Sunday, July 26, 2009

In the mix...

Life has been busy! And good!

I haven't blogged in a bit, but for good reason. A number of things and treasures have been keeping me busy of late...

jobs: of which I have acquired two! I am working as a teacher's aide in junior grades in Thornbury. Oh how nice it is to come home from work and report play-dough making as the highlight of my day! I am thoroughly enjoying not being in charge, and rediscovering the pleasure of teaching. I even think the pay cut is worth it! I also got a job working at Coles, though I am yet to start.

evieandmabel: though I've not been blogging, I have been busy like a bee, slowly getting organised with an etsy shop, some branding, and most importantly LOTS of ideas for crafting goodness, and hopefully, financial benefit!

screen printing: that's right, I've been exploring instructables again and have turned my hand to screen printing. Toying around with the branding for evieandmabel. I took lots of pics, but of course, have left my camera at the folks' house, so they will be up soon. It was kinda fun too!

Op-shopping and marketing: now if you know me at all, you will know how integral this is to my life! Lots of records coming home with me at the moment, of note: Sea Shanties and Hammond-a-go-go. I saw a fantastic bar today, black vinyl on the front, fluro light under neath to light up the glasses on the mirrored shelf. Alas, my soon-to-be-housemate was uncontactable, so approval could not be sought. Luckily, I found this little fellow to cheer me up.

For the fantastic price of $1.oo!!! And of course I had to go and buy a packet of Kingstons to pop into him. SO adorable.



Thursday, July 9, 2009

Redscale Film.. More DIY photography

Those who either follow this blog or know me, know that I have had some spare time on my hands of late. It is also likely that you know I have been playing around on the web looking for cool things to do with my cameras.

It was on a blog where someone had posted instructions for redscale film. I have seen it before on the Lomography website, which you can check out here in your own time. When you venture across their shop, you will find redscale film, at quite an expensive price!!!

In my surfing of the web I also found a few other fun facts:

ff #1: PhotoColor in Heidelberg has a "Film Amnesty" where film processing, printing and scanning is uber-cheap till the end of July.

ff #2: South Preston Safeway has 4-pack rolls of Fuji Film for $5.40

ff #3 flickr is an awesome source of ideas to steal, errr, to take inspiration from when you are stuck for ideas of what you should go out and shoot.

So I have stocked up on film, have scoured flickr for some cool redscale inspiration, and set about making some film.

I used these instructions. I have neither a darkbag or a darkroom, but found that a room with the curtains drawn, and respooling under 2 doonas sufficed. And there is only one step where you need to be in complete darkness, and it's really quite easy.

So I made three rolls of redscale, sacrificing one for the initial spool to use, as per the instructions. I went into the city and shot off two rolls in my lomo and loaded one into my old SLR. 

I have been waiting oh so patiently to get the film back, and I did today (excluding the one which they accidentally gave to someone else, but they are subsequently doing for free and posting to me). I am absolutely going to make at least 4 more rolls of this and get out there again!! I am SO thrilled with the results!

And of course, the brag shots. Please, please, please respect that my photography is my art and do not steal and/or reproduce these photos. Thanks!

Hope you give it a try!!!



An itchy-bomb tree with awesome sky background.


Powerlines and cool clouds.



Flinders Street Station around dusk.


Federation Square lights around dusk.

For the photonerds:
The Fed Sq and Flinders st are both exposed at 400 speed, as per the film. They are really underexposed, which is why the reds have come out so deeply. The others were exposed at 200 speed though the film was 400, letting in a bit more light, and changing the tones to softer reds and oranges, but giving more detail.

Anyone keen to come out shooting, let me know, we can make some redscale and go nuts!! Especially before the end of the month so it's cheap to develop!




Friday, July 3, 2009

Oh so succulent...



My grandparents used to have an old chookshed, that was covered, every surface in plants, many of them succulents, all of them planted in anything and everything. Old jam tins, broken mugs, teapots and even old bottles.




I have been collecting cuttings (or pullings-offings) of succulents over the last little while and creating little portable gardens as I live between a number of houses...


