MIM ART LIFE

My Creative space

2011-02-16T19:19:00.001-08:00

My creative space today is all about the Acacia pants, lots of them! I am about to do a fair bit of ironing (sigh) to get them ready to take into Olive Grove in time for the weekend. Excuse the blurry dodgy photo, it appears that a certian 3yr old had been smearing his fingertips on my camera lens... :/

mim x

Print , sketch and memory lane

2011-02-14T20:27:00.001-08:00

When travelling overseas I usually make a point of taking a little sketch book with me, some watercolour pencils and not much else in the way of art supplies.

Sometimes it is nice to have a break from the sewing machine, the cutting and the 'production line'.

Last year when I was in Cornwall, I was so inspired by the beauty of the place, I did many many sketches in the little black book.

After returning to Australian shores it was really nice to be able to look back over my sketch book at all the little drawings, each one took me right back to where I was at the time I sketched it.

Photos are wonderful for reminiscing about a place, a time , but I have always found that a little sketch does more...... for me, it is a more personal, more vivid memory with a drawing.

Until this print it had been a long long time since using a paper, hand cut stencil for screen printing.

Photographic screen printing has been my preferred method for quite some time now.. So it was so lovely, so simple and very satisfying to draw, hand cut and hand print 'Penryn' onto these skirts.

Penryn is where we spent most of our time in Cornwall

mim x

happy new year

2011-01-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

What a year! Its been a very very long time between posts for me indeed.

Last year was big, news from afar of the saddest kind, and all other manner of big emotional upheavals. The ol' blog has been left on the bottom of the ladder, until now....

A big trip to the Uk was wonderful , sad , and amazing.

Here are a few little snaps of beautiful Cornwall...

I plan on being around the old blogsphere a little more this year as I am about to get stuck back into work and will have lots of new things to share :)

My Creative Space

2010-02-10T17:30:00.001-08:00

This is my new little friend kookaburra, I found the image in an old 1950's boys annual, exposed onto a screen and have been printing him on anything and everything I can find! These are some new bags for the shop, fully adjustable so Mr kooka can be a handbag or satchel, across body bag. What have you been creating?

mim x

my creative space

2010-01-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

My creative space has been all about putting the finishing touches onto this wedding skirt. Its for a lovely lady who is getting married at CERES in march.

When I was initially approached to make this I was completely freaking out at the prospect of making someones wedding outfit! As I am sure I have mentioned before, I am definitely not a professional dressmaker! Anyhow, this lovely lass had seen one of my nuno felted scarves and wanted a skirt and Cami made in a similar style, for her big day.

It's now almost finished, Yay!

Its made from hand dyed tissue silk onto which I have then felted on merino wool and silk loom waste.

The netting on the yoke is silk also.

There is lots of exposed over lock for texture.

Clarice, my mannequin is looking a little battered after being dragged around the markets over summer.

She needs some attention :)

Japanese

2010-01-18T22:10:00.001-08:00

This piece I am adding the the monthly design challenge thanks to the lovely Jay.

I have been a wee bit cheeky and cheated a little.

I have been working on this piece for some time.

okay, a LONG time ;)

It was a commission ( my first ever!)

for a friends office.

It has taken *eep* almost two years. goodness where does time go?

I have spent many hours on it, but have also done a lot of procrastinating.

Not like me at all! ;)

I did not begin to imagine when I started the logistical nightmare it would be getting something this large onto the sewing machine ( it measures approx 3.5 x 2.5 metres)

The backing fabric was white and I dyed it a grey colour with some tye dye to create the moon in top left corner.

The tree and mountains were appliquéd on ( with the help of vast amounts of vliesofix!)

The cherry blossom flowers are all made from new and vintage kimono fabrics, then I have gone over them with free machine embroidery.

The screen print of the white japanese style logo was the finishing touch.

I have really enjoyed making this hanging but I dare say I possibly wont make anything of this size again!

mim x

Friendship and printing

2010-01-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

This year I am determined to make more artwork for my walls. I would also like to work towards having a large enough body of work to have an exhibition sometime in the near future.

I do love my 'job' of making womens clothes, accessories etc.

But really my heart lies in textile art, paint, print and stitch.

I do get to be expressive and creative with the designs on the clothing, but I am aching to paint on canvas, get back to my machine embroidery and play around with mixed media again.

These are some old canvases a friend gave me and I have been experimenting with layering screen printed images and washes of colour.

