Bleating Heart ♥

back to the drawing board

2011-07-20T06:19:00.000-07:00

So, the Inverted experiment didn't work out..

I didn't even manage one sale!!

It was kind of them to take me on but I guess it just goes to show, you need to position yourself carefully. Ladies jewellery in a body boarding shop was perhaps an ambitious experiment. They have offered to take some of my pieces again later in the year once winter is over and people are actually inhabiting the shop. But I will need to think about it.

My resin is now in the post and on the way home, which I'm quite excited about actually. Although it didn't sell in Port Stephens, the batch I sent was still the slickest run I've done so far and it will be nice to have it back so I can sell it elsewhere - local markets or online.

If past performance is any indicator it will sell easily on madeit.com.au. But I might do a market stall at Gorman House with it instead.

In other news, it's fair to say the past three months or so have been a creative black hole.

All my extra energy has been spent on sorting out houses and moving, but thankfully that saga has come to an end and we're finally in our new place. Bec has arrived home from the UK, which has brought a nice relaxed vibe to the house. I am feeling more settled here than I was - though it would be nice to have some heating.

It's is fair to say I am aching for something to throw myself into at the moment. I am projectless and it's killing me!

However - now the move is over my focus is back on getting to a better space professionally and creatively.

A friend and I have some ideas for a publishing project floating around at the moment, which could turn out to be very interesting indeed. It's too early to say much, but details will follow as they come to light.

the ordinary owl's resin now on sale at inverted salamander bay!

2011-04-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

Went to Salamander Bay over Easter and saw my resin on display at Inverted Bodyboarding :-)

It's a great little Aussie chain of surf shops specialising in bodyboards but also selling surf fashion and other beachy bits and pieces. My sister's friend has just opened an Inverted store with her family in Salamander Bay and has asked to sell my stuff there.

It's a cute little shop (and the cute surfy boys behind the counter don't hurt either...)

My resin designs work well as surf-style accessories I reckon. It's kinda awesome to see my stuff on display in an actual store (whoop whoop!). It's great exposure to have something on counter seven days a week rather than just a few hours once every month at the markets.

Selling under the same name as my madeit.com.au store - the ordinary owl.

Here's a little bit of what I sent away:

Bangles

Earrings

Pendants

Check out Inverted on Facebook and give them the thumbs up.

Also have plans to investigate Gorman House Markets in Canberra with the aim of trying them out. Had a cool crafternoon a few weeks back and made some new owls with a buddy of mine. We are now plotting to revolutionise the way Canberra does craft... (or something).

Watch. This. Space.

new stuff

2011-04-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

A bit of stuff I did today :)

big.news

2011-03-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

I may have a stockist for my resin.

My sister's friend has just opened a surf store in Port Stephens and is looking for pieces to stock.

I sent her some photos, and she likes them.

Here are some of the pix I sent:

I need to get samples and packaging together ASAP and put them in the post.

All going well, she'll give them a spin in the shop and see how they go.

The whole 'samples, ASAP' factor poses a minor problem, as I have no good resin... (see figure 1.1 in my last post).

A mercy mission to Sydney this weekend may be required.

But resin supplies aside, how exciting??

And what an excellent boot up the backside, given my recent motivational malaise.

P.S Big shout out to my amazing sister Kiwaaa, who is always looking out for me. (mwah!)

bah... easycast clear

2011-03-27T02:24:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh... I had such grand crafting plans for this weekend. But alas... it was not to be (See figure 1.1).

Here we have my latest adventure in resin work:

Figure 1.1

In case you were wondering - it's not a beige coloured dog poo.

It's a bangle.

I'm trying a new resin at the moment called EasyCast Clear but I'm clearly doing something wrong.

Plus it's all shiny... I don't like it. Bah.

I'm going to invest in a few kilos of my old resin next time I'm in Sydney.

In other crafting news...

Meet Can-Can Man.

Figure 1.2

He makes a lovely addition to our lounge room wall, alongside Caleb's rather large spanner (See figures 1.3).

