Blog Revival

The pace of life at Z Twist Central has changed significantly in the time since my last blog post. I'm still passionate about textiles, of course, but life is broader and more varied than it ever was and different facets are constantly jockeying for space.

Life with a teenager is great and infinitely challenging. A "gap year" turned into her re-enrolling in high school. Now it's VCE exam time with applications for further study in the offing. I don't expect to be re-united with my spare room anytime soon.

In other news, I enrolled in a Certificate III in Visual Art at NCAT. It's local, designed for Mature Age students and full of creative interest. The three streams comprise digital art, studio work and life drawing. I've learned heaps. I've learned enough about using Photoshop to understand why it was so hard to do it on my own. I'm also now a keen beginner with Illustrator. Much more learning in my future is a happy prospect. Meanwhile here's one of my favourite images from my attempts at digital collage.

As an added bonus, it printed beautifully onto fine cotton fabric. I now have a little self-designed jem of fabric to incorporate into a project. 

As for this blog, no promises at this stage. I'd like to see if I can get back into the habit of regular posts. I'd love to read some comments if you're reading this. What aspects of my previous blogging life appeal? What would you like to see here?

In the meantime I do continue to shoot occasional thoughts and photos onto my Facebook page several times a week. Feel free to follow me there and send me your comments. I love to interact.

Moving Along

My apologies for the longer than usual blog-break. There's been a lot going on. I've been shooting the occasional picture and a thought here and there onto my facebook page, but haven't sat down to write a blog post in weeks.

• Hmmm, I went to insert an image at this point, just to keep things interesting, but instead I'll have to post a link to the blogger "known issues" page, which tells me there's an outstanding problem with uploading photos through internet explorer. Drat! 

As I was saying--there's been a lot going on. First secret crafty Christmas preparations. These were mostly successful and happily received, though I only completed about half as many projects as I'd dreamed up. Sometimes reality can be tough that way!

One reason for my reduced capacity to complete projects has been my ongoing elbow issues. I have a chronic irritating, frustrating tendonitis. After a few months of physio and yet another injection before Christmas, it's still not fully resolved. So I've had to reduce and modify my textile work significantly. I'm determined to get this sorted, even if it means radically changing the way I do things.

After Christmas I had a week away with friends. A couple of days of Christmas catch-ups, a lot of sitting around and eating and some significant discussions made the days go pretty fast. I did manage a bit of  beading and some pattern shopping. I also had my friend D measure me up and down and round and round in anticipation of some pattern drafting. Stay posted for progress on that one.

The biggest change for me this year is that I've invited a young school-leaver to share my home for the next year. She's taking a gap year and moving away from home for the first time. She and her family are such long-standing and dear friends that they really are like my own family, and she was my guest here a year ago,  but this will be very different from anything we've done before. Her sister was already booked for ten days of Chiara's Driving Boot-camp, so I've had company since I got home.

My immediate challenge is to make room in my home for an overgrown teenager. She's too tall for my spare bed and will be here long enough to need the whole of my second bedroom to herself. I need to re-locate my market stuff and tidy the studio. OK, ok, I always have to tidy the studio, but this time it will be a radical sort and re-organisation. I've already bought curtains and started looking at furniture for E's room.

As I said, there's a lot going on--and surely more to come that I haven't anticipated. But I'd better get on to my next task. That will be a cup of decaff coffee for me and another driving lesson with the resident learner driver.
 

Sneaking up to Santa Time

I'm at that slightly frustrating time in the making calendar for someone who loves to blog. It's nearly Christmas. I'm doing lots of making, but it's mainly for gifts. And I hate to spoil the surprise for my friends. At the same time I don't like to leave a blank here either. So I guess I'll post the occasional sneak peak.

This migrated from my knitting needles to my blocking board this morning, via a warm soak in the bathroom basin. Tomorrow I'm hoping to turn it into its final form.

 

Just to complicate matters, it seems that either my computer or my internet connection doesn't want to play nicely this morning. So I may need to shift my focus there. That's not nearly as much fun as making gifts!

A Bonus and a Challenge

I had a market yesterday at Sussex Neighbourhood House. I've done several markets recently--since doing the Make Craft Your Business course. I still have lots to learn and decisions to make about where I want to go with my textile art. Being out and about with my work is one of the best aspects of a market for me. I love to interact with people about my craft and to see how they respond to my work.
Yesterday's market brought an unexpected bonus. I came home with this dress manequin.

