Spectrums

Yes, onto my favourite visual spectacle, the spectrum. I'm working on a whole bunch of new belts at the moment, which actually doesn't feel like work, I love making them that much! It is kind of weird to be sitting in the studio playing with itty bitty pieces of paper, aka stamps, I tend to feel a bit guilty and wonder when the real work is going to start, the dusty, stinky, sweaty side of things that seems 'real' but yet so arduous.

Anyway some of these are destined for Cottage Industry, some for the Craft Vic Christmas Hatch market on Dec 19th, and some for fine folk who have ordered them as presents for their beloveds.


Buttonmania's selection of plastic clasps and buckles from last weeks' sale. I brought home a huge haul of silver buckles, over a kilo!

'Tis the season

We made our own tree this year, I have been wanting to get away from the ol' pine tree for a while now, and finally had some cardboard boxes big enough. I found a slide show online which gave me the steps to make this tree, although I doctored it a bit.

Leo helped me paint, well for a while, his roller seemed to soak up all the paint and so eventually I took over. Yeah, I am a bit of a control freak, and, yes Pip, I did get my set square out to check the angles and all the measurements, remember I have Virgo rising.



When I was slotting it all together the tops were a bit floppy, so I got the knife to a polystyrene bauble and made slits to jam onto the top of all the tree bits. Worked a treat, but it does have a slightly Russian feel to it, not so triangular in form as the regular festive ones.


We likey! No lugging a pine tree around in the car, no vacuuming up pine needles, and no feeling like you're disposing of a dead body as you wrestle the old tree into the green rubbish bin.

Oh and if you're reading this in your reader, we have a few side-bar changes over here at Aprons and Hammers that deserve your perusal!

White

Here it is, my frothy, flowery, sparkly, satiny neckpiece. I think that folk are calling them bibs, which doesn't appeal to me as bibs are, in my experience, covered in drool and mashed food, worn by a tooth wielding toddler. Not what I had in mind for this elaborate piece. 'Scuse the not so great photo, it was last minute & about to go into the box, and I couldn't be bothered faffing about all photo studio like.

Can't quite recall how many hours went into this: a lot of crochet time watching DVDs, a lot of angsty sorting out time, making combinations of the flowers to see where they should go, figuring out what sort of backing to use (hello felt), deciding on buttons/sparkly doodads to go on top,( I had originally wanted to use clear glass but they were all random and I don't do random very well), and finally stitching them all on.

Oh but wait, there's more. Although the felt is a great backing, the reverse side was just yuck and unfinished, so back to the satin it was, cutting it out and ironing a seam allowance, and oh joy hand stitching the whole darn thing on. I pretended that I was a coutourier, it took about three hours, but for some reason I found it perversely enjoyable. Plus I was listening to the cricket which was just divine, after all this hot weather, something was definitely missing - it was Kerry O'Keeffe.

I'm glad I went the extra distance to sew the satin on, it looks rather polished and well worth the hefty price tag. Methinks the whole White Christmas ensemble will be curated early this coming week, and on display at Craft Vic from then on. Wonder what sort of dramas every one else had making their work? Maybe it was just me.......

One last observation, the thing that really shits me about using fabric is the ironing. Do all you fabric folk have the ironing board out all the time? Mine usually gathers cobwebs until I really need my linen pants, though at the moment it all elasticised waists for me, linen pants are a long way away!

Listening to: The cricket on 774 ABC Melbourne

Harrumphing

Today I was harrumphing over fabric, it was white satin but after my mitts got to it the colour was dubious. Made a mistake, decided that I couldn't face doing it all over again, so felt is my new friend.

I'm making an elaborate neck piece for Craft Vic's White Christmas. Everything for this piece is bloody white; crocheted flowers, fabric and ribbon. Can you believe that the colour between different balls of white crochet cotton can actually differ? It's white for f@ck's sake! How can they be different?



Anyhoo, my next part of this now-becoming-tedious investigation into white, involves buttons. Some people hoard buttons, collect buttons, adore buttons, I am indifferent, and have not got a good stash. Off to Buttonmania to get some clear glass buttons, but no - the mecca of buttons in Melbourne cannot help me there. Oh but they are having a monster sale and I almost wanted to join in with the folks filling bags and bags with all sorts of good sounding buttons, you know the sound they make when you rummage through them, or pour them from a jar. Sale finishes Saturday.

