applehead

Old Broken Doll's Head

On day one of the workshop with Glen Skein, we spent the morning making a basic box with a flush fitting lid. I choose an  off white crumple textured paper as I wanted it to have a worn , almost faded appearance.Later during the day I decided to "age" it a little with tea and coffee stains.

Once we had the box structure made, we spent a bit of time playing with the elements we wanted to use in the piece, adding and taking pieces away to try to create a sense of narrative.
I added, I took away, I moved things around.
And then I did it some more..oh, for about an hour or so and then it was time to go home!

The next day I began to add the dividers  to contain elements and platforms to raise them where I felt it necessary. I also spent an extraordinary amount of time arranging and rearranging all of the pieces. This of course involved some more of the adding and removing exercise from yesterday.
By lunchtime, I had reached this point:

Glen was an excellent teacher, encouraging us to take our time and not rush to try complete our piece. He stressed the importance of  being intuitive with our choices and using the elements that 'spoke 'to us.I had some trouble with this,as I had brought so many bits and pieces along that I was literally deafened by the roar of them all yelling "choose me, choose me!"

I didn't manage to finish my piece by the end of the workshop - not because I ran out of time, but because I really needed to leave it alone for a few days and then come back to it. This is how it looks at the moment..as you can see, still  two sections that need to be worked on.The watch face has disappeared altogether  as I decided that it  was almost another  separate 'story'.

The letter tiles are from an old word making game - they spell out the word 'disappearance' which is the tentative working title for this piece.
'Old Broken Doll's Head' just didn't have quite the same deep and meaningful ring to it.

I am almost definitely going to use the photo image below - I'm just not sure how I want to incorporate it into the whole piece.

The other section....hmmmm, let's just call it a work in progress....

I can sense a few of these boxes in the works- it feels like I'm at the start of a series.I definitely need to make at least one using the old watch faces.
My only issue is what on earth will I do with them when their done. Personally, I am really drawn to the broken faded dolls parts but some other people have described them as gruesome and a little bit sinister. See, I'm not all sweetness and light - I have a dark angsty,side- gruesome and sinister even!

other people's trash....

my treasure...

These are some of the pieces I want to incorporate into my mixed media piece at tomorrows workshop. I 'won' them on Ebay and they have arrived just in time from Perth.

The little doll in the bottom left hand corner is only about 2cm tall - the auction described her as a 'pudding doll". Does anyone know anything about pudding dolls? I'm assuming that they went into puddings - certainly a surprise mouthful if you weren't expecting a small lump of porcelain in your pud!
The other element I was hoping to use was some old watches or watch parts. No luck however on Ebay - all too far away and too expensive.Yesterday while out running errands,I had the inspired idea to pop into the watch and clock maker up on the local high street.
Lucky for me he had a bag of old watch faces,from which he kindly let me choose a handful  (although I could see he thought I was a bit odd!)  All for the sweet price of a smile and my eternal gratitude!  Lesson learned - it never hurts to ask.Even if people do think you are slightly batty.

I can't wait to get started tomorrow....

sticks and glue

I finally managed to take a few photos of the dowel spine books from the workshop at Primrose Park  Paper Arts, a few weeks back.

We started off  with a single dowel book that is simply cut and folded.
No glue needed. The beauty of this one is that you end up with little pockets on the inside perfect for tucking paper scraps into...

From there we moved onto a triple dowel spine accordion book.

If you want to change the pages you just slip out the dowels, remove and replace. Too easy.This was my favourite book to make.

Then it was onto the more complex multi dowel spine book. I didn't quite finish weaving my dowels together - once I've done that I just have to trim off the excess dowel ( in this case bamboo skewers).

This one was a bit of a challenge - satisfying to make but a bit too fussy for my liking...
This weekend I am off to another workshop - this one is a birthday treat present for my hardworking- yet-always- there- friend Stephanie.
Happy Birthday Steph!
It is a mixed media workshop with Glen Skein - we will be creating a "multiple section box piece incorporating found objects and images to create a sense of narrative".
This is the blurb in the leaflet....as far as I'm concerned its a great excuse to spend two days catching up with Steph with no small children underfoot ( between us we have five of the darlings).
Fun, fun, fun with a bit of cut and paste thrown in for good measure.

whoo hoo! I did it!

Yesterday I ticked off another goal on my list off things to do this year...I ran and completed the Sydney Morning Herald Half marathon.
All 21.1km of it.
Yes, I'm a little bit tired and weary today but the girls were very proud of mama and her finishers medallion.
And to be honest, so was mama!
I had hoped to complete the course in 2hrs flat but alas, I hadn't really done enough running in the few months before. Much too distracted making 30 smallpeople collages....

.

( photo from SMH web site...no credits sadly)

( I do not start anywhere near the front..only fast runners and crazy people do that ...I quite sensibly take my position in the middle to the back of the 5000 strong pack. I am not very big and I squash quite easily.)

When I lined up at the start, my main goal was just to finish ,hopefully in under 2hrs 15min.

My legs decided that their race  finished at the 16km point but I managed to convince them to keep moving until I crossed the finish line, 2hrs and 12minutes later.
Amazing what a few sour gummy bears can do!

( photo from SMH web site...no credits sadly)

I had a little taste of glory when I ran along side the race winner as he crossed the finish line in a little over 1 hr. The sound of applause and cheering was wonderful - and then he finished and I headed off on my second lap!
Oh well, I 'm sure he hopeless when it comes to the old cut and paste!

