The Vibrant City

needle felting

2011-12-30T10:42:00.004+11:00

First attempt at needle felting.....rabbit.
Hand dyed fleece...came out much more mauve/purple than the expected grey

gluttony and the gourmand

2011-09-24T19:42:00.003+10:00

the NUMAN

2011-04-16T10:06:00.000+10:00

You are invited to witness the birth of a new man.

The Numan is a dependent creature designed to induce empathy, by promoting an examination of what it means to be human.

Complete with interchangeable body parts, The Numan exists as a human-shaped vessel for textile, ceramic and electronic components, crafted in an electro-gothic style*.

Designed by Rohani Osman (knitting and crochet), Brittany Veitch (felt and soft sculpture) and Katie Jacobs (ceramics), The Numan is an art exhibition that allows you to play God.

How we treat our most vulnerable members of society can be seen as a measure of society as a whole. Similarly, how you choose to use The Numan will illustrate complex questions about action and consequences, and about the inter-dependency of humanity.

Choose wisely…

Exhibition dates - Thursday 23rd June to Sunday 10th July 2011

Location - c3 Contemporary Artspace, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St. Heliers Street, Abbotsford, Victoria 3070

Gallery hours Wednesday to Sunday, 10am - 5pm

*This self-authored style is a union between traditional Gothic or grotesque leitmotifs and a 1980’s new wave and electronic music aesthetic. The Numan is gender neutral, influenced by the androgyny of David Bowie and Grace Jones.

BEARDO opening night

2010-11-22T17:18:00.002+11:00

BEARDO exhibition opening night is this thursday 25th 6-8pm at the Hawthorn Town hall gallery

kelly gang

2010-11-13T13:55:00.002+11:00

Making the ned kelly/bushranger........flippin sweet,

Beards Down Under

2010-11-05T19:48:00.003+11:00

The Map of Tasmania,
Giving a new meaning to stroking ones beard.

nesting

2010-11-05T19:42:00.000+11:00

nesting

Tassie

2010-11-01T17:15:00.002+11:00

For Beardo,
Beards Down Under,
Map of Tassie....say no to deforestation

CRAFTICIZE exhibition

2010-10-28T00:48:00.002+11:00

The elective i co-lectured at RMIT, Crafticize- make something that means something- is having an exhibition.

Come and see the students work this Thursday 28th, at RMIT building 88 level 5, 440 Elizabeth street.

We've set up a nook lined with vintage sewing patterns, leds and bunting!
image of Ben in progress of installation

Reason #infinity why i love my mum

2010-10-25T17:20:00.004+11:00

My sister phones me this afternoon, to tell me that she said to mum, she'd be a goat if mum took an animal form, because mum asks pretty stupid questions.
And that mum said my sister would be a mule, then mum sang a song about a mule being RUDE fat and lazy.

WTF! I love the awesome crazy in my family. Maman with the killer burn.

Lady Beards

2010-09-28T15:40:00.002+10:00

Working with the fab Ms Katie Jacobs for a project about BEARDS at the Hawthorn townhall.

So we're planning on making bearded ladies or lady beards. A series of 6 famous Australian facial hair --beards and moustaches-- as female pubic hair.

It will be an interactive piece, where the public can choose the lady beard, and attach it onto our lady on the wall.

At the moment, we're thinking the lady will be a re-drawing of Venus de Milo.
the lady beards are going to be
1. Map of Tasmania, 3D mini model with river system.
2. The cricketer, long stitch brown wool a la Boon, Chappell or Merv Hughes.
3. The Nick Cave/The Bad Seed, a Cave moustache woven from cassette tape spool.
4. The Shannon Noll, flannel shirt of the uber gross goatee
5. The Ned Kelly, styled like his famed armour, made from tin with rivets and peephole.

Some photos of mucking around...inspiration picks.
We do try to be witty, non gross, non porn, and not overtly feminist.

winter favourites (august)

2010-08-29T13:06:00.005+10:00

hand felted neck warmer from my friends Kate + Rob, super soft!