Incidentally, the "I Love Grandma" mug, on the right, is one that I bought my Grandma, The Chief* (my grandpa got an "I love Grandpa" one) when I was about 8. I remember going into Myer in the city and on the rooftop they had this Christmas Wonderland. They had a shop for kids, where you entered through a kid-sized door and no adults could go in. I chose these ones especially for my grandparents. I haven't ever seen them anywhere since. This actual one was found at an op shop about 3 weeks ago. I took this one over to The Chief yesterday as a gift, and she was drinking her cup of tea out of the 'Grandpa' one as hers broke years ago and she no longer has it! Pretty cool I reckon!


They look cute.




* My grandma is known as The Chief. Always has been. In my memory, that is the only thing I have called her. And everyone else. Even my grandpa! So you know. The Chief rocks.




DIY Macro Shenanigans!

So in my endless free time (and it's oh so carefree!) I have been exploring instructables. I heart instructables. I have also rediscovered a bunch of old cameras. I have also bought a bunch of old op shop cameras for dismantling/Macgyvering purposes.

[I love the look of 'hacked' things. Lots of hot glue, duct tape and other similar attaching methods make me happy. Such the sense of achievement in making your own cool stuff!!]

I found an instructable for a macro lens which is nicely called "Ghetto Macro". Please understand that I felt it appropriate to substitute the RedBull can for a V can. RedBull gives me palpitations. And not in that happy way.

As you can see, the examples of the resulting photos on the website look fabulous. So I though, hey, I could do that! It took a good hour or so, but lets see what happened....



Using the V can, sharp scissors and a 'hacked' lens of an op shop camera I bought for 50c, I started to assemble my lens. I'm not going to give instructions. Go to instructables, it's someone else's baby!



I used my dad's soldering iron to melt through the camera body cover. Rolled some black cover paper for inside the can, and slid it on in there.



Note to self: talking on the phone while trying to use a very sharp knife to remove the semi melted edges of the camera body cover was not a good idea. Hot glue gunning the CBC and the can together. And hot glue gunning the inside of the lens cover. (which is then attached to the end of the black cover paper tube inside the can.



The finished product. The absolute beauty of this new lens is that my film SLR (I know, I am *so* oldschool, and my DSLR are compatible, so it is interchangeable!
I think you'll agree it looks pretty cool, and I can't wait to take this camera out with this lens attached...

I guess the only problem is...

IT DOESN'T FREAKIN' WORK!!!!

and so, bearing the scars of my Macgvering (yes. it really is a verb. like versing.) and still without a macro lens, I have learned some good lessons, and am still keeping my eyes peeled for a different lens to use at the end, that might work just as well..

It also led to another idea.. Kaleido-vision. I bought a kaleidoscope, and am currently developing a way to attache it as a lens to my camera... Photos will come. You know they will!!!


Saturday, June 27, 2009

Making Stuff

I'm back!
That's right! 

I have had some time away, and have been searching for work. So far nothing has turned up, but it has meant I have loads of time on my hands (aside from my centrelink commitments) to get up to all kinds of mischief!!

I have been making alot of cool camera stuff, results of which will soon be here. Projects that are currently underway are as follows:

- DIY redscale film. I bought a pile of film - it's super cheap at South Preston IGA, and followed information from my new favourite webby, http://www.instructables.com, to respool it back to front to make redscale film. I have shot off a roll and a half of this film with my lomo, and have bought some new batteries for my old SLR, so looking forward to getting started with that!

- DIY macro lens. Playing with instructables again. Using an empty can of V, a camera body cap, an old lens from a Vinnies camera, a hot glue gun, a soldering iron, tape and my wily Macgyver-y skills, I have fashioned a kind of macro lens that I can use on both my old film SLR and my newer DSLR, which is exciting. That one will follow soon!

- Kaleidoscope Cam. In the theme of playing with shit to make cool camera stuff, I bought a $4 kaleidoscope from the local cheap shop (thank you Twin Y at Northcote Plaza!) I am going to take the beads and translucent glass out of the end and see if I can't take some photos kaleidostyle!!

Results will be up as soon as I can afford film developing and scanning...

Hooray!

and welcome back to Evie & Mabel!


