blog

Autumn Sunshine.xxx

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:31:16 +0100

Todays job was preparing for Solar Dyeing.
At first this this seems an odd job to be doing at this time of year. Surely summer would be the best time to harness the heat of the sun, I hear you say!
Well, yes, the sun sure is hot in summer, and the solar dyeing goes very quickly when it is hot.
But you will be pleased to know, that you do not need to put away your jars as the weather cools.

Calico in bucket of walnut dye.

Throughout the year i have big plastic buckets which sit outside.
They are filled with materials such as walnuts - the green outside part, eucalyptus branches, tea leaves, leaves and nuts and red wine.
These work away for me quietly, just as the happy jars on my window also do.
These tannin rich materials require no mordant to keep the dye, and so are perfect for dyeing cotton.
It's really a case of topping up dye materials, and adding more material.

Walnut dye just topped up with water, nice and stinky!

Tannin rick bucket filled with eucalyptus leaves, branches and gum nuts.

Like an old drunk, this bucket is filled with red wine (old and donnated)

My jars, all collected over the years from op-shops and friends, need a autumn clean out too.
The sun may shine for a shorter time, and the heat less from now until spring, but there is more than enough to extract dye.

Glass jar filled with onion skins for solar dyeing

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Solar steamed silk scarf with onion skins

Paper dress competition winner made with Pam Thorne. Top of dress handmade paper dyed with tea.

Use of solar dyed sisal string in my basket with rusted handle

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Selection of solar dyes sisal, ready to be made into balls

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Silk solar dyeing with raspberries

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My happy window sill

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Solar dyeing is a slow process, without electricity or gas as your power source, you are relying on nature to heat the water and dye materials enough to release and then set the dye.
This all happens within a few days behind glass, on a window sill, inside a sealed glass jar - amazing i know!
With the shorter days and lower temps., it will now take weeks rather than days, and is still a successful way to dye.
Best of all, you can get on with all the other jobs you have on hand.

Solar dyed raspberries on silk scarf

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Bundles of silk with onion skins ready to solar steam

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Finished piece - 'sack'. Made with solar dyed silk and onion skins, cemetery rubbing, old letter, buttons, lace and patterns. Has a chain with collected treasures at top, hand-sewn with blanket stitch.

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This is a lovely project to do with children, as there is no risk of them burning themselves from direct heat. The worst they will come across is the smell, but some kids are wrapt with this stinky mixture they have created.
It is also a great way to experiment with a small amount of material.

You can take a small glass jar, put in your experimental material with water, seal and place in the window sill. Sit back and watch and record the results.

In summer. i would advise regular checking of the jar, as the heat causes pressure to build up, and does require occasional realease. This doesn't seem to be a problem at this time of year.

Otherwise grab a bucket and fill it with tannin rich material and water, place with lid on in sunny spot and wait. You can place in material as the dye forms, or after it is good and stinky.

Materials to dye with in the tannin buckets include any natural materials - wool, silk, cotton.
The glass jar inside i usually have dyes including - onion skins, raspberries, passionfruit, protea leaves.

I have chosen to work with a low water and electricity method of dyeing. I am interested in how we can create beautiful and functional items that do not create waste and pollution.

I choose not to work with metals in my dyeing process. I understand that i could have a greater range of colours in my pallete. If you are interested in this idea, there are many fantastic books to read on dyeing using metals such as aluminimum, copper and rust.

I am really happy with my soft pallette of dye colour. Lovely people older than me have admired the colours of my silk scarves, as reminiscent of the dyes their grandmothers made. Perhaps they were solar dyeing too!

They certainly didn't have the commercial dyes we lean on today.

Glass jar clean and ready for dye material.

Protea flower and leaves.

Protea leaves. {our family story is that the fairies party hard and wear out their wings. They come to our garden to get a new pair. Lucky we have a never ending supply under our Protea tree.xx}

Onions skins + water + glass = ready to solar dye.

Stacked full of Protea leaves.