Wardrobe, found on the footpath, 1 of 2 left out, my housemate and I have matching wardrobes now!, Made in Australia, nice fixings/hardware, lovely matching burl veneer, nice curves and handles.
Just have to rearrange my room, to make everything fit!!

just bob your head like you get it

2010-08-16T20:19:00.004+10:00

"Thursdays are manic" -- a pharmacist once said to me.

A week of milestones
- 1 month in my new house/living with my flatmate
- 27th Birthday
- Decade since the passing of two friends

It's been some time since i've sat down and made something of substance. Recently it's all been about sewing clothes/trying to sew clothes. The last thing I made was a skeleton hand/arm neck piece...not very much.
At the moment I have an Angora goat leg in my mum's freezer. One Goat from My sister's herd needed to get its leg amputated and I asked my sister if she could get the vet to keep the limb. I really want to preserve it or stuff it and have it as a neck piece. Maybe not the entire leg as it's pretty darn big, but maybe the hoof/fetlock, so there's the trotter/hoof and some leg with fleece.

Need to get working on a solo proposal, but I want it to be of new work, no a hack of existing things I work on.......have an inkling of an idea, but need to draw it out.

don't ever fade away

2010-08-06T12:23:00.002+10:00

Today is for sewing a gold dress, for warm vapours from mint tisane, for a belly full of pancakes. Today is for washing clothes, for baking cakes and for moving furniture.
Today is for Joy Division, for Madonna and for Gorillaz. Today is for manicures and pedicures, for exfoliating and quiet. Today is for looking for liquor, going to the bank, phoning maman and sweeping the kitchen floor.

august favourites

2010-08-06T12:14:00.001+10:00

Cookbook of Liam's + gold dress in progress

----^^-----

2010-08-01T18:12:00.003+10:00

In news:
Moved house with my friend Liam, we're habituating in Nth Melb now. Definitely different to inner city, I do miss being so central, but I was spoilt living on flinders lane for so many years. Anyway nth melb is different in a good way, quieter, terrace house and still within stubling distance of the city.

Anyway, have had some super inspiration for sewing some dresses. Picked up and amazing gold foil/black fabric, gonna make into a dress with gaping side/tie up shoulders.
Also got some blue woven woolen fabric, to make a capelet, it will be line with silky leopard print, super trash the way i like it. AND some bronze/tarnished gold coloured lace and shiny fabric for a dress--lace sleeves-- yeah for trash.

2010-06-27T19:43:00.002+10:00

Pair of corduroy pants sewn into drainpipes of unfathomably leg casing goodness,
you are so fucking dreamy. My wardrobe is a better place, now you are in it.

Beasts Least Seen, prototypes

2010-06-24T14:08:00.000+10:00

Beasts Least Seen, manifesto

2010-06-14T20:30:00.006+10:00

Manifesto for Beasterds **draft 2 edit 16/06
Authors: Caroline McCurdy + Brittany Veitch

We make art because we are compelled, it is our vice, a systematic obsession to sew, sketch and distill ideas.

We make art because we drink coffee, because we eat pistachio baklava. We make art because we watch Total Recall, because we read William Gibson and because we listen to David Bowie.

We make art because we work in creatively unsatisfying jobs, because we work too many hours under the creative direction of someone else.

We make are because we are different, because we are similar, because together we have greater significance.

We make art to satisfy our desire for affirmation, to be held in high regard, to be somebody.

We make art because we are practicing Graphic designers, because we are non-practicing Industrial designers.

We make art to validate absences in our lives, to get excited, to be melancholic.

We make art to wake up with a rollicking hangover, to add levity to serious situations. We make art to get second chances, to make new opportunities.

We make art to prompt a flurry of discussion, to make others sit down and shut up, to make a satirical gesture.

We make art not to be self-indulgent but because we need to. We make art to relieve stress, to be consumed and to gain focus.

It is not a question of why, but of when and where and what. We make art because we do, because we are, because we can.

you with me so it's alright

2010-06-02T21:10:00.002+10:00

Simply put, yes.
yes, yes, a thousand time yes.

hanging at the flat sewing and cutting

2010-05-28T11:51:00.003+10:00

I'm sewing a bed gown for maman, bed gown is a dressing gown meets bed jacket. While she is recuperating at home, she can at least rock out the house in a vivid robe.

take one existing dressing gown
add sewn patchwork outer shell.

et voila.
I like that it is over patterned and i'm loving the purple/lilac/gold/mustard and I think the cream dressing gown will tone it down, so rather than vulgar, it's striking.
I stood infront of a wall of fabrics for a hour, before finding a combo of four that i liked...ransacked the wall, because originally i wanted vibrant crimson/scarlet, then thought maybe soothing aqua/lightblue tones.

