Alana Clifton-Cunningham

A gorgeous show at Craft Vic in Gallery 3 at the moment, apparently inspired by, and referring to, body scarification, rendered in hand and machine knitted wool. I'm very pleased that the above samples are included, and are available to touch, as the works are so tactile and these framed texture panels satisfy the urge to manhandle all the pieces!

I'm seeing a bit of Sandra Backlund in the inspiration for this show, for more musings have a look at the Clog.

Also, in Gallery 1, I was gobsmacked by samples of Palestinian embroidery which has been made by women from refugee camps in Lebanon. Beautiful colourful precise work, it really hit home that craft is practised all over the world under so many different conditions.

I venture to say that many examples of craft produced in comfortable settings, doesn't hold a candle to the beauty and technique of these Palestinian works. I hope that these women are proud of their skill, and I thank them for sharing it with the rest of us.

Craft as an antidote for many circumstances.

I love Statcounter, not just for the thrill of seeing how many people are visiting me, but also where they are all coming from, geographically, via other blogs, do they click on any of my links, and what are they googling to end up coming to my humble blog?

Well here are a few examples:

- creepy man cross apron photograph
- complete set of golden hands
- Queen Amidala's outfits
- mestre cicatriz
- Sam Jinks
- George Calombaris bolognese recipe 17 ingredients
- leather and hammer craft blog australia
- great wave of Kanagawa tattoo half sleeve
- hammers boots
- Muzenza capoeira Melbourne
- Scienceworks Millenium Falcon
- ma soeur definition
Maggie Beer apron stockist


Ha! That's all I can say, I think that is so funny and illuminating.

I also love Google Reader, I have only just organised myself in this regard, and it has indeed cut down on my random clicking around & time wasting. It has made me aware of who posts rather regularly, and I'm wondering if those people have lap tops or desk top computers? I know I would be a more frequent bloggy lass if I could post while in cosy lounge room comfort, instead of icy spare room stuck at desk-ness.

Anyhow, enough musing, more hammering.

Listening to: New Buffalo - I've Got You And You've Got Me

New Kid on the Block

My Leo has his very own blog, called Leo's Lego Lab.
Every day he comes up with a new creation, he seems to keep them for a few days and then starts to pull bits off and reuse them.
It's almost a compulsion for him, his little fingers are so busy, he really understands how to make things on his own, and comes up with some amazing things, with full explanations of what and why.
There are so many I haven't documented, so this is our effort to capture the whole range of his contraptions.

King of Pop

I remember back when I was in primary school, one weekend heading down to the Bay Junction shopping centre in Glenelg, Adelaide, to spend my hard earned pocket money at the record shop. I came home with Thriller, and there began my infatuation with Mr Michael Jackson. My sister and I would torment our parents by making them sit through endless dance performances choreographed to his music, I have no doubt that if So You Think You Can Dance was around back then, we would have been first in line to audition.

I got so into him that I penned him a letter asking him to write a song about me, my Mum sat me down before sending it, and cautioned me that he was very famous and busy, and not to be disappointed if I didn't hear back from him. I didn't care, I just loved the thought that he may read my words, and know that dorky bouffant-haired girls in South Australia were seriously into him.

That year at the Royal Show I obviously bought the Michael Jackson showbag, and pinned my badges proudly onto my purple buckle bag (these were huge at the time, I wish I still had mine), I recall one showed him in a pastel yellow v-necked sweater - ah the 80's in full effect!

Off The Wall has now become my favourite of his albums, but I didn't discover it for a while, not until I was into hiphop, and began checking out where so many samples came from. Also, my sister and I had moved on from Michael to Janet, we were card carrying members of the Rhythm Nation.

I still have both of the aforementioned albums, on vinyl and they definitely mean a lot to me in terms of growing up and remembering times spent listening to them. Thriller transports me back to a younger period of my youth, poignant and painful, naive and joyful, and I'm glad I immersed myself so intensely, even if for a short time in relation to his ongoing recording career.