Figure 1.3

Can-Can Man is another of my not-so-brilliant recent crafting exploits.

I tried to get back into the swing of things with the sewing this weekend, rather unsuccessfully.

Things have been stupidly busy since starting my new job and this weekend was going to be all about beginning new projects. I ended up mass-producing a whole bunch of fabric wings for my owls... but that was all.

Didn't feel very inspired.

A big night out on Friday didn't help either, motivationally speaking.

You will be pleased to know my weekend was not a complete creative failure. I did make some rather excellent carrot cake muffins, see figure 1.4.

Next weekend will be a crafting ripper... I'm determined. Stay tuned.

new year, bigger adventures

2011-01-07T03:31:00.000-08:00

I don't think I could have arranged a bigger full stop for 2010.

Two days before New Year's Eve I got a call from a magazine that I was trying to drum up some work with way back in September.

Would you believe it? They offered me a full time journo job. On the spot.

Out of the blue doesn't adequately describe it...

But after what's been a pretty disappointing and frustrating year in terms of work, it was a pretty tempting offer.

And as it happens, I've taken it.

I resigned from my current job on December 31.

And I can't wait to start writing and chasing my own stories again.

On the topic of craft...

Over the Christmas period I sold out of owls on madeit.com.au.

So I've decided to really ramp it up this year and see how far I can push it. I'm going to channel some serious energy into building up the store and branching out in different directions. Having my own sewing machine is a serious bonus and means there are lots of things I can work on now that just weren't possible before.

Feeling really good about 2011.

Here's to a year of following the heart.

stitching up 2010

2010-12-02T02:38:00.000-08:00

Guess what I got for my birthday, from my truly fantastic parentals?

A sewing machine! (a Brother XL-2230, to be precise)

I've named him Akashi.

He is Japanese, has 26 stitch functions and enjoys kickboxing and good coffee.

:D I'm in love.

My first sewing project was an easy one - a roll-up makeup bag.

Looks pretty nifty and I designed the pattern myself - although I've since thought of about five ways to use less material and sew less seams.

It was a good first go though, I think.

I have a week of annual leave next week and I'm really looking forward to sitting down and busting out a whole bunch of stuff.

Actually I have a lot of ideas for new resin designs and owlish critters as well. Heaps of work to be done!

The aim is to hit up Newtown markets before Christmas. Anne, Sez and I made some serious cash before Christmas last year.

In other news, had another sale via my ordinary owl brand on madeit.com.au.

So far, I've made $60 via madeit.com.au. That's in exchange for about an hour's worth of effort in terms of setting up the store.

Gets me thinking about what I could do if I dedicated some proper time to some of these half-assed projects.

:)

stuff... yknow

2010-11-03T05:35:00.000-07:00

Would you believe it? I'm in the process of moving, again...

Please accept my sincere apologies for the stark lack of updatage.

There's been little time for crafting or blogging of late.

My mother once made the observation that the big, heavy moments of my life always happens at the same time for me.

They don't happen in sequence... and not with gaps in between for thinking (and calming down) time.

I'm beginning to think she was right

Life's watersheds have a tendency of sneaking up on me in a big gang, and thumping me over the back of the head with a newspaper. Usually, while I'm eating my breakfast.

I've got to tell you... there were five glossy lifestyle liftouts hidden in the middle of my last newspaper to the head.

And they packed a whallop.

**cue whinge-fest here**

No.

I won't bore you with details.

Lets just say there's a lot going on and moving house on top of it all, is not making me happy. I've been doing a truckload of sooking about it, I'll tell you that.

I have set up an online store on the past week though, which is a bloggable crafting exploit I suppose.

It's called The Ordinary Owl and it's on madeit.com.au. I'm still putting stuff up and working it all out. It's a bit thin on substance at the moment, because my stocks are low.

Check out my logo:

I have sold an owl named Florence, which was an exciting moment.

Grumble grumble... Ok. I guess it hasn't been all bad this month.