2010-05-17T21:28:00.003+10:00

Not feeling too creative, except when talking about Gary Busey, or limping legs, or scratching out comics at work with eyes look in different directions.

Feeling that I should be doing more, but not certain to what it is I should be doing. Not sure what to do next with Beasts Least Seen, or how we're going to put our app together. Would feel better if we had a gallery, or somewhere wanting our work.

Passing the time drawing on a banana at work, propped it up on a mug facing my colleague with a speech bubble "i'm watching you", my colleague and I agreed the banana would probably drive a van and offer kids candy.

super love

2010-05-08T23:44:00.005+10:00

Killer comics from the Dr Quinn, DRAWING LOVE

Killed me with blisters SHOE LOVE

I'm Audrey Horne and I get what I want, SHOE LOVE

Photo CD love!

recent un-busy

2010-05-04T19:47:00.003+10:00

As of recent, doing anything creative has had some down time. My maman is ill, which really freaked me out at first (things are better now), i've been quite tired from work, and almost feel as if i'm becoming a shut in.
I rarely venture from my flat and it's quite hard catching up with people.

Project making has slowed down, yet there is a big list of things i want to make and do.
I considered picking up more shifts at my work for extra money, but that won't make me happy. Modding some pants into super skinny ankle biting/leg sausage casing pants made me happier.

Here is the last thing I made. It was for a friend's birthday.
'A humble slice of pie', very much a part of Veni Vidi Vici. I wanted to give me friend something handmade but not just any of rag tag/scruffy style of things i make. The pie slice is a single serve version of 'Magpie pie' from the Veni Vidi Vici exhibition, which i made with katie Jacobs. The slice is missing the amazing glossy texture of the original ceramic pie crust.

ANd even though it lacks the lovely ceramic crust, I think it came out ok. The raised crust stitching wasn't planned, but just happened that way. Beak and feet were left over from the original VVV pie, crust and meat are handmade alpaca felt.

Manifesto because

2010-04-27T19:43:00.004+10:00

While writing a manifesto for the Beast Least Seen project, I noted many conditions that make me make stuff. Whether they be living situations, relationships, seeking attention or respect, I compiled a rather long list of things.

This is an offshoot from that process. Not really a manifesto, more a statement of conditions. I wrote it while on the train coming back to the city, a nightmare of a trip where some awful man eating roast chicken was throwing the bones on the carriage floor and got extremely angry at me for not talking to him...

2010-03-26T22:40:00.002+11:00

Out of the city, missing all the F1 noise and people (kind of a bummer) instead I'm helping my sister show a few of her alpacas at an agricultural show.
While she fleece stewards in the morning, I'll mostly entertain myself taking photos- wood cutters, classic cars... and although particularly crass, I wish there were monster trucks there, but no such luck.

Photos to come.

bonnet

2010-03-21T20:02:00.001+11:00

a quick bonnet experiment. I had an idea for a pattern, and wanted to see if it's work.

yeti bib

2010-03-19T10:11:00.002+11:00

A quick prototype of one of the BLS sketches.
THe nipples are just sewn fabric, but would be cast latex in the future

It's a play on a tuxedo styled bib.
Materials: white cotton fabric for bib and nipples, black stretch poly for the waist tie, grosgrain ribbon and brown suri fleece (from Grace Jones)

Official launch for Insert coin here

2010-03-10T17:59:00.000+11:00

Check the details!

Head dress

2010-03-07T14:28:00.003+11:00

Beasts Least Seen: Head dress
Lace, toppers, madonna rounds, beading/pearling, hair, yeti parts, nipples, tongues, feet, claws/nails/talons

Veil

2010-03-07T14:27:00.002+11:00

Beasts Least Seen: Veil
Hair, deer feet, binding, embroidery, pompoms, beading

breastplate

2010-03-07T14:25:00.001+11:00

Beasts least seen: breastplate
Chain, patent, hair, string, yeti parts.