There was already colour on these when I received them so it was nice not to start with a white canvas.

I also like that the finished piece contains the work of two artists, two friends :)

happy new year :)

2010-01-04T18:55:00.000-08:00

Happy new year, it has been a bit too long between posts for me !

Here are my two monkeys messing about.

We have had a lovley xmas and new year.

We have had visitors from the UK here for two weeks which was lovely as we had many outings around Melbourne.

Also over Christmas I was fortunate to be a birthing partner to a close friend, a very special experience, I even got to cut the cord :)

hope everyone has had a lovley break and I am looking forward to a year full of arty goodness :)

mim x

my creative space/shameless shop promotion

2009-12-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

My creative space was the shop today. Lots of tidying and cleaning!

Not very productive as far as sewing goes as we are all getting ready for our xmas bash tommorow night.

It has been a busy month for me with markets at Eltham ans also the lovely Sprout market In Thornbury.

Some images below of some of the work of the clever artists at olive grove.

We would love to see you all for a glass of champers and chat tommorrow night down at at the shop.

We are giving away two x $50 gift vouchers and lots of other goodies.

Members of the shop include labels Polly pratt, Debfellover, starashan, Pieces of you, ubulala, Roze elizabeth, Finki, Troika and me!! MiM Hope to see you all there! mimx x

My creative Space

2009-11-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

My studio is rather chaotic with piles and piles of 'to do' items :/

So, I decided to move out to the kitchen! The Kitchen table has been my creative space this afternoon.

What been happening there? Lots and lots of screen printing.

Firstly my new 'feathers' print onto a pair of denim shorts for a very special little person, a birthday present for my beautiful little son who is turning two today.

The white opaque ink really does not like the hot weather! I have to print very quickly so that the ink doesn't dry in the screen and block it.

The red print is my new leaf design which I have been printing onto womens tops and dresses.

I love the combination of dark denim and red print, especially once a bit of red stitch has been added...

mim x

Found

2009-11-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

What a joy is op shopping! Look at these treasures I came across. All in the one oppy and all for a grand total of $3.50! Two vintage 'sally-Ann' girls make your own apron kits complete with trim and instructions.

A make your own 'Sunday Bag' with cute little felt dog appliqué.

And the most glorious of all- A vintage 'Educational Toy' embroidery set that had never been opened, resplendent with coloured embroidery threads, instructions, beads etc.

Sometimes I get an op shop 'feeling', like I know there is something delicious treasure just waiting for me to go and rescue it.

Todays Haul was so great! my little Ruby loves the apron Kit.

as for the Sunday bag, well, thats all mine ;)

I'm still here ;)

2009-11-06T16:48:00.001-08:00

Yup, thats me, looking rather silly and Hilarious at an 80's party earlier in the year.

I am still here , but have been crazily pumping out clothes for Christmas, a la production line style.

so, I have been exhausted!

Time to get back to blogging and have some fun now.

This morning I took a long time making MYSELF a top for summer.

Show and tell next week of all the stuff I have been making x x x

mim is back :)

2009-10-13T16:17:00.001-07:00

We arrived back in Melbourne almost two weeks ago after having a brilliant time in the UK and Thailand.

Unfortunately we got some kind of horrid bug on the plane on the way back, so have been hideously sick and out of action for quite some time... Boring!

here are a few photos of the beautiful town where we stayed called Penryn in Cornwall.

I have returned inspired and full of new ideas :)

I am determinmed to start using up my rather enormous stash of scraps of vintage fabrics.

These are the new style of spring /summer tops I am making, stretch fabric with a panel of vintage patchwork, they are all one offs, lots of fun!

looking forward to seeing what everyone hasd been making! x x

Flight...

2009-08-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

These are some of my latest Jumper/vest type transformed thingys.

I think the brown and blue is my favourite so far, it was for my lovely singning teacher.

The lovley Andrea is modeling the red vest which lived its former life as an 80's Italian jumper, I like it much better as a vest, I cut little sticky outy shoulder bits which I quite like also.

The last picture is my two lovelys, R and K.

We are about to get on a plane to Thailand , then on to Uk for a month to see family.

Long haul flight.Two children. Wish me luck.

I will try to post whilst away if I can manage to work out how to do it on another computer.

love MiM

Attachment ..

2009-08-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

"Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached'

Simone Weil

French social philosipher

This is another of the jumper/vest type creations I have been making.

