'Dancing Barefoot' First Aid Kit / Patti Smith

A few days ago Chris and I were driving back from our great New Years getaway on Phillip Island listening to RRR radio and we were delighted to hear the Swedish band, First Aid Kit on the show selecting artists and songs that influence them.  It was great and I really liked their choice of music.  

One thing they mentioned was how they played a Patti Smith song, Dancing Barefoot, at the Polar Music awards the year that Patti Smith was awarded (see clip above).  If you watch this clip you can see Patti Smith actually cries.  It's lovely!

Another song that I liked 'Save Me' by Aimmee Mann.  Lovely!

An Afternoon at the Antique Warehouse

Yesterday I had a fabulous afternoon rummaging around the Waverley Antique Bazaar in Glen Waverley (11a Aristoc Road, Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia 3150, tel 03 9560 4284).  This place is huge and packed to the rafters of interesting, quirky, rusty, beautiful things - my kind of place!  Here are some pictures as you can see it is choc-a-bloc with great stuff...

I'm going back for this chair tomorrow, fingers crossed it's still there!

Wonderfully arranged books in colours....

Hello little koala!

Sharon Van Etten

I am a little obsessive about Sharon Van Etten at the moment ....so I thought I would share some of my favourites....

Crochet Rug Update

A couple of weekends ago I went to a wedding in country New South Wales which was just lovely, however, it also gave me some serious crochet time as the drive was about 8 and a half hours.  Coming from Scotland, 8 and half hours is a ridiculous drive, but in Australia, its nothing to these Aussie peeps. 

Here are some pics of how the rug is coming along.  I am hoping to get it a bit bigger still.  When the centre of the rug is at my knee, I would like the out circumference to be at my toes.  As you can see there is still a bit to go!

P.S. I love fluro nail varnish!

Porcelain Christmas Decorations

This week I had the chance to play around with some porcelain, led by my very knowledgable friend Jenny. Armed with a pile of newly purchased cookie cutters I rolled and cut out these shapes. For a textural finish, I also rolled lace onto the surface of the porcelain.

After firing I simply knotted ribbon, wool and waxed linen thread for hanging. Et voila!

In the kiln ready for firing.....

All strung up and ready to go...

Some lace texture on the surface....

Do you like the moose shaped one?  I do!

Finished Clay Fish... Herbie!

Here is my completed little fish who goes by the name of Herbie!  I made him as an example for the year 7 art course.  I was experimenting with using underglazes for the first time and really loved the whole making experience!

Making, making, making...(for Christmas)

I've been a busy little Christmas elf over the last couple of weeks! I have made christmas cards by Lino printing and some hand made screen-printed tea towels (currently en route to the UK from Australia). It's always such a busy time of year but I really enjoy making cards and gifts - even if it does stress me out a little.

Merry christmas folks!

Cutting paper stencils for the screen printing.....

I printed onto 100% linen, a few different colours as I was just playing around really...

I also made this fluro pink print - which is a bit like an Easter egg now that I see it, but was really just a bit of a doodle when I was cutting the stencil.