I've been wanting a manequin for a couple of reasons. If I'm going to sell my work online, I need a way of photographing it in context. A live model would be ideal. A dummy is the next best thing. As I discovered while trying to snap this pic, even finding a suitable spot in my house without too much background clutter is a challenge. And I'd like this to tone in with the other display props I've been making for myself. So at the very least I'm thinking I'll cover it with calico.

Then there's a question of body image and reality. That's a much bigger challenge--in more ways than one. One of the reasons this manequin was on offer is that she's quite a small size. I measured the waist and bust when I got home. I don't think I've ever been that size as an adult--never!

An obvious use for a dress manequin is to assist in dressmaking. But that's no use unless the manequin's shape and my body shape bear some resemblance to each other. Even if I'm only going to use it for display purposes, I don't want to fall into the trap of portraying an impossible body as an ideal. So the reality of this slim form is going to have to be fleshed out somehow.

I don't have a plan yet, but I have some ideas. I'm thinking of bubble wrap as a first layer. That will keep it light. Then maybe a some quilt wadding offcuts and some old clothes to give me a layer that's good for taking pins. I'll finish it off with a stitched calico shell. Hopefully that will give me a neat finish. I don't have any markets for the next month or two, so I guess I just found myself a challenge to keep me busy. 

Edited to add:
I've just found this tutorial and am adding it here for future reference. It sounds as though the critical issue is that the dress form should be smaller than me. So I'm off to a good start.

Exploring and Translating

I'm not a great traveller. I have grown up in an increasingly multi-cultural nation, in a family where English was a second language. So I am familiar with the challenges, oddities and impossibilities of translation. As an artist I'm forever exploring new territory--resorting to sign language where necessary in my attempts to understand and be understood.

This term I've had a bit more of a chance to explore working with clay. One of the local Neighbourhood Houses offered a one-off workshop to make clay beads. It went so well, that an ongoing class grew out of it. It's a whole new world for me. I'm intrigued by the possibilities. This morning I needed to unwind. And I had a bit of porcelain clay waiting on my table.

I made this.

I started off with a basic pinch-pot. Then I thinned out one side of the bowl a bit more. The pleats came next. Unlike fabric, clay doesn't easily form a crisp fold. Next I shaped the other side of the bowl, then worked the lower part to the point that I hope it will be translucent when fired.  I fiddled and refined as much as I could, never quite sure when communication between myself and my chosen medium would break down completely. I think we're still on speaking terms.

I'm happy with what I've managed to form. I can see things that could be improved, but am not confident enough to push it any further just yet. My plan is to bring this to class next week and see what the teacher has to suggest. If it survives the firing process, I'm planning to use it to hold a candle. Now there's something I couldn't say nearly so well in my usual language of textiles. 

As You Wish

My friend AMR is a self-confessed geek. She is one of the most intelligent people I know. And she has that slightly twisted geeky sense of humour. So I wasn't too surprised when her Christmas wish list included a request for a pi shirt.

"What is a pi shirt?", you ask? I asked the same question. My friend google soon provided an answer. It's a t-shirt decorated with symbols and numbers related to pi--that mathematical idiosyncrasy which describes the ratio between a circle's circumference and its diameter. There are plenty on the market. But you know me--why would I pay for something ready made when I can customise my own version? Besides, even though the layouts are very clever, a lot of the t-shirts are black, boxy and boring. I hope I can do better than that.

I started by checking A's size and preference in t-shirt colours and styles. Then I tracked a suitable one down at a clearance outlet for a few dollars. That way if something goes wrong I can always just try again. I already have lovely fine printable cotton fabric which goes like a dream in my inkjet printer.

Now for a bit of maths. I found a file of pi to one thousand decimal places. That should be enough to make a geek pretty happy and fill the background of my design. Next a diagram and formula. I don't have fancy design software, but Publisher was able to do what I needed. I overlayed the diagram and formula in black over a page full of numbers. I was able to match the ink colour quite nicely to the t-shirt colour.

Here's where the project is up to this morning.

Now I have to soak the printed fabric to get rid of any excess ink. When it's dry I'll use my lightest iron-on interfacing and finish it off by stitching the printed panel to the t-shirt. The final challenge will be holding back until Christmas day to see how it's received. 

Happy Festival Day

My day at the Merlynston Diverse Voices Festival was close to ideal.

I spent the day spinning and demonstrating to people of all ages.

The weather was fine. The people were friendly, helpful and genuinely interested in my work.