Craft saves the day. Again.

making, moving, moaning....

2010-09-04T23:33:00.000-07:00

So the last markets before Sez set off for her English teaching adventure were pretty good.

We didn't make a lot of cash (what's new?) but as always, it was smashing to catch up with my lady friends. Sold a few owls, sold a few bangles... a handful of pins. Our position was a bit out of the way and we weren't catching a lot of the crowd.

Ended up having a chat to a guy who's been doing animation work on a new film called Legend of the Guardians. He and his partner bought one of my owls.

They're convinced that once the film comes out, everyone will be going nuts for my winged-wonders. Check out the film's poster below - it's due out here on Australia on Sept 30.

I think stylistically my owls are a little bit of a stretch for film merchandise... but I'm happy to jump on any bandwagon that's going :)

It was a relief to escape Canberra's oppressive chill for 48 hours. Sydney has sun that penetrates a little deeper than what you get in Canberra!

(market ladeez - Moz, Annie and Sez)

On Saturday night, I caught up with some other Sydney friends out at Clovelly. Had some incredible Japanese food at cute little place called Ten. (tofu. bento. box: I shall say no more...)

They also had these crazy crane-shaped origami garnishes that I was most impressed with. I've searched high and low on the interwebs for a picture, so I can show you what I mean. This is the closest I can find. It's almost the same, but not from Ten (thanks to i-nomad).

That's a piece of carrot!!

I am going to learn how to make these little bastards if it kills me.

Also, I have some Big (Bad) News.

I've got to move out of my current place in O'Connor - the lease expires in just under two weeks now and the owners want their place back.

I'm moving to a place around the corner with a new set of randoms. I'm a bit sad - I really liked this place and my flatties.

But them's the breaks. :-(

to market, to market etc etc

2010-08-24T04:44:00.000-07:00

I'll actually get there this week.

Sydney. This weekend. Newtown. None of this Rocks business...

I've got a few new owls to take along and I hope to make a few smaller ones between now and Friday.

Also have some new resin to sell.

Exciting news! I went and bought a dremel and a tonne of polishing rouge which works a treat to get rid of surface scratches from sanding etc.

I call it the AWESOME 3000.

It looks like a dentists drill and has a whole bunch of attachments and bits. I reckon I probably could do some cut-price dental surgery with this.

Makes for nice resin. Also I can drill holes and stuff with it which is ridiculously handy. I have not even begun to explore the possibilities.

FUN. TIMES.

Really looking forward to getting to Sydney on Saturday. Work has been a bit yuk of late and I really need to have a real weekend. Election coverage was not fun, at all.

It's time for beers and good times, I think.

Come along to Newtown markets this Saturday August 28. We'll be there.

FAR OUT no rocks markets this weekend.

2010-07-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Markets at the Rocks have been canned for this weekend.

We are not booked in for them until August 15. Just as well really, because now I have to work this weekend (and the next) anyway.

What. A. Pain.

I believe Annie and Sarah will be going along to Newtown with our shizzle. But I won't be there. :(

Much love to anyone that makes it out to support Corazon Collective on Saturday.

rocking the rocks on July 24

2010-07-11T00:15:00.000-07:00

Word on the street is that Corazon Collective, in combination with the lovely Vani Wahid, will be hitting The Rocks Markets on Saturday July 24.

Pretty excited about this but now have LOTS of work to do.

Next weekend has been set aside for resin making and serious owling. How excitement!

Who would have thought when we first set up our shonky card table at Newtown Markets a year ago, that we'd be here by now? We have definitely come a long way in terms of set up and presenting ourselves. Made lots of lovely marketeering friends too.

Looking forward to catching up with my Sydney people. Come visit us if you have the time!!!

in da capital

2010-07-04T03:11:00.000-07:00

Again, I bring you tidings of change.

It seems the only time I get round to writing this blog is AFTER all the interesting stuff has happened. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Document the process etc? Apparently not...

So, you know.

I live in Canberra now. (!!!!!!)