Silly old me forgot to take a before photo again...

It was a very puffy sleeved 80's looking hand knit jumper, mohair I believe.

I have felted ,hacked, added and recontructed to form the vest you now see.

Every moment of the process is pure bliss.

By the end of the process I find myself a little sad to be selling them.

This one sold the day after i put it in the shop, I was there when the lovely lady purchased it, I like getting to meet the people that buy my work .

So, goodbye for now little assymetrical vest friend, I hope your enjoy your new life . . . . .

More Jumper transformations

2009-08-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Since enjoying this jumper transformation so much, I have been unstoppable, I cant stop, I am addicted.

They have been really popular in the shop and selling like hotcakes.

I really feel like people can tell when you have enjoyed making something. If I ever get bored with something I am creating to sell, I stop and try something new.

I have spent countless hours cutting, felting , deconstructing and re-constucting many old jumpers over the last couple of months, it has been so much fun!

Alas, spring will soon be here so I might have to stop for a while :(

Here is my lovely girl wearing her very own , made last week.

more show and tell soon x x

TIME

2009-08-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

"But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day."

~Benjamin Disraeli

Time certainly does pass by very quickly, its been a long time between posts.

It seems I have had one of those unintentional little breaks.

In these last few weeks I have been a busy little bee in the studio, the kids and I were also lucky enough to have a week in Queensland, it was glorious spending time in the ocean and being shone on by the warm sun.

I have posted here, photos of some eco- printing I did before going to QLD.

All credit for this method goes to the extremely talented and very inspiring India Flint .

I made a felt scarf with merino wool and silk and then laid Eucalyptus leaves on top.

Then the whole lot was rolled bundled and tied before being put in the steamer for a couple of hours.

The leaves give amazing colours and patterns.

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

mim x

GIVE AWAY

2009-07-08T04:45:00.000-07:00

Hi Peeps,

I want to make

something

lovely with my own two very

creative hands

for

you....

Here's the deal:

I will make somethinng special for the first 5 people to comment on this blog.

If you would like to copy and paste and do the same on yours, go for it!

I am willing to post overseas (I am

in Australia, )

1. I make no

guarantees

that you will like what

I make. (but I know you will!)

2. What I create will be just for you, with love.

3. It’ll be done this year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful.

Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something strange.

6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.

7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you.

Welcome to everyone. I will however, make an effort to do something that you like based on what I see on your blog, BUT there are no guarantees.
So that's that!!
Brilliant, I'm excited - who's on board???

peace and love to you x x x x

mimstar

Felting worksop no.1

2009-06-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Felting workshop number one! A success!

I was very blessed to have a wonderful group of eager learners and creative types.

We first made a sheet of pre-felt all together,

then cut it up to felt onto individual scarves etc.

There were lots of laughs and

everyone made something unique and beautiful.

I still find it amazing how different everyones pieces are.

We had scarves, skirt panels and other lovely pieces.

To my wonderful students , I was a little nervous but I feel it was a roaring success.

my heartFELT thanks to you all

x x x

Nuno Felted scarves

2009-06-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

On sunny days I like to head outside with one, or both children and make some felt.

Here is my beautiful kai playing with some wooltops and 'helping' with the felting.

I had some thrifted scarves and some tissue silk as a base and then I used white merino wooltops to felt on top.

Nuno felting fab, i love the fineness you can achieve

Have a lovely week x x

Kiddies Handprinted Scarves

2009-06-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

I made a new little paper cut stencil of three birds to print onto these kids

scarves which I made from scraps.

I like the way the print looks on this vintage fabric with the little wings.

xxx

Before and After

2009-06-08T23:37:00.001-07:00

BEFORE

and

AFTER

I hope you enjoy looking at this transformation as much as I enjoyed cutting it up and reclaiming it...

I am keeping this one for myself :)

Today we have have been graced with a rainbow and then a fierce hail storm, I love days like these.....

m x

Nuno Felting

2009-05-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

This is my first 'proper' attempt at Nuno felting.

For those of you who dont know 'Nuno felting' is felting onto very fine silk (or other fine natural fabric)

I made a basic poncho/ shawl shaped resist and went from there.

I am pretty happy with this first attempt.

I am loving working with all these lovely autumn colours at the moment, bliss..... x

Recycled Jumpers take two

2009-05-25T17:43:00.001-07:00

I wish I had taken a 'before' photo of this jumper!

