"Hooked on Wire"

Mixed Media Seacape "Glimmer"

2010-02-05T11:44:00.006+10:00

Finally, here is the finished Mixed Media Seascape, named "Glimmer" that I was working on in July last year.

The dilemma over how to finish it, eventually gave way to what I think was a flashing light bulb, so I decided to bite the bullet and finish it. I figured that if it looked hideous it could always be relegated to the rubbish heap.

Torn silver foil for sparkle, translucent blue mica powder mixed in gloss finishing sealer for acrylic's along with pearlescent mica powder were my flashing light bulbs!!

Now when I look at the work up close it has the effect of polished shell. The painting has also been orientated differently. My problem of disolving salt has been fixed with a coat of thick white acrylic and some sealer, no more puddles on rainy days, but the "sand" is still obvious. I guess that proves that sometimes patience along with trial and error can be a good thing.

Update August 2011 - With all the Rain/Flooding we had in Queensland, I ended up having further problems with this painting. The Staples holding the canvas to the frame rusted and marked my nice white wall which I then had to repaint. :( The canvas was wet again as well. Needless to say canvas was sent to the skip. Good news however, I really liked this painting so have decided to give my ideas another go, this time without salt. Unfortunately, it won't be exactly the same, but its moving along fast as I know what I want this time. Pics when its finished.

Time for a change

2009-07-23T15:16:00.006+10:00

Thought I'd give this site a refresh with a new background and change of font. Maybe the colour scheme just has me wishing that winter was over and it was spring or even summer hence the wave effect. I've even been thinking about my next painting, have some great pics of Pelicans I photographed down in northern New South Wales, so am thinking a canvas full of Pelicans would be rather eye catching.....regardless of the fact that I've not finished or even looked at the last painting I was working on for a while. Although it just about hits me in the nose every time I walk past the easel its resting on. I ran into some issues with the salt I added, well it was to be expected I guess as I did mention this might happen.
We had tonnes of rainy, moisture filled days in May and June, and consequently I found a puddle of water or rather dissolved salt on the floor where the painting had been resting. The sun has dried it out nicely, but everytime it rains same thing happens. Of course my issue now is how to fix it. Thought about sanding it off, but that's likely to damage the canvas. I might try dissolving it with more water, at this point I feel like hosing it just to see what happens. Oh the fun. I should have stuck with sand.
Well I live and learn!!

Maleny Views Glasshouse Mountains

2009-05-05T14:42:00.005+10:00

Yesterday was a perfect Autumn day and what better way to make the best use of it then to take a little jaunt out into the countryside. This pic is the view from Mary Cairncross Reserve http://www.mary-cairncross.com.au/ at Maleny on the North Coast hinterland. What you're viewing here are the amazing Glasshouse Mountains which are a series of volcanic plugs rising dramatically above the coastal plain. These mountains were named in 1770 by Captain Cook and are thought to have been formed about 26 million years ago.

This is a view I've not seen before even though my parents practically live at the base of one of these mountains. Luckily I thought to bring my camera along.

Mixed Media Seacape No.1

2009-04-24T16:19:00.001+10:00

Here's the other piece I'm working on at present. It's not mean't to hang the way I've photographed it, plus its not a very good photograph, due to lighting issues, so sorry about that.
Its a biggie 1200 x 600 and I got to use up some of my huge stash of freshwater pearls in it. Hey, there are uses for beads besides wearing them after all!!!

This is something I've been toying with in my head for a while, now the issue is what colours to paint it. I thought it would look good just done in white acrylic and then hung on a coloured feature wall.

But then I thought it might also look good done in sea and sand colours. The section to the left is salt imbedded into the Impasto. I'm a little worried about wetting the salt with paint... I expect that it will, 1) run or 2) partly dissolve, either way it may or may not leave an interesting design. I also used shells, starfish, string and sand dollars.

oh and I had planned to add some silver leaf in very small pieces to give the hint of sun sparkling on the water.

What do you think I ought to do?

Underwater again - No. 3 in the series

2009-04-24T15:52:00.003+10:00

Here's the final piece in the underwater series that I've been working on.
It still needs to be sealed, but I expect that I'll do that later today.
This piece is mean't to hang in the middle of the two paintings I posted a little further down this page ie another turtle with starfish and the little clown fish

This one measures 900 x 900, again I've used Atelier Interactive Acrylic paints and I'll seal it with Atelier Gloss Medium Varnish. I love the sparkle this varnish gives to paintings, I tend to use it all the time. Must get myself some satin varnish as I'm sure I'll find a use for it.

Gosh this is now the third Green Turtle I've painted in some form or another. Think its time I tackled something else and I have a tonne of ideas so I'd better get cracking.

Kookaburra's Laughing

2009-04-20T10:38:00.007+10:00

If you've never heard a Kookaburra laugh, then go to the following site and click on the MP3 file to have a listen. There's also tonnes of info about this wonderful Australian Bird.
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/animals/TheLaughingKookaburra.htm

This pic was also snapped by me at my parents property - Glasshouse Mountains, Qld.

"I thought he said North"

2009-04-20T10:24:00.004+10:00

Snapped this pic up my parents property at Glasshouse Mountains on the North Coast a couple of weekends back.
Around 4.00pm each afternoon, five or six Kookaburra's fly in and sit on top of the BBQ around the back of the house. It all started with just one or two of them, however word soon spread that free food was on offer.

I particularly like this pic as these three landed on the weathervane, where they looked like they were trying to decide which direction to head off in.

Ballina - New South Wales, Best Kept Secret

2009-04-07T15:03:00.027+10:00

Am just back from my little camping and touring holiday in Northern New South Wales, only problem was that it wasn't long enough. Well ain't that always the way!

We collected the "Explorer-Off Road Camper Trailer from "Its all Good off Road" Hire at Jimboomba, about 50 mins out of Brisbane. I have to give these guys a plug or two, they looked after us very well and I can highly recommend them. Terry and Sue own a few "Jimboomba Camper Trailers" you can find both these companies on the web.

We headed home, packed the trailer and the Nissan Patrol with the usual half the house...lol, even having time to have a quick run though of setting the trailer up in the front yard, so at least we knew how it all fitted together. Must admit we did very well with only some quick verbal instructions from Sue at "It's all Good off Road".

Heading off the next morning around 9.00am, we arrived at our destination in Ballina around 2.00pm, having stopped off along the way for a long lunch and a bit of leg stretching.

We caught the car ferry across the Richmond River to get to our camping spot. Here's an interesting pic I shot whilst waiting to reach the other side of the river. I like the clouds sitting atop the folded life rafts and the colour contrasts here.

Took us a couple of hours to set up camp, with me watching some huge black clouds rolling in behind us. Just as we finished putting up the seabreeze enclosure, (that's an annex for those of you that don't understand the lingo) it started to pelt down. Only lasted about 30 mins and then the weather cleared, although not entirely, with a few short showers over of the following days and then beautiful sunny weather till we went home. We didn't have any issues other the the fact the I forgot to remind Mike to lay a tarp on the ground under the Annex. We only had shade cloth down, which is not much use when its raining.

Here we are at our campsite at South Ballina Beach. We snared a pretty good spot, nice and private, but admittedly there were only about 3 other campers round. March is a good time to go holiday, well usually, providing the heavens don't decide to open up and drop a bucket load of that wet stuff, we haven't seen here in a very long time.

Our friends, Russell, Cathy and Peppa the Border Collie arrived a few days later in their Pajero towing their Jayco Camper trailer. Unfortunely due to work committments they could only stay 4 days. During this time there were lots of BBQ's and plenty of catching up to be done, we all had a fab time and not to mention those two rascally rabbit four legged fur balls of ours had a tonne of fun together.

Here's the stunning beach not far from our camp, unfortunately, it wasn't dog friendly as it's inhabited by seabirds and is fiercely protected by Parks and Wildlife Rangers. We were advised by the park owner that fines can be around $1500 if you're caught disobeying their signage.

We are always very careful with our dog around birds and other wildlife, fortunately, Rem, has absolutely no interest whatsoever in birds, preferring to swim and chase his ball - rarely takes his eyes off the soccer ball for that matter.
We found heaps of other beaches that he could have a swim and play in the area. e.g Patches beach, South Ballina which is dog friendly is about 10 minute drive along a very scenic route beside the Richmond River. Well worth the drive just for the scenery, interesting gardens and statues along the way.

Here's a massive jelly fish we found washed up at Patches Beach, I estimated it would have been at least 42 cms wide. There were tonnes of them, I expect they were launched out of the ocean during that wild storm we had.

Ballina really is one of New South Wales best kept secrets, but then northern New South Wales seems to have tonnes of little interesting beachside hideouts with vertually no inhabitants. Frankly I don't understand why so many people move to South East Queensland and then proceed to live on top of one another. Retire to northern New South Wales, its peaceful, has all the necessary ammenities, the traffic won't drive you nuts, and ferry commuters won't be parking out your street.

Ballina isn't far from Byron Bay and Lennox Head both of which have stunning beaches. The town centre has tonnes of interesting little shops, and there are lots of nice walks to be had. It has a shopping centre just outside of town with the usual KMart, Coles, Big W and Woolworths Supermarkets and speciality stores, there's also an Aldi for those of us looking for a Chocolate fix. Yep they have the best Chocolate range as far as we're concerned!
There's also Bunnings Hardware for the handyman, a Library for us bookworms, Vet for our furry friends, RSL Club for cheap meals and I expect entertainment, great fishing spots and tonnes of water for boating activities.
There are two Camping Stores as well, one in the centre of town and another which is possibly more suited to Caravan owners etc is located in the shopping centre.

Best cooked Fish and Chips we found were at Lennox Head. No Basa on offer here, thankfully - not like Nambucca Heads last camping holiday! We also bought raw seafood at the Seafood Market on the way out of town to the Ferry and found it to be good quality and very fresh. The green prawns sans heads were rather delicious done on the BBQ with a little Chilli, Ginger, Garlic and Lime Juice....Yum!

Our favourite Beach was Angel Beach, where we spent a considerable amount of time swimming in what was a "Lake" in front of a Beach Break. The sand at the far side of this Lake had been gouged to above waist height, so that on reaching the deepest side, you could then climb up on the beach to breaking waves. Fantastic!
The water was like crystal and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. Rem had a absolutely fabulous time swimming. When we arrived at the Beach he raced off down to the water, pausing half way and looking back at us as if to say " Well come on, its time to Swim" Boy, is that a new word in his vocabulary. Not!
Here he is having a surf on the doggy beach at Byron Bay too. Can't say there weren't too many doggy beaches that he didn't visit.

We took a day trip inland to Lismore, and then drove onto Evans Head, also a very pretty seaside town. Take a look at the next pic, which was taken at the Lookout at Evans Head.

and this pic is the other side of the view
.

We also had lunch at a great little cafe right on the Beach. Its called "Shelly's on the Beach". You can find this cafe at Shelly Beach which is not dog friendly, but the cafe is Dog friendly. Furry friends can have a snooze at your feet whilst you indulge in a very nice lunch with a view.

Highlites on the Camper Trailer

1) Steps to the bed - no ladders to climb
2) The battery operated water pump on the sink
3) The spaciousness of the living space

Lows on the Camper Trailer

My Pet hate and I do have one, the Bed. If I owned a camper trailer it would have to have an inner spring mattress. As it was the mattress would have been low density foam and certainly no more than 13cms high. That to me is like sleeping on concrete. Mind you the other half didn't seem to have an issue, but then he can fall sleep anywhere!!

To try and make life more comfortable I went off an bought a foam underlay from Big W at Ballina. The $60.00 it cost me was well worth the money spent for what was almost a comfortable nights sleep. Once I was out of bed in the morning, usually 6.00am, there was no way I was crawling back in. Although I did managed to sleep till 8.00am one morning, most likely from sheer exhaustion.

Ok now, would I own a Camper Trailer? No, not unless I planned on using it constantly in the next few years and I don't mean just for the annual holiday. I've come to the conclusion that a caravan (perhaps a small compact one) would be less combersome. I figure too that when you're older finding the strength to open out a heavy trailer manually is not the way to go, particularly with continuous overnight stops and particularly if one of you is taken ill. I read recently about a woman whose husband was taken ill and had to go to hospital approx 200kms away, their camper was so heavy, the poor woman was unable to manage it on her own, needless to say they've since replaced it. I also think that I'd like to be up off wet ground.

Russell and Cathy reckon a pop top caravan is on their shopping list down the track. Consequently, we're looking forward to the Caravan and Camping Show in June.
It's always interesting to see the new developments in camping, either way am sure it will end up being a hard decision in the end as there are just so many options.

Last and not the very least here's Mike with Peppa (left)and Remy - on Tour. One of my fav pics.

New Underwater Series - "More or Less"

2009-03-05T15:28:00.006+10:00

Just finished these two paintings, with still another to follow. Eventually I'll hang them all together.
I've used Atlier Interactive Acrylics and have sealed them with a gloss varnish, only one coat so far, will give them another one or two when I finish the third in the series which at this point is only a penciled outline on canvas. These two measure 900 x 600.

The first one I've named "Clown" for reasons which I guess are pretty obvious.
It's nothing like I originally had in mind and in fact had sketched on the canvas.
I thought it looked just a bit overcrowded and proceeded to over paint most of the other fish and coral. I figured "less is more" in this particular case, I think I was just being a little too ambitious for this first try.

This second one I've named "Ocean Friends" I must say I really enjoyed painting that starfish and the ocean floor just for something different.

A Beady Gift

2009-01-29T14:43:00.003+10:00

I've been meaning to post a pic of the gorgeous little needle case sent to me by the lovely Sharyel as part of the Secret Santa arranged via the Aussie Beading Forum.

Isn't she a clever girl and I must say, with heaps of patience to boot, not to mention fabulous eye sight. I don't think I could ever sit and sew so many little seedies together.

Anyway here it is and thanks so very much once again Sharyel. I love it.

Happy New Year - 2009

2009-01-20T13:55:00.003+10:00

Well I say, hasn't the new year sprung to life with a bang. Seems I hardly blinked and December was over along with Christmas and all its weeks of preparation.

So what have I been up to since my last post. Mainly holidaying. Going to the beach, picnics, BBQs, family gatherings at this relative or that, eating, drinking and in some cases being merry.

In between all that I've managed to fit in some gardening as well as check out the Post Xmas sales. Scored a few bargains including a 19inch Flat Screen TV with digital tuner and built in DVD player. Of course the reason for this purchase, besides Kevin 07/KRUD telling us to spend, spend, spend, was that this TV would now go with us on our future camping trips as it weighs considerably less than my 20 year old portable one. Of course to add to this we needed a proper outdoor aerial, so have purchased one from a Caravan/RV shop that folds down and fits into a cardboard tube less than 18inches long.

Of course things are well advanced for our upcoming camping trip in March. Camper Trailer with proper steps to the sleeping platform has been hired for this trip (no more ladders for this girl). The plan is to hire before we buy to see if we like this style of camping. We're not really into Caravans, find them a bit claustrophobic and with the other half being 6ft 6ins tall makes it really interesting trying to find facilities including a bed that he'll fit into.
Ultimately, my dream and no doubt his is a camper trailer with a King Size bed!!

My other project at present is another painting or series, featuring Marine Life on the ocean floor. This is taking a far amount of time by way of research as I've never painted anything like this before. It is so hard to find good material on how to paint coral in detail. Anyway have resorted to the Library in hope that I will turn something up there that will lead to some sort of mind boggling inspiration. I have an idea what the finished painting will look like, but am sure its going to take some time before I can say "Yay its finished".

Happy New Year!

The Incredible Hulk

2008-12-08T15:40:00.007+10:00

On Saturday we decided to drive down the South Coast across the border to Kingscliff in Northern New South Wales for the day. The new Tugan Bypass takes what seems like an hour of waiting in traffic off the trip. The plan was to head to the beach so that Remy could have a game of soccer, a nice cool swim and then we'd all enjoy a long relaxing walk along the beach.