I have arrived at an easy, symmetrical, Emma-esque solution for this piece, which will be revealed after I deliver on Friday. Yep I know where I will be tonight, on the couch, watching The Wire ( I am starting to talk like a Baltimore native, you feel me?), and hand-sewing teensy bits onto bigger bits. The joys of creating an ever widening posterior.

Wordy

Had me a bit of exposure late last week on Craft Vic's blog.

If any of you managed to pick up the fold-out catalogue that accompanies Shoe Show, I'll have you know that my text, at least, is an abridged version. I am a bit of a verbose type, especially when talking about this fine craft of shoemaking which I practice, and so the original 1000 words I gave poor Kim and Nella turned into 300 or so for the catalogue.

Anyway the whole piece is over at the CV blog, including images taken by Richard Brockett of me and my studio. I love my studio! Making a big mess in there this week, lots of belts on the make, an annoying fabric detour, and my glue stick combined with a lot of Christmas postage stamps. I'll show you when it's all done........

Listening to: the lawnmowing guy working hard to remove all the overgrowth in my yard - my pushmower, hayfever and pregnant form all ganged up on me and so I had to 'call a man'. Yeehar!

Robo finito

Finished these last night, sanding the soles whilst very hot and sweaty.

On second thoughts I would make them again, they are really cute and I can't help but smile when I look at them! Leo likes them but didn't wear them today, he said they are too good to wear to kinder and that he'll wear them tomorrow. It'll probably be raining and time for serious boots. Alas, the whims of a child.

This weather is my least favourite to make shoes in, too many little bits of leather dust settling in my elbow creases, the sanding machine throws out a bit of detritus too, so after finishing these I looked a bit like a miner with black sooty dust on my face.

All in a day's work. What shits you about your job in this weather?

Vapours

Spraycan Keyrings, on their way to Cold Krush Gallery in Adelaide, for my talented aerosol pals.

Get in while you can

Indeed, the splendour of Shoe Show Must end on the 28th November, next Saturday to be precise.

There's another event next Thursday, where Shoe Show exhibitor April Phillips will examine contemporary and traditional footwear with particular reference to the unusual, extreme, and avant-garde. By looking closely at forms, symbolism and functionality, the stories behind these unique shoes unfold.
Date: Thursday 26 November, 6-7pm
Bookings: 03 9650 7775
Cost: $10 / $5 Craft Victoria Members


I am so looking forward to wearing these Par Avion sandals, I also have a platform version in the making, and some new colourways/stamp combinations aswell, so contact me for your very own customised pair!

Listening to: Flight of the Conchords - Cheer up Murray

Robot Sandals

Remember last year I bit off more than I could chew with these oh-so-complicated sandals for Leo? I even put them away for this summer, procrastinating and hoping that he wouldn't notice.

So with this recent heat, and Leo's reluctance to shed his socks and sneakers, I delved back into Robot Sandals land, which was a hell hole of tricky, fiddly, tiny upper pieces. I had no idea how they were going to fit together until I started, it has been a time of sewing something, realising that it was wrong, spending more time unpicking the mistake than it took to sew in the first place - oh problem solving how I hate you on 36 degree days.

Anyway on Sunday it was cooler and I was determined to finish these damn things. The boy watched Charlie and Lola and I powered through to finally come up with these in all their glory. I must admit that they are pretty cute, but you could not pay me enough money to make them again!

Yesterday morning I lasted them, and today I can get started on soling them. I know that he's going to trash them in no time, the green leather is not the most robust stuff but he really insisted on green. What can I say - he's a pedant like his Mum.

Listening to: constant radio updates on the now 24 hour surgery to separate conjoined twins being painstakingly performed in this fine city of ours.

Deck the halls.....or at least make a plan to

Beloved folks, if you haven't already noticed, it's that time of year again. At our house we have not yet applied festive bits to the front door etc, but we did get all the decorations out to see what makes the grade this year.

We have plans to make a tree from some huge cardboard boxes, a slot together arrangement methinks. Although I love the smell of a fresh tree, I can't bear the waste of watering it, sweeping up all the needles, and then throwing it out.


