Things for Etsy

I've been trying to get some more things ready for my Etsy store. Today's a public holiday here in Melbourne and I've spent most of it photographing my work and loading onto Etsy. I still have a few more things but will add them later.


We went for a walk in the forest which is about ten minutes from home. We have some of the tallest trees in the world, Eucalyptus, or mountain ash, it's not until you're well into the forest and realize how tall they are, they block out the sun making you thing it's much later in the day.




This is Sherbrooke forest and is renowned for it's famous lyre birds. The male has brown tail feathers, similar in shape to a peacock, only smaller and brown. They are the most amazing birds, they imitate other bird sounds and anything else they hear, chain saws, machinery. They are incredible. We heard two competing with each other, it was like a forest full of bird song. We caught a glimpse of a female scratching away at the forest floor, they are very shy and not easy to find.




This is the other extreme, the tiny fungus on the forest floor.

Check out Jo's blog, she has a great article on rusting fabric and paper. She's also a lady from the hills.

Drawer fetish

I have to confess, I have this drawer fetish. My studio has a myriad of sets of drawers, wooden, metal, plastic, even cardboard.
The photos show my latest collection, they are very tiny, ideal for all my small elements and found objects. I started out with one set as they were very cheap in price and quality, but once I realized how useful they were I had to have more. For you Aussies and New Zealanders out there, I bought them at the Wharehouse, a chain that sells pretty much everything very cheap, the quality is not always brilliant though. These were originally $9.50 AU dollars, but I bought them on special for $2.50. Needles to say they are almost full of my little treasures.

I also have photos of my latest jewellery that I'll be adding to my Etsy store today





Here's a couple of photos of my jewellery desktop, the drops lined up are ready to be assembled into a new necklace. The other photo is typical of the things I collect, these are very, very old buttons. I've used a couple in the copper earrings above.




I thought it was about time I added some artwork as well as jewellery, which seems to have taken over my life at present.
Here's a page from my latest altered book, I'll probably add images to the pages later.



And finally, do I hear a cheer, this is a site I meant to mention on my last entry. They are trying to get like minded blogs from around the world out there. They contacted me and asked if I'd mind if they did an entry about my blog, to which I agreed. Here's the link Queen Kat's bloggers club They are doing a great job.

Sorry one last thing. Thanks to the lovely Judy Scott and the very talented Waltraud for both nominating me for 'You make my day' award
I would like to nominate all the blogs I visit on a daily basis, you're all wonderful artists and blogger friends. I promise I'll go now. See ya.

Busy, busy

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all have a happy, healthy, peaceful and art filled 2008.

This year has started out in the same busy fashion as usual. I've been replenishing my jewellery stocks for the two galleries where I sell my work. Above are a few things I have ready to send, I still have quite a few more to complete. The above pieces seem to have a vintage feel, when I start out I never plan a piece, I pick up an element and then go from there. I have four huge roll out drawers full of beads and found objects and lots of containers with gemstone beads. I let the objects direct me, it's amazing how I will have something sitting on my bench and it suddenly jumps out at me, even though I've over looked it on other occasions.

I was very happy to sell the necklace in my previous post on my Etsy store. Thank you for all the wonderful comments.

I still have another week off from work so I will be busy with more jewellery and working on my latest ABRR, this one will be sent on to the US. We start the overseas exchange of books this month, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you gals in the US have created, something wonderful by the looks of the sneak peaks on our blog.

We have been sweltering in Victoria with temperatures in the high 30's to low 40's, that's centigrade. In New South Wales and Queensland (the sunshine state), to our north, they are having floods, our daughter rang tonight, she can't get home due to the river near her flooding and blocking the roads. She's a ranger at a wildlife park on the Gold coast so she might have to spend the night with the animals.

Back to work for me now, it's nearly ten o'clock at night and it's still 35deg, very balmy.

Found object earrings and rusty fabric

These earrings are the latest addition to my Etsy store .
They have jets and onyx beads, with some very old cut crystal beads. The main features are the beautiful old silver filigree pieces that came from a bracelet.




I've also been busy 'rust dyeing' fabric as seen in Lesley Riley's article in Cloth Paper Scissors. Lesley does some magical things with rust. This piece was created by putting white muslin into an old baking tray that was starting to go rusty. I added hot water, vinegar, rusty objects, including an old bike chain and then the muslin. I made sure the cloth was covered by the water. After two days this was the result. I'm going to use this in my altered books.




This piece was taken a step further. I painted the background with diluted fabric dye and then stamped the fabric with my home made stamps.

More Found Objects Jewellery

The pin above will be winging it's way to Gillian Allen in the UK, as a small token of appreciation for all the work she's done for me, and everyone else, with permanent displays of our work on art-e-zine. She's a terrific lady.
The earrings are part of an assortment of jewellery going off to the galleries this week.

Found objects earrings and pin

These are photos of some of the jewellery I sent off to the gallery at Sorrento today, I'm hoping they arrive before Easter as it's always busy down there. I also sent a couple of necklaces too.
I'm about to clean up my studio tonight and move one of my drawer cabinets. I'm glad I don't have a lot of built in furniture as
I'm always moving it around. I've lost one of my favourite old jumpers so I'm hoping I might find it in the clean up.