Saturday, May 2, 2009

Dream Catcher

Miss Nita Jane is a sufferer of horrible dreams. I hope she won’t mind me telling you this. I’m sure she will let me know if she does. If she does, I will delete this bit, and write an equally interesting introduction to this blog. In any case, I often sleep quite lightly when I am beside her. It means I can gently bring her back to safety and comfort from the horrors she faces in her sleep.
I was worried about leaving her again, and wondered whether young Gary was up to the challenge of keeping my girl feeling safe and cosy in her sleep. I figured he was a bit green, and so I decided on making her a dream catcher.
I have never been a follower of these things before. In fact, in the past I have often thought of them as quite tacky. However, the picture in my mind was like no dream catcher I had seen anywhere, and so I decided to persist. I kept my eyes peeled for bits of discarded metal, feathers, and anything else that would serve to preserve my girl’s peaceful sleeps.
All items gathered, I packed them together and set out to her house, where I was spending the evening. As it happened, that night I had terribly vivid and unsettling dreams myself. So much so, that I had huge heebie jeebies the next morning and felt like I couldn’t stay there. I packaged up my materials again and headed for home, determined to make the dreamcatcher that very day.
I plonked myself in front of the telly at Mum and Dad’s and set to work. In my collection of materials were: an old metal insert from an embroidery hoop ($1 from the Salvos); 6metres of thin black ribbon ($7 from Lincraft); some lovely purple ostrich feathers ($5 from clegs); assorted bits of metal and stuff I had collected in my travels; diamante buttons ($3 from clegs); and the piece de resistance, something I had been hunting for for ages, some old chandelier crystals ($6 for a handful from a closing-down second-hand shop on High Street). I also had assorted bits of black cord, ribbon and elastic that was left over from other projects.
All in all, not a great deal of outlay. I looked at a few websites for help with the initial weaving and knotting of the dreamcatcher frame, but otherwise, I just made it up as I went along. It was quite easy once I got the rhythm going, just a bit fiddly with all that ribbon tagging along for each knot. And yes I used the whole 6 metres of ribbon. With no wastage. Good guess, eh?

Once I had finished the frame, I started pinning on the treasures that I had gathered, trying to work out the best spots for each of them. I sewed them to their chosen spots and after each one, held it up to see what it looked like. I have deliberately left plenty of space for Miss Nita Jane to add her own treasures. Hopefully things that bring happy thoughts with them and will chase away the bad dreams.
We hung the dream catcher above Miss Nita Jane’s bed. So far it seems to be working reasonably well, there has even been a night of no dreams at all, which is just fabulous. I don’t have a pic of it up on the wall, but surely she will read this, and hopefully put up a picture for you all (hint hint, honey!).

I loved this project. It had a very useful purpose, and I really enjoyed putting my own upcycling spin on a traditional object. The rhythmic knotting was very therapeutic, and it was a great project for the cold, rainy Melbourne Friday that it ended up being created on.

A good day’s work, methinks.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Evie & Mabel On Hold

That's right folks. I'm up north again with little time or supplies for crafty goodness and projects!
You can, however find me over at my travel blog,

http://www.howwillyougo.blogspot.com

feel free to stay in touch either here or there!!
I'm back first week of June with fun upcycled wedding outfits and jewels! and a tan!

*grins*


Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Crafty Angus - Gratuitous Photos from a Proud Mama




Angus helping me with my crafting.. We were working on Gary Mark 2.






All tuckered out from a tough day of crafty goodness.


Feathers For My Nest

So this is the post that was meant to be before Boony took over...

A couple of afternoons ago, I sat outside on a new crocheted rug (from Jasmine's op-shop, sadly not done by me), enjoying the sunshine, sewing (Gary Mark 2) and generally enjoying life. Angus sat with me on my rug and Boony, snuggled into his nest, basked in the warm autumn afternoon sun.

The other cat that lives here, Cassie (yep, that's three all together) likes sitting on paper. She will happily sit in any room, if there is paper to sit on. Boony is not fussy, but thoroughly enjoys creating a nest from wherever he sits. Angus likes to choose somewhere he can curl up and hide from the world.

It got me thinking about nests. For those who haven't explored my travel blog, here, I have taken the year off from my life, and have been spending time travelling within Australia. My car is still in Darwin, and I am heading North to collect her next week. I spent a month living at Ayers Rock. I was acutely aware that as my surrounds changed so frequently, there were a few things that I like to have around me, little relics that make me feel comfortable. Feathers for my nest.