Happy dyeing and experimenting.x

Community

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:48:27 +0100

I am very lucky to live in a beautiful place called Penguin. Nestled along the coast of the North West of Tasmania, near by, but not too close to two cities. A nice little town whose main street is 'just over from the beach'. My children can swim or walk on the beach every afternoon. Town is a short walk away from home, and we have many great small business that offer most things you really need, ie, a great coffee shop, gift shop with local work and choices of supermarkets.

I am always happy to be involved in my community with my art wherever i can. We have quite a few events coming up in Penguin in March. I will be visiting the Penguin organic Festival on Sunday 4th March. This year i get to go as a visitor and enjoy the festival with my children, but based on other years, it should be a really great and informative event.

On the weekend of the11th is the Penguin family Festival (facebook link here). Head to our lovely town for this weekend and find it filled with music, sandcastle building, and more. I will be there on Sunday 11th in front of the old railway station grass. I am running a FREE children's workshop from approx 10- 11.30am.

Come and create with recycled materials in the sustainable workshop.

We will be using egg cartons and rocks and water colour paints.

I will also have printed out mandalas to colour in too.

Find me also in Penguin the next Saturday the 17th of March at the Uniting Church. I will be offering FREE string making lessons from 10am - 1pm. We will be using recycled and natural materials. There will be lots of art and crafts on display.

I will also be working at The Makers' Workshop a few days in March too. Find me working on my baskets there.

I hope to see you at one of these great events, come and say hello.! And keep updated with what i am doing over on facebook.

Give away - Wooden block necklace

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:53:34 +0100

If you head over to my secondSister facebook page, you can be in the running for a FREE wooden block necklace.

In the spirit of giving, i am offering you and your friends to upload your photo and one lucky person will be wearing a new necklace.

If you click here it will take you to my facebook page. Simply upload a photo of a recycled, upcycled or repurposed and hand made present that you have made or been given.

You have until the 19th of December to add your photo. I will announce the winner of the 20th of December.

I will be randomly picking a lucky person to receive the necklace.

The necklace you will have will be made from repurposed wooden blocks with a vintage or collected image and will have collected and vintage treasures and will hang on ribbon or chain.

It's so easy, because I like you! I also like that we share with each other, so dig out your best photo, and lets share this giving spirit. xxx

{photos of my necklaces can be found on this website and my facebook page. good luck. xx}

p.s remember to add you photo through the Promos tab on the left side of my page, photos added just to my wall are not in the running.

Summer.

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:15:32 +0100

I am pleased to say that the Nest-y feeling i had, (and still have), has hatched. I have been busy creating nests and homes for nests lately. Something about Spring, a time to clean and sort out our Nest perhaps.

beach egg, hand carved cuttlefish egg, in birds own nest.

After the nest and eggs, at last, the 'Birds' have hatched!!!

These necklaces are repurposed wooden building blocks with vintage and collected images. This series - Birds. The have vintage and collected treasures. They are hung on a chain or black velvet ribbon.

These necklaces available in Nest, Penguin. xx

I'm feeling Nest-y.

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:45:43 +0100

I'm in a Nest-y kind of mood at the moment. You can see it in my latest work.

Repurposed vintage spoons with black velvet ribbon and mini nest with moss, available at Nest, Penguin..

I'm feeling inspired by our feathered friends. I watch them in the garden, gathering materials, building nests, all the while talking and talking and talking. I wonder who is in charge, who gets to make the final say, on the best looking nest. I watch the birdies hanging on to the overhead wires, almost vertical in a strong wind, just waiting for me to go inside. Once i am safely gone (but looking out the window! ) i see them swoop down, all a twitter, sorting through my materials, selecting just the right piece for each stage of their nest building.

Welcome swallow, image Rick Eaves Photography.

I like to think that i have a nice partnership with birds, they collect my materials to make nests, and i collect their feathers to make my work. I also like to collect wings and birds, where nature has claimed them.

Present for Soli, collection of nests, repurposed birds, tea pot with mohair curls and bird, vintage glass and silver bowls, doileys, fake turf, large wooden bowl, with vintage fork and assorted natural materials for a zen garden. White sand seperate. All together in a vinatge suitcase from the Blue Barn, Ulverstone.

