Sunday Finishing Frenzy

Last week was a bit crappy things happened that made us both sad and mad (although luckily not with each other), however the universe made it up to us in its chaotic random fashion with a particularly lovely weekend.

We went out to Credo in Olinda on Friday night and had a truly delicious dinner, we went and saw Jerico and Sydonia at the East Brunswick club on Saturday night and had a fantastic time, the weather has been cool and he dogs have been snugly. Plus I finished two monsters for the exhibition.

For starters here are a couple of photos of Ithaqua after the surgery to insert armature.

Notice he is standing on his own now, although I was holding my breath he is still tricky to balance even if his head no longer lolls.

After a two week delay while I waited for the eyes to arrive Gol Goroth is finally finished.

I am still trying to figure out how to display it, I have added a hanging point at the top of the head which seems to help but not sure how to implement it at the exhibition. Scott had the brilliant idea of putting it in a cage, so I am on the look out for one of those old fashioned wire dome ones with the idea that we can tear holes for the wigs like it has been trying to escape.

The original plan was that it would be self supporting but with only one leg it tends to twist too much. Plus I did the leg on a separate piece of armature connected to one that runs from the head to the tail and it wobbles a lot - next time I will run the support from the foot to the head and join the tail separately.

I am looking forward to perfecting the bird design, I think my next big project once this one is done will be a series of bird creatures.

I have also just finished the Gug or Old Gug as Scott keeps calling him (cos he has a mangina - you were right Tonia he is incorrigible) .

His armature is much more stable - I am getting better as I go.

I was hoping to pose him kind on on all fours using his second forearms support himself but he tends to just look like he has accidentally toppled over.

I sewed his teeth in individually this time instead of running a wire through the loops like I did with Ithaqua, they seem to sit much better this way.

Old Gug wants your Baileys.

Sunday Burger Frenzy

My boss came back from leave the day after Australia day and I managed to wangle the Thursday and Friday off - so I have just enjoyed a pleasant and reasonably productive 5 day weekend.

My studio, while still an abomination is a significantly more organised abomination than it was a couple of days ago. We did an Ikea trip to get more bookshelves for the library, I got a plasma globe for $20 - its cheap and nastiness does not in anyway diminish its cool electrical Teslaness.

We framed and hung some beautiful art sent to us by our extremely talented friend Tonia, you can see more of her works here.

This one was a Christmas present.

And this one was part of Scott's birthday present (apologies for the crappy photos).

I found a new fabulously ugly piece of horse art at the Silver Compaq (the best second hand store around and a source of many fantastically ugly things).

This is the first painting (well textured print) that I found there:

And this is the new acquisition:

The horses are in relief on a kind of a hessian background and it has a kind of tikiness to it. I did not mean to start an ugly horse picture collection when I bought the first one but I guess having two is probably a bad sign.

Navigating the yard has become a little hazardous with summer getting into full swing, we have orb spiders everywhere.

Their webs are so beautiful, except when you wander into one without knowing whether the spider was home and have to do the get this thing off me dance. I have become very cautious when heading down the front path on my way to work.

Gol Goroth is coming along slowly, I have done about as much as I can until his eye gets here. Still having some issues keeping him upright as the leg armature keeps twisting relative to the body but hopefully I can sort something out.

I have also finished my piece for the Strumpets Crumpets valentine craft swap. My swapee is a vegan which presented some interesting challenges re materials but with a bit of questing I managed to put together a suitable combination of acrylic and cotton yarns.

Meet the veggie burger purse with beetroot, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and of course veggie burger.

I'm not entirely happy with the veggie burger yarn which is a mixture of two yarns knitted together but there was not a lot of choice. Tomorrow I will send it on its journey to Canada.

Sunday Fence Frenzy

Finally it has happened - we have a dog proof fence. No more having to constantly supervise the little buggers while they are outside. We had to cut off part of the yard as otherwise it was going to be too expensive. On the plus side we now have dog free part of the yard to put a veggie garden and maybe one day some chickens.

Another cool side effect of the fence construction process was we discovered we have an apple tree with what tastes like Granny Smiths growing all over it.

Our backyard is a constant revelation there are all sorts of things hidden in its jungly depths. One of these days we will have to get organised and tidy up a bit, I have a dream of a more permaculture type set up with cooks and food type growing things.

Gol Goroth now has one wing fully completed.

A bit of an arduous frustrating process involving spiky wire and awkward angles.

The left wing still needs its scallops added round the edge but I have had enough for now so it will have to wait a bit to be finished.

I also have a date for the exhibition with set up on the 3rd of May and the opening on Friday the 6th of May. This is all getting quite exciting - my first ever exhibition looks like its really underway.

Sunday Feather Frenzy

Not much to show this week, working on a secret project that I can't show you till after Scott's birthday next weekend (assuming I get it finished).

This weekend I over did it a bit and my neck and hands are killing me but Gol Goroth's wings are well underway.

I figured out how to crochet the feathers around the wire so they are sitting better than the tail feathers do.

There will eventually be an armature that runs right across through both wings I am waiting until the last minute to put it in as it is hard to crochet around. I'm getting spiked by the wing feather wires enough as it is.

It is not easy but everything continues to be crocheted in - nothing is sewn on at all.

Sunday Crochet Frenzy

Had a bit of a stall on Gol Goroth this week while I waited for some blue wire to arrive to support the feathers. So I started on a Gug (especially for Tonia).

I found some great lumpy wool on sale and am experimenting with texture in this one, I think it looks kind of like stone.

The blue wire arrived late in the week so I have spent the day trying to get the tail to work, I think it will but it is hard to tell at this stage because the excess armature keeps flopping over.

I must thank the lovely Karla over at Itsy Bitsy Spider for the inspiration for the tail feathers, the idea came after seeing pictures of her beautiful doves.

Tuesday Gol Goroth Frenzy

It has been a busy month, I have done three markets and there have been more sunekosuri:

This guy has the cutest round orange bum you have ever seen.

There have been more sleepy kitties:

A new egg on toast purse, and a new slice of apple purse but I forgot to take a photo before I sold it.

There were origami stars:

For Christmas there was raspberry cheesecake:

Yum.

I knitted Scott a beanie with a brilliant pattern that came from here.

You would think being in Australia and thus summer that it would be too warm for beanies but we are so far having beautifully cool weather.

Ithaqua also got gutted and then reassembled with aluminium armature so his head no longer lolls and his legs don't bow. The exhibition has now been confirmed for May so I need to keep moving. Over the last couple days I have started on Gol Goroth, a large bird with one leg and one eye.

Today I made sour cherry pie, it looks super yummy but still too hot to eat just yet.

I love sour things and Scott hates them but one thing we agree on is that sour cherry pie is the best.

Sunday Ithaqua Frenzy

Sorry I have been missing for a bit but I have been having neck and shoulder issues and haven't been able to get much done the last couple of weeks. Things are looking up though I have finally finished Ithaqua after many hours and a lot of hand pain.

He is a little unsteady on his feet, I had to lean him against the veranda post because I was

worried he might fall the not inconsiderable distance to he muddy garden below. If I make

another on this scale (60cm from toes to tips of tentacles) I will definitely use armature as he

is a little inclined to collapse under his own weight.

The head tentacles were a little tricky as they are stitched up from the head as the head is

decreasing in diameter so you have less and less room to work in as it goes on. That being said

I still managed to complete him without sewing on a single component he is totally crocheted

together.

I have also been on a bit of a sock monster binge with Christmas coming up and three

markets due. I am trying to finish one a day on the train - here are this weeks miscreants.