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Hooray!! I made the cutoff to enter the 2014 World of Wearableart. And this year I managed to submit 2 pieces. I am so relieved. My wrists are particularly happy that the mission is complete.

I am not able to reveal images socially prior to the Awards night in September*. So this will have to suffice as a tease for now. I am so fortunate to have talented friends who gave of their time and talents to help me create fabulous entry images. Talented photographer Benjamin Nichols of Big Fry Media volunteered his photographic mastery. A very brave Rocky Reed donated her body to my cause. She modelled for my Bizarre Bra entry.

For garment number two my dear friend’s daughter Charlotte agreed to let me torture her in the name of art. Torture in that the garment is a body encasing, entirely crochet monster. The day was warm and humid. Charlotte was a little trooper. My photographic skills however were atrocious. The images I captured were terrible. Sadly I don’t hold my breath that the garment will make the cut. I just hope I get one piece in to the next round.

*However if unsuccessful in making it through to the next round of judging I will be revealing them right HERE

Hello Melbourne!!

I first opened a cube space at in.cube8r in The Valley, Brisbane in May last year. Interest in my pieces and sales built slowly. Buoyed by strong sales in December I made plans to look into opening a 2nd cube space outlet in the Fitzroy in.cube8r Gallery for early 2014. The closure of the Valley gallery in February forced my hand and tah-dah!!! I now have my little critters occupying the front window of the in.cub8r gallery in Smith Street, Fitzroy.I am sooooo very happy with how the gang are settling in to their new home. Many didn’t have too much time to settle though, as they were quickly out the door and into a new forever home. This past week has seen me mass producing replacements. My wrists are a bit throbby, but it was well worth the pain. I didn’t think I could get 4 Voodoo Babies finished in a day. Let alone 4 Hipstas the next! I think most of my days ran at 14+ hours.

On Thursday I packaged up a big box and sent the critters via express post. It looks like they have landed and are live in the cube space NOW

Oh, and there’s a happy couple among the new pieces… Frankie and his blushing Bride

Along with the usual suspects Frankie, his Bride and the Voodoo Babies are a new member to the crew. So new in fact that I thought of it long before they were even a thing. They are HIPSTA ZOMBINOS!***Caution: they want to eat your kaaaale***

The idea for these hipster dudes came from two main streams of inspiration. The first from my love of craft beer. There is a pretty strong beard culture going on in the bars that have the best beers in them. And the second is from my recent trip down to Melbourne to check out the gallery, drop off extra stock and see how my gang are going. My accommodation was in Carlton. A bit of a walk towards Fitzroy saw me marching in to hipster heaven. My cousin lives in East Brunswick. Hanging out with him in Hipsterland surely gave me the determination to develop a Hipsta Zombino worthy of all the joy I have in admiring their organic kale, chia and quinoa, craft beer and fixie bike riding lifestyle.

Please go forth and adopt a Hipsta or the Frankie couple today!!

Or you can grab a Voodoo Baby and wreak your post Valentine’s Day revenge upon those who done you wrong bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaa

My heart smiled the night my friend showed me THIS on Instagram (Thank you Amberama)

I wonder if Lindsay The Doctor McDougall liked his?

I love Triple J. I am not the target demographic. I listen on despite.

2013 marks 10 year since my friend and mentor Hells showed me how to crochet (again). Neither of us knew what a Monster she was creating that fateful day. I will be eternally grateful that she did.

2013 also marks the 20th anniversary of the Hottest 100 on Triple J. I was working (conveniently) in a music store in 1993 (I can still remember buying the first cd for my boyfriend of the time because he loved “The Distance” by Cake. I wonder if he still has it?). If you have been listening along then you will know that they are replaying the top 20 of a random year over 20 days. The first year played was 2003. Nice bit of coincidence there. If you are a regular viewer of this site you may recall seeing the Tom and Alex zombies I gave to Tom when I saw him during Brisbane Comedy festival in March. It’s been in my mind to make something using Lindsay The Doctor McDougall and Zan Rowe as a muse. Those first 2 little zombies have set me on a path of obsession with making them!!

Short story: I sat down on Tuesday morning and listened along with the hottest 20 of 2003 and made a zombified Zan. Wednesday morning (1995) saw the frakenfication of The Doctor. This is them…

In a fit of boldness I posted on the Triple J Mornings wall in Facebook. There is no describing the thrill I experienced to see a notification that Zan had replied. Needless to say I’ll be packaging them up and sending them down to Sydney today. I won’t even start on my reaction when The Doctor liked and commented on the image in Instagram.

I wonder who I should attempt next???

I guess you can call 5 adoptions a success. I was a little concerned that with all the amazingly talented pieces at the Toowoomba Grammar School art show a bunch of little Monsters would fade in to the background. It was lovely to hear a story similar to what happened at Jumpers and Jazz last year. It has been brought to my attention on 3 occasions that a child has spent their entire pocket money on a Monster. Makes my heart smile. I believe there will also be a doctor’s surgery with a Monster in it. Let me know if you ever spot one.

To say that I love Triple J would be a little bit of an understatement. I cried the day Robbie Buck left the morning show. Happily I fell easily in love with the new hosts Tom Ballard and Alex Dyson. I know I’m not the right demographic, but it really doesn’t matter. They have been my morning companions almost every morning.

When I spotted Tom was to be appearing at the Brisbane Comedy Festival I snapped up a couple of tickets. We were on holidays the week leading up to the gig. My working holiday project (an entry for the World of Wearable art) kept me pretty busy. On our last day I had a flash of an idea. I want to make something for Tom! I didn’t have any supplies with me. So, I set about designing and planned to whip it up when we got home. One zombie became two zombies. After a marathon 10 hours or so I could not be any happier with the final product.

The gig was great! Very, very funny. My plan was to launch the zombies at Tom afterwards at the merch stand. I really need to learn how to relax and appear cool. I fear that I come across more as a crazed, freaky stalker type, not the cool, hip thang I would prefer to think that I am. Nerves kicked in and Mr Monster and I bombarded poor Tom. Zombie dolls thrusted towards and nervous jibber spat out. We wandered off; my heart racing and blood starting to return to my brain. IDIOT! We should have asked for a photo!! Ah well. Here’s an image of how they looked AND if you’re not familiar with Tom & Alex that’s them just above…

Hello. I think my Brains are showing…

Meet a new Monster from the Garden Bed

Brains