So following all that activity, we settled down under a large shady tree at Fingal Head, to a picnic lunch of sliced chilled Tandoori chicken, Coleslaw, tiny seeded Dinner Rolls and my version of a Greek cous cous salad (actually its one of Ainsley Harriott's recipes that I've adapted) along with some fresh cherries, slices of cold watermelon and crunchy seedless green grapes, followed by a bottle of iced Tea...Yum!

All was going to plan until just after lunch when Remy managed to recline on an Ants nest. These were not just your average little black ants, but really big, black, nasty, ferocious stinging ants.

Within seconds the area around his entire right eye blew up, then the right side of his snout, followed by the bottom and corner of his left eye. The poor little guy was in agony and trying to rub his eye with his paw. We managed to settle him somewhat with an towel dipped in icy water, but after about 20 mins decided to head back to Brisbane to the 24 hour vet hospital at Manly. Remy lay across the back seat of the car and tried to sleep, but his little face resembled that of the incredible hulk, minus the green tinge. I could feel his radiating pain, poor little guy.

After driving for an hour and what seemed like eternity in the waiting room we managed to see the vet. By this time it was over two and half hours since he'd been stung and some of the swelling had started to subside. He was given two injections, antihistamine and steroid.

The vet said he'd feel alot better after that. Anyway the swelling had disappeared by morning and he was back to his usual self. The funny thing was as soon as we got home from the vet he was keen to have a game of ball in the front garden. No way I told him, you're going to hop on your bed and have a little rest.

"Grumble, grumble, grumble. Geez mum to I have to?"

This will be my last post till next year. Summer is here in Australia and I have tonnes of holiday reading to keep me amused, might also find some time to laze about the pool in the back garden. The water was clear, sparkling and so very refreshing on the weekend.

Have a enjoyable festive season and most happy new year. To my Aussie friends have a great summer and to my many friends on the other side of the world, stay warm. Catch you all in 2009.

And the winner is........

2008-11-27T08:44:00.013+10:00

Ok, so we now know who the winner is of the 2008 Swarovski Creative Beading Competition... drum roll please................."Caroline Fung" with a fabulous creation entitled "Dance of the Fire Phoenix".

Caroline is a member of our very own Australian Beading Forum, a talented bunch of Designers and Artists in their own right, these girls and boys are reaping prizes and publicity the world over.

Caroline's piece is an absolutely stunning work of art. She states that her inspiration came from some gorgeous Swarovski pendants which she found on the Internet whilst searching for information about Thailand as she planned a holiday there.

She goes on to add, having seen pictures of Thai dancers with their rich and vibrant costumes of red and gold along with their very unique posture, she set about working in an attempt to incorporate all those images gathered in her mind. The whole design has been constructed via wire wrapping techniques and using different gauges of gold filled wire.

You can view Caroline's masterpiece at http://www.crystalpark.com.au/

As well as in the next issue (Dec 2008) of Australian Creative Beading.
In the Jan 2009 you'll also find a profile of Caroline's work. Caroline has won a trip to Austria. Congratulations Caroline, fabulous effort.

The Five Stages of Jewellery Acquisition

2008-11-11T13:04:00.005+10:00

1) Infatuation — "I want it."
2) Justification — "I must have it!"
3) Appropriation — "IT'S MINE AT LAST!"
4) Obsession — "Precious!"
5) Resale (usually after you're sick of it) — "Make me an offer."

Christmas Dog

2008-11-03T17:38:00.009+10:00

Been messing about with the Nikon again, trying to decide on photos for my special Xmas cards this year. I managed to get the young fella to sit still long enough for me to snap off a few pics. As usual he got bored and starting yawning (well I think that's why he was yawning), then lay down with his nose between his paws, had to bribe him with a liver treat. Then he lost his Santa hat and looked at me as if to say "well come on and pick it up, so we can get on with it" He really does have the patience of a saint and is so very obliging whenever he's asked to sit for pics. It was overcast today, so lighting's not so good. I might try again when the sun comes out.

By the way, did you know that Border Collies yawn the most out of all the different breeds of dogs. According to a report in the London Daily Mail dogs yawn when their owners do, although I've never tried this with Remy. Yes indeed yawning is infectious, we all know that, but new research shows that dogs can apparently catch yawns, too. Scientists from the University of London's Birkbeck College found that 72per cent of dogs placed in a room with a yawning person would follow suit. And they don't do so out of tiredness or boredom, the researchers suggest, but as a way of empathising with their master.

Little Miss Peppa Pants

2008-10-29T15:50:00.005+10:00

Here's Miss Peppa Pants... as I call her because she is such a little bossy britches and a mind of her own (well she is a female after all)....lol.

Peppa is Remy's (my border collie's) niece, born the same day as him and I get to pet sit her occasionally. She must be fed first and get all the attention...lol...
Remy just takes it all in his stride, he's so easy going. They get to spend heaps of time together, running in the park, on the beach, playing Frisbee although Peppa won't return it and I have to send Remy to get it when she finally drops it...It's a funny sight. We meet up with Peppa's human parents fairly often.

Here's the pic of her I used to do the painting.

Not exactly the same pose but I think its a good likeness of her and her little personality.

I used Atelier Interactive Acrylic paint and this time I tried a new sealer from Windsor and Newton - Galeria Acrylic Medium Gloss Varnish. It went on easily enough but like most sealers one needs to be mindful of not over brushing and only using a light coat, otherwise it can tend to look milky on the canvas.

Solomons Treasure

2008-10-29T10:42:00.006+10:00

Don't faint I actually made something... lol

Mother inlaw has been bugging me for one of my bookmarks, it was a struggle to pull out the beads, but funnily enough once I got going on it.. well you know how it it. She's turning 75 next week so this will go with the rest of the present we got for her.

I used czech crystals, glass pearls and beads and some faceted semi precious stones I had lying around in the left overs drawer. The fish came on a strand of beads I bought last time I visited the "Feeling Inspired" show here in Brissy. I made the squiggly shape, a beaten piece of wire and managed to hit my finger in the process. ouch! In hindsight I think the beaten wire kind of looks like rolling waves.

Oh and I added a little Turtle (Solomon) who inspired the whole piece.

"Solomon Honu"

2008-10-21T08:24:00.008+10:00

Finished this little fellow yesterday, I love turtles so this one is all mine. Ever since I visited Heron Island off Gladstone a few years back I've been amazed by these wonderful creatures. Although, the Turtles visiting Heron Island are mainly Loggerhead, this fellow is a Green Turtle.

Once again I used Atelier Interactive Acrylics, but this time I used a glaze too, a mix of paint and thinning medium to give the effect of the coral being under the sea.

The canvas measures 1200x900, so its probably one of the biggest paintings I've ever attempted.

I also got to use some of my fave colours too, gorgeous mixes of blues and greens for the sea.

Anyway he's now hanging in the hallway off the back deck against a golden sand painted wall and he looks devine.

Froggy No. 4

2008-10-13T08:32:00.007+10:00

Just finished another painting. You may have guessed by now if you follow this blog fairly regularly that I adore frogs. Lamp worked (of which I've used several in the many pieces of jewellery photographed for this blog) painted, real or otherwise.

This little guy is a "White Lipped Tree Frog" and is happily perched upon one of my favourite tropical garden flowers, a Heliconia.

I used Atelier Interactive Acrylics and pigment ink for something different. I love these interactive paints, the colours are so vibrant and a joy to use.

This is probably one of the largest paintings I've ever completed measuring 900 x 900.

Interestingly, yesterday I happened upon a book about "Picasso" whilst cleaning out my book cupboard. That book bought back lots of happy memories. Inscribed on the first page was a hand written note:

"Presented to Bernadine Yourell. First Prize Kilcoy Show 1977. Donated by Mr. A Tulloch."

The painting that won first prize from memory was a Still Life study, would you believe, of Oranges, cut, peeled, quartered etc. I forget how many countless pencil, pen and other drawings I had to complete as part of my study, before tackling that painting.

Unfortunately I no longer have it, being completed in ordinary old student acrylics there were certainly no archival qualities associated with that paint.

We tackled lots of interesting projects in those classes, lino cutting, screen printing (yep I still have the afternoon tea cloth to prove it and its in original condition, never been used) charcoal and pencil drawings, designing posters using mixed media, doing portraits, never pets always human...lol, are some of things I can recall.

I have been painting for a very long time on and off and way before 1977. Alan Tulloch, now a Brisbane Artist, was my Art Teacher for two years in the late 1970's.

So Alan if you happen to read this, thanks for the happy memories and knowledge you passed on to me.

"Cookie"

2008-10-08T09:55:00.004+10:00

I've really gotten into the Pet Portrait thing lately. Here's my latest a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel by the name of "Cookie". He belongs to my niece Samantha, but has a very strong attachment to her mother, my sister-in-law, Jennifer.

Cookie tends to get a bit put out when Remy appears on the scene, because Cookie is an older dog and dislikes having a young pup jumping all over him

A couple of weeks back at a family BBQ Cookie saw Remy appear and scampered off to sit with his back to us all between his mum's feet , a very funny sight. If Remy is doing some of his tricks, Cookie is always keen to join in so he can score a treat too.

This painting will make up part of Jennifer's Christmas gift and was painted from two original photographs shot by both Jennifer and Samantha.

PS.. Jan '09
The painting was very well received, Jen said she loved it.

Whats Up

2008-09-16T11:57:00.007+10:00

Gosh, its been a while. Spent half of winter laid up with some illness or another.
Luckily I had two weeks of Olympic Sport to keep me amused. Mind you, the games were almost over, when my DH decided that he'd better go out and buy a Set Top Box so that I could see all the action in High Defination. Well frankly, don't know what all the fuss was about, sport is sport and it looks the same to me whatever the Defination. Perhaps having a TV the size of a movie theatre screen would help, maybe should have put in my order for one of those too. hehe.

Anyway what have I been up to lately???? Lots of reading for a start, thank goodness for the local Library and of course my mate Remy has been great company. This pic sort of gives you an idea of what he's been up to most of the time. Typical Border Collie pose whilst sleeping.

I've also gone back to painting. Yesterday I finished my first Pet Portrait, of guess who? What fun, ended up searching my computer for all the pics I've taken of Remy for the last 14months or so and found one of my fav's, printed it in A4 size on photo paper, just so I could see more detail.

I've never painted animals before in such a large format and felt really inspired by some of Brisbane Artist Tracey Keller's animal portraits. I love her unique fun style. Anyway I've given the portrait to DH, who had a good giggle and commented on how I view Remy's mezmerizing stare. Remy really does have the most amazing eyes in real life.

Now I've just got to think about my next project whilst I'm in the mood to paint. I'm enjoying the way the hallway downstairs is starting to take on the feel of art gallery.

2008 Swarovski Creative Beading Awards

2008-07-24T09:19:00.005+10:00

Wow. Some amazing pieces have so far been entered in the "2008 Swarovski Creative Beading Awards" (Aust) Many of these sparkling and fabulous entries are from the very talented members of the "Australian Beading Forum". Its a such a privilege to know these ladies and gents, their talent is incredible.

Its difficult to pick a fav, all are winners in my eyes and I do believe the judges will have a very hard time, picking a winner this year. Can't wait to see the top 25.

If you're interested in checking out the entries so far go on and visit http://www.crystalpark.com.au

Birthday Present for Jennifer

2008-07-21T09:42:00.006+10:00

I made this bracelet a while back using some of Bev's glorious Lampies. I teamed the Lampies with Stering Silver and Swarovski crysals that are half silver and half crystal. They really give a glam look to the whole piece. The beads were actually commissioned for a customer who then changed her mind and wanted one of my gorgeous green lampie bracelets also made with Bev's beads.

Thought the black and silver plum beads made a great winter piece, so as its my sister-in-laws birthday in a couple of days time, she has scored it as her birthday present along with a set of sterling silver, grey and black toned earrings.

Yes, we have no Bananas!

2008-06-18T13:26:00.005+10:00

On my recent trip to North Queensland we passed through the town of Innisfail on the "Great Green Way". Innisfail was severely devastated by Category 5 Cyclone, Larry, in March 2006. The town has a population of about 8,000, and is the centre of the Johnstone Shire, which has a population of around 19,000 all up. It is located on the Cassowary Coast (named after the rare local native bird - more about these in a future post )between World Heritage Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.

This region today is Australia's largest producer of bananas, rivalling sugar as an income earner. Tea, Papaws and exotic tropical fruits are also grown.
Beef cattle are processed in a modern abattoir near Innisfail for domestic and overseas markets. Aquaculture also plays an important part in the region's economy, ranging from prawn, barramundi and fresh water crayfish to crocodile farming.

After more than two years life seems to be getting back to normal although there are still the odd one or two wrecks of houses remaining. We were told by a local tropical fruit winery owner that most of those would have been under-insured and if they hadn't rebuilt by now they had no plans too. The winery's crop of passionfruit was entirely wiped out too, so now they buy all their fruit in. Their Passionfruit wine is rather a nice drop too I might add, think it would go down mighty well with Strawberry, Mango and Passionfruit Pavlova. yum!

I was utterly amazed at the number of houses that have bright shiny new roofs in and around the town, it must have been terrible, almost every house seems to have been damaged. Innisfail is also known as the Art Deco capital of Australia. Many of these buildings can been seen in the centre of town. These were built after the town was devasated by a cyclone in 1918, so the town was rebuilt in the style that was popular at that time. There are many examples of Art Deco design facades including Spanish, Sicilian, Moroccan, Italian and Anglo Saxon.

I was also interested to see how the Banana crops were coming along. Things have improved somewhat as not that long ago, supermarkets were charging around $10.00 kilo for bananas. Now things have improved they're back to their pre cyclone prices.
Lots of green fruit appear to be hanging from trees all brightly bagged to keep fruit flies away. The bags reminded me of brightly coloured balloons of red, yellow blue, orange, silver and green hanging from the trees.

The pic above was taken on the way to the Tully Gorge a popular spot for White Water Rafting.

Copyright

2008-06-17T12:27:00.004+10:00

Logged on to the Australian Beading Forum this morning to find an interesting and heated discussion on Copyright. I must say I was sad to find the thread closed by the time I got to the last page, although anything that I might have added I've already posted here in this blog previously. (Click on the Label below entitled "Copyright" to see other posts)

Lets hope that the thread on the forum doesn't get deleted this time as it contains some very useful info and can certainly be used as a reference by any new and unfortunately inexperienced beaders.

Just back from Holidays

2008-06-15T19:21:00.006+10:00

Returned home late yesterday from Far North Queensland, hence the reason I've not posted for a couple of weeks. Found both good news and bad news sitting in my email in box.

Received a very nice email from "Burkes Backyard Magazine" here in Australia after submitting a little story and accompanying photo of Izzy Liz.

Here's what I said in my original email to them

"Hi there Don. Just thought I'd send you a pic of our friendly backyard eastern waterdragon "Izzy Liz". Sadly she is no longer with us, but as you can see she wasn't to be trusted around food and her table manners were a little lacking... ie...foot in the bowl. She loved to raid leftovers off the table on our back deck and not too long ago I found her sitting amongst upturned tea cups helping herself to the biscuit crumbs after I returned from seeing my guests off at the front gate.

I snapped this particular pic one morning a couple of years back after my husband Michael left his cereal unattended whilst he made coffee. She loved grapes, cherries and strawberries and the odd painted toenail...lol. I learnt really quickly not to paint my toenails orange and sit barefoot at the table.... ouch!!

She became very friendly around 4 years ago when Michael was digging and levelling an area in our garden which was to be paved. He kept throwing her earth worms that he dug up as he came across them. From that moment on, she hung about the back veranda and would sleep in one of our hanging orchard baskets till the end of April each year and then would disappear till the beginning of Spring. Occasionally she would come into the kitchen via the back door and one day I even found her investigating the corridor off the kitchen. She became so friendly that I could just call her by name and she'd appear from the back garden, often getting up on the chair beside me and resting on the back of it whilst I read or made jewellery. I occasionally fed her worms from the pet shop, these she would take straight out of my upturned hand, plus she would also let me stroke her neck."

