Holy Shitballs! Check this out!!

WOAH!!! CHECK ME OUT! I'M OVER AT CRAFT VICTORIA'S BLOG, CLOG!!!!

The lovely Kim, of Craft Victoria is doing a mini feature on me as I am very happy to announce that I am now a new stockist of Craft Victoria.

I am more than a little excited!! So excited in fact that I just had to tell you all about it!! Take a gander, tell me what you think. (I only realised how messy my studio looks....) (who am i kidding, is.)

Craft Vic are kindly stocking my new range; 'Colour Pots'. I wish them well on their maiden voyage!

http://craft-victoria.blogspot.com/

Little Bird BIG City!

Lean in close my little birds because I have some big news for you...BIG news. John Candy (god rest his soul) big.

I am going to Japan!!

Ow yeah! Konichiwa Japanese Little birds! I am super excited to be able to announce to you that in March this year I will be traveling to Tokyo to undertake a research residency into the honoured tradition of Ikebana, Japanese floristry. My plan is to compile research for an Australian native Ikebana range. Proteas, warratahs maybe some banksias? Who knows? Its all very exciting!

I am both excited an terrified. Living in Tokyo for two whole months....gulp. I'm sure it will be fine, how hard can it be...HAVE YOU SEEN THE TOKYO SUBWAY MAP?!! ITS LIKE 20 OCTOPUS ON ACID!! But on the up side you can buy beer from a vending machine, so hey maybe if i just slug one of those before I attempt to decipher the trains everything will turn out swell.....

I am now trying to line up a sala show to display some of these new works I will create when i get home. I am thinking of more of an installation based show using the ikebana vessels, but early days yet, lets just get there right?

Now, where did I put that passport?.....

Grand opening!

Come on down! Pull out that party frock from the closet, hunt down those sparkly heels, maybe pop on some lippy? dust off that dashing suit (worn last at nanna's 70th down the rsl) and get your little caboose down to Electra House! Tonight! Preview! Grand opening, come revel in 'Florence's' beauty. And why not do so whilst enjoying an icy cider/beer at the newly installed Tuxedo Cat bar? You won't be disappointed I guarantee it! Just wait till you get your bevarage served from the caravan....

The details.....

7:30pm grand opening of Florence

@ Electra House 131 King William Street

Feb 17th

Seeya there!

Meet Florence

But first lets have a coffee.... ahh delicious.

Now today is the day for installation. First we hijack the board room and start sorting colours.

Next each piece has to be screwed into its length. It's a two man job, trust me..

We are the two men! Meet Jaan, twirly in guy extrodinaire.

Now meet Dani, head tape lady and all round good guy at stuff. Each piece must be carefully balanced off of each other.

Meet Jess, head packer and later scaler of great heights and attacher of cables.

As you can imagine we need fuel for such a big job. Burger time. Burgers all round. Viva la West Side!

Mmmmmmmm......

After everything is assembled we moved her to Electra House and began the install.

We don't pack light....

The cables go up and the armature can be hung.

She lives!

Each piece balances from its family. It really is quite beautiful. Florence has a quiet elegance to her and really must be seen to be believed. Why don't you come down to say cheerio and enjoy a pimms at the bar? Opening night is this Thursday from 6-8pm. Hope to see you all there.

Day 5 - Last making day

Today was the last day on the job for the Jam crew. And I am pleased to say..... they nailed it! Our target was 100 and we need 80, I'm not sure of the actual count but we smashed it thats fo' sure. Now we will have the luxury of picking and chosing the best for the mobile, the crem de la creme so to speak.

Look even Maddy is happy about it.

And here is Kristel, eye on the prize.

Remember these tiles we laid out ever so patiently?

Well they kinda turn out like this when they are rolled up.

Then they get spun out into this!

Here is Mads hard at work in the cold shop.

Now the thing about mobiles is you have to have balance right? Each one has to be weighed to fit in with each other.

Now its time to think about colour families. Who hangs out with who.

They get sandblasted on the back for that nice soft look.

Now for the first test run. A careful balancing act to counteract the weight of each piece.

and heres how you transport a precarious piece!

And here she is hanging....

Beautiful no? So I think this was a great project for everyone involved. It was a big learning curve for everyone. The team had a chance to find their feet, we all learnt about colour schemes and what works with murrini, Ruth and I are learning to work together and the piece is coming to life. We had the run of the hot shop at the Jam for a week and we are very grateful for their support. So we are maybe 70% there? Now for a whole new set of challenges...stay tuned for installation, i hear there will be scafolding involved......

Day 4 - the deal breaker

For me, today was a day of dualities. The morning was spent very pleasantly attending a Jumpmentoring information session. Here i met some other lovely artists and had quite an informative day. Got a great list of resources and learnt abit more about what Jump can provide for me. I feel really positive about this and look forward to the out comes. Already I would strongly advise any emerging artist under 30 to think about applying for next year. The Carclew team are super enthusiastic and a wealth of knowledge for folks like me. (They even fed me quiche for lunch! How civilised and delicious!) Tomorrow morning both Ruth and I will attend.

So what about the team you ask? A morning off? Time for a kip? Not bloody likely! Those kids were in there pumping it out as always, no rest for the wicked as they say, and by wicked i mean flipping AWESOME! I don't know the actual temperature today, up in the 30's I think, but man the Jam felt like the sun itself, and those kids were in there working hard, as always. Comrades I salute you. Your hard work is much appreciated and will not go un noticed. Sweat was pouring off them yet still they work with a smile, churning out piece after piece. Bravo my little hot shop demons, bravo.

My afternoon was frantic and stressful unfortunately... a grant dead line rapidly approaches tomorrow and lets just say this one did not run smoothly and not to my own fault i must say. But i won't bore you with the details my lovelies (i don't think i am even ready to revisit that yet!) So consequently I don't have any new pics for you, sorry! But I will tell you the team is rapidly approaching their goal of 100 pieces. Tomorrow is their last day and I am very excited to see the quality of work they are turning out. Huzzahs all round!

So instead I'm going to leave you with a snap of my new production line; "Colour Pots". Thoughts? Comments? Feed back is most welcomed here at Little Bird Big Chip....