flight paths for paper birds

Brisstyler!

Hey! I just joined Brisstyle, the lovely organisation of crafters that hosts some very cool markets around Brisbane. Hopefully I will make it to one of these soon!

So I have spent all afternoon taking nice photos of my wares for my Brisstyle profile.

Since they took so long, I'm going to share them here too! They are also a good roundup of (some of) the things I am making right now.

Recycled paper gift/storage boxes, and bowls! (this bowl is decorated with confetti made for a wedding, which we were not allowed to use at the wedding - sadface, but it means I have enough for about 10 000 bowls - happyface!)

Colour palette necklaces! Recycled paper and waxed cord. These are my favourite thing to make right now. I'm going to have to do a separate post on them I think.

And the other necklaces I'm having fun with - fabric covered beads (need to think up a snazzier name for these). Small solid recycled paper beads tied up inside tubes of vintage, reclaimed or scrap fabric. So many possibilities! (and making these beads is very mindless - it's my relaxing non-thinking craft task).

I'm also hoping to sell garlands made with recycled paper roses, Mt Cook lilies, daisies and poppies, as seen in this post about wedding decorations. woo!

Different versions of the things pictured here are also available at the Reverse Garbage gift shop also (except the gift box - that's brand new!).

Hope to see you at a Brisstyle markets sometime soon!

 

giant recycled fabric doily rugs

so, I saw these awesome rugs on dudecraft - like huge doilies. I immediately wanted to make one, but with my aim to use only recycled or reclaimed materials this year, it took a bit of experimenting to find good materials. 

My attempts

 

The best option I've found so far was to use stretchy fabric, and luckily I had some slightly damaged ribbed shirt fabric from reverse garbage (sorry this is mostly relevant for brisbaneites, but maybe there is something like this in your city? I LOVE rg - could rave all day about them). Non-stretchy fabric was ok too, but the rug had less... bounce to it. 

these ones were for a show Rozi and I were in recently - Future Specs, run by the 4c arts collective. More pics and things from that show to come! 

They got a good response! I think I'll have to give some lessons sometime. Basically though, if you can crochet, you can make them. Just use your hand as a big crochet hook! And if you are going to make one, please think of using reclaimed material - divert some fabric from landfill! 

big ball of fabric yarn

  

party!

We had a family reunion at our house in October, and I made bunting. It was fun, and totally easy. Basically I cut triangles out of all the old fabric scraps I have been hoarding, and sewed it onto ribbons and some bias binding that I'd had in the cupboard for about 5 years. 

 

It was a fantastic party too. 

This is what some of my cousins had delivered a couple of days before the party

yum.  

lost bees and blogging

well, I suppose I really should have been blogging last week, before the exhibition closed, but here is a blog post about what I've been doing most of the last few months, when I haven't been sleeping or in doctors surgeries. 

pretty exciting- this was my first collaboration, with the amazing Rozina Suliman, my first major art exhibition, with the Environmental Art Collective, my first big conceptual piece, about Bees and Colony Collapse Disorder, my first installation, Rozi is an installation artist, and our piece was about 3m x 3m x 3m! I printed a curtain that was 9 meters long! 

and it's the first time we've been blogged about! Thanks Sophie!

http://sophiemunns.blogspot.com/2009/09/lost-bees-in-biosphere.html

more photos to come. 

weaving 2 - new and improved!

I built myself a loom! (sounds more impressive than it is- a frame) So now my weaving is improving. I'm so excited about it that I'm putting up a picture before I even finish anything. 

it's good for multi-tasking too, I was working on phd work while I wove. I only like multi-tasking when one task is being done by the brain and one by the body. 

freeform=fun!

I just wrote a bit of a rant against retail therapy, which is over at my other words blog- 

www.onethingperweek.typepad.com

since it's embroidery related I thought I'd cross post a little.

love me 

first weaving attempt = success!

I decided at the end of last year that I wanted to finish some of the projects that I started long ago and became bored with. This is the first one I have finished! 

it's made of fabric scraps and old t-shirts. 

It may come as no surprise to you- I am a hoarder. I have a huge cupboard filled with fabric. This was an attempt to use some of the worse quality fabric, and get rid of some off-cuts. 

Unfortunately, being my first attempt at weaving, and done in front of the tv on no frame, my skill changed significantly as I went along, resulting in an interesting shape. 

I still like it though!

I certainly didn't aim for perfection, so I like its character! besides, if I wanted perfection I wouldn't finish any of my projects, and that would be no fun at all!

cute as a...

Fabric Button(s)!

I can't wait to give some of these to Shelley, my markets buddy, so she can use them in her lovely crafting of clutches and purses, and I'm also itching to get my sewing machine fixed so I can add them to some projects of my own. 

I made them from this tutorial by the awesome CraftPudding- a new favorite blog.