Music videos and dance have been so influenced by him, and no doubt the ruminations on his relevance will continue for months and years to come. Aside from all his personal demons, the man was a gorgeous creature in his teens and early twenties, and that's the dude I'm remembering today.

I can't help wondering if he and Farrah are trading hairstyling tips right now.

Keep on with the force don't stop, don't stop till you get enough.

Progress

Finally finished building up these lasts, I lost my way for a while, it was all getting a bit too Ali Baba, but now I'm onto the pattern.


All will be revealed, I can't wait to cut the leather and get stitching!


These booties are off to a great customer tomorrow, hope she loves them, they are looking fab.

Listening to: David Bowie - Fashion

Handmade indeed



My beloved pals Dana and Raphael are such a creative pair. They are a fabulous self-contained musical duo called Apsci, represented by the Quannum label, and they made this video by hand. How? Here's Ra's explanation.

"The main story on it is that it was shot using an iPhone, a portable printer and a webcam. The printouts are from us performing to webcam on a mac. The webcam video was converted to black & white, and printed out at 5 frames per second (4 up on a page, cut by hand). We then walked around different cities we were touring and shot the photos in sequence. Every frame in the clip is a picture, no video was shot. No special effects in post-production. About 4,000 pictures were edited into the clip (whew). It starts in Brooklyn, goes to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Honolulu and ends in Sydney."

I love that I can see Dana's beautiful hands holding the photos, I dig Ra's flow 'infintessimal', and the super-fast koi carp are a treat too! They also make amazing chai, Raphael is a stickler for hand-roasted and ground spices, his summer cooler mix is also a winner, man they are blessed with creativity! Miss you guys!

More books

If I had all the time in the world to buy, read and review books, I would
a) be a very happy woman,
b) have some serious storage issues, and
c) be spruiking the wonders of this book, loudly and repeatedly.

It's titled 'Paris: Made by Hand', by Pia Jane Bijerk, and I have been drooling over it at Hill of Content bookshop. The folks over at Inside Out blog have not only read it cover to cover, they have interviewed the author herself, and joined the dots on the hows and whys of this beautiful little gem. Go here to have a read.

You can also go over to Pia's own blog, for more sneaky peeks into the book, and for the low down from the author herself, it's a trés pretty site. She lives on a houseboat in Amsterdam, how awesome!

Also I am loving the whole answering how-to questions on the interweb, this week I learnt to do screen grabs on a Mac! Press the apple key, shift and 3 in unison, then use your mouse to click on the desired page, and ecco a lei, it's saved as a picture on your desktop!

Listening to: Weather Report - Teen Town
Nothing like a bit of fretless bass on a Saturday morning, thanks Jaco!

The things you see when you walk

Outside an old shirt and pyjamas manufacturers in Brunswick


On a power pole along the Upfield train line


Dawson St near Brunswick RMIT



On Lonsdale St, the most beautiful timber peacock


We were on our way to Shanghai Dumpling for lunch and I just had to stop and take pictures. People in the city are strange, looking at me quizzically as if to say "what could you possibly be photographing on Lonsdale St?"

Open thine eyes people!

The whittler

From this....


.....to this.

And there is still more to go. Endless re-shaping, taking a step back to see if I'm really seeing it properly, or am I just turning it into a Toucan? Hard not to get caught up in the details, got to remember the over-all shape I am after.

Nearly finished. Wading through drifts of leather dust and small shavings.

Drinking: Swedish bitters, Verjuice and mineral water. That's as hard as I get folks.

Scienceworks

So Leo had the day off kinder recently, and we decided to saunter over to Scienceworks to see what was going on over there in Spotswood. Well we nearly peed our pants when we got there to discover that the Star Wars exhibition had opened!! Woohoo!!


Titled 'Where Science Meets Imagination', this exhibition showcases more than 80 costumes, models and props from all six Star Wars films. I was taken back to my primary school-aged self just by looking at the Stormtrooper outfit and feeling a little bit scared. Let me tell you, some of these actors must have been huge, I know that Chewbacca / Peter Mayhew was way over 6 ft, also Darth Vader / David Prowse was too. (Does anyone want to play SW Trivial Pursuit with me? Anyone?)


