Continuing the black and white theme.........
Beach Detritus
The Elvis Costello Specs are my favourite.
A bracelet crocheted from one black plastic bag from Estyn and a teeny left-over red plastic piece.
A black motif from the same plastic bag
My all time favourite beach finds........ shark egg-cases. From the Port Jackson Shark, I believe. The tendril anchors the egg to the sea floor. The little baby shark lives inside.
Enjoy the weekend my maties.
Trying to reduce the amount of possessions and chaos in my home, I came across a small stamp collection. The stamps were mostly purchased 25 years ago. Even back then, the ocean and it's magnificent creatures were a source of inspiration to me.
Charles Darwin wrote: "I am glad we had visited these islands, such formations surely rank high amongst the wonderful objects of this world. We feel surprise when travellers tell us of the vast dimensions of the Pyramids and other great ruins, but how utterly insignificant are the greatest of these when compared to the mountains of stone accumulated by the agency of various minute and tender animals!
This is a wonder which does not at first strike the eye of the body, but after reflection, the eye of reason."
Right on, Charlie!
I saw one of these awesome whales breaching and splashing it's tail a few hundred metres off the beach recently. It was migrating South. It broke my heart knowing this beautiful animal was swimming into the Japanese whaling fleet. How can they kill these magnificent beasts and call it scientific research? Shame on you, Japan.
Sorry, had to get that off my chest.
On a lighter note..........the ocean is currently 22 degrees Celsius. Ahhh, bliss!
Had an idea for a project............ within a six month period, to furnish a house from scratch with found objects. Make a little doco out of the process.
This funny thing happens....... friends and family know I collect things and in our conversations mention they are looking for certain items. My radar goes out, and as if by magic, I find the item discarded somewhere in my travels. Recently I have found a beautiful teak table, a gas BBQ, timber single and double bed frames, a Moroccan leather pouf, a copy of the Women's Weekly Basic Cookbook (for my little sis), teak 70's office chair etc., etc.. A couple of years ago I found a Castiglione Arc lamp minus the marble base. The objects were mostly found on the side of the road............... all in good condition. Of course, there is the story of the book The Crochet Workshop by James Walters (posted January 14th, 2007). Totally bizarre.
While it's still raining I have been busy making..........bbzzzz............bbzzzz.
The Couch Shoulder Bag.
The Kalahari Bag (actually made a few months ago).
The Nelly Bag.
Bags are made entirely from preloved materials (except thread)
Patterns came from these Japanese Craft Books, The Book of Bag ISBN4-277-43006-6 and Handmade Bags in Japanese Fabrics ISBN978-4-9347-2516-2.
New woolly gems for the The Gooseflesh Boutique.
The Mermaid Charms Bracelet (made from pre-loved tapestry wool).
New additions to the El Nodule Collecione (made from pre-loved tapestry wool).
The bracelets are available in The Gooseflesh Boutique.
A few days ago I was reading my new emails and what should be there but a wonderful surprise from no other than the crochet legend himself.......James Walters. He directed me to his website. Please have a look, it's great. I'm hoping he will write something here one day - a few words of crochet wisdom for us all.
How cool is that!
I spend a lot time on the beach and in the ocean. Consequently, I have a vast collecition of beach detritus - driftwood, sponges, bits of plastic, fishing line, shells, shark egg cases, glass etc...... I'm hoping to one day make something out of them and thought by sorting, handling and photographing them I might get some ideas of what to make.
The driftwood was sorted into differnt sizes from very small and thin to fat and chunky. The studio floor looked like this for several weeks and then everything was packed away again.
The collections make quite intesting compositions. I love all the different colors and shapes. They smell of the sea!
The pastic pieces are incredible. The colours are predominantly blue and orange. Disposable lighters, rope and toothbrushes are the most common.
Seaweed anchorage roots.
Bones.
The black corksrew shapes are Port Jackson Shark Eggcases. The long thin thread attaches it to the seafloor.