There was a great group of children who kept coming back to see what I was doing. Several of them had a go on my CD drop spindle. One girl--aged about 9, I think--stuck with it for a couple of hours until she had mastered the skill and then bought a kit to take home.

A woman told me she had "sheering a sheep; spinning and knitting a jumper from the fleece" on her bucket list. She too got started with a kit.

I had knitting needles and wool available so knitters could contribute to the bunting project.

I enjoyed watching people pick over the items on my stall, choosing just the right one out of the variety of colours, textures and sizes. I sold enough to justify the day in financial terms--it was already more than justified in terms of human value. I just wish I could find more opportunities like this in my neighbourhood. If I can't find them, maybe I'll have to help to create them.

Lighter Things

Yesterday was a difficult day for me. I spent the morning supporting a friend in court--again. Once that was over I desperately needed to unwind. Morris and Sons was a short walk away. I had a few things on my shopping list and a few more on my wish  list. There was a sale on my favourite knitting needles. And I'm starting to get to know some of the staff there. All in all, a visit to the wool shop turned out to be a bigger priority than food. I think I made a good choice.

One of the staff proudly wears this tattoo.

I'm not usually a big fan of tattoos, but this made me smile. And some of her other body-art, though harder to photograph, is profound. If there had been a cafe, I would have been tempted to stay. But I'd spent more than my budget already and had follow up to do from the mornings developments. And I did need some food. So I moved on, with a lighter heart and purse.

 

Tomorrow is the Merlynston Diverse Voices Festival. Despite a tough week, I'm looking forward to it. If you'd like to have a go at some bunting, I'll have spare needles and wool available. The music should be great. And the Merlynston community is vibrant and welcoming. I'd love to see you there: Bain Reserve on Merlyn St. It's the Village Green near the train station. The Street Parade kicks off the day at 11.00 am.

Bitten by Bunting Bug

Up until last week I had managed to avoid catching the bunting bug. "It's cute", I thought, "but I dont' have to go there." This weekend that changed.

I received an email from the organisers of the Merlynston Diverse Voices Festival. I'm going to have a stall there next weekend, so I was already interested in whatever they're doing. It turns out there are a bunch of knitters involved in creating a long string of bunting to drape around the Merlynston Progress Hall. Knitted bunting! Who knew?

Saving the Merlynston Progress Hall is a major community focus. Making a knitted contribution hooked me right in.

The pattern is courtesy of the UK Womens' Weekly. It's a neat little knit: stocking stitch with shaped decreases. Easy enough to stitch through without any stress; interesting enough to hold my attention for the number of minutes required to get it done in one sitting. I thought I'd start with just one. Next day, I've made three and I'm dying to cast on another. They're due in tomorrow, so maybe not. Then again, they might be able to add to the bunting on the day. And it's an ongoing project, so it's never too late to join in.

Of course, while I'm knitting away, I'm designing alternatives in my head: different stitch patterns; big bunting; little bunting; crochet bunting; what about a double-knit version! So I think I've caught the bunting bug. I don't know if there's a cure. What's more, I don't care!

 

Time and Travel

Somehow in the last ten years or so some of the discarded objects of my childhood years have become desirable. With labels like "retro" and "vintage", these everyday objects are now attractive, relatively rare and possibly valuable. It's taking me a while to catch up with the trend. And, having moved house more times than I care to count in my young adult years, I have few relics of those early days. So it was that I found myself scouring the back shelves of Vinnies yesterday in a hunt for suitcases.

I'm planning to share a stall with a few others at the next Made 'n' Thornbury Market. We need a way to tie our diverse product ranges into a unified display. Old suitcases could be the way to go. I didn't own any. Now I do. Thankfully these were sold to me as just old so I got them for a price I was willing to pay. I'd like do a bit of patching and cleaning without investing too much time and energy. If we decide to go with some other display theme they will be useful for storing my wares. 

Something New

There's always something new around here! This time it's a badge machine.

I have hired it over the long weekend. I've just done a few practice badges using cut outs from a magazine. It's as easy as everybody said it would be. The woman who rents it out said her four year old could do it. Now I believe her.

So I'm off to the studio to look for likely candidates to be turned into badges. Christmas is coming. I have lots and lots of novelty fabrics in my collection. There are hand-dyes, silks and all sorts of other precious bits and pieces. This is going to be fun!