There are various sized models, ranging from small maquettes, to this huge AT ST, and there was a ginormous Millenium Falcon which Leo announced was 'the thing I really wanted at the toy shop'.


Check out the Wampa and the Snowtrooper in the background!


Leo adores R2D2 and C3PO, so he was happy to pose for this photo. There was also a small theatre room with a presentation about robots, with an animated C3PO and other robots used in motor assembly, sewer inspection and bomb disposal. Leo was waving to the C3PO saying 'hello 3PO, I'm over here, hello!'

Other experiments included programming your own R2D2, and also building R2 units with different wheels for varying terrain. There are environmental displays showing what people wear in cold/hot/wet/dry climates, and a great model of a Wookie tree village. Hmmm what else can I recall? A complete collection of all the lightsabers used, loads of amazing original costumes, although not so many from Episodes I, II and III. I really wanted to see some of Queen Amidala's outfits, but my thirst was slaked somewhat in the Star Wars shop (of course) with the purchase of a book detailing all the costuming by Trisha Biggar.

The ACTUAL landspeeder from Tatooine. This led onto an large experiment in Mag Lev technology, using Lego and magnets to create hovering vehicles. Kid with short attention span not so interested, despite the Lego. Parent disappointed running off to chase excited child as he spies the Medic droid from Episode V.......

Leo just wanted to rush though and look at all the droids, which was rather frustrating, so I guess we will be making many more visits. It's on until November folks.

Listening to: Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

On my bedside table

I love a big hefty reference book, in fact there may never be a novel featured in this segment. Which is not to say that I don't read novels, I borrow a huge amount of them from the library (currently Paul Auster), but I rarely buy them. No Sir, the only books I deem worthy to shell out for need to be the kind I can dip into again and again, with great images too, please!

So this is the latest one for me, actually it has just left my bedside table to be replaced with something gobsmacking - more to come.
I remember when I was a kid, watching my Mum and Grandpa in their gardens, thinking - when will I know about plants the way they do? Is there a school subject coming up that will teach me all these things? How do they know when to water, how to prune, when do I learn all this stuff?
As it turns out I had little interest in plants until I moved out of home, and now here I am, a gardener of sorts.

This book combines history with horticulture, looking at many of the plants which have changed the world, for better or for worse.
' The story of these plants is also the story of human survival and ingenuity - from the invention of agriculture in ancient times, through to today's challenges of feeding the world's growing population and economies while protecting the environment.'




Divided into sections, the list of plants includes flowers, food, dye plants, plants for fibres, medicinal plants, poisonous plants, aphrodisiacs, trees, weeds and psychoactive plants.
As you would expect, the botanical illustrations are rather lovely, this full page aubergine is a real stunner.

Not only does this book tick all the boxes for me in terms of content, but the visual and tactile aspects have been really well done. The title font used throughout grows tendrils on almost every page, the illustrations aren't just presented as colour plates, but they appear in corners and margins, like the whole book is alive. The cover is a treat too, wrapped in printed cloth, very deluxe. Gold star to the design and layout team.


Written by John Newton, I got mine for Mother's Day at Readings! Thanks boys!


Listening to: Air - Les Professionels

A confession

I'm not exactly sure how to say this, but here goes: I don't like fabric.
That sounds so contradictory, offensive and final, but there are a few exceptions.
I wear clothes, and I enjoy them for their unique, individual fabrics. I love dark indigo denim, Japanese brocades, soft cotton t-shirts, velvet trousers, my gabardine winter coat.
But here's the thing - you will never catch me sewing things up in fabric. Je deteste this activity.
I do not have a fabric stash, I do not make or buy sewing patterns, I don't have a rotary cutter... are you getting the idea?

