chopped meat, watermelon?

This is my pile of cleaned chopped and drying PVC mould material (its reusable). I kept hoping that none of the scavenging birds around uni would mistake it for food!

Remaking the long branch mould

My last attempt at making a long branch rubber mould was a failure. After a chat with Marcus I decided on another method.
The idea is to pour the rubber around the entire object in one go then slice it open. This means entirely surrounding the branch and levitating it.  With a new microwave and electric stove top we just had enough heating power an volume to pour most of the mould in one go.

Branch held up with boards and screws
The beginning of the clay damming

branch inside completed clay dam

View of poured and set rubber

Kiln 15 set to go!

I have been furiously making moulds and kiln 15 is now full and set to go

Mould mash ups with Matt Perez - Day 3

Last night we were told to make a small wax object to cast, no bigger than one's clenched fist. As I was doing some other work on the computer, it was 11pm before I thought WAX! Yikes!
Here is a pic of my wax bird before it gets covered in plaster silica.

The whole class invested their objects, my invested bird looks rather cat like.

Invested bird

After the moulds were steamed, cleaned and filled with furnace glass frit, lunch was eaten before the coloured bullseye glass sheets were brought out. I think everyone else was pleased to see colour...in glass I find it overwhelming...unless I have an idea to go with it. Here are some of the designs put in the kiln by the class.

Mould mash ups with Matt Perez - Day 2

So we had some mashed up moulds, right? This morning was the time to 'Frankenstein' them together. Here is my mould, made out of three different moulds made from 'textured tiles'. One swapped with Trish.

My Frankenstein...

Some kind of fairy tale

Tonight I HAD to finish the book I began last night. I came across a reference to 'Some kind of fairy tale' by Graham Joyce via one of the fairy tale blogs that I read daily. My interest was piqued after reading his article in the guardian on his top 10 fairy fictions with a link to his own book (which he didn't include in the 10 & who else remembers the owl service?).

 

The premise revolves around Tara who turns up on her parents doorstep 20 years after she disappeared a t the age of 16 with no trace. Tara thinks that she has only been gone for 6 months after going off with a handsome stranger on a white horse in the bluebell woods, needless to say her family don't buy it, especially her brother Peter, who is now married with a tribe of kids. The story is told from different view points: Tara, Peter, Richie (Tara's old boyfriend), Vivian (her cigar smoking psychiatrist who reminded me of Bettleheim's writing) and Peter's son Jack. I found the tale captivating and intriguing, I really wanted to know how it all worked out.

Mould mash ups with Matt Perez - Day 1

Mashing up on the first day...woo!

'Tile' moulds

Sawing or floor dropping to break up

a possible Frankenstein to be

Sorry Matt but I spell mould with a 'u'. Any how I am doing one of SCA's object lab courses, a casting, kiln-forming workshop called 'Mould mash ups' with Matthew Day Perez. Even though the workshop caters for beginners, Matt is an artist I very much admire so I think it is worth it.

Hooked on crochet

mmm Like no one has used that title before...
But I am, addicted to crochet at the moment, especially shell stitch. A scarf for Mikyoung, a farewell present as she leaves Australia. Made out of two 'balls' of silk garden by Noro in muted heathery tones.

Branch moulds

Branches and apples

It was 7 o'clock on a cold, dark and windy Friday evening by the time I could pull out (a not quite set) wax of each of the moulds I made. I couldn't go home until I had at least one wax. I really like the the meltable red mould making material (can't remember the name). Need to work on the bubbles though.

Blood jelly!

I was in Barnes this morning, buying a couple of kilos of mould making material when I walked past this shelf... Blood jelly, pumping blood, flowing blood, stay wet blood, realistic drying blood syrup..

Silhouettes in copper

So, I have started learning a new skill, thanks to Mikyoung it has been very easy. Thank you for lending me your tools and expertise.

The copper just needs to be oxidized to make the figures dark, then I need to work out a neat way of inserting these into the cedar lamp base.

Autumn queen

Sarah very kindly agreed to model this costume I made many years ago (that I can't wear any more). It was great to get some photos of it. Today was also the day that the second and third years were being assessed, so all their work was up. My favourite photo of many is this one with Erica's installation.

Crochet

So after all these years of being able to knit, albeit somewhat simply I have learned to crochet. Taught by You Tube. After practising with a few samples I crocheted a beanie/beret. Using Noro yarn and a selection of stitches (single, double and treble) I kind of made it up as I went along. I used the treble stitch on 2 different rows to make a kind of ladder that I could thread a ribbon through. I can't believe it has taken me this long to try crochet, it seems to be free-er than knitting and so much quicker. Except of course if you are making granny squares...then of course you need to pay attention to the number of stitches, something I'm not very good at. My stitches tend to come and go at whim.

Light in Winter

Exciting news, I have 2 pieces in a group show at Kirra Gallery, Federation Square. The exhibition coincides with the 'Light in Winter' festival in Melbourne. The theme for this years festival is words and story telling. Kirra Gallery for the last 4 years has had an exhibition of 'illuminated works' to tie in with 'The light in winter', a multicultural soltice-y kind of celebration.

Thank you to Crystal Stubbs for suggesting my work to Suzanne at Kirra Gallery.