So I have done another run of these cheery ornaments, both etsy and the shoppe have them in stock, and they will be winging their way to Craft Vic and maybe some other places in the coming weeks.

In contrast to last year, they have been blinged up with Swarovski crystals, and I am rather fond of them!

Listening to: Funkadelic - Icka Prick

In the garden

Forget-me-nots, an amazing shade of blue. These will self-seed for years to come.

Homegrown garlic! The round ones are giant garlic, I'm assuming that they are just one huge clove, look out vampires! There's nothing better than extremely fresh garlic, transparent and sticky when sliced. I'll keep a few of these and replant them next time.

Blueberries, so damn tasty, I need a hedge of them so that I need never buy the tasteless ones again.

Towering hollyhock, it was a remnant of last years' shorter stem, just shot up on its own, no water from me, and now it's way over my head and very cheerful.


Bromeliad flower. These plants are so intriguing, they don't need much to survive and the flower spikes last for ages. Just remember to water the vase of the plant, not the soil/growing media.

It's not all success though, there are also a lot of weeds going to seed and getting stuck in our socks, no doubt the cause of our collective hayfever, poor Leo is really suffering. Also suffering are the bean seedlings who, funnily enough, really don't like 35 degree heat. This early hot spell is TOO SOON thanks very much, the strawberries are sun-dried on the plant and there are a lot of burnt leaves about.

I'm realising that I will have to concentrate any water I have on only a few plants, maybe tomatoes and herbs. I'm hoping to squeeze in some cucumbers, as they cover so much ground but only have one watering point, I like the short lebanese cucumbers.

Other plants will just have to fend for themselves, which is pretty sad, but my yard is too big to keep lush during a Melbourne summer. I am planning on getting some chooks, although not in this heat, as they initially have to be cooped up for a week or so, but I really need their help in the yard, cleaning up, preparing soil, fertilising and keeping the bugs under control. Earwig infestation anyone?

Off to make some more Postage Belts for Craft Victoria now, while the studio is still cool. It faces west, and has been unbearable after about 2pm, so my mornings are full of action out there.

Listening to: Triosk - The Head Light Serenades

Daisy Chain

I have been a demographers' puzzle lately, sitting on the couch crocheting rather pretty things whilst watching The Wire. Well I'm breaking up the intense viewing with a bit of 30 Rock Season Three, which is so damn funny, but anyway, my inner girliness is embodied in these new necklaces.

They are currently residing at etsy HQ and Craft Victoria, among many other fine items of handmade splendour. Seriously folks, if you're in Melbourne, a visit to 31 Flinders Lane is a must.

Listening to: Tito Puente on Sesame Street He got Oscar out of his trash can and dancing!

The rest of the gang

For all my interstate and overseas compadres, here's the rest of my footwear posse currently on display at 'Shoe Show'.


'Chinoiserie' - Japanese brocade fabric and leather, machine knitted socks, customised chinese pendants.


'Tron' - My retro homage to the 1982 movie 'Tron'. Kid leather illustrated by my good buddy Sync, stitched onto blue patent, finished off with a classic wedge sole.

The thing that freaked me out so much about these is that the top-stitched pieces are not symmetrical. It was quite liberating to jigsaw the bits all into place, in a random but organised way.

The original 'Fiesta'. Lavish gold leather with crocheted cotton flowers, Swarovski crystals, and scalloped pink sole.

This version has an internal platform, which I left out of my silver ones, but I wish I had swapped them over as mine are too high for me!

'Shoe Show' is on until the 28th of November at Craft Victoria.

Listening to: Commodores - Brick House
1977, check out Mr Richie on saxophone!

Serious Sculpture

My handsome Sam has been profiled over at Australian Edge.
He's a clever chap, a modest chap, and he plays a mean guitar.
The above photo is one of my favourites of his - 'Tattooed Woman'.

Yes please

Colour clock, found on Colourlovers this morning.

Pettipants!

I ordered these three beauties from Cheapfrillz in Arizona today. Dontcha love etsy?
Can't wait to wear them around the house on hot days, and thanks to the elastic I know that they will accommodate my growing tum.

Might have to get me a red pair as well.......and start referring to Sam as Rhett.

Listening to : Sylphlike - Solaa