It was a yellow woolen turtle neck and in my opinion rather ugly!

I cut, felted and dyed it before adding the tabs,pockets and decorative stitch.

It now has a new life as a little girls felted jacket.

One of a kind and much nicer to look at than it was before xx

Fun with recycled Jumpers

2009-05-17T22:24:00.000-07:00

I had been given a paritally felted mens woolen jumper

from a friend.

I cut of the turtle neck, slashed it open on an angle, and then felted it some more.

Then I took some of the spare felt pieces and made tabs for buttons and re-stitched them on.

I added pockets with a little felt bird and also some hand running stitch for colour.

These are so fun to do and i have already started the next one!

mim x

Eco- Printing

2009-04-29T23:08:00.001-07:00

A few weeks back I did an eco-dyeing/printing workshop with India Flint
until now I have'nt managed to do much experimenting.

As I was riding my bike around in the chilly air today I saw a little pair of legs through some trees and Lo and behold I found miss Alison

collecting leaves for some printing experiments!

I collected too and came home to experiment...

I am afraid I do not know the botanical name as yet for these plants

but just look at the colours!

Bright pinks and subtle greens, yum.

These are the little bundles all ready to go in the steamer, inside are all the leaves and flowers I collected.

These little bright pink spots are from a weedy looking little something that was growing in a crack in the footpath. Unfortunately my photography skills do not do this print justice, it is bright bright pink.

so much fun! xx

More Skirts from scraps

2009-04-26T22:54:00.002-07:00

Still using up my very large stash of old fabrics in a bid to de clutter (and make room for more fabric he he he)

Here are some more skirts :)

POLYESTER

2009-04-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

poly·es·ter (päl′ē es′tər, päl′ē es′tər)

noun

any of several polymeric synthetic resins formed chiefly by condensing polyhydric alcohols with dibasic acids: used in making plastics, fibers, etc.
fabric made of these fibers

I have been determined to start using up my fabric stash instead of buying more!

I have had a few piles of 70's polyseter fabric hanging around for some time now.

Generally speaking I am not a fan of highly synthetic fabrics, but hey, I figure- its alreadly here looking ugly sitting on my shelf, so why not turn it into something prettier and usuable!?

This is the new design I have come up with for women skirts.

Wrap/ layered skirts with bold shapes appliqued on.

Today I have made some fun pink ones which I will show in the next post.

I have been having the best time making these! x mim

Print Table

2009-04-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

I was pottering about in the shop on Monday and made some new cards with watercolour pencil, stitch and fabric.

The print table in there is so vast and fabulous for cutting out, printing and felting too.

Over time images and prints build up and layer over the backing cloth and the whole table becomes a work of art in itself.

Usually before it gets too 'busy' it is replaced with a new backing cloth.

Its quite interesting to watch the progression over a few monts of the images building, it is so greatly different every time.

some snippets of prints I found on the table on Sunday

Back, with hats :) (in fact 3 hats in one afternoon!)

2009-04-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

I find the thing with posting, the longer you leave it the harder it seems to do! I love posting and blogging, but most of all making. I have been doing lots of making but not much posting about it which is silly really because one really feeds the other. So I will behere blogging away more frequently from now on! I promise!

I wanted to make my children a hat for the coming cooler months so I headed out to the garage/felting studio and put into practice all the skills I learnt in the hat making workshop run by Liz Evans.
here is my little man Kai in his new green hat, how cute...

I was so excited with the green one, I went straight on to make a pink one (as requested!) by my lovely girl ruby, it is complete with pink hearts.. So thrilled was I with the results of these two that I went on to make a third for the shop.

samples

2009-03-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

some of my work over the last three years :)

Grampians Texture Workshop

2009-03-03T23:48:00.001-08:00

I am back from the bush, felt hat , feathers and many treasures in my hands.
A name tag made for a friend
The finshed felt hat creation

The workshop was fantastic and Liz Evans a fabulous teacher. We spent two days learning the art of felt hat making and decorating so I am now eager to get in the studio and see what evolves...

paper and stitch

2009-02-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday in the shop, trying to catch up on some cutting out and printing after Christmas ( very little stock left! arrgghh!) The yellow is a custom order for a woman who loved my hand printed kids dresses and 'had to have one' in her size.