Here's the magazine's response

"What a great story, sounds like you had a wonderful relationship with Izzy Liz. Your photo really captures that cheeky side of her that you described so well :)

I have sent your photo off to the shortlist for possible publication.

Good luck!"

I won't write about the bad news as I'm still digesting it as well as coming up with an apt response to the nutter who sent it.

Another thing I really hate is the amount of junk mail that hits my in box. I arrived home to find about 300 time wasting emails. You've won the Lottery!! We want to give you USD24,000,000 as we've found a long lost relative of yours!! Can we launder money in your bank account and then clean you out of house and home!! Please tell us you user name, password and birthdate so we can clean up your email account!!

Time I got a new email address which only my friends will be privy to.

To all those fraudsters, I hope the long arm of the law eventually catches up with you and you get what you fully deserve. A nice long holiday without your own set of keys!

Gimme a break. I'm still learning.

2008-06-01T16:52:00.005+10:00

"Ooooh, its a Sheep! What am I supposed to do with them again"?

"Yum"

Do I operate or not?

2008-06-01T15:37:00.006+10:00

Mean't to post about my fun day a couple of Friday's ago...

Early in the morning went to check on my aquarium and feed the fish. Thought I caught sight of a bug caught in the plants that are growing in the tank. Went off the grab the net, then I heard a crunching noise.

Well too late, the bug which just happened to be a giant roach was swallowed up by my 16cm long fancy tailed Shabunkin which I've had for sometime now. Darn, now what to do? Could see the fish wasn't able to swallow the whole thing and part of one of its barbed legs was hanging from its mouth. Oh that's just dandy I thought, I'm going to loose that fish, he's going to die for sure. Not happy Jan, that fish cost me Forty big ones.

Sms'd hubby at work, no sympathy there. So then joined an Aquarium forum and of course not too many people had experience with this sort of thing. Why me? Someone suggested that I could perhaps operate on him by removing the bug with a pair of tweezers. Eeeek! I'm squeamish at the best of times and was sure that I'd gone out in sympathy with the fish without even knowing it. My throat felt like it had something caught in it all day. Darn that fish! By this time said fish, was lying on the bottom of the tank, still upright, but obviously not feeling very well.
"Serves you right for being a little pig", I said.
Of course every time he opened his month slightly I could see the bug lodged in his throat, which made me feel sicker.

ok ok a plan was forming. I'd wait till Hubby came home then he could help with the operation. After all, he'd kept fish for years as a child and young adult, surely he'd know what to do. By the time he came home, fish had managed to get all of the bug into his mouth and was obviously swallowing it slowly as he digested it. Several more hours of sitting on the bottom of the tank, hardly moving and continuing to look very sorry for himself followed. After about 36 hours he was fine and swimming around looking for something else to gobble up. Just hope he doesn't decide to eat the rest of the goldfish in the tank, just because he thinks he can.
PS... that's him in the pic above swimming about happily today.

A fun way to select colours for Jewellery Design

2008-05-30T09:09:00.006+10:00

Most of us at one time or another have trouble coming up with new and exciting colour combinations. Of course one way to get out of trouble is to use seasonable colour charts many of which are accessible on the net; one such site that comes to mind is Fire Mountain Gems who are actually a bead and finding supplier in the USA and you can check out the 2008-2009 colour forecast guide on their website.

Alternatively you can raid the paint charts and chips which are also seasonal and available at your local hardware store, but one of my favs is to use fabric or a piece of clothing out of my very own wardrobe.

Here's a piece of jewellery I designed around colours in a new blouse I bought in the summer. It was a combination of deep violet, white and rust tones.
I had been saving a luscious strand of violet dyed large fresh water pearls to make something for myself. I teamed these with sterling silver, and various swarovski crystals to match the colours in the fabric.

Summer time Bracelets

2008-05-28T08:31:00.004+10:00

This is one of my favourite bracelets. I adore the colours of the Swarovski crystals and pearls together, but the big feature opalite bead in the centre to me seems to capture the essence of summer from within.

Guess I'm just trying to remind myself that summer will reappear again in a few months. Today its dark, gloomy and cold outside. Rain is forcast along with a possible storm. Maybe a good thing we could certainly use some rain and goodness knows my garden would love it to.

Something not quite right

2008-05-26T08:45:00.003+10:00

Last week was a stinker of a week. It started off well enough, then on Monday a dust storm hit without warning. No ordinary dust storm, this one was man made. Let me explain.

The property behind our house was sold a few months back and now seems bought by someone intent on pissing his neighbours off before he even moves in.

The house was "demolished" on Monday with no warning, after being delivered a letter to say the house would be "removed" on Saturday. We naturally assumed that the house would be removed on the back of a very large trailer around midnight with a police escort as is often the case with old Queenslanders in our area. But, at 6.30am on Monday morning we were all rudely awakened by an excavator crashing about, smashing roof tiles and basically creating havoc and unsettling years of dust, which I might add managed to find its way over my back fence, showering my upper and lower outdoor entertaining areas including the pool with dust and filth. Took me four days to clean up the mess which wasn't easy when we're not allow to use more than 140 litres of water per person per day here in Brisbane because of our drought and so called lack of planning by councils and Government.

On Tuesday to add insult to injury and whilst I was at the vet with Remy, all the vegetation was removed including a large Jacaranda tree, more noise and more dust. These clowns also managed to wreck a section of our back fence whilst trying to remove a very large Cocos Palm. That fence also encloses our pool area. Enough was enough. Over I went and let 'em have it. Normally I'm a very patient person and will put up with all sorts of crap, but not anymore.

They proceeded to tell me that there wasn't that much dust. "Well how come then, that guy over there is wearing a mask", I said. Some very sheepish looks and a promise that they weren't fly by nighters and would fix my fence that evening. Well yes they fixed the fence, in dark. Needless to say the job was pathetic, tonnes of bent nails and unsupported work that had to be ripped out and put right on the weekend by Hubby.

I'm sure this is not the end of trouble. I can hardly wait, I would rather have continued looking at a very green if somewhat unkept backyard that provided tonnes of privacy.

Another use for a Bear

2008-05-21T12:28:00.002+10:00

Couldn't resist snapping this pic. Here's Remy fast asleep using his bear as a pillow. Funny when he's had a big weekend, he spends the whole of the next day fast asleep.

Winter is here

2008-05-19T10:28:00.005+10:00

Its not even the 1st June yet, already its starting to freeze. Can't wait to head north even if just for a short period. Nothing better than a warm sunny day with a cooling breeze, sitting under a tree on a stunning beach...sigh..roll on.
Why do the days before you go holidays always drag by?

I started to pack my suit case weeks ago, am I keen or what? I'm struggling with what to pack. Should I pack a wrap for evening just in case? Been working though my to do list before I go and its slowly getting shorter too. Spent the last two weekends pulling old palms fonds out of the garden and putting them through the mulcher, as well as repotting/planting, prunning etc. We got a really heavy down pour on Saturday night and I could hear the garden yelling out its thanks whilst it greedily tried to swallow up as much of that refreshing aqua it could.

I lost my prized double red standard camilla during this hideous dought. On the weekend we finally dug it out, added some sweet new compost to the spot where it had been and planted a new double flowered white one tinged with pink on the edge of the petals. Hope it survives. At least that nasty possum that had been eating the other one has now disappeared. We found him with his head stuck under the back garden fence, silly thing if it had turned its head slightly it would have been able to release its self from what was to become its nemesis. These critters eat everything in sight. I'm told they have no taste buds, hence I guess the reason they strip my chili trees bare of fruit, leaves, the whole lot. Am hoping that the new pots I planted full of herbs, cherry tomatoes, chili, mixed baby lettuces and egg plants survive long enough for me to harvest them for dinner. Well I guess I'll let you know how that goes.

Yes Indeed the Proof's in the Pudding

2008-05-16T09:14:00.005+10:00

Two engineers trying to fit a new bicycle in the back of a 4 wheel drive, they lay one side of the backseat down (the other side is in use) proceed to slide the bicycle in handlebars first, find it doesn't fit as the back doors won't close.

So they take the bicycle out and decide to take off the front wheel, only to find that they can't get it past the brake pads, no tools...hummm....what to do?
Fiddle about for a while talking amongst themselves.

Meanwhile onlooker with other places to be says "Why are you doing that, put it in back end first, so that you can maneuver the handle bars around and the door will close"

So they do as suggested and it fits perfectly. What does that prove?
That an x officer manager (me) is a far more logical thinker than two Engineers (Husband and Brother-in-Law) put together.

Yup and I won't let em' forget it....lol

2008-05-13T09:51:00.003+10:00

Another photograph, this time of a storm brewing out at sea off Heron Island. Heron Island is a little coral cay off the Queensland coast near Gladstone.

It's that time of year when most of the resorts are offering cheaper holiday deals as its coming into the winter season here. I was reminded of Heron having seen a recent add for cheap holidays, although this shot was taken in the month of February a couple of years ago.

I must admit I loved it. Great snorkeling, fishing and diving, but just as wonderful for doing nothing and lazing about the beach reading. A word of warning however, as beautiful as the place is, October through to February is nesting time for Black Noddy's and they are everywhere. My best suggestion is to wear a hat, even on the walk to the restaurant for dinner. Believe me, no-one is safe from being blitzed by bird droppings.

You can also see Turtles hatching in Feb. I was lucky enough to see hatchlings run down the beach to the water right in front of me. It so happened that it was a bright sunny day, when suddenly the sun become covered by a cloud, and practically turned day to night. This was followed by a scampering of little flippers in an urgent rush to get to the water before the sun returned. That indeed was an amazing sight.

2008 Swarovski Creative Beading Awards

2008-05-02T09:34:00.007+10:00

Its on again. Check out the 2008 Swarovski Creative Beading Award Entries at www.crystalpark.com.au. Vote for your fav each month until the end of the comp when the offical judges pick the final 25, and of course the winner. As usual great prizes up for grabs, terms and conditions of entry can be found at
http://www.crystalpark.com.au//cgi-bin/cn17325/awards

All in the Family

2008-05-02T08:46:00.003+10:00

Was looking through some of my photo albums of various holiday pics and came across this one. Taken at Melbourne Zoo a couple of years ago now, how cute is that?

Emerald - Birth Stone for May

2008-05-01T11:12:00.011+10:00

Emerald, the stone of Love.

This stunningly beautiful green stone belonging to the Beryl family, was mined from as early as 3000BC and it is said the Egyptians took them from a source near the Red Sea that was later to become known as "Cleopatra's Mines". These mines were thorougly exhausted of any gems by the time they were rediscovered much later again in the 19th centuary.

Cleopatra, herself was known to adore the jewel. Well if that's the case all I can say is the woman had darn good taste in stones, but not necessarily in men.

Down through the ages the Emerald has been worn as a sacred talisman, been worshipped by the Aztecs and Incas and carried by Montezuma himself, while its name derives from the ancient Greek word smaragdos, meaning green gemstone.
Pliny also commented that green gladdened the eye without tiring it. Personally I never tire at looking at green, particularly those amazing sea greens.

The Emerald's colour is said to symbolize spring and rebirth, whilst the stone has strong ties to Love; probably because the Ancient Romans dedicated its colour to Venus, Goddess of Love.

In the middle ages the Emerald was used to predict the future and protect against evil. It is the stone of inspiration and infinite patience and is supposed to bring domestic bliss and loyalty. It keeps a partnership in balance. But beware, if it changes colour it may be signalling unfaithfulness. It is helpful to those who suffer from claustrophobia, but more importantly, it is the stone of wisdom.

Nearly all natural emeralds are found with inclusions, this give them a soft mossy green appearance which is known as jardin, meaning french for garden.
Jardin however does not necessarily detract from the stones value. Stones with good colour can sometimes be the most included; as long as inclusions do not run so deep as to cause weakness in the stone.

Emeralds are precious and therefore must be treated with care. They are not be immersed in detergents, so remove them when washing up. Nor should they be cleaned in ultrasonic cleaners. They must also be professionally re-oiled every few years, because they are normally treated with oils and resins whilst being cut and polished. This process fills any cracks thus producing a nice neat finish.

Best places to wear your Emerald are on the little finger, the ring finger, over the heart or on the right arm. However, do not wear it constantly or it may trigger negative emotions.

Beading Competitions - A wake up call to Organisers

2008-04-29T12:09:00.004+10:00

Much of my wire work is very distinctive, I mean you gotta know its mine, anyone who knows my work will recognise it immediately. Not only have these pieces been blogged about, featured on other websites and in galleries, published in magazines both here in Australia and the United States, but heck, won an award or too and travelled this country on display.

I'm sending a loud wake up call to jewellery and lapidary competition organisers.

Start paying more attention to the "Terms and Conditions of Entry" from a legal and copyright point of view. If you're a judge, you're supposed to know about the work, technique and style you're judging, you should also know if the work is original, particularly if you know your subject.

Do you not realise that there are people out there blatantly copying the work of others and then passing it off as their own and you are encouraging them by awarding them a prize, a placing or even acknowledging them. Put them where they belong, disqualify and ban them for life. If you can't do that then give the job to some-one who can. After all these people are cheats and thieves with no natural artistic talent of their own, let alone a vivid imagination. Obviously, one thing they are good at is searching the Internet or Magazines for images, printing and studying them with a magnifying glass. Some talent!

Sure everyone looks at others designs for inspiration, but changing the colours of a bead or moving them about does not let them off the copyright hook. Rules of copyright also extend to asking the original designer for permission to recreate his or her work and the reasons why you want to do this. If you do not have written permission then don't do it. The designer might sue. If you do have permission then you must also reference the original designer. There are also people out there who will reference the designer, without permission to recreate. These are the sneaky low lifes that annoy me. You also cannot manufacture copyrighted work for resale. Nor should you enter copyrighted work into competitions, because its not your own original work and you'll more than likely be breaching the Terms and Conditions of Entry. If you want to be treated fairly, then play nice, afterall I'm sure you wouldn't want anyone doing this to you.

To those beading comp organisers don't sit there and tell us designers its between you and the thief. You want to publish or display so called winning, unoriginal work in a public arena, then be prepared to be kicked in the butt, because I gonna be on your tail from now on.

I'm interested to hear what others have to say on this topic, so if you're reading this, feel free to leave your thoughts under the comment link below.

Featured Artist

2008-04-27T12:28:00.004+10:00

Just wanted to say thanks to Cyndi Lavin over at jewelryandbeading.com for featuring my Artist Profile on 24th April, it was indeed very kind of you to do that Cyndi.

For those who'd like to have a peek you can find it at:
http://www.jewelryandbeading.com/2008/04/24/artist-profile-bernadine-stoopman/

Memories of a Tropical North

2008-04-23T13:56:00.007+10:00

This year holds a couple of milestone dates for my family so in order to celebrate those, Hubby and I have decided to mark the occasion with a trip to Far North Queensland. We last visited Port Douglas and surrounds about three years ago, so have decided to do an overnighter and then head off to our real destination by hire car the next day. Our actual destination is to be Mission Beach about an hour and half South of Cairns, just across the water from Dunk Island.

I love "Port" as its affectionately known, having been back there many times since I left in 1974. I first lay eyes on the place in 1967 or there abouts, time has dulled the memory for exact dates, but I loved it from that moment on.

I'm sure Mum was less than impressed when she first saw the house (that's a pic of it above years after) we were to live in. It was perched on a cliff, an old rambling, rusty roofed, mice inhabited wreck, with a view to die for. That land today is worth millions.

We couldn't watch TV for three years, as Flagstaff Hill (located to the right of the house), blocked any hope of getting a decent picture. The old wreck of a house stood beside the lighthouse three quarters of the way up Wharf Street, I never really realised how bad that house was until I saw a huge sepia print of it hanging on the wall in the Court House Hotel a few years ago. It bought back many memories. Like the day my two year old brother fell between the rickety old front steps and got his head caught, or the day the neighbours gave me a the biggest bag of sweets I'd ever seen, because I'd placed second in a singing Eisteddfod in Cairns. Those were the days when a cent coin would actually buy something. I think that bag of sweets cost Fifty cents and it was full to the brim. Other memories came flooding back - Rock pool fossicking and oyster cracking, beach bbq's, reef walks at Low Isles, falling off the slippery slide and spraining my ankle and riding my Dragstar everywhere. Little did I know that bike would be a collectors item today. I laughed out loud when I was watching "Extra" on TV the other night and how the Queensland Museum had recently acquired one of these bicycles for use in future 70's displays.

