Mangle

Mr B requested a blue Knitwit bangle for himself this week.

It was my first man bangle.

I made it Today.

Mr B your mangle is ready.

The Friendly State

Queensland - The friendly state.

It did strike me on moving to Brisbane that people were unexpectedly friendly. Strangers would smile and say "hello". It was a little unnerving at first and not something that I was used to. In Sydney we like to avoid eye contact, generally don't know our neighbours and cherish our 6 foot fences. If Sydney isn't (relatively) friendly I'm going to say that Melbourne is less so. It isn't just the clothing that's black.

I am of course generalising and perhaps exaggerating (once again). What really strikes me is the difference in the art/craft communities. For one thing Melbourne has a community or at least it appears so. In Brisbane arts organisations located within meters of eachother don't communicate. As a member of three (now two) of these organisations I experienced this first hand.

I am thinking about this now as Queenland Artworkers CEO Tony Stephens sent out an open letter to the membership (attached) outlining a recent failed funding application for an exhibition space. He calls the membership to take action as Brisbane artists are sorely lacking in exhibition opportunities.This is true, although I believe working with the resources that are already available and open communication within the arts community may just go somewhere in helping Queensland artists/designers/craftspeople right now. Instead of always looking at what we don't have why not spend more time at looking at what we do and making the most of that?

Perhaps I am naive but I wonder sometimes why we all just can't get along? Isn't there supposed to be strength in numbers?

Plastic Dust - Sarah Lindsay

Sarah Lindsay makes wonderful delicate plastic jewellery. She is a U.K jewellery designer who says this about working with plastics."Plastics allow me to make jewellery which has an empathy with textiles being colourful, soft and lightweight. The thermoplastic quality and colour range of acrylic, have led me to develop the ‘Dust Collection’, a new process in handmade plastics. I make various grades of dust which are then mixed and heat pressed into multi-coloured surfaces. Heat folding the thin slices has allowed me to move the work into three-dimensions. When constructed, these folded sections create jewellery with a feather-like quality, articulated and coloured on the tips".

I'm always on the hunt for interesting plastic jewellery and have come across her work in books and on the web before and I'd have to say it really is unique. I hope to see her work up close and personal one day so I can truly marvel at her use of colour.

I was thrilled to find Sarah's website

Words To Live By

Wouldn't it be nice if everything was always wonderful? If my career just followed one success after another, moving in a steady line upwards. Always upwards. Yes,that would be nice.

At the moment things are a bit mixed career wise. Some areas are going so well and some are not going so well. It is a bit extreme really, but all is basically O.K so I won't complain too much. I guess the truth is that things are never perfect and particularly in this tricky business of self-employment and creativity you can't expect not to hit a few bumps along the way.

So now as always I'll remind myself of my mottos.

FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT. If I waited until I thought I knew enough I'd still be waiting to start.

CONFIDENCE IS KEY. If you are confident enough you'll believe that you can do it and others will too. This of course can be faking until naturally confident.

FAIL MY WAY TO SUCCESS. I once watched this program on the difference between US and Australian business and something that struck a cord with me was the difference in attitude to failure. I think it is true that Australians don't like to fail (O.K who does?) and there is a real stigma attached. In America it seems that failure is viewed as a part of business and even seen as an important element in the road to success.

Brasilian Rubber

Brasilian designer Marzio Fiorini's amazing rubber jewellery.

Marzio's work is a fabulous example of the versitily of rubber/plastic materials for making an affordable commercial range as well as bold, dramatic, oversized catwalk pieces.

Merchant Blood

The Germans make things and the Italians sell things.

Although not representative of every member of my German/Italian family it comes pretty darn close. I always knew I liked to make things but it is becoming more apparent to myself that I really like to sell things. My father (The German) calls this my merchant blood. I could give you a long list of my Sicilian relations and their selling achievements but I'll just mention one for now, my second cousin Remo. His father and my grandmother were siblings.

He definitely had the smarts to have been anything he liked but I'm guessing he just couldn't fight his merchant blood (his dad's factory is mentioned in an earlier post). The other thing about us Italians is that we just don't give up easily. To find out what I'm talking about check out Remo's website.

One last list of thank yous...