There has been alot of pfaffing about trying to get the size correct ( help I have no pattern making skills!)

I am posting it off to her today , so fingers crossed it will fit.
While I was there I printed up a few girls dresses aswell.
my card stocks in the shop were very low so I spent a bit of time making some newbies.
This one is vintage fabric and vintage wallpaper with machine stitching.
As are these few... I am going to do some more screen printed cards soon.

I really really LOVe stitching on paper.

I am a little sad as my trusty old Janome was very sick, the man rang from the service centre this morning and its going to be cheaper to buy a new machine than to fix the old one.

sad, but very exciting to have a spanking new machine

mim xx

Rainbow Serpent Festival

2009-01-31T18:21:00.000-08:00

I'm back! I had such a great time away... I truly missed my family but it was so nice to be my own person for a few days with no responsibilities... although there were very many difficult decisions to make each day ( do I go for a walk on my own? or have a coffe? or lie under a tree?) Even though I was surrounded by thousands of people I still found solitude and a sense of self that is hard to find in the day to day life of mothering two (gorgeous) children.

So, I am back and very relaxed! This is a picture of the stall looking out onto the dusty festival. The stall was a success and I sold quite alot of my felt 'dust skirts' as they are now called.

My friend Kerry, who I was sharing the stall with, was selling gorgeus tutu's made from tulle and vintage fabrics , aswell as hula hoops she makes.

We spent many an hour outside the stall hooping our little hearts out.

We decorated the roof of our stall much like a circus tent with lovely coloured fabrics.

This is some dyeing I did just before leaving. I purchased about fifty white petticoats and dyed them some lovely colours. I sold quite alot of these, especially the earthy coloured ones.

So, now I am back to reality and looking forward to the creative year ahead. I have had a big sale at the shop and am clearing out old stock in order to make way for some lovely new pieces.

I am very excited to be attending the felt hat making workshop in Halls gap in a few weeks.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to this last week or so.

mim xx

finished felt over skirt

2009-01-14T12:15:00.000-08:00

I worked in the the shop yesterday and borrowed miss mannequin to display the finshed felt skirt on. The light was not quite right inside soI headed down the side of the shop into the alleyway. This one has three felt triangles and a little felt pouch attached to the biggest one.

Upon J an's suggestion I am going to make some with just one triangle.

The lovely linen skirt underneath is made by the very clever Sherrin

Finally I made it to the spinners and weavers guild yesterday and brought a heap more wool.

I have to get making ! I leave for the festival next Wednesday and have fourty of these to make, plus a heap of other stuff! :) mim x

Festivals, Felting and Freedom

2009-01-12T12:13:00.000-08:00

I'm back, its been a while! my cmaera software is back on the computer and finally I can post again. Yay! Its so nice to see what everyone has been up to.

I am having a stall over Australia day weekend at the Rainbow Serpent Festival so have been busy trying to come up with some new designs.

I am going away for five days which is the longest I have been away from my kiddies, so there may be some tears.

On the other hand I will be feeling so footloose and fancy free not having all that responsibilty!

I came up with the idea for a felted overskirt which also has a felt pouch attached, perfect for festival and dancing when you dont want to carry a bag.

Here are some images of the felt pieces dryinig on the line.

I will post a pic tommorrow of the finished product :)

art?

2008-12-10T12:03:00.000-08:00

I have not been in my studio for two days however I have been enjoying taking photographs around my home and seeing little pieces of 'art' everywhere I look.

To me, art is... something that stirs my soul, be it a colour, an object, a painting or just a certain arrangement of objects I see out the corner of my eye.

These are some images from around my home.

I have also dug up some photos of me painting as a child.

mim x

printing and tea drinking

2008-12-04T23:34:00.000-08:00

Lots of mucking about and printing and tea drinking in my house the last two days.

I attempted to do a photo collage in 'paint'but was very unsuccessful.

Perhaps Jo at Mystory could do a post on how to accomplish this?! :)

I have been enjoying printing in many forms and also a bit of felting... I am trying to get a lot of little gift type things into the shop in time for the Christmas rush.

The Little green print you see is my new screen print for kids clothes.

The blue is a monoprint called' little bird,big forest, blue moon.'

I have been using my felt scraps to make into little needle books for xmas presents and also to sell in the shop.