Other memories of swimming at the wonderful little paper gummed lined natural cove behind our house. The cove was later wrecked by the community who raised thousands of dollars in order to build a stinger proof pool. The gums where removed along with all the huge rocks and no doubt shore life. Later, it had to be filled in to create a park because it was totally unusable. I only swam in it twice, the water was always muddy looking and it was downright scary as most of the time it was deserted. The usual crowd of morning swimmers just disappeared and were no doubt as upset as I at this ridiculous ruin.

My other memories of "Port" are taking a ride with all the other kids in the Amphibious vehicle that came to service the Lighthouse. I was supposed to alight at the centre of town, but ended up riding all the way to Four Mile Beach where the vehicle had come ashore from its ship. I remember seeing that ship, tired, rusty and worn, berthed near New Farm on the Brisbane River a few years back when I was on my way to work by Ferry one morning.

I've always remembered a story told to us by the then publican of the Court House Hotel and how her kitten had gone missing. She had gone down into the cellar thinking that maybe the kitten had been locked in there accidentally and sure enough yes....
However, a sinister looking reptile had found its way in there and had her kitten bailed up in the corner, ready to devour her. The long and short of this story was that the publican had then called the glass cutter over from the gallery who killed the snake. The snakes skin was tanned and hung in the pub on the wall behind the bar. No-one in the family seems to remember this, except me. I hadn't been drinking, nor did I have a vivid imagination - well not at that time. My husband still laughs at this story today.

In the 70's before vegetation was cleared for housing, massive tropical pythons would occasionally pop out of the surrounding rain forests. I remember seeing one that someone had obviously hit with a car one night. Of course it was dead and rather smelly by then, but someone had lay it out in its entirety. It was massive. At least as long as the school bus we were on and it wasn't a small bus. That bus carried about 80 kids.

We lived in that house on the hill till around 1970 when we moved into a newly built house beside the Police station. My Dad back then was the local constabulary.
Port was a one man station at that time. A hole in the wall, sandwiched between the local Post office and General Store. You couldn't swing a cat in that space and the place was dark, dingy and musty and as well always seemed to be overflowing with files.

After a few years of fighting for a real station and a proper house, the Qld Government gave approval to build the required facilities, but not after much kicking and screaming from a few of the locals; one of whom proceeded to tie herself to a 100 year old Mango tree in the horse paddock that was to be bulldozed for the new residence and station. Guess it takes all sorts! Like my Dad always said "You can't stop progess"

Now years later it's on again. A much larger facility is required and is due for completion in Aug, 09. Most people want the station relocated nearer to the towns school, which I might add is a fair way from the town centre. I guess most see it as a blot on the landscape because of its proximity to the shore line and want the area retained as parkland. I must admit, I do agree.

My tricolour pet angora goat "Gidi" lived in the cell yard at the police station or rather slept there at night, most days she was tethered in the paddock beside the house. There was an occasion when a dunk who had been locked up for the night awoke to find a goat staring at him from outside on the steps. He (the drunk) then proceeded to call out to my Dad telling him that he thought the Devil himself had come for him. Who knows what that guy had been on!

In the early 70's the town was growing, progress was evident and tourism was becoming a big thing. On Sundays, bus loads of tourists would arrive from Cairns to take in the sights of the Cook Highway, ie.. Ellis Beach, Hartleys Creek Zoo (home of Big Charlie the Croc) and "do" lunch at the "Catalina Restaurant" in Port. This restaurant was a tiny shop front that then had to be extended with a another dining room at the back, but in front of the owners living quarters. Years later it was demolished to build a new and much bigger restaurant by the same name, however it has since closed.

Of course the other thing tourists loved was the local art gallery, where I occasionally hung out on Sundays helping out. Sets of etched glass goblets made from beer bottles or stubbies were a hit with the tourists. In those days some of the wine companies bottled their brews in Green and Clear glass Carafes, so these where also etched and often sold as part of a set.

to be continued....
Old House on the Hill circa late 1970's - Photographer unknown

Ancient Greek Jewellery

2008-04-22T10:27:00.005+10:00

Recently I was going through my jewellery box polishing and inspecting some of my trinkets when I remembered I had a very special pendant that I purchased a few years back whilst visiting Crete in the Greek Islands.

We had visited Knossos, the largest Minoan Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete, earlier in the day and then had made our way to the Heraklion Archaeological Museum which was basically a hop, skip and jump from our hotel, to view some of the ancient artefacts that had been unearthed at various sites around Crete.

Next door to the Museum was a jewellery shop and of course some of the pieces in the window caught my eye. Amongst them was a gold pendant that had been fashioned on a piece of jewellery that I had seen and admired in the museum. I have since discovered that the orignal pendant was not actually found at Knossos, but not far from the Place of Malia which is the third largest of the Minoan Places and that my pendant is known as The Malia Bee.

The Palace of Malia, which covered an area of 7,500 sq.m., is considered the most "provincial" from an architectural point of view and according to tradition the third son of Zeus and Europa, Sarpedon, had ruled there.

About 500m north of the palace was the Necropolis or royal burial enclosure, which most certainly belonged to the ancient lords of Malia. It was surrounded on all four sides by levelled areas and possibly Porticoes.
This is where the now famous Bee pendant which is on display at the Museum was found.

The pendant is in the shape of two bees, or wasps, storing away a drop of honey in a comb.

Hairslide

2008-04-22T09:10:00.004+10:00

This piece contains Swarovski crystals in Alabaster and Garnet, Silver Seed Beads, Swarovski Pearls and some lovely little glass flowers with an AB finish.
It has an oversized sterling silver plated comb and would look wonderful in upstyled hair. Still available for sale on my Bridal Website.

Cream and Golden Shadow

2008-04-21T13:59:00.004+10:00

Continuing on with colour themes, I don't believe that this piece has featured yet on Hooked on Wire, so here goes.

These gorgeous pearls caught my eye late last year whilst on a bead buying spree. At the time, I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but then decided they'd look great as a choker. I've added Golden Shadow Swarovski crystals for a bit of glint and a pair of long drop earrings complete the set. These pieces would indeed look fabulous with an off the shoulder cream wedding gown. Visit my Bridal Jewellery site for these and other pieces still available for sale.

Lime

2008-04-17T09:21:00.008+10:00

On the weekend I decided to go shopping for a new handbag and wallet. I really wanted a new Lime Green wallet. Lime green it one of my fav colours and I destest dreary Black and Brown wallets. If you own a green wallet it is said that your wallet will always have money in it. Might be an olde wives tale, but so far my trusty battered lime green Oroton wallet has never let me down.

Would you believe after weeks of searching and having almost given up ever finding a new green wallet I found three in one shop and yep I secured all three of them, mainly because I couldn't choose between them.....lol. All were gorgeous.

One is oversized in Lime Patent faux Croc skin with two silver buckles on the front. I think this one is probably my fav, the second one is plain faux ostrich in pale apple and the third is a dark forest green with a really neat looking clasp. All are different designs as well I think I've found my fav bargain shop for bags and wallets.

As my birthday is coming up, I also scored a wonderful Fossil brand summer handbag from hubby, reduced from $259.00 to $49.95. I'm in heaven.

So if you're visiting the Gold Coast, make sure you visit Harbourtown at Helensvale, as most of the shops are having a great summer clearance sale at present.

Having bought all those wallets inspired this piece of Jewellery which contains dyed freshwater pearls in Lime of course, Swarovski Crystals in Montana, Ernite and Peridot which pick up the colours in the beautiful Lampwork bead by Bev Butler from the NSW north coast. The clasp and bead caps are all sterling silver.

Australia's National Treasure - Part 2

2008-04-01T09:00:00.010+10:00

Fire of the Desert..... What picture does that conjure up? Amazing colours of Red, Orange and Yellow. Imagine the Desert at night, Black as Black, no city lights casting a Silver haze on the horizon.

I've only ever experienced this once and it wasn't in a desert, but on a tiny coral cay off the coast of central Queensland. It was dark, I mean really dark, if it wasn't for a torch I would have been seriously lost till morning. So what does all that have to do with Australia's National Treasure or rather Opal?

I while back I wrote about Opal in the form of Yowah Nuts that I discovered on a trip to the markets on the North Coast. I thought that I might continue as promised and cover some of the interesting Opal mining areas of Australia.

Around 1993 Opal was declared to be Australia's National Gemstone. Makes sense really, we are home to the world's highest quality, precious Opal with the best known found at Lightning Ridge in New South Wales. Lightning Ridge is known for its Black Opal which is almost only found in Australia. Black Opal has a background of black, blue or grey with colour plays of red, green, blue, violet, magenta or yellow. I guess therefore its easy to see why our indigenous people named Opal, Fire of the Desert. Opal which is made up of silica minerals, is rather unique in that it has no true colour of its own. The amazing colours are actually created when light rays hit planes of microscopic spheres contained in the opal.

Other well known opal mining areas in Australia are White Cliffs also in New South Wales and Coober Pedy in South Australia (yes this is where people actually live underground, but more about that later.) The opal found in these areas tends to be white and is the most common of the precious opals.

Australian Opals are known for their brilliance and renowned for their stability, as they don't crack or craze whilst being cut or polished or during hot, dry conditions. Most Opals in Australia are formed in weathered rocks deep underground in very arid areas. A good example of this is Coober Pedy in South Australia.

I've always been rather fascinated by the town of Coober Pedy and hope to visit sometime in the future. It's a bit of a tourist mecca, attracting 100,000 per annum and with a population of around 4,500 from approximately fifty different countries in the world. The locals are described as a colourful lot, quickly making art of many things.

Guided tours to various places of interest are available, as well much of the town and its homes are underground. Where else in the world could you stay in an underground Bed and Breakfast or visit an underground Art Gallery, Pottery, Museum, or Church of which there are a few.

Homes or Dugouts as they're known are located underground too. In summer and winter, they are insulated from the harsh climate, remaining at a pleasant 25 degrees C. There is also an award wining designed shopping complexe and a golf course without a stitch of grass. I expect that most of the course is made up of Overburden dug from mine shafts.

From April to October the weather is pleasant. What is typical of a semi desert climate, the days are cool (16 to 20° C) but the nights are cold. From November to March the weather becomes very warm and summer temperatures range from 35° to 45°C just in the shade. There are also occasional dust storms. Rainfall is minimal at around 175mm per annum and can fall during any time of the year.

North-east of Coober Pedy is the longest continual construction in the world - a Fence. Stretching some 5,300kms, a little less than China's great wall at 6,700kms, it begins south east of Brisbane, Queensland and ends up north of Ceduna in the Great Australian Bite. Originally the fence was built to protect sheep country in the south from Australian native dogs or Dingos. Now days it also keeps out Rabbits, Emus and other wild life.

"Mad Max" and "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" movie fans, can visit "Moon Plain" not far from Coober Pedy. It is a vast rocky plain unlike anywhere else in the world. The lunar like landscape has been the set for many movies, and I thought Mt Wellington in Hobart, Tasmania was eerie.

Photograph taken by Bernie of Mt Wellington - Tasmania
Bibliography:
Dept of Natural Resources - Qld Government
Dept of Prime Minister and Cabinet
Rediscover Opals in Australia - Stephen Aracic
South Australian Government Tourism

Beaded Bookmark Treasures

2008-04-01T08:36:00.007+10:00

Its been a while since I posted any beaded things, so here are a few of my more recent pieces. I rather enjoyed beating that wire into interesting shapes.
I think my fav is the next pic where the wire takes on the form of little sea creatures and treasures. A fish and the spiralled internal compartments of a shell.

Of course there are also pearls and other interesting left over beads in many gorgeous tones of blues and green. Once again these remind me of those beautiful colours found in the coral sea around North Queensland. I used silver plated bookmarks, 925 chain and head pins.

Bookmarks are a good way to use up beads with no remaining partners and make wonderful little gifts for lovers of books. Gee I should make one for myself...these were either gifts or pieces that I sold at a recent jewellery party.

More Art

2008-03-30T13:04:00.003+10:00

I've now decided to set up one of my websites purely showcasing my art some of which will be for sale. Those changes will happen over the coming weeks and as I get round to completing more canvases. These won't need framing as they're stretched on frames with the sides neatly painted so they'll look fab from any direction.
Stay tuned.

Art and other Bruises

2008-03-27T13:20:00.004+10:00

Today I decided to bite the bullet and with a little encouragement from he who might be obeyed (occasionally) I'm going to enter my first community art show. If nothing else it will provide me with a little more exposure in Brisbane and if I'm lucky I might even sell another piece.

The closing date is still some way off in August, which means I have a fair amount of time to consider what I might do. I already have a couple of ideas and as all entrants are limited to two pieces I might do one fairly large piece and then a set of two if that's allowed. Anyway am now awaiting the entry form and details in the mail before I set anything in stone.

Went to the library again this morning on the way to the Art store, gee I seem to be living in both these places lately. So many books and materials and so little time.

Raided the Art section in the library again and came home with another armful of books. Also decided that I can get two things done at once if instead of reading I'd just get an audio book out to listen to. Last week I had Elizabeth Adlers "Summer in Tuscany" a total of 8 CD's, took me a few days to get though them, as one really does need to concentrate to get the whole story. This was my first audio book, I rather enjoyed it and it certainly made me want to visit to Tuscany again.

Yep...It's a Dogs Life - Too tired to Party

2008-03-26T09:25:00.003+10:00

His royal highness is way to tired to party this morning. After waking us up at 5.45am with his usual tap at the door wanting to be let in, which I did, he then proceeded to keep reminding us it was time to get up. I think this is all a ploy at getting back at me now....lol...like I was awake when you were asleep! I expect though it was the long walk before breakfast that did him in.

Oh well the party games can wait till later in the day. He seemed pretty happy with his new toy though, a chase stick, even put it down beside his bowl whilst he had a breakfast of Salmon and Dill biscuits and his fav cheese on toast. The biscuits were a hit by the way and so far he's managed to polish off four. The rest I've put in a press seal bag to keep fresh. I hope they last till the weekend.

Anyway here's the recipe I promised, am sure they'll go down a treat with with any fur baby.

Rem's Salmon and Dill Wholewheat Biscuits.

Ingredients:
210g tin Red Salamon undrained
1 teaspoon each of dried Dill and Parsley or if you prefer use fresh or paste.
3 teaspoons each Sesame and Linseed (used a coffee grinder to grind the seeds down)
3 eggs (I removed the shell, but the original recipe said to include the shell)
2 cups wholemeal self raising flour

Method:
Put the undrained salmon, dill, parsley and seeds into a food processor along with the eggs, blend till smooth, then gradually add the flour and continue blending until
a dough forms.

Remove from the processor, the mixture should be firm and not sticky. Press out on a floured board until about 1cm thick, flour your chosen cutter and cut out shapes. You can then press any remain mixture together and continue cutting shapes.

Bake on a greased and floured tray for 20 mins at 180 degrees or 170 if using a fan forced oven, then turn tray and reposition and cook a further 10 minutes.

The Little Guy's Birthday

2008-03-25T12:47:00.003+10:00

I've been a bit lazy over Easter, hence the reason for my non posting. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things later this week, after I finish all my chores, thank goodness its a short week.

Am now off to bake Rem some Salmon and Dill biscuits for his 1st Birthday tomorrow. Searched everywhere for a fish shaped biscuit cutter and in the process found one the shape of a bone as well. If the biscuits are a hit I'll post the recipe here too.

"Straddie"

2008-03-19T10:44:00.006+10:00

Just continuing on from yesterdays post thought I might pop a few pics of Stradbroke Island up here. These were either taken during a camping trip on Flinders Beach or during a stay at a holiday home which we rented along with other family members.

