Animated kitchen utensils

Over the past couple of weeks I have been learning the basics of stop animation.

You may remember my post from last week about the vintage kitchen utensils, well, my sketches for them have become the basis for my very basic stop motion animation.

The fun thing is they have all developed personalities of their own. Cheeky things!

This one above / and below, is based on an egg cup I designed in metal. Im in the process of making it! When flipped on its side it turns into a squid. Neat huh!

Vintage kitchen utensils

Whilst hanging out in my favourite antique shop I found a delightfully old strainer with a painted green wooden handle.

I thought it would be perfect for my continuing exploration into pioneering history from a women's perspective. I have become interested in the ideas of isolation and communication and how location would have impacted on the early settlers.

My original idea was to build a house out of wire on top of the strainer.

But there was something nice about the movement of the wire when held with the house structure upside down.

Im not too sure of the direction this piece will take yet - but Im having fun exploring the possibilities!

In the studio: making clay and casting moulds

I have been learning to make my own clays from scratch. This is a very exciting development because I generally buy my clays in big blocks that are ready to use. So far I have made a white porcelain clay for throwing and a white porcelain slip that both fire to cone 6.

Mixing the clay bodies

 I have also been creating complex (for me anyway!) four piece moulds of food tins.

Four piece mould of a small tin of tuna.

Four piece mould of a larger tin that contained ravioli - I think. 

The tins are a confutation of my exploration of the themes of pioneers. I am particularly interested in the notions of isolation, communication and what the first settlers were reduced to eat in new and inhospitable countries.

Watch this space as my ideas progress. Exciting! :)

Fair isle flower wrist warmers

For Christmas this year I knitted up some wrist warmers for my friends in colder climates.

Using a pattern by Matilde Skår on Ravelry 

'Abra Abra' knitted wrist warmers by Matilde Skar 

combined with a fair isle flower pattern initially designed for socks

Image from http://illusiveweb.com

 I created the following gloves

Such fun! And a great way to use up odd balls of wool.
Happy knitting x

Public Art: Curtin Shopping Centre ACT

The Christmas and New Year holidays are always a good time to catch up on all those things I have been meaning to do, but never quite seem to find the time.

I was sorting through some boxes of my art stuff that was packed away before I moved to London (over ten years ago now) and I found images of some of my old artwork. So I have been updating my website.

One of the first projects I embarked upon after graduating from Art School in 1999 was a collaboration with artist, Matthew Harding to create public artworks for the Curtin Shopping Centre, in Canberra, ACT.

stained glass mosaic pedestal 

Canberra is the bush capital of Australia, with corridors of native bush that lead right into the city. Due to this there is an abundance of native wildlife and the variety of birds is simply delightful. This became the theme for the project, and we called it 'Flights of Fancy'.

Honey Eater stained glass mosaic pedestal

Working with images of birds: kookaburra, galah, rosella, blue wren, honey eater to mention a few, we created stained glass benches, designed cast bronze feather inserts into the paving, laser cut and powder coated steel banners, bin surrounds and drain grates, printed textile banners, and hand carved wooden play sculptures.

If you would like to see more visit my website.