Collar/neck piece

2010-03-07T14:23:00.001+11:00

Beasts least seen: Collar/neck piece
Mixture of yeti hair en masse, thin chain, fabric strips, pompoms, claws

Cape/mantle

2010-03-07T14:18:00.004+11:00

Beasts Least Seen: cape/mantle
Eyeball covered capelet. Hand sewn detailing, full coverage of eyeballs (cast resin), interior lined with shiny/lurex/patent fabric. Large bow tie front.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!1!

2010-03-02T19:58:00.001+11:00

Blitzing on caffeine and custardy yoyo.......caro and I now have a new focus for the Yeti project. and I can't wait to get a sewing and a making!

it begins

2010-02-28T22:33:00.001+11:00

Insert coin here march 1st-31st

Where and when?
Mon 1 March - Sat 6 March Craft Victoria: 31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Tue 8 March - Sat 13 March Captains of Industry: Level 1, 2 Somerset Place, Melbourne (off Little Bourke Street)

Sun 14 March - Sun 21 March Alice Euphemia: Shop 6, Cathedral Arcade, 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne

Mon 22 March - Wed 31 March The Thousands Shop: Level 6, Curtin House, 252 Swanston Street, Melbourne

See here for all the details you could possibly want to know!

I think you are the sweetest thing

2010-02-27T14:59:00.002+11:00

I was reading banoffee recipes (banana toffee) whilst at work, drooling over the keyboard, and today i will make my own, substituting dulce de leche for some stove top caramel......will see how it goes.

Jump for Joy

2010-02-26T00:12:00.001+11:00

Reconfigured pattern from sewing experiment/practice white dress with black modal fabric.

yeti yeti

2010-02-22T21:08:00.004+11:00

Initially working towards 10 distinct Yeti creatures....so far have 8. These are the first step up from blue biro on scrap paper. Working on some 3D sewn experimentation with a few, to make some things a bit clearer and see how materials respond/react.
Obsessed with Pom-pom veils!

afternoon project

2010-02-17T19:27:00.004+11:00

COming home from work this arvo, i went to pick up a zipper I saw some cheap seersucker like fabric in white and thought I could make a sack dress with it.
Overall, I'm surprised with how it came out. I up-scaled the sleeve style from a shirt I already have and I LOVE how massive they sit.

Things i'd change? the neckline, and probably make it a bit longer and line it.

Yeti play

2010-02-13T19:23:00.003+11:00

Yeti hand, 2010, acrylic felt, raw suri fleece, cotton glove, florist wire.
Having a quick play with materials. It's all part of a proposal for an exhibition collaborating with Caroline McCurdy 'Beasts Least Seen'.

Most of my sketches have these creatures with long elongated fingers and limbs, so i had a quick play, modded a glove, sewed on some talons and got to see how suri fleece and the glue gun mix......pretty much as I hoped they would.

send off

2010-02-13T19:18:00.003+11:00

All of the zut speech bubbles arrayed, ready for their lengths of chain to be attached.

For the Insert coin LMFF pop up 'Pardon my French' i made a simple card backing for the chain to slot through.

Insert Coin Here

2010-01-24T23:18:00.004+11:00

The always lovely Kim and Nella from Craft Victoria have put together something special for the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival....vending machines of 'limited edition' fashion pieces made by Melbourne-based artists.
See the Insert Coin Here website for full details and updates.

As a participating artist, i'm putting in some specially made for melbourne (black) Pardon my French! necklaces.

French profanity, curse with style. Hand embroidered felt speech bubbles in black, de rigeur for Melbourne chic, slung from gaudy gold chains.
So to this folly say oui oui, keep an eye out for a vending machine, so you too can curse to your heart's content!
xx B

pardon my french

2010-01-04T12:45:00.004+11:00

zut, casse-toi, connard, ta gueule, putain!, foutre
Hand embroidered speech bubbles for gaudy necklace or brooch.