The first one is the view from our beach campsite on Flinders Beach at Sunrise, such a wonderful view to wake up to. It was slightly chilly and from memory was around April 2006. I snapped it with my tiny 3.5mb Nikon Coolpix camera.

There are around 250 different species of birds on the island too. An inquisitive little guy a "Major Mitchell Parrot" had obviously found himself a home in this gum at Amity Point. The more pics I took of him, the more he posed from me.
I love the contrast of colours with the hot pink of the parrot again the vivid blue sky and grey-white of the tree.

Above is a pic of "Main Beach" on the Island. As you can see it goes for km's. Its great for 4 wheel driving (you do need a permit)and you're always bound to find a spot for a picnic lunch.

Capital idea with muddy beginnings (Gov Gibbs Landing)

2008-03-18T08:57:00.016+10:00

In the 1840's the people of Brisbane insisted that their town should be the capital. Many of the squatters, objected to Brisbane being the capital on the grounds that it was some distance from Moreton Bay and that wool and other produce would have to be shipped down the Brisbane river at considerable cost.

By this time the squatters had established their own newspaper, the "Moreton Bay Free Press" at Ipswich which they considered to be the capital. They also attempted to build a rival port at Cleveland on Moreton Bay.

From Ipswich they built a road direct to Cleveland, but in March 1842 Sir George Gibbs, Governor of New South Wales, visited Moreton Bay on the ship "Shamrock" in order to settle the question of where the capital should be.

It is said that there was some official prejudice against Brisbane because of its penal associations and its remoteness from the sea, so the Colonial Secretary in Sydney directed that a new site should be chosen.

Gov. George landed at Cleveland when the tide was out and had the misfortune to sink deep into muddy ooze as he stepped ashore. This unfortunate accident, which apparently annoyed the pompous Governor somewhat marked the end of any thoughts that Cleveland would be the site of a port.

Gibbs chose Brisbane instead. Pastoralists weren't discouraged in the least by this and persisted in their attempts to develop Cleveland, by building a sawmill, a wool store, and a shipbuilding yard.

For a time the town was the social and political centre of the squatters and their supporters. However in 1854 Cleveland became unpopular as a port following the wreck of a ship nearby and the loss of another by fire.

Bibliography - Carina State School's 75th Jubilee Book 1917-1992

The above is a little background on my next watercolour pencil piece, which I painted last Sunday from a park at Cleveland on Moreton Bay. It is the actual site of Gov Gibbs landing.

As you can probably make out, not much has changed today there's still plenty of mud at low tide. Also it wasn't a particularly clear day, lots of ominious looking grey cloud, with the sun trying to peer through on occasion. It was indeed amazing to watch colours change as I drew. The little muddy island of trees to the right, went from dark forest green to almost lime green as the clouds moved around whilst here and there bits of silver grey sea turned to sparkling turquoise.

Closer to the shore are a few mangroves where the mud takes on a reddish tinge, the soil around many of Moreton Bays communities is a brilliant red, very fertile and still supporting vegetable and flower farms.

ED: Forgot to mention that the rising landmass in the background is North Stradbroke Island which is 32 kilometres long, 11 kilometres at its widest cross-section. The island has become a great tourist destination and is probably the most accessible island in Moreton Bay.

Point Lookout, Amity and Dunwich are the three main settlements on 'Straddie' as it is colloquially known. It has a total permanent population of more than 3,500.
Point Lookout is also the major tourist centre and was named by Captain James Cook on his discovery voyage to the east coast of Australia in 1770.

At "Straddie" visitors can enjoy world class beaches, famous for fishing and surfing, watch humpback whales on their Northern migration, scuba dive nearby rocky reefs or simply soak up the laid back island lifestyle. It also has some wonderful beach camping sites that are dog friendly.

To get to "Straddie" you can either catch a water taxi or the car ferry from Cleveland.

First attempt at Watercolour pencil and Ink

2008-03-14T15:43:00.007+10:00

One afternoon a couple of weekends ago, on our way back from Point Cartwright after a walk to the point and along the beach, back up the hill past the lighthouse and down the boardwalk and then lunch in the park, we decided to take a detour and travel back via the beaches at Caloundra.

We've done this a few times, so by the time we hit Moffat Beach at Caloundra its usually afternoon tea time. We park in the car park and carry our chairs and esky over to the edge of the green nature strip that overlooks the sea. Its a great spot on a summer afternoon, usually breezy with lots of activity on the beach below.

I sat for a while gazing at the landscape to the left and then to the right of me.
Decided that it was a bit too hazy to the left and settled down to draw the headland to the right. I used a superfine Indian Ink Pen on 300gsm rough and then proceeded to colour in with Derwent Aquatone (reasonably expensive) and Faber-Castell (really cheap)watercolour pencils. This is my experimental piece as its the first time I've tried this medium and I wanted to see how each of these brands of pencils would perform and interact with one another.

The Aquatone pencils are solid watercolour sticks wrapped in protective paper, no real need to sharpen unless you want a point, so its just a matter of tearing the paper back. The colours are strong and vibrant, right up my alley.

The Faber-Castell pencils are also nice to work with and as far as I'm concerned just a vibrant. These pencils do need to be sharpened as the colour is contained inside wood, just like a normal pencil.

I've never painted with straight watercolour mainly because I'm one of those artists who likes to see a strong outline and vibrant colour which is why I prefer acrylics. I don't think I can achieve those requirements with just water colour although I'm sure it can be done with the correct technique and a good teacher. Such is my reason to try out Watercolour pencils with Ink.

I'm reasonably pleased with how my first attempt turned out, it took me about two hours to complete, not bad for a quick sketch and swash of colour. I do think however the sky could have been better, there appears to be too many stops and starts and so the colour doesn't follow on and blend as I think it should. It would have best been done with a broken piece of pencil used side on like chalk to give a more even finish and leaving some of the paper white to give the impression of clouds.

The Colour Purple or is it?

2008-03-13T15:56:00.008+10:00

So how do you mix Purple?

Anyone who has even had an art class will answer by mixing Blue and Red together.
Sounds simple enough doesn't it? However some research reveals a story about purple that spans back into the history of ancient china and involves a buried Terracotta army.

In 1974, a province in China was suffering a drought, so farmers began digging an irrigation well, the fact is that they didn't find water, but what is now widely considered the Eight Wonder of the World. What they discovered below the earth were more than 8,000 life sized warriors, horses and other figures made to accompany and protect Qin Hi Huang, the very first Emperor of China on his journey into the afterlife.

Many of us have seen pics of the warriors in their natural Terracotta colour, but they weren't always this colour apparently. Two thousand years ago, the warriors were actually brightly coloured, no two the same.

One of the colours found on these model warriors, supposedly the highest ranking of the officers, was known as Han Purple. It seems this presented an interesting conundrum to archaeologists, in that Purple pigment was rarely found on ancient artefact's.

Han Purple has since been found scientifically to fade in acid, so colorless particles found in pigments containing Han Blue and Han Purple may be particles which were originally purple but which faded after burial in acidic conditions.

Blue and Purple are not colours found in surface soils and would therefore not have been created using earth. Blue pigments only began to appear in history when mining began and even then they were extremely rare, as was the case with Lapis Lazuli. A blue stone which was once powdered and mixed with oil to create the pigment named Ultramarine meaning "Beyond the sea" and which is often seen in the beautiful blue Renaissance paintings of the 1600's.

The original source for Lapis lies in the valley of the Kokcha River, at Sar-e-sang meaning "Place of Stones" which is in the province of Badakshan in north-eastern Afghanistan. Marco Polo mentioned these mines in 1271 and he noted that the stones were processed to make colour, although Ultramarine has been made synthetically since 1828. Lapis came to Europe via Venice, which was the main trading port between Europe and the East. Today it is still mined by hand and when the stones are brought to the mine surface, they are sorted into three general categories being "Rang-i-ob" meaning "Colour of Water", "Rang-i-sabz" meaning "Green" and "Surpar" meaning "Red Feather". Surpar is considered the highest quality of Lapis, because it has a deep blue-violet tone.

Good Lapis is very rare and very expensive although a new source in Chile has provided a good alternative to the that found in Afghanistan and at a slightly cheaper price. The Egyptians held Lapis in high esteem, it was as precious as gold and as a consequence they were often used together in jewellery and still are today.
Purple has always been associated with royalty, power and wealth.

So how did Ancient China mix up the colour purple?
A bit of detective work reveals that it was indeed synthetic. This means that Chinese artisans were performing synthetic inorganic chemistry more than 2700 years ago.

Fur babies

2008-03-11T09:21:00.007+10:00

We've had a house guest the last four days, or rather Rem has. His litter mate Peppa Hammond has been visiting whilst her folks were interstate. Needless to say Rem is way too busy catching up on sleep to do anything with me today. He's exhausted from playing ball, chase, frizbee, tug, swimming and walking. Presently he's asleep on the mat behind my chair. Well at least he's graced me with his company if nothing else.

Peppa is a gorgeous little Black and White girl from Bojak Border Collies, full of beans and very clever. Her mum Lilly, a shy black and white border was secretly pregnant and gave birth to her and her two sibblings the same day Rem was born to Maggie. Maggie had eight or nine pups, so Lilly helped look after them along with her three. At the time we really didn't know that Peppa would go to a couple who lived close by and it was by chance that we all signed up for Puppy school with the same dog trainer. That's how we all met.

Peppa can Spin and do a Figure 8 through and around legs. She is also very food orientated and would come sit in the kitchen when ever I was preparing meals during her visit. Jet our previous collie has a lot of the same traits as Peppa. Rem is way too laid back and acts like the protective Uncle. He watches everything from a short distance, rarely ever barks, without first being asked to "Speak". I often wonder what's going on in his head, whilst he's soaking up all the action.

Check out the photo of him with his protective paw on her. He uses his paws a lot and has done so since he was a tiny pup. I never ever saw Jet do that. When I throw the Frizbee to Rem, he races after it, waits for it to land, and then folds it over in half with his paw and picks it up with his mouth. Peppa was even doing that by the end of her stay. At first she tried to pick it up whilst it was flat on the ground and was having some difficulty, but watching Rem seemed to clue her in.

I promised Cathy and Russell that I'd try to teach her to "Speak". I found it a little difficult at first, because she kept jumping up every time I gave the command and hand signal. Cathy had warned me that she does this whenever she hears a strange noise from one of them. In the end I kept asking Rem to speak which he did and eventually Peppa copied him. So that indeed goes to prove that dogs do learn from watching one another.

A funny little story from the weekend.... I was tidying up the palm fonds on Friday afternoon as I knew that these two holy terrors would no doubt by the end of the weekend pull them off the drying heap and out into the garden. We tend to stockpile the fonds till they're dry and then put them through a palm shredder as they make good garden mulch.

Peppa was helping me take a few to the bin, spinning around and racing about the garden with them, Rem was obviously peeved with this, because usually I scold him for dragging palms fonds about the yard, so he doesn't do it much anymore. He's sitting beside me watching Peppa spin about with the the palm in her mouth, and then gives me a couple of nudges on the leg in quick succession as if to say " Well look at Peppa, how come I'm not allowed to do that?" I just burst out laughing, gave him a little cuddle and said "Its ok we're putting them in the bin, you can go help her bring them out." which he did.

Ever watchful Uncle Remy

Photos courtesy of Russell and Cathy Hammond

Beads etc... 2008 Designer of the Year Competition

2008-03-07T11:15:00.012+10:00

If you've not been lucky enough to view the entries in the Australian Beads etc... 2008 Designer of the Year competition, the winners and place getter's have now been published in issue 16. The top 50 entries can be viewed at
http://www.beadsetcmagazine.com.au

You can vote for your fav up until 30th May, 2008, if you can see them that is. Note that voting is open world wide, but only Australian residents are eligible to win prizes.

The pics were postage size when I checked at the beginning of the week, but word has it that some maintenance is to be done on the site to allow the thumbnails to be enlarged.

No, I didn't enter in case you're wondering.

Broken Links - Designs to Love Gallery

2008-03-07T10:25:00.005+10:00

Seems the link to my "Designs to Love" Gallery isn't working. I've emailed the administrator, the problem appears to be at their end so hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

http://www.designstolove.com

In the mean time you can still access the site above, go to the "members" tab and search for me by entering bstoopman in the seach function.

Orient - Mixed Media

2008-03-06T09:01:00.007+10:00

Thought I'd write a post about my latest painting which was commissioned for a newly renovated apartment decked out in Black, Red and White.

My brief was for something abstract in Black, Red and Foil - both Gold and Silver, other than that I was left to my own devices.

I decided on a series of three or a Triptych as these are known. Each canvas is around 93cm high x 46cm wide also I wanted to include some texture as the paintings are to be hung on smooth white plasterboard wall. I ended up using Matisse Impasto and a palette knife to create the texture which I then proceeded to paint in vibrant red Atelier acrylic. I then decided the red texture needed a little more definition, so the peaks were dry brushed with a little Carbon Black. I like the effect that its created. This particular Atelier paint tends to stay open a lot longer than my usual acrylic paint and as yet, I've not used it to paint anything other than abstract art. So am dying to give a scene a try.... perhaps next week.

I ended up naming the series "Orient", mainly because in its abstract kind of way it reminds me of a Geisha girl, who becomes a blur or whirl by the third piece. In the first of the series you can make out a side on view of the head/hair and the highly decorated Kimono which was created using torn Gold and Silver Foil. There are also some leaves floating on the breeze, on two of the paintings, these were drawn on using an Indian Ink Pitt pen, so indeed, it is a mixed media piece.

The interesting thing with this series is that it could be hung in any direction, ie up or down and moved around within the series to give the owner and its on-lookers a little more to ponder on... who knows what else could be found in there.

I do so hope the customer likes it, because I really enjoyed creating it.

Some very sad news

2008-03-04T08:36:00.005+10:00

Am very sad to have to write this post. Yesterday I found Izzy Liz had died out in the garden near the pool, not really sure how it happened, but her little body was limp and lifeless, her eyes shut tight.

I will really miss all her crazy little antics and the fact that she'll now longer be around to sit on the back of my chair when I'm out on the veranda.

RIP Miss Izz, you will always be remembered with great fondness.

Aussie Opal Miners Protect Digs.

2008-02-27T11:32:00.007+10:00

Recently out at a place called Mundubbera approx. 390 kms north west of Brisbane, Queensland, there's been a discovery of an outbreak of a very vicious plant - The Hudson Pear. A cactus, bought to Australia from Mexico as a garden plant, is so vicious that it's spikes have been known to cause serious injury and even death when a fella fell into a patch at Lightning Ridge (one of Australia's Opal Mining communities) and had a heart attack. It's spines or spikes are so tough they can penetrate boots and car tyres and need to be removed with a pair pliers.

The Cactus was first reported in New South Wales in the 1960's. According to various sources, it spread from a Cactus nursery but was further assisted by Opal Miners deliberately planting it around their diggings to keep thieves away.

In New South Wales reports estimate that this pest now covers up to 100,000 hectares of land, rendering the land useless. It is capable of spreading easily as new plants can grow from segments of any size. It is also found in Southern and Western Australia and has naturalised in South Africa. Two herbicides are however currently available for treating the Cactus.

Pic courtesy of NSW DPI

Gemstones - Myths and Legends

2008-02-27T11:12:00.006+10:00

Many tales surround gemstones. From the earliest times, people have and in some cases still believe that gemstones have mysterious qualities. They were used to ward off drunkiness, cure toothache and headache, blindness and so on.

Apparently in the middle ages, Alchemists assigned curative properties to gemstones, somewhat similar to what we have today in the form of homeopathic medicine. It seems that diseases of the time were given classifications according to four qualities,
ie hot, cold, moist and dry. Stones were then assigned within the classification.

Here are some properties supposedly associated with Gemstones.

Diamond - Thought to bring victory to the wearer, along with superior strength and courage. Associated with thunder and lightning. Also believed to indicate quilt or innocence. The stone of Kings.

Amethyst - Said to prevent drunkeness and have the power to induce dreams or visions.

Aquamarine - Remedy for eye trouble, toothache, sore throat, feelings of weakness. Thought to promote a happy marriage.

