I'm still here

I never meant for this blog to slowly fade away. I did intend to keep it up and to post all the lovely things I do and make.

However, life got in the way. More accurately, a small wonderful little person got in the way!

Turns out my son is not a 'sleeper'. He doesn't take long naps during the day. He doesn't like to play alone. He doesn't like for me to be busy in another room or working on something he can't touch. He wants me to play with him, to talk to him and interact with him. He is curious and loves to explore. This all means my grand plans to make things for him (and myself!) while on maternity leave have not really happened. Instead I've been playing games, going for walks and singing songs to my son. 

I've made very little but I'm trying to work on a little bit of something every day.

Slowly I made my son a cardigan. I mixed four different yarns together to get a dappled effect. 

I'm back at ceramics. This time at the wheel, not just hand building. After almost 300 hours at ceramics I'm starting to make nice things that turn out how I want them to.

This bowl is wood fired in a dragon kiln. The colour comes from the ash in the kiln. Its magical.

I also look for workshops to attend while my husband baby sits.

I've taken up tapestry weaving and I love it. Its so exciting to see a piece develop.

This is the third part of a triptych I made for my living room wall.

Rather than blogging, I'm posting images of my work on Pinterest as Ellen Blue Triangle.

I'm still on Ravelry as Mrs Teapot. I just began updating the last 2 years worth of work!

And still working on my own little design collection now on sale in Japan.

And the exciting thing: my son loves texture. Its fun to watch him exploring with his hands, fingernails, teeth and tongue and even feet. He gets into all sorts of fabric and yarn and materials. He loves highly textured watercolour paper and paper string and things that crunch or are fluffy or smooth.

Maybe a love of yarn and fabric is genetic...

Paper + Craft

A lovely book I came across while looking for something else in the library. 

The photographs are clear and the projects are quite easy-looking.

They have two nice birdy-related projects too.

These would look lovely for Christmas ornaments.

The bag template is going to be rather useful for packaging gifts.

The marvellous thing is that the templates are available for free download online here: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/papercraft

Pies (and some bread)

Since what I can eat has been fairly limited, I've been experimenting with cooking more. I was craving a nice pie so I did some searching and testing and came up with a passable wheat & egg-free shortcrust pastry.

The first experiment was a sweet pumpkin pie. This one was so good it disappeared in about 3 days. The filling is pumpkin, cinnamon, coconut milk and condensed milk. 

 Then I thought I'd try a dark chocolate pie. This one has about 200g of melted 70% dark chocolate and 300ml of whipped cream. I used the skills I learnt while watching Emmanuel Mollois on Poh's Kitchen to ensure I didn't melt the cream with the hot chocolate. Specifically I was inspired by this beauty of chocolate goodness. I didn't add any sugar to the filling so you really taste the bitter dark chocolate instead of sugar. That way you can eat a larger slice!

I tried making 100% rye bread. It tasted great but my stomach didn't like it. Though I really enjoyed making bread. I used Yoke Mardewi's book for instructions (though I didn't make sourdough) and adapted them for 100% rye. I hope to make a bread that my stomach likes one day. I really miss bread. Grilled cheese sandwiches are just so nice!

I adapted my shortcrust pastry to use as a base for a cheesecake. I added 1/3 almond meal to give the base some texture as I think cheesecake bases are good with texture. The filling is cream cheese, cream, lemon juice, blueberries and about 1/3 cup of icing sugar. This really was delicious!

I've been dreaming of more pie fillings every since I made the first pie. I want to try a savoury pie next. Something with cheese and spinach perhaps...

A little more Christmas

I was about to throw away all these sticky notes. Then I realised that they were all the same size and colour (except two of them) and they were still sticky. They were all written on and not reusable for general reminders. Then I remembered last Christmas' Sticky-Note Christmas Tree. I thought to myself - who says you can't have an office Christmas tree? What would be more appropriate than a sticky-note tree for the office? So I got sticking...

I found a little spot on the column above my calendar next to my desk. The pink and yellow notes became the trunk and star. Of course Christmas Trees have pink trunks and purple leaves!

I even made a star by folding a long sticky-note flag into a 3D diamond shape. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Hopefully its not all fallen on the floor on Monday!

A Tale of 3 Vases

Today I bring to you the story of three very different vases from three very different times...