Naff, but amusing for office wear!
look out for them at my ETSY store

mutton dressed as lamb

2010-01-02T17:12:00.003+11:00

Sheep bones collected from the farm.
I really wanted a pebbles bone for my hair. Got some killer gloss paint in black, magenta and 50's pastel green.
It's still about trashyness....gold + flocked + bone

Harry the hedgehog

2009-12-14T18:54:00.003+11:00

Harry the Hedgehog from 'A little piece' [Written and directed by Alex Desebrock]
photos by Ben Landau

I made a puppet for their production, and i'm about to start on a 2nd version of Harry. he will be more durable hopefully!

December favourites

2009-12-03T20:33:00.004+11:00

Favourites in December!!!!
1. set of expresso cups and round bottomed saucers.......green and black stripes reminds me of cups we had when i was a kid.

2. blooody finger.....an exquisite version of the old finger in a matchbox with tomato sauce gag. Also very petite next to my behemoth finger. Made by the fabulous Katie Jacobs

3. Trashy necklaces (made them myself)
pimp stache, lilac felt with glittery purple stitching and massive gold chain.

Bang, tacky peach felt with black and glittery gold stitching.

black bird

2009-11-26T15:27:00.000+11:00

moustaches for blackbird

2009-11-24T10:41:00.003+11:00

Home, off from work feeling sick....silly cold and swollen glands....but have been making some uber trashy moustache necklaces. Acrylic felt, card, pimp chain. They make me giggle.
Some brooch versions are on their way.

now time for napping!

Blackbird market

2009-11-18T21:34:00.001+11:00

Collective of convenience at Blackbird market. Woo Woo, come down and visit us!
fingers, birds, mustaches, mutants.

Dugong (Dugong dugon)

2009-10-18T16:38:00.003+11:00

For Veni Vidi Vici. Hand made felt using alpaca and camel fibres. 2009

swan is coming along

2009-10-04T16:22:00.003+11:00

Swan is still coming along.....everytime i think i have made enough felt...i need more. I have again run out and need some more to finish off the wing.

Dugong Dugon

2009-10-03T18:05:00.002+10:00

Finished sewing a bit of body for the Dugong mount.

heads

2009-09-29T20:18:00.000+10:00

mounted heads

2009-09-29T20:02:00.001+10:00

Satin FLycatch, Pink Robin, Spoonbill, Boyds forest dragon, Ghost bat

echidna

2009-09-27T17:00:00.000+10:00

Cheese and mini hotdog holder.....still neeing more spines, and to have the gonzo nose stitched up a bit.

Moth cake

2009-09-23T17:46:00.000+10:00

Macrotis Lagotis (Greater Bilby) Pie

2009-09-23T17:30:00.001+10:00

Some cleaner photots of the bilby in a table surrounds.

Bilby pie with pastry head/crust

2009-09-22T18:02:00.002+10:00

Cake cake cake

2009-09-21T11:50:00.001+10:00

cake getting ready

2009-09-21T11:17:00.000+10:00

swan

2009-09-13T19:13:00.004+10:00

mounted head

2009-09-13T19:11:00.001+10:00

Boyd's forest dragon.
FInished the sewing component now this little guy needs some bakes femo spines for his face and to be mounted onto a plaque.

boyds forest dragon

2009-09-13T19:09:00.001+10:00

crust and cheese

2009-09-11T15:51:00.002+10:00

Cheese and mini hot dogs....not meat bon bons....
these will spike onto an echinda display.
The echinda in it's initial stages, I have cooked some femo spines, but still need to colour and affix them and detail stick the face/beak area.
Felt crust braid. For a bilby pie. The bilby head is made from pastry coloured pastry, will sit atop a pie, kinda like a rabbit pie i suppose.

heads

2009-09-11T15:25:00.002+10:00

Heads to be mounted.
I replaced the Spoonbill's eyes and have decied i will add mating plumage to his head.
Ghostbat has had some hair added around it's ears and on the chest region. For this I used Optim stretch Camel hair. Silky silky soft, reminds me a bit of vellus hair. Will trim it up when it's set/dry.

cake and bat

2009-09-04T13:04:00.001+10:00

Ghost Bat head....need to make the plaque to mount the head on to and most importantly i need to add some hair to this little dude.

Bogong moth cake. yep, thought i had gone ahead and finished sewing the moths, but i seem to have judt made the felt, so today i'm sewing and hopefully glueing all of these on.