Yes. I have packed in my old (day) job with the and have moved to our nation's great capital.

Loving the 9-5 life, I have to say.

Also loving being out of Sydney. Canberra is just the right amount of city for me, I think. We'll see, I guess... I could end up eating those words.

But for now I'm loving it. No noise, no traffic, lots of trees, and there are kangaroos outside my office at work. I don't think it gets much better than that, actually.

Craft-wise though, I am feeling quite sad. Moving to Sydney has meant the end of an era, in terms of marketeering in Newtown.

Can't just rock up to Newtown markets whenever I feel like it anymore. Takes a three hour drive. Also, I am missing my crafting buddies. Once I'm settled I plan to hike to Syd about once a month. But June has been a quiet month in terms of craft and markets.

On the upside, being so far away might force me to get cracking with the online side of things. Anne has set a up a Corazon Collective store on Madeit.com.au. Not up and running yet but on the way.

As far as crafting in Canberra, I have been putting out feelers for markets and opportunities.

Here are the findings of my covert market hunting mission:

The Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston, a suburb on the south side of Canberra. I've been there two weeks in a row now (the first time with my camera, to take some sneaky pictures) and they get a massive turnout. Our stuff would do well there I think. Got to look into the cost though...

Also, have discovered the Handmade Markets, which happen less frequently (every few months) but seem very much our style.

Many opportunities to be had.

You'll be pleased to know I haven't been slacking off completely. I have still been creating critters. These owlish creatures are what I'm really excited about at the moment. Making lots of them.

Right now I am sitting in MacDonald's, blogging using their free wifi. LOL. I still have no net connected at home. Gah...

Have to say - I feel fucking dedicated to this blog, sitting here amidst the Cheeseburgers and McFlurries.

Stupid MacDonalds....

craft=virtue

2010-05-09T03:40:00.001-07:00

Man! I just wrote the most epic post, and then my laptop battery ran out. ALL. GONE.

I have not the energy or patience to re-write the post in all its wit and glory...

To summarise:

- Have been doing well at markets.
- Now making larger amigurumi - birds mostly. Have discovered everyone loves owls. Note to self: make more owls.
- Also making resin earrings and pendants. Still finishing. Look kinda rad.
- Making crochet earrings. Also look rad.
- Feeling like a complete trashbag this month, need to stay home, do more craft and feel virtuous.

To conclude, I shall leave you with a picture of a creation I have christened Rodney the Angry Rooster.

I bid you goodevening.

Newtown DIY markets this Sat

2010-04-08T02:16:00.000-07:00

Ok. It's actually happening this time (unless it rains? nothing forecast though).

Markets this Saturday April 10 in Newtown, across from the station. I'll be there from 7ish until whenever it gets boring in the afternoon.

Come visit.

I've been slaving away all afternoon on my next batch of resin. Well worth the effort though - they look incredible .

Still have several owls to finish though! :-O

Eeep I am cutting it fine. Planning on pulling a late one tonight and then getting up early before work tomorrow.

Will document the weekend's marketeering in pictures.

Off now to meet Anne for coffee and talk shop.

Ciao!

amigurumi

2010-03-31T21:07:00.001-07:00

Bad news - no markets this weekend.

My hours for work have been changed so it will have to wait until next weekend. Apparently it was going to rain anyway...

Oh well. Gives me another week to get my stuff together.

I'll be there on Sat April 10 instead.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a pic of one of the coolest pieces of amigurumi I've seen in a while.

She's the creation of Heather Stoneking, a fibre artist from Florida. You can visit her etsy shop here.

Amigurumi is is the style of crochet animals I make. It's single stitch crochet formed in a spiral.

Although it's one of the simplest forms of crochet. you can do some truly amazing things using the this concept. My stuff if nowhere near as detailed as this.

Other examples of amigurumi, by rad fibre artists:

by Anja, at tinyowlknits

And this is a fave too:

by thekeepmecompany

I'm kinda into birds right now, as you can see.