Emerald - Reputed to cure blindness and believed to preserve the chasitity of women, also supposed to blind poisonous snakes (lol....better remember that one for next time I'm out bushwalking and a "King Brown" pokes its ugly face out at me - It's long story)

Opal - Cupids stone of hope and love. Supposed to bring good luck, but not in the western world.

Ruby - An antidote for poison. Believed by Hindus to ensure health, wealth and joy.

Sapphire - A symbol of truth, sincerity and faithfulness... Supposed to keep one safe from illness and protect again poisoning.

Turquoise - Used against falling or tripping, also worn as a protection again the "evil eye"

Opal - Australia's National Treasure

2008-02-21T13:29:00.010+10:00

Whilst I was visiting the north coast last weekend, I came across a stall at one of the local markets selling opals from Yowah, a small remote opal mining town which is approximately 165 km's from Cunnamulla or just over 1000 km's from Brisbane on the east coast of Australia.

There isn't much at Yowah. It's a popular destination for opal fossickers, they come to fossick and then stay. It's no treechange or seachange, can reach 50 degrees C in the summer and go below zero in winter. They do hold an opal festival and jewellery design competition each year, only stipulation is that designers use Yowah opals in their creation.

If you go to Yowah, you need to bring your own beer, cause there's no pub and no beer, (well at least they warn you) as well, no church if that's were you like to go on Sundays and apparently no law enforcement officers in the town. There is however a caravan park and a nine hole golf course with sand greens and earth fairways, along with numerous opal cutters and retail outlets selling opals.... thought I'd save the best part till last!

Yowah is primarily famous for what are known as "Yowah Nuts".
These nuts are small ironstone boulders which are spherical to ellipsoidal (sort of like a squashed egg shape ) and up to five centimetres across. They might have hollowed centres, be filled with powdery clay or a kernel of opal. Those with a kernel of opal were what I had the opportunity to view. The nuts are found in layers of 150 to 600mm in thickness at depths up to 20m in a ferruginous sandstone.

The stall owner, a gentleman, went to great lengths to explain the attraction of his opals, along with colours, how they're cut and so on.

I had been planning to write a post for a while on Australian opals, but as I've never owned one myself and not being that attracted to them as most that I've seen have been white with hints of fire, ocean and forest and smaller than a shirt button, so they didn't really appeal to me colour wise or size wise. I've always thought of those stones as wishy washy and rather boring.

I was really taken with these Yowah opals though. Yes they appeared to be just polished stones with tiny effervescent spots of colour, that glistened and sparkled like tiny pieces of glitter set into milk chocolate.... but some of these stones where large, and really suited as pendants or an embellishment for a fancy wired cuff. Only problem was I was a little short at the time of the hundreds of dollars of cash I would have needed to purchase the one I really liked.

As you can see by this little specimen, not all Yowah Nut Kernels are actually solid opal. All the same I think this is a very nice specimen would indeed make a great feature as part of a piece of wired jewellery.

to be continued.....

Pic 1. Yowah Nut Kernel
Pic 2. A piece of Yowah Matrix
Pic 3. A Yowah Nut showing that all kernels are not always solid opal

A Colour Wheel of Gem Stones

2008-02-21T11:32:00.009+10:00

Here's my list - if you've got some ideas of your own, send me a comment and I'll add them here

Black - Jet, Onyx, Obsidian,
Grey - Labradorite
Brown - Agate, Jasper, Smokey Quartz, Tigereye
Voilet - Amethyst, Jadeite, Tanzanite, Tourmaline,
Blue - Amber, Aquamarine, Fluorspar, Iolite, Jadeite,
Lapis Lazuli, Sapphire, Sodalite, Spinel, Tanzanite, Topaz, Turquoise,
Green - Adventrine, Amber, Beryl, Chrysocolia, Emerald,
Ernite, Hemimorphite, Jadeite, Malachite, Nephrite, Peridot, Sapphire,
Tourmaline
Yellow - Amber, Citrine, Butter Jade, Jadeite, Topaz,
Tourmaline
Orange - Amber, Carnelian, Fire Opal, Sapphire
Padparadsha)
Red/Pink - Amber, Garnet, Coral, Fire Opal, Kunzite,
Morganite, Rose Quartz, Ruby, Sapphire, Spinel, Tigereye, Topaz,
White - Moonstone, Opal, Pearl,
Clear - Quartz

The Art of Amber....Part 3

2008-02-20T08:59:00.007+10:00

Lets talk about fake Amber.
So how do you tell a good fake from the real thing?

Copal resin which is very young compared to real Amber is an aromatic tree resin mainly used as an incense, is often passed off as Amber, it is almost identical and is the most popular fake. However, Glass, Bakelite, Perspex and Celluloid are others.

As we know it is possible to find insects trapped in Amber, this is what makes it fairly valuable. An insect trapped in a drop of Amber resin as it drips down the tree, usually has time to wriggle about before the Amber sets. One would find swirl marks around the moving parts of the trapped creature. This is one way to tell if the Amber is real. In fake Amber there'll be no swirl marks as the dead insect is planted into the resin.

A way to tell Copal and Amber apart is by using a spot of Ether, which will have no effect on the real Amber, but will leave a sticky residue on the Copal.

If you don't have access to Ether as many of us don't and as true Amber floats, just mix a solution of saline two or three teaspoons in a glass of water pop the piece in. If it floats its real, this will only work if the Amber is not set or mounted.

The pic gives an indication of what Copal Resin can look like.

Be my Valentine... no chance

2008-02-13T09:19:00.002+10:00

Just checking out the latest Gadgets this morning in the local newspaper and I guess this one is for all those Valentine Day shoppers who are also Computer Nerds.

Frankly, I couldn't imagine receiving a worse gift. What ever happened to Flowers, Chocolate and/or real Gems on Valentines Day?

Apparently, Philips and Swarovski have got together and come up with, or so they think, the ultimate Valentine USB gift. Its a heart shaped pendant combining a fully faceted crystal in silver shade, whilst the other half of the heart which is polished silver metal, is a 1GB USB stick that reveals itself when the crystal and silver halves are split. The USB is capable of storing around 1000 photographs or 250songs, features USB 2.0 transfer speeds of 8Mbps for reading and 3Mbps for writing info. It also comes with the usual password protection software. Cost $300.00

check out http://www.active-crystals.com/

Photograph courtesy of Philips.

Don't you just hate it when.....

2008-02-12T13:27:00.000+10:00

You decide to paint and it starts to rain.
You want to try some new interactive acrylic paint, that stays "open" longer and it starts to rain. You have to watch paint dry!

You find your paint bush loosing hair on your wet painting.
You find your paint bush hair as dried on your painting... (it hasn't yet, cause I found it before it got the chance, little sucker!)
Note to self, relegate that brush to the bin!

You get out the box of silver and gold leaf and suddenly an almighty breeze whips up. Oh well I figure it'll add to the fx's. Ever tried playing with gold leaf in a breeze?
Dog is now covered in bits of gold and silver leaf, as is the floor and table.
Everying I touch has turned to Gold. Watch out Midas! As if, I wish!

Jet aka Black Amber

2008-02-08T09:29:00.001+10:00

Last year my eight year old Border Collie had to be put to sleep, it was discovered that he had a tumour on his spine after not being able to get up one morning. This post is in memory of my beautiful boy, Jet.

So what is Jet exactly? It measures 2.5-4 on the Mohs scale and is one of the softest semi-precious stones, most other minerals can scratch it. It is way too soft to be facet cut, so the most common form of cut is either 'en cabochon' or made into beads. It was used in Britain long before the Romans arrived and is said to have been found in 4500 year old Bronze Age Barrows in Yorkshire and Scotland.

There's an example in the pic below. These were sold to me as Jet beads and are featured with Ernite. Question is now, are they really Jet? Possibly, but certainly not Victorian Jet.

The interesting thing about Jet is that is was once alive, in the form of a tree.
Originally it come from a weird species of Conifer that had a banded spiked trunk, and cones the size of a football. Today the tree's formal name is "Araucaria".

In Australia, the Hoop and Bunya Pines are of that species. For those of us who have seen the Bunya Pine which mainly grows in South East Queensland, we are in awe of the size of its cones which can grow to the size of a football. However I digress.

It was probably due to something as dramatic as climate change, that these ancient trees died by the forest full. Massive logs and debris built up in swampy areas as these giants crashed to the ground, they were then covered with mud, causing them to fossilise without air, shrinking to a black layer of Jet, probably just a few centimetres thick. Directly above this a layer of limestone formed, which then became covered with silt, shale and clay.

Jet was made famous initially by Queen Victoria. Her Jet came from the Whitby mines in Yorkshire. Whitby Jet is considered the finest in the world although very good quality genuine Jet is found all over Europe and North America, especially Spain, Germany and Pennsylvania.

Now back to Queen Victoria, she chose to wear Jet as her grieving adornment when her prince consort passed away. Black signifies the "absence of light" and known to be the colour of death in the Western world. Due to Queen Victoria, Jet became the height of fashion, everyone wore it, its beads were easy to wear with woman's clothing styles of the day. However, Jets popularity diminished around the 1880's when Victoria took to wearing white stones, such as pearls and diamonds.

I've read recently that you should never loan out your Jet jewellery, as it is said to be so absorptive that its owner can be vulnerable to negative magic if it falls into the wrong hands.

Some interesting facts about Jet

When warmed it attracts lint, it can support innate heat, and this can cause it to spontaneously combust.

Testing for real Jet

You can try the scratch test. Use a porcelain tile and scratch the Jet against the rough back of the tile, it should leave a chocolate brown mark. Coal which is softer will leave a black mark, Glass a white mark and Vulcanite (a primitive form of plastic) a trail of grey. It is said that when manufacturers of fake jet realised this they started to add a brown dye to the surface plastic.

Some facts about Vulcanite from the Plastics Historical Society

Combining natural rubber with sulphur in a furnace, Vulcanite was discovered in the USA in 1839 by Charles Goodyear, patented by Hancock in England in May 1843 and Goodyear in USA in June of the same year.

Various mouldings in Vulcanite were exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

The material, most commonly black in colour was used to make combs, buttons, jewellery, fountain pens, pipe stems (both plain and decorative), musical instruments, etc. It was also widely used as an electrical insulator and for chemically resistant linings. A reddish colour was used for denture plates until superseded by celluloid and acrylic. Then in 1930 a reddish material rippled with black was popular for fountain pen and pencil barrels. Since the 1930s however Vulcanite has been based wholly or partly on various synthetic rubbers rather than natural rubber.

An example of Vulcanite

So today the best test for Jet is to heat a needle and hold it to the back of the piece. If its real nothing will happen, plastic will bubble and smell. A more dramatic and of course destructive test is to hold the Jet in a flame where it will give off a greenish flame with sooty smoke, plastic will just melt. Make sure you wear safety glasses and use tongs, because if the Jet you're testing is Glass it will certainly explode.

Ok so now I'm off to test one of my Jet Beads, so which test will I use...humm. I'll let you know the outcome.

Ed.. ok it could be Jet I used the porcelain scratch test and it left a choc brown line, but is might also be dyed plastic. So will try the heat test next.

Noosa style themes

2008-02-04T16:25:00.001+10:00

Just finished this painted canvas with a few little bits and pieces I picked up at Noosa on the weekend. The starfish, shells and flowers were a bargain, from the local hardware store. I was a bit annoyed that the two market stalls I really wanted to visit weren't even there. I figured the stallholders stayed away because of the rain, pity cause it had fined up by 8.00am, but then again, by noon it was steaming hot. The temperature was reported as 26 degrees C, I have to dispute that, it was more likely over 30 degrees.

Not sure where I'll hang this one yet, it really wasn't mean't to match the bedroom, but I decided to use up the paint I had left over from the other seaside themed canvas paintings I completed a few days back.

Here's a pic of the newly renovated bedroom, apologies if some of the photos are a little dull, but its been raining cats and dogs here in Brisbane for the last few days, so no sun to help with the lighting.

and another angle

Lets talk about Butter Jade "Butterstone"

2008-02-01T08:59:00.002+10:00

This is the next stone in my series on interesting yellow toned semi previous stones. So far I've looked at Amber and Citrine, both extrememly interesting in their own right, but hey, aren't all gemstones interesting?

Butter Jade is not actually Jade, but is another of those stones not unlike Amber in that it is known to contain evidence of the first life on earth in the form of micro fossils - Stromatolites of Blue Green Algae. These fossils predate dinosaurs by 2500 million years and signify the development of life as we know it.

Apparently it is a great stone for carving and there is much evidence of this found in South Africa where it is mainly found. It is a stone that is often Cabbed to, so a great material for those jewellery makers who adore working with seed beads.

Other names for Butter Jade are Butterstone and African Jade.
It is supposed to to bring good luck and is also good for helping accept one’s life path as well as being excellent for self-realization and acceptance. It promotes clear thinking and aids in decision making.

Recently I incorporated some Butter Jade in a piece of Jewellery I made. At the time I wasn't really familiar with the stone, but thought it looked like such a wonderful soft colour. Since doing some research on the stone I have become interested as to why my Jade has white inclusions, surely this can't be blue green algae. If anyone can answer my question I've love to hear from you. I guess its possible that my beads came from a different area to the orignal location.

The pic is of the stones that were sold to me as Butter Jade.

Selling Jewellery

2008-01-29T09:58:00.000+10:00

First of all, find your own place in jewellery design, everyone loves original pieces and don't copy others original work, that's a big no no and can get you into lots of trouble and maybe very bad publicity. Word travels fast.

(2) Wear your jewellery, ask your friends to wear it too, get it out there and let everyone see it. Who knows someone might buy a piece off your neck or arm.

(3) Be careful about selling on consignment, make sure you have an agreement in writing with the shop and also make sure you know who covers any losses such as theft, fire, etc which leads to the next item Insurance.

(4) Get yourself some insurance, including personal indemnity and product liability

(5) Keep a portfolio of your work, you never know when you may need to refer back to it. eg. Customers sometimes lose an earring and may want replacements if they love the piece enough. Portfolios are also good for looking back on, to see how your style and ability had changed and improved. All good lessons.

(6) Make sure you price your jewellery accordingly and ensure the customer knows what they're buying. You might include a little swing tag that gives relative info and never never assume the shop you have goods on consignment with knows what they're selling. I once had some-one tell me they couldn't tell the difference between Amethyst and Rose Quartz. If you going down the consignment path, make sure everything is tagged and that the owner knows what she's selling, otherwise you may never get a sale. If she doesn't know what she's selling, how can she sell it? Further if you're doing markets make sure the jewellery reflects prices people are expecting at markets.
I've seen people sitting around at markets with $350 plus jewellery. I don't go to markets to spend that sort of money on jewellery and very few tourists do either.
Markets are for bargains.

(7) Get yourself known. Join beading groups and forums on the Internet. Enter as many competitions as you can afford and read, read and read all you can about materials, semi precious stones, techniques etc. Knowledge is power!
Well if you don't make a fortune you may as well get fame!

(8) Offer gift certificates, but make sure they have a use by date. These are good for people who can't decide or don't know the taste of the person for whom they're buying. Also great for males who are shopping for their mums, sisters and girlfriends.

(9) Carrying on with the taste theme. Don't be put off by something you make, that maybe you're not too sure about because someone makes a nasty remark about it. Not everyone has the same taste and most times the general public wouldn't know an "Arty" piece of Jewellery if they fell over it, let along the value of stones you may have included. If you're not sure, ask another jewellery designer or two for their opinion.

10) Look for good quality materials. The Internet has a wealth of suppliers a heck of a lot cheaper than your local bead store. Give those stores a big miss, unless you're really in a bind. They charge like wounded bulls and this eats into your profits.

11) Make sure you're using genuine materials. Lots of suppliers particularly in South east Asia pass off materials as genuine when they're not. Be particularly careful when buying Swarovski crystals or lampwork. Sometimes gemstones are incorrectly named to, so go do your homework. Invest in some good reference books.

12)OK if all else fails, maybe you could teach jewellery making or write projects for jewellery making magazines.

