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days like these

11/30/2013

Fishing net seemed to be the only option, which meant finding time in between getting work done to take a trip to the Mooloolabah Wharf on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland (the best fish and chips). Opportunity arose, so off we went for the afternoon to see what would eventuate.

After indulging in some fish and chips for lunch, we met a couple of trawler fishermen. What colourful characters they turned out to be! During our conversation, we explained that we were looking for some fishing net to finish off an art project. Well this gained a bit of interest and before we knew it one of them was handing us a lovely sample of authentic fishing net.

Meanwhile, one of them commented on where we could find a shed full of the stuff. Turns out, we drove all the way to Mooloolabah only to discover we only had to venture up the road from our factory to Bruce's place.

It's amazing where and how life goes sometimes!

Curiosity got the better of me, so we decided to pop in and say hello ....... My darling had a prior meeting with Bruce not so long ago when one of his cows decided to escape and hang out too close to the road, fortunately it all ended well.

What an amazing life Bruce has had, fishing the Torres Strait, travelling the world and generally having a full happy life. After a very interesting chat to him about their life adventures, it was off to the shed to collect some more fishing net. That in itself was another treat! Old farm sheds are always full of cool stuff and in this case, we discovered that Bruce loves working with wood and had some awesome tables that he had built out of some of his timber slab collection ...... what a craftsman ........ which always makes you wonder what you may find 'under' all that stuff........ guess that's to be left for another day.

What had already been a great afternoon turned into an even greater adventure! I look forward to returning there again, it moments like these that leave a permanent imprint in your mind which always brings a smile to your face.

I live for days like these!

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what now?

11/30/2013

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With the first step complete (the coloured spoon bodice) I now had to work out what I was going to use on the rest of my piece and how I was going to use it. This turned out to be a big challenge...... My first thought was to use fishing net for the skirt, but, for some reason it wasn't sitting right in my mind. What to do!
After what seemed like an endless night of tossing and turning, which involved countless minutes (or was it hours) of looking out my balcony door ...... I found myself looking AT my balcony door .......

Inspiration was once again ignited in my brain!
The next day I went for a trip to the Buderim Dump shop and found this lovely, beaten screen door. After purchasing for next to nothing (I did have to talk them down, considering I picked the most bent, beaten and least likely to be used as a door again item) I took it back to the factory and pulled it apart.

After looking at it for a while, I decided to cut large fishtail sized shapes out of it with a couple of side panels with pointed ends to create a large fishtail style skirt ... FAIL! ... walking in it was going to be a major challenge,, so I scrapped that idea and spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the possible shapes and what I could do with them. I was struggling, so I decided to walk away from it and wait to see if anything came to mind ....... I wasn't under any pressure yet.

I decided, while I was still having a mental block on the bottom part of this piece, the next step was to strip some electrical wire I had and use it for the straps on my bodice. Another part of the piece I needed to sort out. After I had bent the wire in random 'swirls', I sewed it to the bodice and tried it on......

looking good, just need to widen the straps a bit more, but starting to take shape. Time to go back to trying to work out how the bottom of this piece was going to turn out ....... it sure was becoming a bit of a challenge!

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let the spooning begin

11/22/2013

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Before sewing the spoons on, we decided to see what would happen if they were heated.
After cleaning them in a special substance, the oxy torch came out and the heating process began.

The colours were amazing ........ I couldn't wait to get home to start pinning onto the bodice to see how it looked.

Of course, I wasn't disappointed, however, I did notice, after I had sewn them onto the bodice, that some of them had lost some of their colour. More spoons had to be found! I managed to get a box of spoons at the Caloundra Dump shop for a great price. I now had a decent supply.
After a bit of trial and error, I realised that it was the natural oils in my skin that were effecting the colours on the spoons. I purchased some cotton gloves to use when handling the spoons ... problem solved! Now to replace some of the spoons that I had already sewn onto the bodice.

Once the bodice was covered in spoons, I took it off the dressmaking dolly only to find that it needed some kind of support around the top of the bodice to give it support and allow the rest of it to hang freely. After a bit of thought (keeping in mind the materials had to be recycled) I used some wire coat hangers, shaping and cutting the wire and sewing it on the inside of the bodice. Success!
Step one of my Wearable Art project complete.

Now I had to work out what I was going to use on the rest of my piece and how I was going to use it. This turned out to be a big challenge......
My first thought was to use fishing net for the skirt, but, for some reason it wasn't sitting right in my mind. What to do!
After what seemed like an endless night of tossing and turning, which involved countless minutes (or was it hours) of looking out my balcony door ...... I found myself looking AT my balcony door .......

After looking at it for a while, I decided to cut large fishtail sized shapes out of it with a couple of side panels with pointed ends to create a large fishtail style skirt ... FAIL! ... walking in it was going to be a major challenge,, so I scrapped that idea and spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the possible shapes and what I could do with them. I was struggling, so I decided to walk away from it and wait to see if anything came to mind ....... I wasn't under any pressure yet.

I decided, while I was still having a mental block on the bottom part of this piece, the next step was to strip some electrical wire I had and use it for the straps on my bodice. Another part of the piece I needed to sort out. After I had bent the wire in random 'swirls', I sewed it to the bodice and tried it on......

Looking good, just need to widen the straps a bit more, but starting to take shape. Time to go back to trying to work out how the bottom of this piece was going to turn out ....... it sure was becoming a bit of a challenge!

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it started with this .....

11/22/2013

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An idea was sparked from a few spoon heads, left over from a batch of rings I had made from the handles.
Making artistic pieces with a function has always appealed to me, so I knew one day the spoon heads would have some kind of purpose (perhaps a sculpture!)
For a few years now, I have contemplated entering the Wearable Art competition at the Australian Body Art Carnival in Eumundi. The whole idea of this particular contest is to make something from recycled/pre-loved items.

I love the Steampunk genre, and when I first saw this years theme - Under the Sea - I had a mental block! As I was driving to the factory a few weeks later, it hit me! Make a bodice out of spoon heads to create a fish scale effect (pretty obvious, when you think about it.) After spending a day cutting more spoon heads off the handles and drilling holes in them and another day working on the bodice (which was made from a retro top) to sew the spoons onto, I entered the competion - no turning back now!

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days like these

what now?

let the spooning begin

it started with this .....

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