FibreArts Ballarat 2011

Where have I been? Well since you asked, I have been on my annual jaunt to Ballarat. The weather was beautiful, the company excellent and the class I did superb.
I have had a serious case of the "Blahs" for quite a while. I really wanted to make something but couldn't even find the initiative to finish one of my many WIP’s (works in progress).
The doll I made with Jill Maas changed that and I have recovered my drive.
I spent the 6 days in Ballarat creating up a storm. As always there was a class I would love to do in the future but for the first time I didn’t look at the other classes and think “Damn I wish I had done that one”.
Joss Farmer Jones is a truly excellent, incredibly patient teacher and an wonderful book maker. I can honestly say with my hand on my heart this was one of the best classes I have ever done. Fun, relaxing and filled with (for me) new techniques and lots of information.

We made lots of different coloured papers in a variety of techniques I have always wanted to have a go at. Itajime, marbling and dipping.
The blue book is a technique where you dip tissue paper in inks that you have splashed about on a piece of glass. After they have dried they are ironed onto a piece of freezer paper and then 3 coats of blonde shellac is brushed on allowed to dry between each coat. The freezer paper is left in situ.
I used it as part of the cover for my leather bound binding. The leather and paper were glued and stitched in place.

The orange marbled paper covered book is a simple spiral bound item, it is actually all our class notes that we made into a book on our last day. An excellent idea that I will use in the future.

The other 3 are concertina books, I haven’t written anything in them yet.

The teachers and classes for 2012 are up on Gleny's site FiberArts Ballarat
I am doing a Mixed Media class with Jenny Crossley let me know if you are going to come and I'll catch up with you there.

Jill Maas

I spent the weekend making a doll 'Snowdrop and Frosty' by Jill Maas. I haven't made a doll for ages. I ran out of oomph for doing much in the way of textiles. I wasn't even that keen to do the doll workshop but I had made the committment to do it and didn't want to let my friend Christine down by dropping out at the last minute. Off I went on Saturday thinking 'Why did I commit to doing this'.

I made my favorite Spice Cake to take along. I hadn't made that for quite a while and it is an easy cake that everyone who eats it always raves over so it was a good choice to take along. I knew I would know just about everyone there and was looking forward to spending time with them, still I had a large case of the blah's.

Getting out and making something was just the thing to cheer me up. Starting and finishing Snowdrop and Frosty in 2 days gave me just the sense of accomplishment I needed to kick start me back into my textile adventures.

I hadn't made a doll with or by Jill Maas before her patterns are very popular. I know why now. The patterns are easy to make and the results are beautiful. Jill was a great teacher, she made sure everyone got the help they needed.
I also bought the pattern for High Octave Hester

and The Little Singers

Photos courtesy of Jill Maas's website.

I had the best weekend. It was just what I needed. I found my initiative. I'd left it somewhere and couldn't find it. Now I have and I am madly keen to go off to Ballarat on Thursday. Something else I was wondering why I had committed to.
I found talking to my textile friends that a lack of enthusiasm for our favorite past time is a common complaint. I put my own lack of enthusiasm down to a busy life, work and family don't leave a lot of time to do anything else. I have to make the best of my available time. One way to do that and get maximum satisfaction from that is to make small things. they get finished.
I am doing a book making class at Ballarat so I am confident I will not be bringing home a pile of raw materials that will still be waiting to be used this time next year like the fabrics I dyed last year that are still sitting in my studio waiting to be turned into the jacket I have planned.
I wonder if our modern lifestyle is one of the reasons so many of us are suffering from the blah's. I want to do so much, yet lack the time and then when I have the time I lack the enthusiasm and the initiative to even start let alone finish. I read and wrote about Getting things done excellent advice from Mary Gordon and Micheal Nobbs. I need to go back and read it again and get organized. I'll talk to you again after I get back from Ballarat.

India Flint and The Leafy Sea Dragon Festival

Today I set off cross country to lovely Yankalilla. The day was overcast and miserable and then it rained. I didn't mind though. Yankalilla is one of my favourite places and somewhere I'd love to live.
Yankalilla is just inland from Normanville, half way between Yankalilla and Normanville would be an ideal place for a home. I could walk on the beach every day.
Anyway the reason I went was for a workshop with the wonderful India Flint

The Leafy Sea Dragon Festival is on from the 15th to the 24th of April and includes the Art show, an artists trail, Mix it up Media Exhibition and lots more. Go to the link and you can see the rest of the events in the festival.
One of the exhibitions is called Colours of Home. For this a grant was won from Festivals Australia. This funded the Wonderful India Flint to spend a week at Yankalilla. Today we worked on flags for the exhibition,

India demonstrated her use of eucalypts in dying.

We bundled up silk and different types of leaves

tied them up with string

and boiled them.

Here are some of them hanging to dry.

We are all going back this week to work on some more fabrics for a group piece for the exhibition.
For full details on the how's you’ll need to buy India’s books and for lots of eye candy there’s her blog.

Challenged

I am off to Fibres Ballarat in a couple of weeks and I have a couple of things to do. One is make a 15 x 15 cm piece for the fund raiser and the other is to make a cocktail outfit from an Op shop buy.

I bought this dress at the Salvos a couple of years ago and it has been hanging in the wardrobe in the spare room ever since.

Here's a photo with the tag still attached to prove I did buy it at an Op Shop. I am pretty sure this was one of those bride maids dresses some poor soul had to buy and I can just hear the bride saying "if you shorten it you can wear it again". Please like that ever happens.





This dress was definitely made for someone shorter than me. I have to fiddle with it quite a bit and it is a couple of inches to small in the bust so that needs to be fixed but it fits me in the waist. I did wonder for a few minutes if it had been made for a cross dresser as I am not to big in the bust department. I do like the colour and as the theme is gold it fits the bill there.
All I have to do is make it longer in the shoulders, chop about 50 cms off the length and add some material in the under arm so it fits there. I might make some sort of shrug with the leftovers as Ballarat in April can be really cold. Nothing to it. More photos to come.

New Grandson Aaron Gregory

Aaron Gregory Stuart arrived on 4th March. Although he's 5 weeks early he still weighed in at 5 pounds 1 ounce. He is a beautiful baby, a little jaundiced and still sleeping most of the day and night. He's out of the humicrib and doing really well.

Breaking out of a creative rut.

I think this post says it all about my current state of mind and what I need to do.
Ali Edwards shares her thoughts as a guest blogger on Kelly Raes blog. Some body give me a big ladder so I can climb out of my rut.

Lil Blue Boo

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since I was last here. Between work, life, kids etc time has just flown. I haven't done much of anything since the Summer School. I have cruised the net quite a bit though. One interesting blog with lots of tutorials and info and eye candy is Lil Blue Boo
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.