This bottom pic is one of my girls dresses that I printed yesterday, made from vintage fabric.

mim x

post exhibitiion freedom woman

2008-12-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

Well, the exhibitiion has been and gone and now i am sooooooooo relieved!!

more time for other arty pursuits and hanging out with my kids. ( more time for blogging!)

here are some photos of my work at the exhibition. Its all screen print (except for one sculptural piece)

and I am satisfied with all the pieces. My favourite is the perspex hanging segments you see, its called 'Bluebird' and consists of five tranparent sections in which I have placed, stitched and layered over a screen printed image of my face.

looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to in the last few weeks!

mim x

Exhibition!!

2008-10-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

I have been getting up very early most morning to get these exihibition pieces finished.

This is the fourth one out of five. Its pretty much finished.

My theme for the exhibition is 'birds' , but I guess the birds are symbolic of this artistic journey I have been on in the last few years and the confidence I have gained.

The area shown in the map is a small section of Brunswick and I have indicated the pathway of my life in this area through stitch.

I Lived in union st when I first left home at seventeen and now have ended up back there , at olive grove.

This piece, a section of map, printed onto fabric as the base layer.

Then I have machine embroidered over the top. I have then screen printed flying birds onto very fine silk and machine embroidered many of the birds.

Think its almost finished x

3 years

2008-10-17T02:56:00.000-07:00

Lots of printing today, for exhibition pieces.
As I am finishing tafe in 3 weeks I thought I would go through all my work from the last three years and share a few snippets .. xx

broken promises and birthdays

2008-10-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I have broken my pledge of writing a post a day... whoops!

But, I have an excellent excuse.

Twas my 30th birthday yesterday and amongst all the lovely phone calls, pressies and champagne I am afraid I forgot.

I was totally spoiled. Some images of my lovely pressies; a band new and VERY shiny Cannondale mountain bike, some amazing gorgeous vintage sewing books ( a whole set!)

and I just had to throw in a pic of my Ruby who looked so cute on her way to daycare today xx

6 Little things

2008-10-14T01:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the lovely Hollie for tagging me to join in in '6 little things about me'...
so, here are the rules ..

The rules:

- Link to the person who tagged you.

- Mention the rules.

- Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.

- Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.

- Go to each person's blog and leave a comment that lets them know they've been tagged.

6 unique things about me:

1. I have 3 tattoos.- one on my hip, which I love. Two on my lower back, one is unfinished and the other i dislike very much. The one i dislike was done at some random tattoo shop in soho in london after a few too many beverages one evening, oh dear.

2. My last name is Patience

3. I am totally IMPATIENT

4. I cannot get enough of op shopping, its like a sickness. My nan is always telling me off because when i go and visit her down in Rye i spend most of the time in all the oppys down there.
They are seriously loaded with gold.

5. When i was 6 I put a seed in my 2 year old brothers ear because I wanted him to 'listen' to it.
He then had to have it surgically removed. I have never lived that one down.

6. I am most of the way to having dreads. Looking forward to having fully matured locks that I can decorate with pretty threads and bells.

So! thats it.. not very exciting hey!
I will tag the following people Jo, Sherrin (when she gets back online) Jason, Ro, sorry, thats it ! dont really have 6 bloggy friends as yet x xx

Home

2008-10-13T03:19:00.000-07:00

Busy doing lots of printing today and also busy as a bee with exhibition, finished a piece this morning, so very happy.
Amidst all this business this morning I stopped, and looked around the room and saw lots of things that made me smile, but here are my favourite three.
In my kitchen i saw...
1.The blue eyes of my little boy smiling at me from his highchair.
2. The pink and green of the lovely lillies my man so kindly gave me on thursday.
3. The little fabric scrolls, party invitations I screen printed on vintage and then tied with hot pink wool.
mim x

"I Pledge"

2008-10-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

Oh dear once again life has gotten in the way of dear little blog.
Working frantically on my exhibition pieces, not long to go now! The exhibition will be from 12 -20 November but I will post more details closer to the time.
Anyway, I pledge, To: Do a post a day for the next two weeks!
my theme will be 'home' and will focus on all the artwork and lovely bits around my home, aswell as current projects I am working on....
These are some little pants I made for the shop a couple of weeks back. They are made from rescued fabric ( a doona cover) and hand screen printed with my 'spring' design.
The pocket has exposed overlock and is a textured vintage fabric.