I hate the fray factor, the pinning, the fraying again, the flimsy or bulky bits, the huge amount needed to cover bodies, the chalk, the giant paper patterns, did I mention the fraying?
Leather is great for me as there is no fraying, I can glue the pieces together so that they stay put during sewing, my patterns are smallish and on stiff card, it feels much more substantial and specific. I'm sure that there are fabrics out there which would give me more of this, but I don't care. I know what I like, what I'm good at, and I'm sticking to it.

Imagine my horror when Uncle Bill requests his slippers to be made IN FABRIC.
I tried talking him around to leather, but no, the man wants fabric. Who am I to censor his wants?

If I managed to convey how I dislike making clothing from fabric, then it pales in comparison to making shoes from fabric. I remember at TAFE we had to do a fabric-covered shoe project, like a court shoe, or pumps for those of you in the US (I really hate that word, it gives me the creepy shivers like 'panties' or when adults who are not yet nannas or grandpas say that they are going to 'pop over', or 'pop it down here'. See I even had to type the 2nd p word extra small to give it less volume, ugh! That's a whole other topic...)

Anyways the fabric-covered shoe project had me swearing like a sailor, it sucked and I haven't changed my opinion. I decided to make Bill's slippers out of manly corduroy with velvet lining. I had to quilt some cotton batting onto both layers to pad it out and give it some body. I had to overlock the edges together to keep them tidy, so that I could bind them with grosgrain ribbon. Too many procedures folks, the fabric is getting all handled and less virtuous, and you can't clean it like leather. And I'm not even up to the lasting where all the serious glue comes out.

Cutting the damn lining on the bias, because fabric doesn't stretch and compress like leather.

Figuring out how to thread the freaking overlocker, and feeling like I was reading a Tokyo subway map.

Aforementioned Tokyo subway map.

Overlocking, overhandling I say.
I hope that you don't think that I'm an intolerant wench, I really am quite OK. In fact some of you may benefit from my lack of stash, in that whenever I get fabric I tend to pass it on. I do have a few lovely bits of cloth that I am loathe to define in anyway by taking the scissors to them, perhaps I just have a limited imagination?

Listening to: Average White Band - Pick up the Pieces
They are Scottish, seriously white except for their drummer, and very very sampled. Check out the kilted guitar player! He moves his sporran in mysterious ways...

Floats my boat - Nicholas Kirkwood

I guess that anyone who does a 5 year apprenticeship with uber-milliner Phillip Treacy is going to learn a few things. Take Nicholas Kirkwood for example. I am not a regular wearer of high-heels, but I really love his work.


It's all about the shapes; silhouettes, bold sculptural forms with minimal surface detail. He eschews the use of fussy trims and decoration, referring to them as 'the gargoyles of the footwear world'. Good for him.

Talking about magenta! His use of colour also floats my boat; bold, tone on tone, metallic accents, striking.In technical speak these external platform sections are a great play on proportion. When a shoe is designed, the 'pitch' has to be right, so that the ball of the foot contacts the ground precisely as the shoe rests. Too far forward and you are teetering on your toes at each step, too far back and you are trudging up an imaginary hill.
If you took the platform away in this case, the pitch would be all wrong, so it's kind of like a mistake that was corrected and has become his signature look. Of course he's cleverer than that, and it was all pre-imagined, but I like to think of all the ways I have attempted to correct mistakes in my shoes - this is a good one!He's only about 29 years old, bless him, and doesn't seem to make flat shoes at all, but I love these beauties none-the-less.

Listening to: Gary Numan - Cars

Blowing the horn again

I borrowed this image from The Design Files, it's a shot of Mr Tarlo of Tarlo & Graham's contemporary art collection, well some of it - the man seems to have an appetite!
The reason this is here is because the wall mounted sculpture in the top right of the pic, is a piece of work by my beau, Sam Jinks.

He's a clever geezer, works bloody hard, and this is one of his most successful pieces. It's great to see where these works end up, how people live with such detailed sculptures in their homes. It's also good to see a mish-mash of different pieces all together; usually I view Sam's work either in his studio, or in monastically austere gallery spaces, and this scene here is so casual and everyday.
I likey!

Listening to: Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island