Boing Boing

Coscablog

Beeldende Koenst

Craft

Designspotter

Objetos de Desejo

Smidigt.se

To Share Or Not To Share

"How did you make that?" Now this isn't a new question but since my audience is now a global one it is getting asked far more often. Most of the time I can answer questions but sometimes I can't. Basically if the question relates directly to the method for creating a design I am currently selling,(a method that took a lot of time, effort and often money to develop)I might not be able to answer it.

My aim is to be a resource person. I want to know everything about every plastic ever. Really what would be the point in building up a large knowledge base if I weren't going to share that knowledge? You know you can't take it with you. So one day I wish to be so informed about plastic jewellery that I could give talks, run workshops and perhaps write a book or at least the odd article (heavily edited of course).

Please feel free to ask any questions, although be aware that you may just get a polite "I'm sorry but I just can't answer that right now, but thank you for your interest".

Haberdashery Heaven

I have a serious addiction to haberdashery. This has been an ongoing problem for a number of years now. Thinking back I'd say it all started during my teenage years, perhaps when I was 15 or so when my mother gave up trying to buy me clothes and gave me an allowance to do so myself. "Seriously mum what do you expect me to buy with $20 a month?" My hair colouring costs were higher than that. So with a tinnie budget I was forced to become creative and source all my clothing from thrift stores and Target. I would then modify these finds. I was big on Target's black skivvies which I would cut the next out of and make off the shoulder numbers with all manner of trim around the neckline. I usually got my trim fix at David Jones Sydney City Haberdashery department (sadly long gone).

Nowadays I don't do much sewing (ask my daughters as there are a growing collection of stuffed toys waiting for a new eye or seam to be repaired) but I do still love the hadadashery department and modifying all manner of finds to make my jewellery wares.
An example, Measure-Up Brooch ,is pictured above.

It's A Small World After all

With my blog, website, online shop and Flickr account I feel I can finally get in touch with real people. Since I left the markets many moons ago I've had only vague notions of who my customers were. I have often wondered "who is buying my work?"

The very first customer to wander into my online shop and say, "I'll take that" was Rebecca Dorris from New York City. The thing that I found particularly interesting was that Rebecca makes jewellery too! Out of glass and plastic! When I check out her website I realised that I had seen some of her work before. Searching through my favourites I discovered I had pasted in an image of her jujube rings. Now these definitely "look like a lolly" to me.
P1uon
P1 unless otherwise noted

Now This Is Just Getting Plain Embarassing

Now this is just getting plain embarassing as I didn't expect to go past one post of thank yous. Anyway I really, really, really appreciate the blogs (and their authors) who have mentioned me this week.

MoCo Loco

mod* mom

...in wonderland

Toliis

NOTCOT

Thanks Ms Wrecker for this image and for the numerous times you have popped me in your posts.

Rebecca-the-Wrecker

A Unique Voice Is A Rare Thing Indeed

I finally got around to watching the season finale of Project Runway 2. I was excited to see the finale 3's amazing collections. This was their Olympus Fashion Week debut, how it be anything less than fab? Well I was so wrong, it wasn't fab it was drab - dull, dull, playing-it-safe, reminiscent of my year 10 formal and oh so ho-hum.

It made me realise how utterly amazing Season 1 winner Jay McCarroll was. Is there really such little talent in the world? Is a truly unique creative voice such a rare thing? I never thought so but maybe now I do.

Origami Meets Swedish (or the less glamorous Recycling Plastic)

There was a recent interview with South African designer Heath Nash in Ping mag in which he discusses his use of recycled plastic materials in his designs. He said a few things that rang true for me and perhaps to all those who use recycled materials. It is generally more expensive working with these materials that new as it is more time consuming reworking and sourcing them.

Listening to Mark Vaarwerk speak recently he mentioned how he had to incorporate other plastics into his signature plastic bag jewellery range as plastic bags were getting harder to find with the introduction of reusable shopping bags. He said how he keeps a stash of prized colours and rations them with care. These bags may have been free but they are rare. When he charges $500+ for a necklace make of plastic bags and silver there is an acknowledgment of this, as well as, of a process and a reputation that has developed over time.

Die Cuts

As I am always on the hunt for others who make interesting plastic jewellery (I think I do?) I was super pleased to find
Lily Yung's. new die cut plastic range through MoCo Loco.