Note added 23/5/07
I have had a few questions regarding this post...No , the beautiful photos of runners are not mine...they are from the SMH website but unfortunately had no credits. And I was way to busy just plodding along to even think about taking a photo!
This was my fourth half marathon( 3 SMH and one in  Canberra) but the first since Charlotte arrived on the scene.It was also my slowest by 1 min...
Yes, I am considering trying a full marathon again ...I have completed two, the Olympic trial marathon back in 2000( 4hrs 20min) and the Melboune marathon that runs from Frankston to Albert Park( a gruelling 4hrs and 30 minsand four different seasons to boot).

At this point I'm just not sure if I want to spend quite the amount of time needed to train to run 42.2Km. I had enough trouble fitting in the training for the Half.

I guess I could just give up sleeping....

 

new wallpaper packs in the appleseed shop now!

and

You can find it here

New York, New York....

A  bit of Autumn colour - leaf on a pond up at the Japanese Gardens, Terrey Hills.

This little chap is on his way to a child in New York City...hope he has a safe journey to his new owner....

(Details:Jo Sharp DK wool, various colours.Pattern- made it up as I went along as you might be able to tell from his slightly lop sided feet...)

two small trees

they're small, there's two and they're trees...need I say more?

No purpose really except to keep me out of trouble when I'm not in the kitchen making mutant meringues...

happy days....

I am betting that Bono,even with his vocal talents, squillions of dollars and private jets , didn't have a better birthday than I did!
Thank you for all of the birthday wishes...I had a quiet low key kind of day- which is just the way I like to celebrate my birthday. Georgie baked me some raspberry and coconut birthday cupcakes and the girls had fun blowing out the candles several times over!
All 3 of them...yes I know, I don't look a day over 2, do I???

I was treated to rousing renditions of  'Happy birthday' by Rose and Charlie from early morning right up until bedtime. Rose put her creative skills to good use and made us all personalised party hats.

The girls after their birthday bath....

Do you think that Charlie and I look anything alike??? I'm beginning to wonder....maybe she has my feet or something....

So, after a day or so to recover from the shock of another birthday creeping up so quickly, I headed off this morning for a birthday/Mother's Day treat in the form of a workshop at Primrose paper Arts. This one was focused on making several types of dowel spine books.
I am amazed at what you can do with a bit of paper and a few bamboo skewers...hopefully photos tomorrow.

In between times I have been trying to finish Charlie's rosegarden crochet hat..

A few more motifs and I can start to sew it all together!

To all of the mothers, motherly types and  to anyone who has ever stepped up to the plate and filled the role of a mother - enjoy your day! You are special, you are needed and most of all you are loved!
Happy Mother's Day!

failed no-fail meringues

I was so taken with Miss Marzie's beautiful pink meringues that I decided to whip up a batch myself.....after all the recipe said that they were easy to make...and I love a no fail recipe.
Yes, well.....

Instead of a plate of heavenly pink piles of goodness,I ended up with a plate of cute pink buttons.
I don't think it helped that I was cooking dinner for the girls while talking on the phone and mixing the meringues.
And I don't think that the fact that I forgot to add the 4 tablespoons of boiling water until halfway through whipping them up ,helped either.
Oh, and I was a little impatient with the whipping up bit and decided it look stiff and glossy enough. When I heaped the little mounds on the tray and then watched them flatten into pink puddles , I decided to scrape it all back into the bowl and keep on beating the mixture. Probably didn't help much either.It did in fact get stiffer and glossier but still refused to sit in little mounds.
I baked them anyway and really, they  tasted great!
Next time, I need to concentrate!
At least Miss Marzie can feel safe about her Queen of the Meringues title.

Did anyone pick up the hidden random fact about myself in yesterdays 'tagged" post? I have a pack of postcards for the first person who can work it out. I will give you the answer tomorrow if nobody beats me to it!

well that was quick...2 minutes after this post to be exact!

How about that,Bianca must be a U2 fan as well...a pack of postcards is on its way to you!

first time taggee.....

after a year of blogging I have been tagged! Not as a thinking blog ( thank goodness, way too much pressure there!) but by the lovely Julie to do a nice simple one.

The rules:
• Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself
• People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog
• Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names
Here goes ( hey you there, yes you! Wake up, this is important )

1.I don't eat bananas.
I love banana cake, banana smoothies & banana Paddle Pops but I cannot bring myself to eat an actual banana - it's  the texture that gets me. For the same reason I do not eat sultanas. An oyster however is an entirely different kettle of fish. Can't get enough oysters.

2. I once appeared on national daytime TV dressed as the Mrs Fields Bear ( you go, Deb!) with Kerri Anne Kennerly.

3.I can go to sleep anytime ,anywhere- a very handy trick I  learned at uni. It's the waking up bit that I'm not so good at.

4. I can quite happily reread a favourite book - I'm not talking once or twice or three times. More like 50 or 60 or more....I have lost track of the times I have read Pride and Prejudice or the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Alice and Wonderland is another well worn book in my house.

5. I drink water constantly, all day, through the night - I am never without a bottle or two by my side. I think I must dehydrate easily. That or I'm just very thirsty.

6.Bono from U2 and I share the same birthday( not year though, he's a wee bit older than I am)...unfortunately we do not share the same vocal abilities, vast fortune or fleet of private jets.....

7.I am quite fond of drinking dandelion tea...with skim evaporated milk...a habit that most people around me find:

a) slightly weird

b) slightly distasteful

c).both of the above. I must say I can understand why they feel that way...it really is quite a disgusting brew and does embarrass me somewhat ......

Now I'm meant to tag seven people

Tash, Belinda,Di,Penny,Tamara,Cathy, and Jennifer....

In case you're wondering,the lovely peg dolls were made by Rose and Charlie as a very special present....not for Bono though.....