Little birds have made nests all around our house, in the roof, in our trees, we even had some lovely swallows across the road in an open garage, until last year. I think the rain and humidity was too much for their nest, delicate in construction. Sadly they have not returned to us, but I'm sure they will be close by. We have a garden full of (weeds, but that another story ) and basket making plants - red hot pokers, kangaroo paws, lots of natives and and grasses. These plants give us the added bonus of visits by a whole range of different birds throughout the year. I also have a Banksia serrata, local to the Sisters Beach area in N/W Tasmania. This grows to a big tree, and i am hopping that the black cockatoos will come to visit us, we often see them flying past when the weather turns.

This time of year, spring cleaning finds me turning over my collected pieces, I call it tidying, but really i am looking at it all with new eyes. I have a lot of material coming and going, and it can be easy to overlook just what i have. Just grouping together similar materials can find me creating a whole new piece of work. Maybe i never grew out of my love of sorting at school?

Perhaps it's the light, but i have new energy for my work and the whole process of creating now. Winter is a lovely time to embrace shorter days, sit in the old nana chair and hand sew, and snuggle under layers of bedding. I also love sewing with my repurposed woollen blankets into toys and kits and skirts; they keep my knees warm!!

But Spring, in all its 'light showers' and freshness has a different energy. The basket materials i mentioned are growing, their flowers swaying in the breeze. I love to harvest - iris, lily, daffodil, red hot poker, kangaroo paw, cordyline leaves to weave into string and work into my baskets.

Repurposed rusty metal handle basket with sisal, iris, lilt, red hot poker and walnut dyed sisal.

I watch like a mother bird over her brood whilst they grow and sway in the sunshine.
I look around my house and feel the need to re-connect with my work at this time of year too. New pieces to be made and Nests are making me feel happy.

Repurposed door with nest and moss.

I like to feel that birds have made their homes in these little doors and frames, just like the swallows make their nests in the corners of walls. Birds come in all different shapes and sizes and so too do my nests.

Repurposed gold frame with nest and feathers.

Repurposed and distressed frame with nest, moss and egg.

I love to wear skirts, and this warmer weather just begs for my legs to be let out of the pants i have hidden in all winter. So onto making summer skirts. I am loving the idea of incorporating stories and thoughts onto my skirts. I love texture and movement. Just like all my work, old is my inspiration. I love old poems, quotes and stories about peoples lives. I am putting together all these different ideas, with vintage and collected linens, and denim ( and organic denim) in my new summer skirts. I am making wrap skirts that tie at the side or back. They are reversable and have a pouch pocket at the front. The denim skirts are not lined, to keep the weight of them down. (it is surposed to get hot after all........)

Fully reversible repurposed linens summer wrap skirt. Has recycled sari silk detail, pouch pocket and love tag.

I continue to add to my collection of vintage images and i am finding new ways to bring them together all the time. I love that they can be used to create stories.

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Repurposed vintage 'Deer" wall hanging.

Wood is a strong, primal material, it has to be shaped by hand, and comes from our precious trees.

Nests in repurposed wooden bowls.

Wood feels old to me, we have always lived with trees. They are part of our survival, and we use them in our day to day lives. Wood is much longer living than plastic, and is much less likely to break down and become fragile. So i can combine an ancient materials and craft with the lovely old images and words.

Six sided block, wooden repurposed, with vintage images.

I hope you have enjoyed the glimpses of my new works. Natalie, from Nest in Penguin, has done a lovely window of some of my latest works she has for sale. Why not head over for a look!

You can also find some of my new pieces at The Makers' Workshop, Burnie.

You will find my latest work on facebook, that is where i put up different pieces i am working on or collecting. Thanks for reading.

Janine. xxx

p.s. I hope to share with you soon some great news about the Christmas edition of Country Style magazine. You may just find my work in there, featured in Nests shop window. Keep your eye out in the newsagent, if i leave you a copy!

Growing

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:28:22 +0100

I am happy with the fact that I never want to grow up! I think 'child' is the nicest state to be in.

Ned and best friend Soli at Marrawah.