Birds of a feather

2009-08-07T19:10:00.002+10:00

Handmade nuno felt using alpaca, silk and camel fibres. 2009

poke and fingers crossed brooches

2009-08-07T17:26:00.000+10:00

2009-08-07T08:02:00.002+10:00

Now things are a little less frantic, it's time to finish off that bat head. It's nose and half finished face have been lying on my desk for an eternity.......poor little fella.

bio accessories photo shoot

2009-08-01T13:13:00.002+10:00

Ben and I had our DIY photo shoot for Bio-accessories.
Model: a very accomdating Lara
Photography by Ben Landau and Brittany Veitch

BIO-ACCESSORIES

2009-07-27T21:45:00.003+10:00

As the days before Bio-Accessories makes it's debut with Craft Victoria's 'Craft Cubed'
you can see how the project has been developing ....and continues to develop.....

Things are coming together quite nicely now, and it's been rather exciting to play and make a lot of the objects.
Come and see the completed project at the city library (253 Flinders Lane Melbourne) from August 1st-31st

this is not a design market

2009-07-19T19:42:00.003+10:00

Did you see something you liked at THIS IS NOT A DESIGN MARKET.......then drop me a line at brittany.veitch(at)gmail.com
I can put an online listing for something you saw, I also make comissions.

more play

2009-07-13T21:09:00.003+10:00

More play with bio-accessories.
Succulents in a gelatine/sugar mix
and working on a paper paper template for pleated ruffs for tie pins/brooches

Bio-accessories

2009-07-10T14:12:00.002+10:00

fangirl

2009-06-17T23:05:00.003+10:00

I'm super super excited! I get to meet Julia DeVille tomorrow to have a chat, ask some questions and show her the Bio-accesories project Ben and I are working on.
Julia's work is amazing, very cool, very nice.
www.discemori.com

bio accessories

2009-05-25T20:58:00.004+10:00

Bio Accessories, two of the pieces Ben Landau and i are working on. We had a photo shoot this early this morning and creeped out some people at Flinders street station.
Succulent tie pin with laser cut ply, pin stripe ruff and glass test tube with succulent. A dapper looking Ben

Mask- laser cut ply, parsley, pinstripe ruffs, test tubes.
A squinty looking me

Ursine

2009-05-19T22:50:00.004+10:00

While watching some of the eurovision finals, a friend said they "wanted a bear suit...make me a bear suit"
ha, unlikely, so instead i made them a postcard in which with a little bit of cutting, they can have a 'bear suit' for their finger.
Posting it off soon.

cake

2009-05-19T22:43:00.003+10:00

The basis of the cake that is to be 'iced' with bogong moths, cairns birdwing butterflies and ulysses butterflies.
The base cake and slice use acrylic felt, while the mothy icing uses handmade nuno felt using alpaca fleece, angora and silk fibres on to chiffon or muslin cloth.

rough ruffs part 2

2009-05-17T21:19:00.001+10:00

more ruffs and pleats

Bio-accessories

2009-05-17T21:17:00.002+10:00

Rough ruffs, pleats, pinstripe and calico

Spoonbill (in progress)

2009-04-13T12:45:00.003+10:00

The Spoonbill head so far.
It still needs the pupil added to the eyes and the backing mount board.
Also i'm considering adding the mating season plumage to his head....

Feather your nest

2009-04-12T17:41:00.004+10:00

Craft Hatch goodies are now available for purchase on ETSY. Finally!!
Hand felted faux taxidermy Australina Wren head brooches
Sparrow & wren embroidered brooches
&
Ink sketch heat transfer brooches.

Birds, birds and more birds!!!

Craft almanac april edition

2009-04-08T20:58:00.002+10:00

A friend of mine alerted me to Craft Vic's Craft Almanac which has a photo of wren I made on the front page. Awesome!