Stay tuned - Posts for next week

2008-01-26T12:34:00.000+10:00

Gosh have so much happening at present. Just trying to get my head around it all.
Tomorrow we're having our Australia Day picnic with friends and family at the beach. Yes I know its a day late, but it is a long weekend. We've having a sausage sizzle along with one of Australia's best known cakes/desserts - Lamingtons and lots of stone and tropical fruits.

Monday will be cleanup day, finish work on the upstairs back veranda, get the top sorted with the sideboard out there. I bought some felt and plan to sew an underlay top for it that can sit under a piece glass. Have all sorts of ideas running around in my head for that. Will post a pic when its finished..

Wednesday is carpet laying day in the bedroom that's been renovated, then hopefully Michael will put together the flat pack 8 draw chest that I bought at Ikea last week.
Our local Bunning are out of the knobs I need for the chest, so looks like ahunting we will go!

Thursday, more chores and grocery shopping and moving furniture

Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be busy with trips to the markets, beach etc.

Upcoming blog posts include:
- Tips for selling your jewellery
- Next stone in the series of Yellow Gems that I plan to feature... its a surprise!
- Some pics of my newly furnished bedroom, oh I so can't wait to move back in.
- China Painting and lots more.

Some more reno projects

2008-01-24T09:38:00.001+10:00

Here's a couple more pics of projects I've done around the house in recent times.
The first one is our little courtyard beside the back of the house. I designed the gate/fence and my ever handy husband built it. Since then we've had people stop at the front of the house asking where we got our court yard fence from...lol. I decided to keep my herb pots as its a good sunny position. The only real addition to the area has been a resin Kookaburra to the top of the black frame nearer the fence. It looks so real and even I have have done a double take at times, its a bit of Australiarna in an otherwise Japanese inspired garden

This pic is some handpainted leadlighting I completed on the upstairs bathroom door. The door was a find at one of those old wares recycling places. Michael removed the top two timber ply panels and replaced them with clear glass. I drew the pattern, enlarged it on a photocopier and traced over it with a thick black pen. I stuck the pattern to the back of the glass and then used stick-on lead which had to be rolled on with a special tool. The colours were dropped into the lead using an eyedropper to flood the area. (Of course the door has to lay flat for this to work)
I given the window in the bathroom the same treatment. Its been a few years since this work was done, the colours do tend to fade with time, but they havn't disappeared, they're just way more subtle.

Gone Fishin'

2008-01-22T12:54:00.001+10:00

Things have been progressing nicely with the bedroom renovation. The walls and trims are painted, the ceiling, plastered and painted and a white ceiling fan and wide slated blinds have been hung. Just got my carpet quote and am happy with the price, it was the cheapest of three quotes, but also just what we were looking for. It has the look of Sisal, but isn't and is a deep putty colour.

Th pic above is of some of the wall hangings I've made in recent days.

This lamp base was once cream and gold. It's now had Bernie's seaside touch....lol. The scene was inspired by the pic of Pelicans I took on a recent holiday to Nambucca Heads in NSW. You can view the pic in one of my earlier postings. Took me about three and half hours on Sunday to paint while Izzy Liz sat perched on the chair beside me. She seemed enthralled by what I was doing or perhaps she just thought I had something she could maybe eat!
I used Atelier acrylic paints, basically what I normally use for painting scenes on stretched canvas. The main problem I had was that the paint was drying really quickly on the clay lamp base so I had to work fast. I sealed the finished work with a good satin acyclic sealer, which gives it a slight sheen. I've also been hunting for a matching shade, was thinking a cane one would complete the look, but I don't want to have to spray paint one, been there done that, don't want to go there again. Maybe I'll have a bit of search on the Net and see what else I can find that would suit.

These are a couple more hangings I made for the upstairs bathroom, which is decked out in pale blue and white with touches of lemon yellow. The one of the right is actually Cobalt Blue, (same colour as the one in the first pic) not Navy or Black as it seems to look in the pic. I used cheaper acrylic paint for these, just went and chose two colours that I thought matched. The wooden fish were actually strung together and had eye hooks in their mouths which were easily removed. I glued them using 450 stainless adhesive as a glue gun would have been useless. The glue always tends to let go after a while if you bump what ever you've glued. The shells on the first set of hangings have been glued in the same matter. This glue dries clear, is very strong and available from Spotlight here in Australia. All have been sealed with the same satin acrylic sealer as the lamp bases.

Found a few bargains by way of a lemon coloured bath towel set and a new Doona cover at the recent new year sales. The cover has a gorgeous trailing vine and leaf pattern all embroidered in satin thread in colours of Lime green, Lemon and Cobalt Blue. Reminded me of a rain forest on the edge of an ocean somewhere. I shall post a pic of the finished room when the furniture and accessories are in place.

The Art of Amber....Part 2

2008-01-20T16:50:00.002+10:00

A few days back I wrote about amber being found in the far north of Queensland, here in Australia. Since then I've been doing a bit of research and found out some very interesting things about amber generally... it truly has me fascinated now. You may recall I was amazed about some of the possible inclusions found in amber, e.g insects and flowers, lizards and even frogs. Apparently mushrooms have also been found in the past as well as hair and feathers. Its seems that these types of inclusions greatly increase the value of the specimen. However, liquid and air bubble inclusions are usually removed by boiling the amber in rapeseed oil, before it is used for jewellery making.

Colour is usually determined by the source tree. Pines are responsible for golden-yellow amber, deciduous trees produce reddish toned amber, whilst green is due to the decomposition of organic material. However after long exposure to air and elements amber changes colour to a mellow brown. So far I've been unable to ascertain what causes some Amber to be blue.

Classification of amber is based on the source. eg. Baltic amber is known as succinite (as it contains succinic acid which biochemically plays a role in producing Citric Acid).

Romanian amber is rumanite, Sicilian amber is simetite and Burmese amber is burmite.

So does that mean Australian amber will be known as austamite? Guess we'll have to wait and find out.

Amber requires a fair amount of care because on the hardness scale it rates around 2-3. Being extremely heat-sensitive, it also needs to be protected from sources that produce heat, including hot water and strong sunlight.

Keep amber away from hairspray and perfume, protect it from bumps and scratches and keep it stored separately from other jewellery. When stringing amber it's best done in the same way as expensive pearls, i.e knotted between each bead.

So how do you tell the fake from the well thing? We've all seen lots of fake amber at weekend markets, this stuff is usually made from glass or plastic. Real amber is warm to the touch and floats in salt water, so that's why its found washed up on beaches.

Citrine - certainly no Lemon

2008-01-18T14:11:00.001+10:00

This is the second post in my series about yellow gems. Today I've decided to tackle the Citrine, the rarest gem of the Quartz family.

Citrine is named after the French Citron commonly known as a Lemon. Colours range from lemon yellow to bright orangey brown. It is said to be the most affordable of all the earth-toned gemstones and is the perfect complement to all the warmest tones in your wardrobe. Its sunny colours light up black and contrast with blues and purples.

Natural yellow Citrine is very rare and has been revered for many thousands of years, it was popular amongst the ancient Romans who used it for Intaglio work, whereby a design is etched into the surface of the stone. The stone was particularly popular in the retro jewelry of the 1940s. Its bright yellow color and spectacular size suited the style and bold gold of the era.
It was often set with Ruby, Peridot, and Aquamarine in vibrant brooches, necklaces and bracelets. Many jewelry designers today still love to set Citrine in yellow gold, alone, or with Amethyst, Blue Topaz, or Peridot.

Many Citrines begin their lives as Amethyst and it's difficult to tell a natural Citrine from a heat treated one. After gentle heating, the purple fades and a golden yellow takes its place. Citrine mainly occurs in igneous and metamorphic rocks and a great source of it is the Rio Grande do Sol state in southern Brazil.

Citrine is said to enhance individuality, improve motivation and activate creativity. I wonder if that also applies to those grown in a Lab?
Now where did I put my Citrine ring and necklace. I shall wear them more often and particularly when I'm lacking motivation in future.

Kids, Dogs and Movies

2008-01-16T08:21:00.001+10:00

Ask me what I've been up to the last couple of days... Beading? Painting? Photography? Renovating? No, No, No, none of the above.

For the last couple of days I been niece sitting. My 11 year old niece, Samantha, came to stay as her mum has just started a new job. This is not the first time I've been more than happy to baby sit. When Samantha was very little, she often came to stay the night if her mum and dad had to go to a function. She has also visited lots of times during the school holidays, she loves our swimming pool for a start and then of course there's Rem who has had an absolute ball with another little person in the house. I think he really missed her when she went home last night, 'cause at 2.30am this morning I heard him crying at the back door, between chewing on his squeaky toy. Poor little Sweety, I got out of bed and let him in for a while till he was sleepy again. Usually he sleeps a fair bit during the day, but not the last couple of days, he'd be lucky if he had several 10 minute kips. He was way too busy playing hide and seek, get the toy etc etc., so I guess that's why he was crying last night. I expect though that he'll sleep well today.

I forgot how exhausting it was looking after kids. Luckily, I'm not mentally exhausted as well as physically. We're past the stage of negotiating for every little thing like, "If I eat three more spoonfuls of my dinner, can I have three chocolates?" (Jelly Beans, Jelly Snakes, Chips, whatever....) and it use to be like that for everything.

Fancy having to negotiate with a child about when she should have her bath, go to bed, brush her teeth, eat her dinner, what she should eat for dinner, Phew!!... I recall one weekend when this happened constantly, its worse then working for some high flying executive type, and they don't listen either, but that's another story!

We also went to the movies. I'm very lucky, because at the end of my street is the local picture theatre. Decided to see "The Waterhorse" (Legend of the Lock Ness Monster) I really enjoyed this flick, and even had a little cry at the end. Yep I'm a real shook when it comes to movies.

The story is set in the early 1940's and is about a young scottish boy who finds a mysterious looking piece of Flotsam amongst the rocks on the seashore. He takes it home and begins to chip away at the exterior only to expose what looked to me, the most vibrant and amazing coloured Paua shell, the size and shape of a football. That's when all the fun begins. There are some very funny scenes in the movie and along with a few sad ones. (You also knew I'd get to mention some type of jewellery making supply in this post didn't you...lol... ie the Paua shell)

I won't give the movie plot away here. My niece loved the movie, one word of caution, don't go during the school holidays for obvious reasons.

Pic by Bernie - featuring a small piece of Paua Shell

A bit of a spruce up for 2008

2008-01-16T07:41:00.000+10:00

I guess the title of this post says it all. Had a bit of time over the last week to make a few changes and investigate the "Settings" of this site a little more closely. Something I've been wanting to do since I started writing this Blog.

Decided I needed more colour for a start, so I've tried to stick with my most fave tones, Greens, Blues, Violets - all jewels of the sea.

The title pic on my blog is one of the Froggy pendants I designed in 2007. Boy, was it interesting playing around with the pic. Not sure that I'm entirely happy with it yet, but I shall persevere. The Lampwork once again by my lovely friend Sabine E Wilkins of Sydney and of course the quote is mine and best sums up my feelings about Wire.

The frog pic featured on this post is another of Sabine's Lampwork Beads.

The Art of Amber

2008-01-11T10:07:00.001+10:00

Did you know that Amber has been found on the beaches of Far North Queensland, somewhere in the Cape York area?
Sorry I can't divulge the exact location, because it's a secret with the reason being that scientists want to study the inclusions.

According to a news report, huge chunks of it, some the size of footballs and up to Twenty million years old (not as old as Baltic Amber though) have been collected in the last few years, some 60kgs of wondrous resin and now stored in a drum. There is speculation that this Amber has come from up to 200 kms's away and is likely to be from the Kuari Pines of ancient rain forests.

This is the first real Amber to be found here, sure we have other versions like coal resin and so on, but the interesting thing is some of this Amber is actually coloured apart from pale Lemon and Yellow, as in, Blue, Red and Green. One of the most amazing pieces to be found is Red and glowing with the inclusion a Gold insect. By all reports just stunning!

Imagine finding fossils, insects, plant material or even flowers belonging to the Jurassic age. Imagine some of the bigger pieces holding a frog or lizard, apparently this is possible. There are pockets of air and water also captured by the resin, imagine reaching into the past to discover what the atmospheric conditions were of the day. Scientists will be able to ascertain the temperature, rainfall and various other conditions and with the ability to test DNA as we do today who knows what will turn up.

So what is Amber used for exactly? Most of us know that it features in jewellery, its also made into beads and is used to make cigar holders and the mouth pieces on pipes. Why? Apparently is has the inability to past on infection.

The majority of Amber comes from a region near the Baltic Sea, but it can also be found on the coast lines of Denmark and The Netherlands, some areas of England, as well as several other places in Europe. Its also been discovered on the islands of Java and Bali in Indonesia.

So with this Australian discovery about to be investigated further by paleontologists, can they discover the source of our Amber and what indeed does the future hold for the commercialisation of Amber here? I can't wait to find out more.

Picture: Alan Pryke, cropped by Bernie

Dragonfly - Highlights of 2007 continued -

2008-01-10T08:13:00.000+10:00

This morning I sat down to read an article in the latest Bulletin Magazine about Amber, but got way laid reading, about Dragonflies and felt I needed to record something about what I'd read. You may recall last year my post about the pic I took of a Blue and Yellow Dragonfly which inspired a piece of Jewellery I made and named "Dragonfly Summer" I really do love the look of dragonflies and I guess now that means I've joined the ranks of "Odonatists" meaning lovers of the Dragonfly or Damselfly.
I was fascinated to find out also that the Odonata insect order of these flies are some of the oldest critters on Earth and that Dragonflies are viewed with affection in Japanese and certain Native American traditions where they are revered as symbols of strength, happiness or pure water.

Well yes, I can see why they would be a symbol of happiness. Looking at some of the stunning colours of these creatures would brighten anyone's day. Take for example the "Red Barron" or " Urothemis Aliena" who would have thought that dragonflies came dressed in Red. I love Red, its one of my fav colours. The article went on to say, "other cultures see them as sinister". eg. in Europe, dragonflies were called "horse stingers" and "devils darning needles" stemming from a myth that if you fell asleep by a stream in summer, they'd use their long thin bodies to sew your eyelids shut....lol..now that is indeed would be a very funny sight.

Apparently there are 88 species of the Dragonfly found in South East Queensland and they are most active on hot, sunny days. I've noticed one or two occasionally in my garden, but they are usually tiny and not very colourful. I guess that's why this big colourful creature really made me sit up and take notice that particular day on Stradbroke Island. I now want to find out what species it is and a little more about its habitat.
Specific data in this post has been provided by Ric Nattrass a wildlife ranger whilst the article was written by Katherine Fleming of Bulletin Magazine.

I've emailed Ric personally to enlist his assistance with identification.

Ed: Ric tells me my Dragonfly is a "Blue Skimmer" or "Orthetrum caledonicum"
Thanks Ric!!

Highlights of 2007 continued....

2008-01-08T10:20:00.000+10:00

Here's another wire piece I put together last year. The only tools I used to make this one were a pair of wire cutters. The Swarovski crystals caught my eye one day whilst out bead shopping, at the time had no idea what I was going to do with them, but I think they were put to good use with the making of this wire necklace.
The wire that holds the necklaces in place is just one long piece that I wire wrapped with fine wire and then hooked onto the necklace. Actually the whole thing was a bit of an experiment, but I like how it turned out and so did a customer who snapped it up at one of my jewellery shows. I also made matching earrings for her.

My Fun Froggy Pendant Project

2008-01-01T18:21:00.001+10:00

Pick yourself up a copy of the latest(Dec 07) Australian Beading Magazine and have a go at my fun Froggy Pendant project. You'll be twisting wire in no time and probably get as addicted as I am. You can adapt this technique to any type of large focal bead. This is another of Sabine E Wilkins Beads... Have fun!!