Open Studio

2008-09-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jason from artbox diary for sharing his open studio and tagging me to do the same.
I have been neglecting my poor blog for the past week or so.
So here it is, my little studio. Its only small but I feel very fortunate to have a space.
There is a big tree right outside the window which is so lovely.
On sunny days i love sitting in here, creating and looking out at my garden and kiddies playing.
I have my trusty sewing machine and overlocker in here, and my many shelves of vintage fabric.
I have a hanging rack for finished wearable pieces, and more shelves with supplies for printing, painting and sewing.
I often stick little pieces of inspiration on the walls in here, including little artworks from Ruby my daughter. ( green glitter piece in photo)
The large hanging tubes you see are mesh pods from IKEA which are FANTASTIC, for all my scraps that i cannot part with. I store them in order of colours which makes it so easy to locate snippets of similar colours for artworks and wearables.
I am supposed to tag more people for open studio but dont really have all that many blog 'mates' yet :( I think everyone i know has already been tagged.
so, anyone who reads this and would like to share their studio space with me and others please do.

FELT POUCHES

2008-08-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate to have saturday off work, and got to go out and play in my garage with wool!
I had a fabulous time creating these little felt purses/pouches and then decoating with stitch and vintage buttons. Thanks to the lovely starashan I am now able to do buttonhole on my machine.
These purses will be in the shop sometime next week :) xx

The end of the rainbow

2008-08-24T02:59:00.000-07:00

greetings those on the blogsphere,
still getting used to this whole daily diary thingy! more like a weekly entry at the mo...
Ruby (my lovely little lass) had her friend zoes 4th birthday party today and the theme was rainbow attire.
i made her this cute little number and screen printed my own design over the spotty fabric.
Aslo made a duplicate for her little friend as a birthday pressie.
how cute are these two girlys?!
more dresses in the pipline for the shop... too many ideas, not enough time!
mim x x x

japanese hanging

2008-08-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

This piece is one I have been working on VERY slowly all year.
Its a commission for a friends office. He wanted a japanese feel to the piece and a black/white/grey/red colour scheme.
I did several sketches and came up with the layout of stark looking cherry blossom, in front of mountains and eerie tie dyed moon.
Not all of the cherry blossom flowers are on yet but they are all cut from japanese kimono silks and cottons.
The hanging measures about 3mtrs x 2 mtrs! so.... I am having fun trying to get it on the sewing machine!! have to get it finshed soon as I have exhibition pieces to work on also.
Am juggling many balls at the moment with kids, study and work.
will post more photos as the hanging progresses.
I am going to finish it with screen printing over the tree trunk and machine embroidery over highlight sections
:)

the finished painting.... i think

2008-08-10T19:50:00.000-07:00

think its finished now , there is always that point when you can do too much, so i think I shall stop!
m x

Painting, just because

2008-08-10T19:33:00.000-07:00

Having worked in the shop on sat, I have had my fill of fabric and textiles. I have been desperate to just have a play wiht paint and see what happens.
I only started painting about a year ago and I just love playing with colour and texture.
Layer upon layer I build and it soothes my soul to mix all this fluid lovliness.
I dont really have an image in my mind when I begin, mostly its all abstract.
I start by grabbing the tubes whos colour takes my fancy at that partucular moment.
I often will smear pva as the base coat and let it dry for a day or so, it gives some great textures, similar to Gesso I suppose.
With this piece I have experimented with laying scunched tissue paper and old bits of lace, directly onto the paint for different textural and highlight areas.
At this stage I am only using acrylics but would like to try oils some time too.
I have used a brush and pallete knife for this piece.
The final layer ( with the red flowers) I have used and old table cloth as a stencil and spray painted with red.
Lots of fun !!! now I have got that painting out of my system... its back to my tactile textiles! watch this space ......... mim x

photographic screen printing

2008-08-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

More printing from Sundays class... This image is going to be the basis of one of my exhibition peices for Tafe. Its an image of my face dissolving into a flock of birds. In true mim style, printed in fluro pink.
The second image is of a poppy design done as a tafe exercise, the image was exoposed on the screen and printed, I would love to create a pattern repeat with this design...

vintage chicken pants

2008-08-05T21:01:00.001-07:00

My first ever blog entry!happy blog birthday to me la la la la la la...
very excited about posting all my crafty and arty endeavours on here!
Little girls pants I have finished today...
made from recycled vintage fabric, i have then screen printed my little chick design onto them
and am very pleased with the result! lots more printing to come ...