Also the lovely organisers of the April Hatch had some nice things to say about the event and my table display.
April Hatch

February Favourites

2009-03-02T12:42:00.002+11:00

My mum made this silk scarf with an Aquilegia flower motif. I really like it. Aquilegias are named as each flower is supposed to resemble five doves.
It is beautiful off white silk chiffon with hand-dyed mohair embellishments.

for craft hatch

2009-02-22T14:02:00.004+11:00

I will be selling bird head brooches mounted on thin log rounds. These will be a series of australian wrens:
Mallee emuwren (stipitrus mallee), Superb fairy wren (Malurus cyaneus), Purple-backed wren (Malurus assimilis), Lavender-flanked wren (Malurus dulcis), Lilac-crowned wren (Malurus coronatus), Grey grassren (Amytornis barbatus), Lovely wren (Malurus amabilis)

Yesterday I made this head while watching a dodgy saturday afternoon tv movie.
It is a lilac crowned wren (malurus Coronatus). It is Nuno felt, made using alpaca fleece, hand stitched with bright purple thread.

The cut rounds are from a wattle tree which came down in a storm. As the timber is still green, I'm seasoning it in the oven.Unfortunately for one batch I had the temperature up too high and split most of the rounds. Because of that, I know 50-80 degrees is a good range to work in. After reducing the moisture content, these will be sanded, shellaced and varnished.

I anticipate the brooches to look simliar to the above picture, only the log rounds will be varnished.

nuno, nuno, nuno

2009-02-20T15:54:00.004+11:00

I spent the early part of the afternoon making some nuno felt. I layed out my pre selected colour palette.

Superb fairy wren: I love the electric blue of the suri lock!

Crimson Rosella: For a mounted head. I went silk crazy, lavishing vivid bougainvillea purple raw silk. Can't wait to work with this....and i've never made a parrot shaped beak either...ooohhh...

Butterfly base: ulysses and cairns birdwing. This clour block will be cut up and sewn to make wings. The butterflies will be used along side Bogon Moths as icing for a tiered cake. mmmm insecty....

My mum helped me, as we worked on the 3 pieces at the same time. It was like having an apprentice which was awesome...but strange as mum is the one with more knowledge, and I still ask her 'Is this right?' or 'more water?'

hummingbird update

2009-02-20T15:50:00.004+11:00

Hummingbird slowly coming together. I've been swamped with sewing other stuff, so this has really really been lagging!! At least now it has some skin on it, but it still looks like shit at the moment :)

the venue

2009-02-16T19:15:00.001+11:00

C3 COntemporary Art Space

Lovely space, and people at the Abbotsford Convent

2009-02-16T18:54:00.002+11:00

Doing work without actually doing any work.
This afternoon I was selecting coloured fleece for specific animals and putting them in fleece pouches, so that whenI'm ready to make that animal, the colours are ready to go.

So far I have colour schemed
- Bogong moth
- Cairns Birdwing Butterfly
- Mountain Blue Butterfly
- Royal Spoonbill
- Numbat
- Ghost Bat
- Boyd's Forest Dragon
- Fairy Wren

I still want to try some of my own dyes, and have been collecting plant specimens to use.
I probably with felt some white/cream then dye, because I'm afraid that if I dye carded fleece, I may not set the colour properly and lose the brightness of it duringthe felting process.

Animal Heads

2009-02-16T18:23:00.003+11:00

Secondary to animals as food we have mounted heads, the following are a few I have been thinking about. Reptile, Bird, Aquatic mammal, flying mammal.
The ghost bat and boyd's dragon are endemic to Australia, while the spoonbill can also be found in NZ, PNG and Tonga. The Dugong's conservation status is vulnerable and although it has a large range in Indo-Pacific waters, Australia has the largest population with groups of around 10,000.

Mounted heads:
Boyd's Forest Dragon (Hypsilurus boydii) From Tropical Queensland
Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia)
Dugong (Dugong dugon)moreton bay, shark bay largest population.
Ghost Bat (Macroderma gigas)

homework day

2009-02-11T12:27:00.003+11:00

I spent yesterday catching up on some exhibition homework and made somoe real headway *yay*
One of the problems i was having is it's all fineand dandy choosing cute little possums and bandicoots, but how do you make them into a food dish and still have them recognisable?? Meat looks like meat doesn't it. Then, a moment of inspiration.
I have been at this from the wrong direction. Maintain distinguishable features; tail, beak, colour, covering.
-Pygmy possum tails as napkin rings

-Cake/dessert items 'iced' with Bogong moths and/or blue mountain butterflies. I saw a picture of the moths clustered together like a shingled roof.