Etsy is f@$king awesome. I'm thinking of starting my own shop there.

Markets this Saturday April 3!

2010-03-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

Heading back to Newtown DIY markets, across from the station, this Saturday April 3.

I'm really pumped. It will be the first weekend we've been up there this year.

I'm quite looking forward to it. We met heaps of awesome people last year. And it's a pretty cruisy way to spend a Saturday morning (as long as the weather is fine). Read a book, drink a coffee, soak up the sun and wait for bites. It's kind of like fishing.... :P

I'm always intrigued, observing the kind of people that buy our stuff. It's a great exercise in beginners marketing. Being able to recognise your target audience/demographic or whatnot .

Anyway, here are some pics of a gorgeous sunny day at the markets from late last year, to entice you to visit. If you want to loiter around and be a stall bitch with me, BYO chairs. I'll be there from 8am-ish to about 1pm-ish.

Got LOADS of work to do between now and Saturday to be ready.

I need to pump out some more resin and also have some new ideas for my owly creatures. Thursday and Friday are dedicated to stock production!! Hopefully see you Saturday.

new 'lines'... eh?

2010-03-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

As promised (if not a little later than promised), here are some piccies of my latest projects and seed ideas for a new 'line' of stuff.

Remember, I'm a practicing 'fibre artist' and 'designer' of resin radness... so I get to have 'lines' and 'seasons', and what not. hee hee :-D

a long time between blogs, craft and creative whims

2010-03-09T02:32:00.000-08:00

So it's been a long time between bleating heart blog posts!

I have a confession to make - I've been dabbling in other blogs.

They all ended up being a bit boring though. So here I am making my triumphant return to bleating heart.

I haven't fallen off the crafting radar altogether - Sarah, Anne and I got really serious about our crafting exploits towards the end of last year. We formed our own little outfit called 'Corazon Collective' and did pretty well for ourselves at Newtown markets over Christmas.

Since the beginning of 2010 though I've been SUPER slack with crafting. I've made some resin bangles (still unfinished) and two super cute little crocheted owls (modelled on a 'one-off' owl I made for my friend Maria's little girl Lara). And that's all. Really need to sit down and concentrate on some serious work!!!

To be honest I'm feeling a bit uninspired. But I just need to focus again I think.

Hopefully re-igniting the bleating heart blogging bandwagon will help!

I'd like to post some nice piccis of my owls and my newest resin stuff but it't too hard to take good pictures inside at night. I'll take some with good natural light and post them this week.

xx
-t

Newtown DIY markets May 30

2009-05-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

Will be selling goodies at Newtown DIY markets 7.30am-3pm tomorrow May 30. Come visit! Corner of King St and Enmore Rd.

sidetracked....

2009-05-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a while between posts!

I've been sidetracked somewhat by the cuteness of booties! I set aside some time last week for crafty stuff and ended up knitting teeny tiny baby shoes.

Well, one teeny tiny baby shoe anyway.

But it was lots of fun. And I have an excuse. Several lovely lady friends of mine are expecting in the next few months, so... you know, I had to get my head around this booty thing.

After much trial and error (knitting to patterns without a nanna type to help is hard work!), I have created a whole one booty all on my own.

It still needs a little cord, and to be sewn up the middle but I get the gist.

Cool huh?

Also, since the last post, I've done some marketeering!

Went to Newtown DIY markets (free stall!) with some similarly minded crafty ladies and we sat in the sun and tried to sell our whares.

Sold about $20 worth - not too shabby considering we got there a smidgen late and ended up at the very edge of the markets.

My earrings, pins and hair ties were on offer. Cheapies for about $3-4. They don't cost much to make so I figure that's about right price-wise.

I didn't have enough wooly things to sell at the time. I think I'll do some more knitting before I do the next market though. Scarves, and booties perhaps, now I know how to do those!

I have two lovely scarf designs complete that I plan to do more of.

Also - I have an idea in my head for lovely fine crocheted earrings. Only problem is when I make them the crochet goes curly. How do you make crochet rigid and starchy?? I believe it has something to do with washing the yarn.

