The one that got away

Being the daughter of a fisherman, I am very familiar with the concept of 'the one that got away'. Yesterday I delivered my new Neo-Luddite range to Reverse Garbage for JUNK IT and returned home to discover that one had indeed got away. I found Alien Code brooch cowering terrified under the computer keyboard where I was entering its details into excel earlier in the day. It was perfectly camouflaged, tentacles a quivering. I explained to it that they are very nice people at Reverse Garbage and there's every chance that it would be going to a good home so there was no need to hide. With that, Alien Code squared it tentacles bravely and popped into my bag ready to embark on an exciting new life chapter.

Bird Week

Every morning I like to take tea in my beautiful Shannon Garson porcelain cup and sit on the back deck letting the warm morning sun ease me into the day.

While doing this, I often get to see lots of bird events in the bushy back yard. They are always upset or excited about something- cats, possums, other birds. The Mickeys in particular like to be in a constant state of moral outrage. One memorable bird event was the Bird Wars of 2002. Diplomatic talks completely broke down between the Mickeys and the Blue Faced Honeyeaters. The blue faces are are pictured left holding the strategic TV aerial position along one of their containment lines. I've never heard such a din! The cats generously offered to supply first aid to any casualties.
If you did not know already, it is Bird Week and time to appreciate our feathered friends. That's according to Shannon Garson's Strange Fragments blog showing a different bird related creation every day of this week.
Happy bird week (and lay off the KFC why don't you!?)

UFO: Unidentified Fluffy Object

Last week a friend in Canberra sent me this UFO (Unidentified Fluffy Object) in the mail. No note, no explanation, nothing. It would appear to have been knitted by someone's demented granny! I have spent the last week puzzling over what it could all mean. Maybe a winter hat with hair holes? But then it struck me that it was a solution for the possum plague on my paw paw crop. And it works a treat as you can see. Granny wisdom to the rescue.
There is such a resurgence in all the Nana crafts at the moment with knitting graffiti, embroidery, beanie festivals, scarfies. Which brings me to a plug for a show at Kick Arts, Cairns: Nana is the New Black opening 6pm fri 23 June. What use they could possibly have for knitted objects up there in their steamy climate, I'll never know but there will be plenty of gorgeous stuff like Tupperware jewellery by Liana Kabel and iced vo-vos as far as the eye can see...

Pyramidiot 2

Now you may remember a couple of postings back when I spoke of processing sharp shards of glass into wearable fragments by harnessing southern hemisphere reverse pyramid power to dull rather than sharpen materials such as glass and steel. Well, the pyramid, which I constructed from the finest grade bamboo skewers using principles of pure geometry tested by the Great Eqyptian Pharoahs of yore, has been sitting on my back deck for a number of weeks waiting for the full moon. On a few occasions I have noted (whilst answering the nocturnal call of nature) some very strange goings on under the dark cloak of night. And it wasn't just the possums getting stuck into the paw paws. So I decided to go on a stake out with my digital camera the night of the full moon. This is what I saw!
And lo, the very next morning this is what I found under the pyramid:

Some unique celestial glass jewellery fully formed and soon to be available for sale on my website. Astonishing you may say, but one must never be too surprised at the power of the pyramid which has not only given us the Food Pyramid nutritional guide, but also the lucrative delights of Amway style sales structures which have bought so many riches to humble folk around the world.

Somewhere, over the rainbow

As it is Brisbane Pride Festival month, and we could not resist the "Show your true colours" festival logo, MoB Workspace are celebrating with a competition on our blog and with new jewels in MoBStore. Here is a peek at my "Somewhere, over the rainbow" range.

I was having so much fun with with the pretty rainbow colours that I felt bad about not using the black pencil that came in the set so made "The Happy Goth" necklace based on the Divine Comedy song with the chorus:

"Well her clothes are blacker than the blackest cloth
And her face is whiter than the snows of Hoth.
She wears Dr. Martens and a heavy cross,
But on the inside she's a happy goth. "

I don't know quite how this relates to the gay and lesbian Pride festival but I suppose it is all about showing your true colours!

MoBStore is open 10am - 5pm, 7 days a week so come on in and look at our fabulous display!

Big Red Wrecker

Wreckers are highly attracted to the colour red, so it is no surprise that one of my favourite places to visit in search of materials is the Big Red Shed in Kelvin Grove. The combined fact that half of the city is dedicated to demolishing heritage buildings to make way for apartments and McMansions while the other half is busily restoring the charms-of-yester-year to their old timber homes contibutes greatly to the success of salvage retailers like the Big Red Shed. Dedicated to carefully recycling all sorts of timber and fittings, it is the old glass that gets my attention. Stacks of old louvres and odd bits of heritage glass are available and while some of it is able to be sold for building works and reused by the skilled glazier on site, other bits get broken (it wasn't me!) or are not popular enough to retain. Especially the old louvres which don't go that well with modern security standards and airconditioning systems. And that's where I come in - you can see above some of the pretty blue and green pieces above that I got there this weekend - yum!
Perhaps you are wondering how I make this into the jewellery that you find on my website glass galleries. Here is an secret glimpse into the processes I use:

As you can see, I am harnessing the ancient power of the pyramid in my manufacturing process. In the northern hemisphere you may be aware that razor blades can be sharpened by placing them under a pyramid such as this. But down under, the opposite effect occurs, which is why I am treating these sharp shards to several days of pyramid power to smooth off the edges. Visit my blog next week to view the astonishing results. You will be amazed.