- 4+ 20 black bird pie. in Oz we have a meat pie brand four and twenty, and i thought the blackbird componant could be currawongs and magpies. feet protruding from a pie crust, with the pie presented on a feather lined plate.

-In place of the traditional roast turkey/goose/chicken a black swan, served a la henry 8th with the skin/feathers pulled back over the cooked flesh.

- Echidna, display for food jammed on its spikes. It's tacky, reminds me of cheese cubes and bits of sausage on tooth picks

- Marbled emu eggs

- Emu or heron or spoonbill feet done like chicken feet.

- and possible have small creatures like spinifex mouse and dunnarts appearing in floral arrangements or near the foot of the table, as a reference to the english furniture style where mice/dormouse were carved on table legs, edges, etc.

Behold the chicken scratch doodles

hummingbird

2009-02-08T18:12:00.002+11:00

Rufous Hummingbird....well the inner body and beginnings of the wing structure. At the moment it kinda looks like a baseball meets a fetus with wire handles, but in the picture below you can see how things will take shape.

Craft Hatch April market

2009-02-02T22:59:00.003+11:00

I'm taking part in Craft Victoria's Craft Hatch again. It is an incubator market for student and emerging designers. I am a stallholder at the April market, taking place in the city library on Degraves st, Melbourne.

This year I will be selling birds, birds and more birds! Specifically embroidered brooches and nuno felt sculptures. These items will go online after the market and be available for purchase through my ETSY store (www.thevibrantcity.etsy.com) ... so if you are without cash on the day --the library has no eftpos/credit facilities-- or unable to attend, you get another chance to scoop up some awesome bird art.

Hummingbird

2009-02-02T18:42:00.005+11:00

I can finally get down to making a felt hummingbird...Heat wave over... A couple of weeks ago i finished nuno felting the colour scheme i will use to make a Rufous Hummingbird. They have amazing irridescent quality to their feathers, and I find that rather exciting to try to replicate.
Below is one of these awesome birds and a photo my felt scheme.

January favourites

2009-01-20T15:55:00.004+11:00

William Gibson makes for an exciting read. A dear friend of mine loaned me their copy of Spook Country...and it is awesome. A brilliant read before bed.

Fabric Tooth made by Caroline McCurdy
Hehe adorable tooth with crazy googly eyes. Made for me when I was in the middle of my own dental saga. The beautiful stark white fabric has an aloof quality that reminds me of the whack Evangelion angels. Luckily the tooths eyes are nothing like liliths!

Moomin book.
Whenever I'm at my desk, I see this book it reminds me that i made my very first sale to Ville Valo who inturn gave me this book. It is very rewarding knowing there are people who appreciate the artwork i make.

Favourites in December

2009-01-20T15:39:00.005+11:00

Apple pin cushion. This was given to me by my friend Lauren for my birthday. I absolutely adore it! It has a spiced fragrance,y that reminds me of christmas, gingerbread and yule logs. I use the apple ever time i sew.

Rennie, for being scruffy and always snorgling, and keeping me company whilst i was in a codeine haze.

Photograph of my great grand father. I know nothing about this man, but he has a look of a dapper gangster. The Fox terrier adds to the shadyness.

Til Death Us Do Part

2008-12-14T12:31:00.004+11:00

Male and female fairy wren (life size), nuno felted with alpaca and silk fibres, beady eyes and bloody canvas.

embroidered bird brooches gen 1

2008-12-09T10:21:00.003+11:00

Generation I, looking mighty flat and a tad blah. Making gen II now with a bit of stuffing. I Probably will turn the originals from brooches into hanging decorations or something twee.

Embroidered brooches

2008-12-03T22:06:00.004+11:00

I just started to make some embroidered bird brooches.
A quick ink pen sketch on Calico with 2X coloured thread embroidery. Some bad lowlight photobooth images. I will take some photos in the daylight tomorrow.
1X House Sparrow
1X White throated sparrow
1X House Finch
1X Carolina wren

The next batch i make will have some stuffing....these guys are just too flat and stiff looking.
Materials: Calico, thread, ink pen, card, felt/fabric.