My ideal is eternal childhood. I live to play and laugh. Have you ever noticed how much children laugh...... I try to exist in a state of possibilities, unknown answers, endless questions. Life is my playground, work is my playground, my house and family are my play-mates. How exciting it is to get up each day and make it up! What interests me today, what will i collect, where will i work, what skill do i want to learn, how will all these things come together? A childs life is full of questions, and that is how i like to live my life.

My Ned, wearing his rocker pants.

As individuals we all have a different way of approaching our work. I work by collecting, i surround myself with the things i love a this moment, collecting different colours, or sizes or textures. At some moment(i still don't yet know how to define), all of this collected material comes together and i see 'it'. This 'it' is my new project, my new baby to grow. And this is how i have ended up making such a varied collection of products, from a variety of materials.

Baskets from recycled beach rope, handmade woollen string, rusted metal and barbed wire, garden leaves, sisal and copper wire.

Clothes from vintage linen and dollies, buttons, hand sewn details, machine sewn details, hand printed details, woollen blankets, curtains and sari silk.

Necklaces from raw fleece collected from rare breeds of sheep, woven with shells, beach glass, leather buckles, buttonns, glass beads.

Solar dyed silk scarves with dyes from onion skins, walnut shells, raspberries, blackberries, eucalyptus leaves, protea leaves, carrot tops, red wine, tea, coffee.

Hand sewn toys and sewing kits and purses made with recycled and felted woollen blankets with vintage buttons and dollies.

Nests from dodder laurel and grasses, feathers, mosses, eggs and vintage childrens toys.

Shadow boxes with treasures representing past lives and repurposed wooden items with hand made paper and vintage cigarette card images.

Community projects with sculptural weavings using wool, sari silk, bailing twine, sisal, torn sheets, plastic, shells, feathers, leaves, branches, calico, buttons, dollies and hand sewing.

So each day i get up and play. Playing is without rules and restrictions. When there are rules, they are the rules that i have made up for myself. So, i figure it is okay to break them, after all it is me who made them! I do sometimes put pressure on myself though, and often find myself wanting to make things exactly as i see it in my mind, even if it is the first time i have made this piece. So it has been a really nice experience lately to be part of a collective of creative minds, sharing their love of being creative. The Ya Ya Sisters is a group of people who make and share their work with each other. I was lucky enough to be askeds to join in with this group of lovely people.

I was asked to join in a dream catcher swap. I have always loved them, and have included them in my community weaving workshops. I have always have a very structured idea about how they look, and i am pleased to say, that seeing the work of the Ya Ya sisters, they have blown me away with their individualism and creativity. It goes to show, that even when living in this play like state, i can get stuck on an idea of how things should be and look. It really isn't true, and i am pleased to have a push along when it comes to dream catchers. My mind is now running free with ideas and possibiltties and i can't wait to tackle a giant screen sized dreamcatcher! Here are some of the lovely works that have been inspiring me.

Burnie shines in October

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 09:56:52 +0100

"If you were to focus your telescope on Burnie from anywhere in the world during October you'd see a culturally rich communtity with music, exhibitions, performances and the celebrations of the simpler things of life." Burnie Shines, from the brochure for 2011.

If you are lucky enough to visit or live near Burnie in October 2011, you will be able to take advantage of the many activities going on. From feature artist 'Ben Lovell's' work, to workshops, music, exhibitions, family fun, open gardens, shows and stories, parties, sports and the Burnie show.

You can find me during Burnie Shines at the Pioneer Village Museum, Burnie on Saturday 22nd October. I am running a Basket Making Workshop from 10- 4pm. Cost is $50 per person and bookings can be made by calling (03 6430 5746, or emailing museum@burnie.net.

Also on during Burnie Shines is the photographic and film exhibition, 'Billy', at the Nite and Day Cafe, Mount street, Burnie.

Opening on 22nd October and running to 31st of October, 2011. Billy is a project run by 'Creature Tales', Director Chris Mead. I am the artist for this project which is about building communities. Read more about this project at Creature Tales
http://creaturetales.com.au/projects/billy/

I am sure you will something on during Burnie Shines this year, take a look at their great list of events. See you in town!

