After shaping the curved outer edges I worked on carving out the heart-shaped centre to honour my respect for the whale, its sheer size and beauty within our oceans and the tail representing strength, speed and sensitivity in Maori Culture
I've finally completed weaving the "water" and now on to the beach/sand area. I enlarged the portion of the artwork so I could better follow the colours.
To make it easier to find the wool (colours) we wanted I spent an hour or so attaching a short piece of wool to each box and then organised all the boxes into their colour groups. It saved time when looking for a particular wool colour!
Textiles (weaving) 12 hours
Ordering and organising wool 2 hours
PLANNING/ORGANISING
I'm a bit ashamed as I only got around to filling out one of these weekly planners over March. I was preparing for my daughter's wedding in Tauranga on the 10 March, then after the wedding and returning home I was then focusing on getting for my trip to Wellington. Excuses I know, but I am trying to discipline myself in writing done my goals and tasks for each day/week.
Planning/Organising 1 hour
TEACHING/ENCOURAGING OTHERS
Ricky and I worked on the rest of the crosses we'd started before Christmas.
We also started another wooden assemblage for his Mum. Ricky's measuring, cutting, and screwing skills continue to improve with each project.
Mosaic work - 5 hours
3D Design/wooden assemblage - 5 hours
PRINTING IMAGES ON FABRIC USING INKJET PRINTER
I offered to make printed calico bags for a lady at work whose husband makes kauri puzzles. Along time ago I bought freezer paper with the intentions of printing on fabric with my printer so once I'd located that I cut out an A4 piece and ironed it on the back of a piece of calico. Care needs to be taken with cutting as any frayed edging can get caught in the printers' rollers. Hans had a hand-drawn image which I scanned onto my laptop and edited it ready for printing. Unfortunately, despite my efforts to ensure clean cut edges, the fabric still jammed. I'm yet to retry printing it...
Textile printing 1 hour
3D DESIGN/SCULPTURE: WHALE TAIL
I've been itching for some time to do some carving and decided to sculpt a whale tail out of the piece of hebel. I find the process calming and soothing.
3D Sculpture 3 hours
PHOTOGRAPHY:
I drove to Tauranga with my parents, who are 89 (Dad) and 80 (Mum) for my daughter's wedding on the 10th of March. We stopped off at my Dad's sister's place for a cuppa and I snapped a few photos before we left as it may be the last time they see each.
We stopped at Karangahake Gorge for lunch and I used the opportunity to capture some of the beautiful scenery on camera.
The day before the wedding we took a drive to Mt.Maunganui which is not far from Tauranga. We enjoyed a stroll along the beach-front which was only a stones-throw from the shops, cafes and apartments and the surf was spectacular and imposing! Here's a few of my photographs.
The morning of my daughter's wedding...
...it was a beautiful morning. While the bridal party was getting the hair an hair and makeup done, I snapped a few more photos.
The flowers...
...and the venue where the wedding and reception was being held was lovely!
Painting 4 hours
MORE PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography/editing 14 hours Blogging 10 hours
CERAMICS
I continued to make soap dishes as they have been selling well. I also spent a couple of evenings glazing and looking on the internet for a boot pattern that I could use to make herb planters. I'm really keen to try pit firing now the weather has cooled down and have a stack of wood that I could use (hopefully before my Diploma concludes in May)
Ceramics: hand-building soap dishes 3 hours
hand-glazing bisque-fired pottery 3 hours
Internet research (design) 1 hour
I can't remember if it was a TLC student or someone else on Facebook but I came across the YouTube video (below) and I wanted to post it here on my blog so I could remember it for the future. Onta ware, Japanalso spelled Onda, refers to a type of Japanese pottery produced in and around the village of Onta in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. If I ever go Japan, I would definitely visit "Onta"
The earth for the pottery is found in Onta in the mountains. It normally comes in the form of rocks and needs to be ground to a pulver. This is done by the usage of traditional water scoops or mills called kara-usu, which rely purely on the flow of the river. The wooden mills grind the earth into a powder, which is then washed and filtered multiple times to purify the material. It is then dried, sometimes over a large oven.
The village is a tightly-knit community, with families of potters going back generations. The work such as the purification of the earth is done by women, while men are responsible for actually creating the wares. Pieces are never signed by an individual but only with the sign of the Onta village. This is to signify that the production of a single vessel was the combined work of the community, not just one person.
Onta ware traditionally consists of utility vessels such as bowls, plates, and tea cups. The style is most often slipware.
l love the way they purify the mud (all by hand!) and the respect they have of the environment for generations to come. Amazing work, the connectivity and sustainability by not commercializing into industrial product which inspires me to view my soapmaking and papermaking in the same way.
The week leading up to judging was spent making my costume for the Art n Tartan Wearable Arts. From dawn until dusk I was making paper, drying paper, shaping and gluing, fitting, sewing and stressing from time to time!
I brought more supplies.
A big sponge and felting cloths which I found that
the Countdown just down the road from me stocked.
Thankfully, the weather was good at the beginning
of the week so I was able to make paper.
I hung the long sheets up on the line
...and lay the smaller ones on the trampoline.
This is what my cat did all day while I worked!
While at work and browsing a magazine I came across this image of tree roots. I was immediately inspired by what I was going too do and couldn't wait to get home to start work on my "tree roots"
Preparing the "roots" using foam tubing
I found at Arthur's Emporium For $1
Hanging them to dry on my porch
Bringing them inside overnight
to continue the drying process.
Sewing tartan fabric onto the paper was really tricky!
I realised after drying all the "roots" they needed to
be bent so spray-misted them all and placed them in
a laundry basket to keep them in a curved shape.
Experimenting with taping wire to the paper
then gluing more paper over the top.
It worked really well!
My dried "roots"...now I had to work out how to attach them.
One of my BIG stresses during the week was having difficulty couching (pronounced: cooching) or transferring the second batch of paper pulp to the felts. I nearly gave up as I was SO frustrated!
But I didn't..I pushed through After taking a rest day (I think mid-week) I came to the conclusion it was to do with the flax/abaca ratio. The first batch had a good ratio of flax to abaca probably half and half. The second was mostly abaca and it was VERY difficult to couch.
After re-wetting it and adding equal quantity of pre-made sheets of flax paper (I had made for labeling my soap) and re-batching the pulp it worked perfectly, releasing easily from the mold so I could continue working on my design. I had the dehumidifier on constantly for 24 hours to dry it as it started raining and I was running out of time to use it!
After sewing the fabric leaves onto the florist wire and stitching around the borders using a buttonhole stitch. I folded the wire back on itself and twisted it so the florist tape had something to "grip" then covered the tape with paper.
PVA glue attached the paper to the stems
Rolling paper around the stem.
The leaves were then attached to the "branches"
My finished branches.
Tibby and music kept me company while I worked - all day Saturday
I worked on the roots ALL night and watched
the sunrise on the Sunday (judging day),.
~o0o~
