Hands On Brisbane is my day job and we’ve recently launched our 2015 schedule. It is sitting at only a few workshops but there is more to come.
I’m looking forward to making a journal and seeing what people come up with in ceramic decoration and Japanese tissue transfer.
I made my first Brainy Barbie maybe 5 years ago. I’ve only sold 5 or 6 of them but they always get attention at markets. Many people laughed, “Barbie with a Brain, ha!” but I never thought of Barbie as being particularly stupid. I had Doctor Barbie and other Barbie who did interesting things and I never acted out Barbie as a ditz, she was also doing a job. Bratz on the other hand…
I never intended for my Brainy Barbie (or Barbie with a Brain) to be a commentary on the doll but just did it because I had a Barbie there, without a head and a brain there and just put the two together. I like the way this doll creates discussion and how much people love the idea.
My last three chooks have all died within the last few months, probably within about 10 weeks of each other.
The two younger, a hen and rooster, were 8 and a half. Their mum was 9 and a half.
I’m missing my chookies.
Meet my new stamps.
After getting several requests to make stamps for people I decided I should have them readily available in my shop.
I’ve been slowly adding all of the designs I currently have and I’m thinking up new ones.
Something I have not made for a while is Testes, in any form. Testes are quite a time consuming part to make. So I think a stamp is probably a good idea.
Below, Bird Skulls, Pelvis, Intestine and Uterus.
I’ve wanted to learn taxidermy since I was small, late primary school age, probably about 10. When I was in year 8 (the first year of high school in Australia) I said that I wanted to be a taxidermist (when asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?”) Wanting to be a taxidermist (and actually saying that) are probably not the best moves for someone just starting high school, but whatever.
I finally got a chance to try it out in one of Mickey Alice Kwapsis’ workshops when she came to Brisbane.
Very excited to try more taxidermy. In fact I have to order some scalpels this evening.
When the rabbit was first done I had to pose it
It has dried out really well but is a bit top heavy.
Whenever I work with resin I always end up with a little bit spare so I decided to coat this cicada shell. I slathered it in resin all over and then rolled it over every 15 mins for about 1.5 hours. After that I hung the guy up on a toothpick and as the resin slowly dripped off I picked it up and kept dripping it on. After about 2-3 hours the resin was getting very thick so I left the cicada to cure.
I am impressed with how the cicada has turned out as I really had no clue what I was doing. It is very hard and sturdy. I think I could do a second coat of resin to get this even sturdier and wear as a necklace, or add a brooch pin.
The resin I used was Castin’ Craft from Over the Rainbow.
I often have a little jar (a vegemite jar at the moment) of flowers on my desk. Although I have allergies I don’t react to some flowers, such as nasturtiums.
I keep Jasmine in my bathroom as it smells lovely but gives me a terrible headache. Jasmine is not around for long, though.
This poppy was in a beautiful bunch of flowers at my workplace, The Gardens Club.
This bunch are sitting on my desk now.
Mars Bar Slice was haunting me, I was seeing it everywhere, there was no way I could avoid it, I had to make it.
How to make Mars Bar Slice
Melt 5 Mars Bars and 2-3 tablespoons of Butter in a saucepan on low heat constantly stirring. Pour into a bowl filled with 2-3 Cups of Rice Bubbles (I used 2.5 cups), mix together. Press into a slice pan, I used some baking paper to press it in as it stuck all over my hands. Cover with 200 grams of melted Milk Chocolate. Next time I will leave out the chocolate on top as I think it is unnecessary.
FYI, I hate Mars Bars but this is delicious!
Join me to create your own little Terrarium on October 12 or 26 at The Gardens Club in Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.
We even got a mention on Weekend Notes, here. Thanks Kath!
There are certain times during the year that taking good pictures just doesn’t work. I usually find the in between seasons, autumn and spring, to have certain months where images look terrible. That is happening right now! I cannot get the colours right and photos often are not good enough to use. One of the huge frustrations of selling things online is that you need to have good photos and it can start to get so painful when they don’t work out for you for stretches at time.
I use image editing software and although it helps sometimes the photo just won’t get to what I want it to look like. The Teratoma below just looks awful here, what is that weird colour going on!
Try again another day.
One of the offending photos. The colour is so off.
Your Organ Grinder 