It's 2008 - Happy New Year to you all

2008-01-01T17:05:00.000+10:00

I've just be wading thought my photo archive trying to pick some photos to frame.
I decided a few days back that we ought to renovate our bedroom seeing as we have a few days off. Of course since then its done nothing but rain. (we have a Low off the coast near Fraser Island, which was being watched closely in case it turned into a Cyclone. We've also had close to 10 metre waves out in the bay off to the east of where we live.) So the plaster that was used to mend the crack in our bedroom ceiling is taking its time to dry. This damage was done a couple of years back when we raised our Queenslander home to build in underneath. Everything moves when you raise a house, luckily ours wasn't too bad.
So I've been to the local hardware to purchase sample paint pots and think I've decided on a lovely shade of Aqua, bright white trims and white ceiling. I'm aiming for a cool beachy feel. Also went to the local furniture store yesterday and picked out some 50cm wide slatted blinds in white (I really wanted white shutters, but I think the cost is going to be a little out of my budget) so the blinds are the next best thing. We also bought a new white ceiling fan, the built in cub boards were painted white last year and the handles changed to brushed silver. I've also picked out a 8 drawer chest in white (unfortunately it has black handles, but that's easily fixed, I'll try spray painting them with silver metal paint first and if that's unsuccessful, then I guess I'll just bite the bullet and go buy some replacements in brushed silver) My other problem child is the carpet. Why oh why does carpet fade so easily. The area under the bed is bright jade green the rest has turned a colour that I can't even describe. So as soon as the room is painted I'm calling the local carpet store and asking them to bring by some samples of the best non fade carpet they have. Beats going to the store with a inch square paint swatch. That brings me back to the photos, today I sanded back the photo frames that were hanging in the bedroom and have given them a watered down white wash, in fact three coats, then sanded back edges and raised areas to expose the timber and sealed them. I love this shabby chic look and have given the same treatment to other bits of old furniture in my home. e.g a couple of old pine bedside tables look wonderful in my guestroom with the addition of some gorgeous clear glass knobs which I purchased at an antique shop. The photo below is one I'm thinking of using. It was taken on Stradbroke Island, these are my favourite sea birds. The one above was taken down on the far south east coast of Tasmania in winter at one of the most scenic places I've ever travelled to. Its in the Freycinet National Park and known as Honeymoon Bay. This picturesque area was about a 100 metre walk from the front of our forest like cabin.

Metalchasers.com, Beading Gem, Meez

2007-12-30T11:28:00.000+10:00

Hey all you metal jewellery makers come join us over at http://www.metalchasers.com
If you're into Chainmaille or Wire or Silver clay etc a little community is starting to gather there. Set up your own Profile and Gallery, join the forum discussions, make new friends and maybe meet up with some old ones too.

If you're wondering about the Avatar on this post, I created it a while back at http://www.meez.com (don't you love the Tiara? I'm wearing it was a sarong and flip flops...LOL) and was reminded about it by a post made by my forum friend Pearl, The Beading Gem.

Check out Pearl's blog, a very interesting read, some amazing stories, jewellery creations, featured designers and history. Gotta say, this blog has kept me entertained for hours. Check it out at http://www.beadinggem.com

Never work with Animals

2007-12-27T18:15:00.000+10:00

That's what they say. I had so much fun shooting those pics of Rem. He is just so hilarious and an absolute character. For Xmas my mum and dad gave him two stuffed teddy bears - a brunette and a blond. Not that he needed any more bears, he's got a trunk load of them now. But the first thing he has to do when he picks a new bear up is give it a good shake. I always tell him "No, its already dead, shaking isn't necessary". We name all his toys too, so he is able to distinguish which is which. I can't believe how he manages to remember who's who. We have Baa, (a sheep), Hoggy (a Hedgehog) Teddy Xmas (dressed in a a red and green jumper) Honey Bear, Brown Bear, Bon Bon, Frizzy, Rudy, etc. and he plays with them all. I laugh when he goes to one of his two toy boxes and rifles around in the bottom and pulls something out we've not seen for a while. Today it was a teething chew bone, now that one hasn't surfaced since he was really little.

Speaking of presents, I scored well too. CD's (the new "Tina Arena" one) "Richard Clapton" - an oldie but a goodie, I've always loved his songs "Deep Water" and "Girls on the Avenue", this CD has all the old fav's. Lets see where was I, oh yes, Xmas goodies, a summer dress, a new handsfree phone duo with answer machine (one for the kitchen and one for the dining room) gardening gloves and a subscription to "Burkes Backyard", a great Bromeliad plant with a gorgeous towering red flower, (my garden is a tropical one, so I have heap of these in all sorts of colours and am always on the lookout for different species) a Chile plant in a lovely window sill pot, some cash, a gorgeous Vanilla Candle in a Gold and etched glass holder along with matching drink coasters, a unusual shaped tray, some gel frogs - the type you can stick to windows or shower recesses -they're really cute, a resin kookaburra (looks like the real thing) hubby has attached him to the court yard fence, chocolates, a rock tumbler, I think that's it. Gosh, I did well didn't I?

I had 10 people for lunch, yep ate everyone of them....LOL, well no not really, 10 people came to lunch, all family, some of them are vegetarians, so it makes my life really interesting at times. We had Turkey, Ham, Smoked Salmon, Prawn and Mango salad, Sun dried Tomato and Spinach Frittatas, Cheese and Herb filo triangles, Antipasto, White Cherries, huge Lychee's, Fattouch salad (which I must add was really yummy, so I'll be making that one again, Roast vegetable Cannelloni, Trifle, Rum Balls, Fruit Mince Pies and German Xmas Cake and of course a few bottles of Bubbles. I'm thinking the variety of food was very multinational. I cooked for two days, got up at 5.00 am Xmas day, prep'd the final things, ie salads, set the table, all red, green and gold this year and collapsed at 7.00pm in front of the telly. A great day was had by all!

Merry Xmas and a very Happy New Year

2007-12-18T08:26:00.000+10:00

This is likely to be my last post for a few days now. Got to get ready for the hoards about to descend on me for Christmas lunch. We've just had a nice long weekend away on the Sunshine Coast with my brother and his family. Rem had an absolute whale of a time, swimming, playing fetch, chasing his soccer ball and generally having fun with my niece Samantha. I think he's a little tired today, not surprising really. He and my hubby swam a couple of hundred metres and back out to a little sand island in the middle of the Noosa River. We found a little spot that is sign posted as a dog exercise area off one of the main swimming beaches. Still a beautiful spot, but recently ruined by a large flood. Lots of trees uprooted along the banks and now only a very small sand beach. Gorgeous blue water and little sand banks here and there. Have a great Xmas and New Year.
PS.. The Pic is of my nine month old Border Collie, Rem, doing his Rudolph impersonation. Isn't he just the cutest boy?

The Simple things in Life

2007-12-14T11:12:00.000+10:00

Another piece that I've recently completed for myself. These 10mm freshwater pearls have a gorgeous luster, whilst the faceted rubies catch the light like little sparkling diamonds.
The clasp which is 925 Sterling silver is also stunning and huge, but I think its a nice feature. I do however wish the Postie would hurry up and deliver the sterling silver fittings I need to complete the earrings. I guess its always the way at this time of the year. Its like waiting for a pot to boil.

My Xmas Present to Me.... hehe

2007-12-13T13:39:00.001+10:00

That the good thing about being able to make jewellery, one can reward oneself anytime and as often as possible...lol. Amazingly, I don't make that much jewellery for myself. I've have however been eyeing this bracelet off for a few months now and since its not sold, I'm claiming it as mine, 'cause I adore green and I just love these lampwork beads. Oh, the earrings I made this morning out of the two remaining beads I had in stock, so now I have a matching set. (I've sold a few of these bracelets in the past year some in different colours, red, black, pink, and two in green similar to this....sssshh, don't tell anyone....) So that leaves three in stock, one blue and white, one black with pink roses and green leaves and last but not least one in black and silver.
Here's what's left, if you want one get in quick!!

Am I an Artist?

2007-12-11T08:58:00.000+10:00

This is one of my recent paintings which I named "Moulin Rouge". I've been messing about with mixed media and wanted something bright and eye catching to hang on a feature wall, that over looks the back deck in my home. I used gold leaf, arcylic and artist pens for Fx's.

After seeing this piece a guest at one of my recent jewellery viewings has now commissioned me to paint 3 large canvas panels for her newly decorated apartment. How exciting is that? Well I just might be an artist afterall.

Highlights of 2007

2007-12-10T08:24:00.000+10:00

Yes, I know its been a few posts since I wrote about anything to do with Jewellery making.
I've decided to wade back through some of my earlier work during the holiday season as I won't be making anything new till 2008 at least.
This little number which reminds me of Coconut Ice, is a very girly piece. It contains lots of "left-overs". A good way to use up all those beads you have no real use for. There are freshwater pearls, glass beads and semi precious stones. The chain in Sterling silver plate. Of course all the wire wrapping does take time, but I think its well worth it.

End of Year Party Display Pics

2007-12-03T10:23:00.000+10:00

Saturday was my last party for this year, not sure what I'm doing next year, as I hope to work elsewhere part-time or full-time depending on what pops up. So it could be my last party ever! Thanks to all those who RSVP'd and rolled up. It was indeed fantastic to see all my old workmates, friends and some new ones as well.
Frankly I was wrecked by the end of the day, having started at 6.00am with food prep and ending around 9.00pm after cleaning up. So pretty much most of the week was taken up with organizing, setting up said display, food and drink shopping etc. Think I earned my money this week. My websites and blog will continue to run and of course I'll still be making jewellery for anyone who asks.
Thanks also to Steve and Michael for their great Bar work and keeping the guests entertained. Congratulations to the lucky door prize winners. One of the prizes not sure what it was - am guessing earrings, was donated by Virginia S Jewellery and of course the beaten wire sea creature bookmark came from me.

Free as a Bird or I will be soon

2007-11-30T11:39:00.000+10:00

Gee I haven't posted here since Tuesday, how bad is that?
Well I do have an excuse, been a little busy getting ready for this week-end as I'm hosting my annual Xmas party. Of course then there's the family Xmas lunch that I'll be once again having at my house... well that'll be another post. I've still got to work out the menu, shop and run around again.... Oh fun, Oh joy, Oh Humbug!

I've spent most of this week running around organising food, drinks, jewellery displays, of course I had to enlist the help of my loving husband, who very graciously moved furniture, riffled through the under stair cupboard for folding tables and our camping esky. I hate going it there, its like going underground, dark and mysterious and you never know when a Christmas Tree might lurch up, grab you by the leg and drag you back to its lair, kicking and screaming... uhhh don't mind me, you should have the picture by now!!

I'm starting to wish I had a bigger house. Those that know me will laugh at that, because I already have a big house. Two storey, 3 verandahs, heaps of cupboard space, which always seem to be full. Reminds me of that advertisement on TV, you know the one, where the garage door gets opened and out pours all the bits and pieces stored in there. This morning I got sick of my Tupperware cupboard and had a bit of a purge, now the rubbish bin is overflowing, seems I can't win...

I'll post some pics of my jewellery display when I take the dust sheets off the tables. With the weather as is it here in Brisbane, ie drought conditions, we're now on Level 6 water restrictions, everything gets dusty so quickly. I seem to be forever cleaning.

The pic on this post is one I took at Wivenhoe Dam on the way to Toowoomba. We decided to check out the water levels a few months back and have a family picnic whilst we were out in the country. I always love photographing birds and animals. This little guy I managed to photograph just as he was taking flight. Hopefully in a few days I'll get to be free like him and have a short break. Well here's hoping. Have a great weekend.

Speaking of Pearls

2007-11-27T12:49:00.000+10:00

Just realised that I don't have much in the way of Gold Filled earrings so made a few pairs up whilst waiting for Hubby to come home for dinner last night.
These are all around $20 per pair. Ummmm like them all as they are all fairly classic designs, and would look great for any occasion.

What a Pearl

2007-11-27T12:29:00.000+10:00

On the weekend I was visiting my mum as it was her birthday. The whole family always gets together to celebrate birthdays. I happened to be looking at all the photographs mum has on display, one in particular I've always loved. The photo is of my beautiful mum Lucy when she was around 19 or 20 years of age and bridesmaid for my Aunt. The dress was made by the Brides sister. I did however forget to ask about the Jewellery she was wearing as I love the look of that long strand of pearls knotted at the throat. Just goes to show that Pearls never really go out of fashion, regardless of what people think. They're classics and will be around, I hope, forever.

Land AHoy...

2007-11-25T18:14:00.000+10:00

A few weeks back I was madly sewing costumes for a party, well finally the big night arrived and I must admit to being very excited about getting dressed up just for the fun of it. I wore a hair piece with curls and false black and glittery eyelashes too. The eyelashes alone took me half an hour to fix in place, not an easy feat. I'm definitely getting myself some fold down eye magnifier glasses. Guess I'll be searching Google tomorrow in order to do some shopping...

Our lovely friend Jaclyn whose birthday it was and who is indeed a "Wonder Woman" (check out the photos) underwent a complete heart and lung transplant a couple of years back. That's yours truly on the right.

Anyone know this scary looking guy?
If I were that parrot I would indeed be worried...lol
He (not the parrot, folks) even managed to win best costume and promised to share the bottle of champagne that he won with me; and so he should. I was afterall the brains behind his winning masterpiece...lol

I took this next of shot of the two of us using the timer mechanism on my camera and with the camera attached to a tripod. I don't tend to use the timer and had to look up the instruction manual on how to get it to work. This camera, as much as I love it, has so many functions, that not even I in a whole lifetime will get to know them all off by heart.

More pics coming...

Customer Commission

2007-11-22T11:39:00.001+10:00

I just finished this piece which a customer commissioned a little while back.
Her brief was for something pink, but when she looked over my Swarovski stash, it was decided that pink, white and crystal were to be the embellishments.
The fine wire wrapping took me approximately 4 hours, but that was ok, as I occupied myself by listening to the American Music Awards on Fox 8 at the same time.
I really don't mind wrapping wire, its actually rather therapeutic!

My Challenge Winner

2007-11-21T12:22:00.001+10:00

You may have notice a little blue and white challenge winner badge over to the right of my blog. Recently I decided to try my hand once again at another challenge on the Australian Beading Forum. The theme was "Masquerade". Great theme. Of course lots of ideas later and a bit of doodling on paper, this mask which I named "Venetia" is what I came up with.

It now also features on my new business cards. I plan to frame the piece in a 3D photo frame too, so I can hang it with my certificates etc from previous competitions.

Medieval Queen

2007-11-20T15:58:00.000+10:00

I made the base of this piece a while back, then left it sitting in a box, forgetting all about it whilst I got on with other things.
One of the reasons I put it aside was because my original idea for embellishing it didn't really workout, so I figured inspiration would hit sooner or later.

My idea for a recent Wire work/Chain Maille Beading forum "Medieval" challenge was for a gold headdress littered with gems, Pearls, Rubies, Emeralds and Diamionds, as was popular with Kings and Queens of the day, but in my case I used Swarovski crystals and pearls.

Decided to add the basic chain maille in order to fit the period, not that I've actually been able to find any headpieces of the day with CM dangling in this manner, so it's just my take on a theme. Its worn with the chain down over the forehead sort of like a circlet.

Chained Butterfly

2007-11-19T09:59:00.000+10:00

I made this set yesterday morning. I picked the colour scheme from some fabric that I have, which is white, mauve and copper toned. Really happy with the way it turned out, really does make a bit of a statement. The large FW pearls are a deep mauve and I added some white opal AB swaros to add a glint of colour. The Butterfly is Hilltribe Silver, plus I also used up some bits and pieces I had lying around including the chain. Matching earrings complete the piece. For sale on my website.

Copyright or Not

2007-11-14T09:41:00.001+10:00

Just recently I had the unfortunate experience of some-one try to copy one of my wire Tiaras.

I spent hours perfecting this particular design, won an award for it and placed highly in another competition for a another model only to find my absolute thrill taken away by a non thinking individual.

That brings me to question copyright laws, I studied these closely. If you happen to see unauthorised pics of my wirework floating around on the net or copies of my work in shops, please let me know. These individuals are probably breaking copyright laws.

Please respect the work of Artists, ask permission before copying anything and if permission is granted, reference the orginal Artist. Play nice.