The brief was to make a light out of the hot cast pieces that I have been making. The stands are made from recycled Australian cedar, with a burned designed, finished with a natural hard wax from Whittle waxes. The light is a strip of flexible LED's set underneath the glass in the cedar base. At last they are packed and on their way.

Letter box

If only every long day working hard was rewarded with a letterbox full of books!

Mother's Day

Gifts for my Mum and Dad, with handmade gift tags. The flower is a water colour and the soy fish is a screen print.

Autumn leaves 2012

This year I have had even less time to appreciate Autumn leaves which are one of my great loves. I still find old pressed leaves of autumns past in various novels. On our way up the Dooralong this weekend valley we stopped to admire this long driveway of plane trees and liquid ambers.

The growing bibliography...

Home by Miler Lagos

Thanks to reading Virginia A. Walter's paper 'Metaphor and mantra: The function of stories in 'Number of stars'' I have come across Jerome Bruner and Robert Coles. 'Acts of meaning', 'Actual minds, possible worlds' and 'The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination' the titles of their books that I hope when I get to them will shed some light on stories, imagination and cognition.

And more papers from today's research are:

• Why fairy tales matter: The performative and the transformative / Maria Tatar. Western folklore 69:1 (Winter 2010) 55-64
• Learning about ourselves through fairy tales: Their psychological value / Meredith B. Mitchell. Psychological perspectives, 53: 264-279, 2010.
• Declolonizing fairy tales / Donald Hasse 

I read a few more that weren't after all that relevant or informative, and realise that I have got to a point that I have read enough to begin to find where my own opinions stand, I feel another map / diagram coming on!

Through one paper 'The Magic of Fairy Tales: Psychodynamic and Developmental Perspectives' by Martin J. Lubetskyi (which for me was too focused on child psychology to be pertinent) I found a reference to Julius Ernest Heusher (1918-) who wrote 'A psychiatric study of myths and fairy tales; their origin, meaning and usefulness' (1974) and 'Psychology, folklore, creativity and the human dilemma' (2003) I'm hoping they won't be too much like Bruno Bettleheim's 'The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales  (1976). Bettleheim for my literary palate proves everything far too neatly. Every fairy tale gets psychoanalysed for usefulness within an inch of it's life! The enchantment fades as reason and usefulness is hammered into every word, in every story.

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

Very funny.

Post it wall

The beginnings of a research essay

Chapter Headings and epigraphs

Honours Research Paper

The other day I had an idea about the way I am going to set out the Chapter headings. I am trying to find ways to get myself to enjoy some parts (at least) of the Research paper process.

So the idea is to write chapter headings like a novel, indicative but slightly mysterious with an accompanying epigraph. Popular I think in Victorian novels. I think it's a style that has fallen out of use except when an Author employs it to evoke an other/older world. I think it could add a sense of humour and wryness that could alleviate some of the 'seriousness' of a paper.

Thomas Malory uses the epigraph for his chapters in Le Morte d'Arthur, giving us a summary of the events in the chapter ahead, somewhat giving the game away. Given his antiquated prose one could be forgiven for reading only the epigraphs.
For example in Book X
Chapter 21: How King Arthur let do cry a jousts, and how Sir Lamorak came in, and overthrew Sir Gwain and many other

Though the best use of this style I have seen is in Neil Gaimen's Stardust, informative and compelling!

Chapter One: In Which We Learn of the Village of Wall, and of the Curious Thing That Occurs There Every Nine Years

Light and shadow experiments

Some quick, basic tests

It is annoying when the 'torch' on ones smart phone is brighter than the 'spotlights' one has bought to be ...you know spotlights!

Cee-lite by Flexalite

These cee-lite panels looks awesome, need to get some!

Hatched artists: Then and now

My first out of uni 'Artist talk' for Hatched at PICA in Perth.

Hatched 2012

Hatched opening night

and the Bullseye Emerge Winner* is ...

Émilie Haman with 'Once upon a time'

 Well, what can I say. I like it, it's all fairytaley. It's sweet and disturbing. What happens if you put your foot in there? Do you become something else? Tempting...




Actually they don't use the term winner but 'Bullseye Glass Emerge 2012 Gold Award recipient' but that would make my heading waaay too long.

The PICA opening dress

Over the Easter break I have been doing a little pattern drafting in order to make myself a newly styled dress for the Hatched opening at PICA. Starting with my favourite pattern V. I used the straight darted toiled pattern as my starting block. I wanted pockets and some sort of variation. For some reason a peg skirt came to mind, sort of fits in with the quasi retro feeling of the original. I also wanted extra length, it's amazing what happens to a skirt when you sit down. The fabric I'm using is a floral cotton (lemon yellow base with turquoise and green flowers) that I bought in Singapore. The trim for the pockets and bodice is a blue green shot silk. The lining is a silk cotton blend in off white. I bought it in one of Tessuti's sales, it has a gorgeous feel.

So changes are:

Side pockets with trim
Peg shaping, 2 pleats on either side at front and top stitched pleats at the back
Below knee hem

Experiments: model and mould making

'The ice book'

Davy and Kristin McGuire are the creators of 'The ice book' a truly magical combination of effects and storytelling.

"The performance blends animation, puppetry, and film to bring a pop-up book vividly to life in front of the audience's eyes."

You can see bits of the performance on the vimeo clip but to find out more about the project go to their website www.theicebook.com



The Icebook from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.