Armchair Mini

Now that I've had some improvement in my elbow situation, I'm back to working on the baby blanket. Thankfully I have plenty of time for this project. Baby isn't due until March next year. And it's a Queensland baby, so I doubt that there will be much demand for woollen blankets until a few months after that.

I've said this before, but it's a truth that never fails to delight me, so I'll say it again. I love, love, love the process of making. Especially a project like this, which is imbued with significance. While I'm stitching there's a constant undercurrent of thoughts about the baby; the Mum and Dad; the wider family; the pregnancy so far; the potential . . . At a visual level I'm thinking about the yarn, the colours I've used and the ones to come. The whole experience has it's own rhythm dictated by the stitches I'm forming in my fingers.

I call these blankets armchair projects because that's where I sit while I stitch. That's practical. Even a miniature blanket like this involves eight different balls of wool. This one is small enough, though, that I could pick it up and move to a cooler environment as the weather warms up. It's also an "armchair" project because of the relaxed attitude I like to take with it. A few rows here and a few rows there, often accompanying my morning coffee or favourite music. So, it's a miniature blanket with a big place in my heart. 

Breakfast--and the Meaning of Life

My first task for this morning was to mix up my breakfast cereal. That process got me thinking about my art-making. What's the connection between breakfast and art? I'm glad you asked.

Let me tell you what goes into my breakfast cereal. Basically it's porridge, but there's more to it than you might see at first glance:

• rolled oats
• oat bran
• brown rice
• buckwheat
• rolled rye flakes
• quinoa flakes

Oh and water of course. I heat that up, let it sit for a while, then heat it up some more until it just bubbles nicely. Then I add a combination of psyllium husk, LSA meal and brown linseeds. A good bit of skim milk and I'm ready to go. Usually I leave it at that, but I could add, fruit or nuts or honey when the fancy takes me.

What I'm talking about is a combination of simplicity and complexity. When I spin my yarn, I'm aware of the origins of the fibre. The wool might be from a farmer I know. There might be a bit of silk mixed in; or bunny fibre. When I dye I mix and match colours. Say I want blue--I often want blue--there might be five different blues in the pot. So there are layers of colour, just as there are layers of flavour and texture. And usually there are a sequence of processes.

It's fun and interesting and varied. And it's satisfying. It keeps me going all day. So, now I've had breakfast. It's time for coffee and a day of making.
 

Dear Anonymous, I Don't Know What to Do

Dear Anonymous
Some of my best friends are Anonymous. They don't have a profile that my blog recognises. I love the fact that they read my blog. I want to hear what they have to say.

Maybe some friends I have yet to meet prefer to be Anonymous too. I don't often touch on controvertial subjects in this blog. But there may be things you want to say that you'd rather not put your name to. I can understand that.

But some of you Anonymous posters must be desperate! Every day I receive several messages linking me to all sorts of things that I'm not interested in. I try to respond consistently. "Mark as Spam" is my most used button of all time. Still you persist in your unwanted attentions. What am I to do?

I don't want to treat you harshly, but I have better things to do than getting rid of unwanted comments from my blog. Yesterday I accidently hit the wrong button on my comment moderation page and ended up promoting pirated handbag designs and phone accessories on a post I'd written to welcome an old friend to my home. I don't like that. It could have been worse!

I'm pretty sure I could solve my problems by turning the "please prove you are not a robot" captcha feature back on in my blog. I turned it off when a friend of mine described it as "torture". I find that feature challenging on other people's blogs so I wanted to make it easier for everybody on my blog. Maybe that was a mistake.

I don't know what to do about my relationship with you, Anonymous. It's affecting my blog relationships in a variety of ways. So I'm writing this public letter. Maybe some-one can help us to find a happy way forward. Or maybe I just need to bite the bullet and ban Anonymous from my page.

Please help me.

Warm Fuzzies

I've cut out the fur fabric for the Selat. This s a special birthday request from a teenager with attitude and a love of things Star Trek.

The last soft toy I made for her was a tiny teddy bear like the one in the picture. Oh--too many years ago! If I remember rightly it was pink and wispy. I couldn't help reminiscing just a little as the new creation starts to take shape.

E will finish her Secondary school career in the next week or so. She still loves fluffy and shiny things, but often with an unexpected twist. I do believe her chosen footwear for the end of school-year formal dinner-dance occasion is her beloved Converse. They will be tucked under the full-princess-with-sequins-and diamantes-floor-length skirt. Her feet are huge and why should she be uncomfortable! "No-one will be able to see my feet".