The first is photos. Selection is entirely dependent on purpose. My photo selection at Ayers Rock was all about reminding me why I was doing the trip. Inspiring photos from other travels. Photos of art. Photos to keep me inspired through homesickness and fatigue.


Another is Monkey. Monkey (a creatively named soft toy, who is, you guessed it, a monkey) came with me. I have had Monkey since I was a little kid. NitaJane seems to think the fact that he is wearing overalls is somewhat representative of my tomboy-ness. Monkey is very comforting to have around. He has been with me through some really hard times. He volunteered to stay with The Chief (my grandmother - that's a whole nother story) when she had her Triple By-Pass. He was there after Toota (my grandfather. Again, nother story) died. He has taken alot of my tears. Monkey is friendly, happy and gives awesome cuddles.

The other feathers in my nest don't travel with me. I love vintage homewares. LOVE them. I am starting to think that my style is not vintage, not flea-market, but ugly-chic. I am developing quite a collection of extraordinarily ugly bits and pieces. My latest purchase was just today. Souvenir Salt and Pepper shakers from Mount Gambier - Bright Red Cows. A collection of old vases. 1984 Calendar tea-towels. A deliciously hideous orange acrylic dome with acrylic daisies on wire protruding from it. The list goes on...

I love my old vintage mirrors. The way they make the light bounce around the room, and just open it up is fabulous.

Nag Champa. The smell of this makes me feel instantly homely.

Plants. I love gardening, and have missed it alot. I can't wait to get home and start up a garden of my very own. In pots of course.

I know there are many other things to add to my list of Feathers for my Nest. It's hard for me at the moment, everything is all packed away. I don't feel as though I have done this post justice yet. It will be one that I revisit. When I am able to photograph some of the things I like to Feather my Nest with.

I would love it if you would post some photos of the Feathers you use for your Nests up here. It's always inspiring to see the spaces that others find inspiring. Well it is for me anyways!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Boony.. the post which was going to be something else.

This blog started out as one called Nests. The preamble to the blog mentioned Boony. In introducing you, dear reader, to Boony, it became apparent that he deserved his own post. And so, here it is.

[The main thing that prompted this line of thinking was my brother's cat, Boony.] Those of you who have met Boony, I can already see the knowing nods, but no. It's not what you think. For those who don't know Boony, continue reading for a short introduction. Boony is a mammoth beast (who could also be described as an extaordinarily large and heavy cat). He is white and fawn in colour, so slow-moving his gait could be named an amble, and so moody, you would think he had something that is not particularly feminist of you, and you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking it. At least I am ashamed of myself for thinking it. For which I'm sure NitaJane would be proud. However, I digress.

Boony has been known to walk into a room and hiss at the nearest animate object. There is no rhyme nor reason to it. He seems to enjoy hissing at me. He has taught my little ladyboi kittycat, Angus to hiss. He enjoys lying in the sun. He leaves fur on everything. He has been known to growl at passers-by when he is eating. He eats his food. Then he eats Cassie's. Then anything that Angus has left. Then table-scraps. But the funny thing is, he can tell the time. Insomuch as, at approximately 3 pm every day, Boony can be found sitting in the driveway in a sunny patch. Coincidence, you may think. Not so. 

Boony lives down the road from a school. ALL of the school kids who walk home past his house know him. They call him over. They pat him. They talk to him. He is nice to them.   He lays himself at their feet, begging for a tummy rub. He wraps himself around their ankles, leaving a trail of white fur. Then he promptly comes inside and starts yowling for his dinner. On the odd occasion that he forgets, or is running late, you can hear the kids saying to their bewildered parents, "Oh, that's Boony's house." or "Boony lives there, Mummy!"

So remarkable is Boony's neighbourhood notoriety, that Andrew, a nice friendly bloke who lives down the street (not two or three houses down the street, no no, about 4 - 5 BLOCKs down the street) often sees Boony at his place. Or in the street behind his place. (Incidentally, Boony is nice to Andrew as well.)