These are my curly earrings...

Not quite right are they?

Back to the drawing board...

My other exciting news is I'm getting into resin! All booked in for a resin jewellery making course. Fun times.

xxx

Workin on it...

2009-04-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

I visited a great shop this week, that sells handmade craft items and artworks.

It's called Beehive Gallery, on King St in Newtown.

Basically, artists and crafty folk rent a space at the shop for a monthly fee to display their items.

This place is fantastic - a great place to find beautiful and unusual gifts and jewellery.

And most of it is priced quite reasonably as well.

I purchased a sweet pair of origami crane earrings while I was there.

They have some truly awesome stuff! I'm thinking once I get properly set up this could be a cool way to advertise and make some regular money.

I saw a few things in their that are a bit similar to what I do (button earring for example). I was a bit surprised and a tad disappointed that someone has beat me to the punch. But mine are not quite the same... and I'm working on other projects as well I guess.

I've been working on some more craft ideas these past few weeks.

I've discovered woolly buttons and have been making some cool bits and pieces with these. They take a l bit of time though as you have to make the button (or at least sew the wool onto the button) yourself.

Also, as winter is coming up, I've been busting out the knitting needles.

I made a really lovely scarf last week. Long and thin, with chunky horizontal ribbing. Also made a big chunky brown scarf but gave this to my flatmate. I've been promising him a scarf for ages. But no more giving stuff away! Not for a while anyway.

Also - I've been working on a design for sales tags to put on my stuff. Top secret stuff... not finalised. I'm going to hand make a tiny weeny lino stamp though, to print my tags with!!

Fun times. It's exciting getting organised.

I don't have any pics of my stuff to post this week. But I will get my act together and take some photos for the next blog post.

Crochet and Austen

2009-03-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

Last week I picked up a book on crochet at a secondhand place in Newtown.

The projects are a bit out there - think 70's, crocheted lampshades etc - but it has all the basic stitches and patterns and how to create them.

It's actually a bit easier to have it in front of you in a book, than following instructions from a web page.

It's been one of those weeks, you know.

The kind that make you want to hibernate for the winter. So I've been hibernating in my room with the intention of getting craftiness done.

But I've also discovered the ABC's iView website and have been watching back episodes of 'Foreign Correspondent' and 'Lost In Austen' (very bad - but very good. I think Elizabeth Bennett would approve of my crochet efforts).

So I've been a bit unproductive on the craft front. Have stumbled through some basic stitches from my new book but more focus is required I think. :-)

I did find some lovely porcelain kitty cat beads though and made some kick-ass earrings.

I've also almost finalised my lamb logo too for Bleating Heart Design (see above).

The craft market adventure is scheduled for April 26.

xx

Boxes of stuff

2009-03-07T23:44:00.000-08:00

For ages now I've been accumulating piles of random crafty stuff.

My shelves are piled high with boxes full of wool, knitting needles.

Containers of scrap material, beads, buttons, crochet hooks and glue sticks protrude from under my bed.

Beanies and scarves with names and faces haunt my dreams (...that bit was a lie... but you get the picture).

It started last year with scarves and beanies.... all of which have now been given away to friends and relatives.

Then I moved on to crochet. A mobile phone sock and a green cactus rabbit called Gordon. And a dangly halfalienhalfsquid keyring thing.

I've discovered YouTube and the net in general have a wealth of patterns and instructions to follow. Most of it I've taught myself from dodgy craft blog instructions.

Now it seems to be buttons though. Button earrings, button hair bands, button hair pins and button brooches.

Sez and Anne are both into craft too and have asked me to contribute to a market stall - so I've started steadily building up stack of button jewellery.

I've done a fair bit already. I'd like to do some crochet work to sell too but that's more time consuming. Might have wait until I have more time.

We're going to sell our stuff at the Newtown Square markets.

I been thinking on names for my venture...

I've decided on Bleating Heart Design (think sheep).