So I shouldn't be surprised that I'm working on something that would be a teddy bear if it wasn't for the extra tusks and tufts that will mark it as originating from the planet Vulcan--should I?

 

Meanwhile, Back at the Wristies

I concentrated on display props and spring blooms for my recent market. These frilly wristies lingered on my needles. Today I've finished them off.

My earlier versions of these have all been in my handspun wool. These ones are a Bendigo 8-ply, hand-dyed by me. I'm particularly keen on how the colour has distributed to form little stripes in the finished result. That gets broken up in the ruffle to add to the playfulness of the overall result. It's going to be a wrench to put these on the "for sale" stack, but I do have plenty of happy wristies for myself.

It's my Elbow!

Unusual topic for today's post: it's my elbow. And not a particularly good shot at that. You should try taking a photo with your left hand in the bathroom mirror some time.

I've been having trouble with tennis elbow, aka gardener's-crafter's elbow--for about a year now. This isn't the place to moan and groan, but when I started waking at 2 am in the morning in pain I decided I'd had enough. With a fair bit of determination and more than a bit of luck I managed to escalate the problem fairly quickly.

Today I had an ultrasound-guided injection which I'm hoping will give me some relief--at least long enough to get started on suitable physio in a more focussed way. I'll know in a couple of days how it's gone. I will keep making things one way or another--even if I have to learn to crochet left-handed.

I promise my next post will be something more attractive!



Woman on a Mission

What does a craft-loving woman do after her first market stall. Rest and recover? I've done a bit of that. Now I'm embarking on a rather unusual mission. I've been asked to make a Sehlat. I had to ask for further information, not being a Star Trek fan myself. Here is the best picture I've been able to find.

You can find more information at the appropriate wiki if you're that way inclined.

It seems I'm looking for a teddy-bear-like creature with six inch fangs and a tufted tail. It just so happens that I have quite a variety of soft toy patterns. The grizzly bear from Marshall Cavendish's 101 Soft Toys seems to be a likely candidate. I'm going to get started tonight by tracing off the pattern. It's one of those old-style scale-up-each-square-to-2.5 cm kind, but I think I'll be using the photocopier instead. Once that's done I'll dig out some suitable fur. Hopefully there's enough in my stash essential fabric collection.

Would you believe, this isn't the most unusual request I have received. Some years ago I made a Veeblax for a nine-year old. The request was accompanied by drawings of  front and side views and special notes on the single protruding eye.

And if you've been wondering about my somewhat unusual silence here: I've spent several hours in the past couple of days on the phone to my internet service provider. I think it's all sorted out now.

 

Full Circle and a Little Rose

A market day generally takes me full circle in my making. It's like this. I like to sit and spin at the market. I find it  good way to pass the time; to demonstrate and discuss what I do and to be present without focussing too much on people's response to my work. Since it's such a busy and colourful environment and I could be interrupted at any time, I don't spin anything fancy: plain white wool tops are my favourite.

After the market the momentum has a tendency to slow down, but here I am with a partly spun bobbin of lovely white wool. So I have to finish it. Turns out that spinning is what I love--it's why I do this. When that's done I'll have a whole skein of lovely new yarn crying out for colour. Colour is also a strong motivator for me. And so the rhythm of making and offering what I've made for sale can go on. 

As for the tiny red rose, it was peaking out from among the weeds when I got home from my walk this morning. I love its courage and perfection--despite the spider's web and blackspot it was determined to bloom!

Morning After Market

It's the morning after the market and I'm in surprisingly good shape. Yes I'm tired, but that was to be expected. I feel a good momentum to continue with what I've started by participating in the Make Craft Your Business course a couple of months ago.

For those of you who couldn't be there--and for my own future reference--here's how the stall looked.

Apologies for the back-lit shot--that window does actually have a curtain across it and I did try using a fill-in flash, but mostly I was focussed on interacting with people on the day. You can just see the pedal of my spinning wheel on the far right. I spent most of the day spinning and chatting. I had enough sales to be encouraged and plenty of positive feedback. It was also great to see the work of my fellow students and the excitement of their first sales. I had the luck of sitting next to the table with the eftpos machine!

One feature of this market is the free kids craft. There were children galore! I enjoyed handing out tiny bits of soft fluffy wool and explaining how the spinning wheel works.

I have a few adjustments to make to my display before next time. Of course I have new ideas of things to make, but I plan to stick to a slower pace for a little while.

The next challenge will be setting up for some on-line sales.