Boony is known for walking into a room, waiting till his presence has been acknowledged and promptly collapsing onto the floor, remaining in the landing position for hours on end, until someone happens upon a creaky floorboard in kitchen, at which point he leaps up, thuds loudly into the next room and cries until he is given some food.

One last thing that Boony is famous for, is making nests. He will find somewhere to sit, inside or out, and make himself a nest. He will nuzzle into some towels creating and indentation to sit in. He sits on newspapers and somehow manages to nestle into them. And he sits in the garden, regardless of what new planting has occured and creates a nest for himself.

It was here that I found him this afternoon, in a sunny spot under the huge oak tree in the back yard, snuggled in the dirt, using the rough bark as a pillow.. which got me thinking about nests... But that is now a whole nother blog post.

In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure (and so as to form an accurate image in your mind), I present, Boony.





Sunday, April 19, 2009

Gary

Miss NitaJane has a thing for owls. I'm not entirely sure where it comes from. I know that since we've been together I have added to her collection of owls from such worldy places as Paris, Cesky Krumlov, and Laverton Market. She is quite picky with the owls she likes. They're not allowed to be mean or scary owls. They should be happy and friendly (a fair enough prerequisite, I would think!). Happy and friendly owls generally have eyelashes. You should file that away for future reference.

So with the time I have on my hands, the limited funding, and the desire, inspiration and motivation that I have been getting from blogs, shops and life in general, I decided to try my hand at making soft toys. Where to begin? I checked out a load of my crafting books. Making Stuff had, as always some cool ideas. As did Sock and Glove. However, ultimately, I hunted around for resources, and they were what dictated how my owl would work out. 

On Friday, after having completed all of my duties, I sat down with Stella the Sewing Kit, an old scarf and a bag of stuffing that I had picked up at Vinnie's ($3 each! bargain!) and some felt. I totally made it up as I went along. I sewed the outline of the owl and used the offcuts to make wings. I stitched on the wings in a very haphazard fashion and went about making some eyes for my owl. The easy bit was working out what they looked like. The hard bit was finding the right size. I persevered. I had bits and pieces in all the right colours.


I decided that he needed some feet. Claws don't make for a friendly owl (so I'm told) so he is quite the flat-footed little one. I used back stitch, a shabby and quick version of blanket stitch, some felt and some stuffing, then attached these to the bottom of the toy. And I need to sew him a beak too. Otherwise, how will he talk?



The owl is not quite finished. I need two black buttons for eyes. I am considering a tuft of hair on top. I will definitely be making another one and trying to perfect the art. In the meantime though, he has been dubbed Gary by Nita Jane, who has tried to steal him away for bedtime cuddles already! Lo, please find and enjoy the photos of Gary the Owl. Latest edition to NitaJane's ever expanding motley crue of happy, friendly owls.





Thursday, April 16, 2009

Easter Goodness

This year I was faced with a dilemma... with most of the family on a health kick, I didn't want to contribute to the inevitable guilt that would have come, should they have consumed the vast quantities of chocolate I intended to buy for them.

My initial plan was to give blown eggs that I had dyed and made pretty designs on with the special Greek Easter dye. However upon my first attempt to 'blow an egg' (no, that's not a euphemism!), I decided that it was not going to work. And I made omelettes.

Back to the old drawing board, I decided instead, that I would think about Easter in the 'new life' sense. I took myself off to Bunnings and found myself all the ingredients required for what were sure to become a hit Easter Gifts. 


I gathered my seeds, packages, stickers and textas. My first job was to sort out the seeds. I had chosen carrots and lettuce, both favourites of one Mr E. Bunny, and also chosen varieties that should be sown in Autumn or Winter. I packaged them up and made labels for each one.


I then made labels for each of the other elements of the whole package. The "Magic Grow Pellets" (Jiffy Peat Pellets), the Sowing instructions for each type of seeds, and the overall package label.


Everything went into the bags together and created a fabulous "Easter Bunny's Treat". The demo model of one of the peat pellets had 3 carrot seeds in it, and has already begun to sprout!

As I handed around the gifts to family and friends, everyone seemed impressed... And the best bit? Not only will no-one GAIN weight from my Easter Gifts, but hopefully they will all get out in the garden, and be able to reap what they sow in 12-16 weeks!