November 2016 - week 3 creativity

November 2016 - week 3 creativity

November 14th - 21st

 It's that time of the year again - Pohutukawa time.

I've heard that if the trees flower before December

then it's going to be a hot, dry summer.

 I love the aroma of the pohutukawa flowers

and they have healing medicinal properties 

which is why I use them in my products.

 Processing the flower in olive oil

 This mixture will be used for salve-making.

I'll let it seep for a couple weeks to extract 

all the goodness from the flowers.

 More forging - this time for totara Again, I use 

this in my soap and salves.It has anti-microbial

anti-oxidant and anti-inflammation properties

 Podocarpus Totara is another New Zealand

 native tree with medicinal properties.

Harvesting/Forging and Preparing Plant Material - 2 hours

RICKY TIME

Planter Box Construction

 With my supervision and encouragement Ricky 

drilled holes in the base of the planter box.

 We measured and marked where to drill the holes.

 Last one!

 Then it's on to sanding....

 ...just a light sand was all that was needed.

 Ricky is using a tin of paint that was in the sales bin 

but as the lid was difficult to remove we got it for free!

Incidentally, the paint is called "Conifer" 

and a lovely rich dark green colour.

Ricky time: 3 hours

(teaching/encouraging/construction)

POTTERY TIME

Wendy Cunliff who is a potter at the Firebirds Pottery Group is currently running beginner pottery classes. Unfortunately I can not attend due to other commitments but she said she was happy to show me what she taught and this weeks class is Making a Pinch Pot 

 Rolling two equal pieces of clay into a ball, patting to remove air etc

Each piece gets "pinched" that is, thumb pressed

 down into the clay ball and the edges gradually

 thinned as one pinches the clay. The top rim is 

"roughened" with a fork and moistened ready 

for joining the two halves together to make one.

 The two halves joined together, smoothing with a little 

water around the join and carefully patting as you turn it.

Then dry the clay off a little with  heat from a hair 

dryer so you can make cuts in the hollow ball of clay.

 My first attempt went wrong (trying too hard!)

so I had to start the above steps from scratch again.

This time I just play with the shape..

 ..and let whatever was going to happen, happen...

 ..and this is what I ended up with.

Pottery time - 4 hours (5-9 pm)

EXHIBITIONS/ART GALLERIES

Reyburn House Art Gallery holds exhibitons of artist's work. I happened to be passing when I was distracted by some colourful paintings visible to the passerby. I popped in to have a coler look.

The artist was of dutch descent and invited me to

 come and have a look at her work. Turns out it

 was the opening of her exhibition.

Margriet chatting with some folks.

The colourful painting on the left

 is the one that "caught my eye"

I didn't stay long and ask if it was ok to take a few photos.

Exhibitions/Art Galleries - 1 hour

ARTISANS MARKET 

 Whangarei Canopy Bridge Market

On Saturday the 19th I ran a second market to confirm my feelings and yes, I have learned a lot about myself. I have come to realise I don't enjoy being in public eye and I get stressed being asked questions about my product, This has been really clarifying for me and positive.

I sold soaps wrapped in handmade papers.

All made from forging and home grown plant 

materials

Handmade soap with pottery leaf dish.

My "Soap'n Salve" ketes, which also contain a handknitted 

cotton face cloth and NZ pumice. I've designed and sewn

the kete (baskets) as well, with material using

New Zealand designs and hessian.

I'm considering having a "sales assistant" for the next market. One of the artisans said her mum might be keen. This will mean I can maintain my public profile whilst focusing on the creation of my soaps rather than public interaction.

 Market Preparation - 12 hours

Market setup - 1.5 hours

Market 9 am to 1.30 pm - 4.5 hours

Market pack-down - 1.5 hours

TOTAL: 19 hours

November 2016 - Week 2 creativity

WEEK 2

This is my schedule for the commencing 

7 November 2016 to 13 November

My daughter is coming up for a quick visit in the weekend

and i also have the Art 'n Tartan Revisited exhibition on

as well as work so will be another busy week.

Paper-making Prep/Harvesting plant materials

 Next load of flax cooked and ready for rinsing.

 Harvesting and dehydrating calendula

 for my soap and salves

 My first beetroot harvest - I'd like to explore natural

dying methods. I know beetroot stains/dyes good!

Photography

 There's going to be an feature about the 

Whangarei Community Tapestry Project

 in the next Creative Fibre magazine. 

I was asked to take a photo of the tapestry now 

that the lighting issues have been resolved. 

I'm getting a few copies of the magazine as 

complimentary gifts and my name will 

appear in the magazine as the photographer

 (I send one of the copies to TLC) 

Photography: 1 hour

 (includes editing/emailing to Creative Fibre)

Pottery night

I'm still working on a koru theme. 

I'm thinking of  using this as a tile 

in a mosaic piece. I now need to

work the pieces for the surround.

Ceramics - 3 hours

Art n Tartan Revisited exhibition

All the designers from Art ' N Tartan have been invited to exhibited their wearable arts entry into a weekend exhibition at The Celtic Barn on 12-13 November 2016

 So that meant getting my $1.50 mannequin of Trade Me ready.

 A wooden dowel wasn't strong enough to support

 it so I had to go hut for something that would. I was

 almost sold a 6 metre reinforcing rod (@ $30!) and

 then I saw 1 metre lengths of galvanized steel.

It fit inside an umbrella pole and stand so would

do the job (I hoped!)

 Her legs hang a little weirdly but not to 

worry - she was only $1.50 after all!

 With her arms on supporting the branches...

 .and the face with the mask (and hair)

 I had this great idea about making a handmade book

using my handmade paper with coptic stitching and 

 a matching tartan fabric cover - I'd print out photos of

 my gown-making processes to glue in on the pages

 Sewing the signatures with cotton embroidery thread. 

 My really bad coptic stitching - it looks simple 

enough in the instruction but think I need lessons

 from Marci Tackett!!

 What complicated things was I didn't want holes in cover

and all the instructions showed it being sewn on.

 This is what it looked like inside.

 I'm really pleased with it....

 but don't look too closely at my stitching! 

The Finished cover with a simple title.

 Loading up the car early Saturday morning.

We could drop our mannequins off on Friday 

but I was still completing my book - it took

way longer than I had anticipated.

I had work after dropping my design off

 so was feeling a bit stressed!

 I got there at 8.30 am as was relieved to find lots of 

other designers were bringing in their gowns too.

Some of the designers had their models there and stayed to talk with the public who came to view the exhibition over the weekend.  As I was working I said I couldn't stay but would be back to pack up  after the exhibition on Sunday. 

Here's a few more photos of the exhibition.

At the end of the exhibition I was asked if I would be happy to have "My Roots" gown on display at the Waipu Museum. They also said they thought my handmade book was wonderful. I'm really stoked! I'll need to go back out to assist helping with set up at the museum, just waiting to be contacted.

Book-making - 10 hours

Exhibitions - 7 hours

 (includes travel/set up/pack down)