an overwhelming degree.

This month I have re-discovered colour.

Jesus has left the manger...

1. Untitled, 2. double exposure, 3. hair bracelet, 4. RUBY, 5. Solomon Kane (2009) , 6. December, 7. light outside, 8. sunset sheep, 9. une image / trois histoires

...thank goodness all that Christmasness is over. I mean really- visually I love christmas, all the tinsel and pretty things, not to mention the lashings of proper foods like mince pies and fig pudding and endless plates of roasted meats, but it's such a drudge. I really don't know how parents of small children do it. All I had to do this year was engage teenage mode and follow my parents around as we visited the relatives. Pleasurable, but I couldn't help thinking to myself... 'can I get back on with life now please?'

Most likely my worn-out frustration was due to my moving house so close to Christmas and then going to the city for the weekend immediately after, then coming home to find my internet won't work, my Firefox has killed itself and the computer dutifully follows suite, dropping into a system32 coma. (for the non-technical, that's bad. Very bad.) So the last two weeks have been stunted- not being properly at home and when I am there it's with no internet, which means not being able to run the shop or do my vintage eBay game, so no money coming in either. Indeed I have felt rather like I'm on enforced non-paid holidays, and I don't want to be on holidays! On top of that I've become a bit bored with 90% of what I make and am looking to branch out a bit.

So while I sit here waiting for life to return, waiting to get an income again, waiting for the slim chance that my best mate can resurrect my computer and not cause me to freak out about how much a new one costs...I can at least have a mince pie.

Happy holidays chaps.

image credit

Nest relocated

Wow, I've been away too long! The house move is successfully completed- another small load goes down on Monday afternoon and then we can get on with the precious task of having a life again!

I'm much happier already, back in the country. The air is cleaner, the walks are greener and my diet has improved dramamtically. Just being in the country makes you want to eat wholefoods and I've been getting alot more veggies.

I'll be back in a few days with a real internet connection and pretty pictures, in the meantime here's some inspirational images from a vintage shop I met today- 5gardenias. The (lovely) owner created a lovely treasury including my words of wisdom photo card.

Ruby red glass necklace


Victorian mercury ornament


Silver and gold ornaments

There really is nothing like a really well photographed vintage shop. And do we detect more than a hint of colour there? yes we do! I recently become enamoured of colour, so I'm working on some projects with deep, jewel-tone hues and a distinct 1930s-40s Spanish grotesque style. Think stained glass, Gaudi archetecture, 1930s sideshow posters and the amazing house in Nanny McPhee.

I'm also in this very elegant treasury, which I expect to see on the front page very soon!

British Maid

I've always been partial to and a collector of the Union flag (you can just see my bunch of small wavy ones behind dummy)...


...but I'm so partial to this pink scrappy one I think I'll make more. I don't usually replicate my designs, but this is just so lovely. I really do think the Union flag is the best design in the history of man.

Second best design is girls.

The morning found her

I'm loving these little 'scrappy bits' necklaces.

Maidenspirit

A new girl has arrived at Sparrow Salvage! Maidenspirit is a very delicate piece featuring antique and very vintage materials. Although it's listed and ready to be sold, the inner perfectionist in me is wondering if I should move that pearl charm up just a little to be level with the flower on the other side. I kind of like it uneven though, it's the resistance of the perfect that I get into. My housemate would be driven from her ocd mind though!


I'm really loving making necklaces (and earrings) lately- looks like just about everything else is on hold until after I move house, as is the clothing line. I just don't have the space to lay everything out here like I need to, so the clothing line is delayed for a mid January release. There's a possibility that my clothing maybe available only on BigCartel- I've set a shop front up there a few weeks ago and I really like their navigational system.

Save your pennies!

Green Bowerbird

I'm very excited tonight to see that a fellow Australian has just launched her online ethical fashion boutique Green Bowerbird (I love that name) - featuring some really lovely cuffs by yours truly!

Veronica contacted me some time ago for a wholesale equiry and has been an absolute delight to work with from that moment on. We even appeared in an eco-fashion magazine together (scans of which I shall procure when I get to mum's place where the magazine is)!

I wish Veronica all the best in the new venture, hopefully she will grow to become a shining star in Australia's sustainable culture crown.

Coalstained

It was my intention to get out on the back proch today and experiment with melty, stinky, paint, plastic and fire things today, but it was too hot- and I'd been without my epilepsy medication (which doubles as my depression/anxiety med) for 2 days, just generally not feeling centred.


I worked on some faery stuff and tinkered around with this necklace- I'm trying to get more and more messy, everytime I feel myself tucking under a hem or trying to hide my stitch joins, I disallow it.

Preciousness and perfection are at odds in my work- I talk about tarnished surfaces, age-stained lace and mended tears, yet I always make an effort to have all the jump rings match, or the hems folded under. I'm avoiding that now. I want the cobbled together mess of something that has been stitched together piece by picked up piece, like a 19th century bowerbird.