Father's Day

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:16:49 +0100

Tomorrow is the day we say thanks and give love to all the dads out there. To celebrate this in Penguin, there will be general joy and happiness in the 'Paris' end of town. Shops will be thrown open and children welcomed with everyone catered for. Look for the jumping castle kids!

I will be providing for FREE a Bunting making table. We will be repurposing magazines (kindly donated by the Penguin Newsagent and Nest) together with string, staples and stickers, into fabulous mini bunting. Make one for yourself or make one for your dad, grandpa or as in our family, our super great grandpa.

This is a tribute I have put together for Sunday. My dad is no longer with us, but lives in our memories. I have included his red clock, still ticking in this box of memories.See this in the Browns Building, Sunday the 4th of September where i will be making Bunting!

my love of Dolls.xxx

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:04:37 +0100

This is a selection of my doll collection. I often bring home dolls with when I am collecting. I find them in op-shops, usually looking very un-loved and a bit scruffy.

I have also found them on the beach, washed up in the high tide, where plastic washes.

Over time I have collected quite a collection.

I love each doll, each for different reasons. Some I love for what i know they willl become. These I will take apart and use.

One doll, affectionally named 'chesse legs', reminds me of Alice, from Alice in wonderland.

'Cheese legs - Alice'

Time has been a cruel friend to these dolls. They are no longer fashionable, sadly discarded and, like in Toystory, put in a box and forgotten.

I am celebrating these dolls, giving them new life and using them in my art and exhibtions. Though I may use legs, arms and heads sometimes, (seperate from bodies), it does not mean i do not love or wish to de-value these dolls.

Rather i see them as symbols - purity, innocence, youth, hope and joy.

My mums' own collection.

Like all plastics in our lives, they are going to be with us a very long time. I hope to keep these dolls from landfill.

I did have dolls as a child, my knitted life size penguin from my nana, my brown teddy bear and a baby doll with a full set of knitted clothes from nana. I also had a soft flower doll, with petals around her face, which lived until my daughter washed her. And my most prized Sugar the white cat, she has no tummy from being over loved! So it's not like I missed out as a child.

It got me thinking though, why this love for dolls?

I grew up in Melbourne, with a family connection to the Vic. market and a mother who grew up in Richmond and loved the city. This meant every holidays, a trip to the city on trains and buses. Although quite tiring at the time, I have so many fabulous memories of this time - (my favourite the 70's). I remember the downstairs Coles cafeteria, the Ladies toilet upstairs in Myers - ladies still wearing furs and touching up their make-up in the lounge lined with deep couches and elegant chairs.

What I also remember is visiting the Block arcarde. An opulent covered shopping arcade in the heart of the city.In this arcarde I would press my face to this fabulous window of the Dafel's shop. This shop of doll's arms, legs, and heads. Also golliwogs, miniature porcelain animals, wooden toys, dolls houses, miniature cars and a doll hospital.

Now, this may start to explain my love for dolls. Rather than being horrified at the boxes of bits and pieces, I was enthralled. Perhaps that is what I do, I am like a dolls hospital, fixing, mixing and creating new dolls and new lives for these un-loved dolls. Mostly I love the stories these old dolls have and I love creating new stories.

I don't see my love for dolls waining any time soon, and with an exhibition of work underway, in fact I think my feet are feeling itchy to collect right now!

Sewing toys and kits in Winter.

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:38:58 +0100

Winter is the stock making time. A lovely time to slow down and find those inside jobs. Long walks on the beach breaks up this work - in between showers, sleet and snow! Back at work, I have been laying out and making kits and toys.

Both are made from 100% woollen blankets I have collected over time. I wash them in hot water and lots of soap ( my kids call them soap monster washes). This felts (or fulls) the blankets - ready to be cut into toys and kits.

My focus on materials is to re-use existing fabrics. I love natural materials such as wool and silk. As always, the materials I collect drive what I make.

I also love buttons and collect these where-ever I find them.

They joy for me is bringing all these materials together to create these toys. The possibilities for colour combinations is endless.

Penguin Peck-e Peep-o Popcorn

All toys and kits are stuffed with Innergreen natural corn stuffing. This is made from corn starch and is biodegradable.

Find my hand sewn repurposed, recycled, upcycled toys and kits in my online shop here.