The first is a vase that belonged to my great grandmother. Its not an expensive vase. Its not particually well made or finished. The printed pattern is fuzzy and uneven. But it belonged to her. It used to have a lid, but that got broken. I think it was designed to store sweets or perhaps small trinkets. When I look at it I think of her. She died when I was 2 years old, but I have memories of her. Of her house and garden and of her goat... This is the memory vase. Its a vase of my past, threads that I carry around with me of where I come from. I keep it to remind me of where I come from, now that I've strayed so far from home.

The second vase was given to me by my sister when I first moved out of home and set up my own place with the Mr. The vase is uncompromisingly an 'architects' vase. The sort of vase you might put twigs and pieces of artfully laser-cut cardboard in rather than flowers. Its structural and angular. It is a vase of promise - of a stylish designer life with perfect everything. This too is a world I've left behind. Its been a decision. I'm not that type of designer. I'm not that rigorous with aesthetics. I care more about heart than form. Its a vase from an alternative life. I keep it to remind me of these things, to never put form before heart.

The third vase was given to me just yesterday. It was unearthed by one of the Mr's aunts during a clean up. Its turkish leaded crystal, still in its original box, dating from probably the 1980s. Its heavy and expensive. Its the vase of a sort of settled, rooted, permanent life I know I'll never have. Its a vase to go with fine china, silver spoons and afternoon teas. Its a vase from another age. Its a vase of another life I've decided to leave behind. I'm not that type of wife, nor home making extrodinaire. I have my silver spoons and forks, but I'm as likely to use them to eat cereal as to serve delicate petit fours. I believe in using precious things everyday. This vase I'll keep to use for my twigs and roses. Its a reminder to live fully, now.

And what vase would I reach for the most? Probably it would be an ordinary old bottle that I've pulled out of the recycling bin at the last minute because I've found an interesting branch or flower or paper leaf I've made. The recycled bottle reminds me not to be attached to things. That things are not important in the scheme of it all.

Selvedge Magazine project image from here

This I what I plan to make to put into one of these vases, fabric flowers (free tutorial here at Selvedge Magazine). I've finally started to get to the bottom of my boxes and unearth my fabric scraps and wire and felt pieces and things for making. I've missed making things so much these past few months!

Another project...

The Mr and I just moved into our own place. Right now its box-town and not quite ready to be shown to the world. But here is a picture of my floor. Its the original floor from the first owner who had it put in in 1984. Its a nice white and grey/beige terrazzo tile. Since this photo was taken 10 days ago we have had it polished and its nice and shiny and pretty. I'm tired from the moving and unpacking, but my mind is thinking of all the little projects that I want to do to make this place a nice comfortable home...but first I need to finish unpacking all those boxes...

It is so so so nice to sit at your own table in your own kitchen in your very own house.

The birds around here are nice too, some new types to share with you soon and some old friends fly past regularly. The Asian Koel sings all day and I heard night birds last night, but I don't know what they were... Once I unpack, I'll search my bird book to find out who it was.

Of Clouds & Rabbits

Rabbit Silhouette Badge

Cloud Pendant

I recently brought a rabbit shaped punch for paper and having some textile markers around, I decided to experiment with using the punch to make stencils. The rabbit was stenciled onto a small circle of calico and I used a button-making kit to make a button of it. I made some into hair ties and this one I made into a brooch. I just glued the back on with some contact adhesive. The contact adhesive seems to stick well, though its a bit messy.

The cloud pendant is a cloud shape I got from mein and while the clay was still wet, I stamped my name onto it and punched a hole in it to hang it. The glaze is a double layer of blue underneath and white on top that gives it some beautiful colouration around the edges. I just use a piece of ribbon to wear it as the metal loop is too noisy! I also have a smaller cloud that I glazed with namako blue which I also wear with a ribbon. The two are too noisy to wear together, though they would look great!

Dyeing Love

I recently spent some more time experimenting with natural colour on different materials. I brought balls of natural un-dyed and un-chemically-treated wool, and some cotton and bamboo. I had sample pieces of silk that were already coloured so I over-dyed those too and I also used piece of natural un-dyed cotton fabric. All were mordanted with alum dissolved in hot water and simmered for at least one hour. The wool had cream of tartar in addition to the alum and had 2 hours in the water. I found that for some reason the wool just soaked up all the colour and the other materials much less so. I don't know if it is the cream of tartar or the timing or the dye or the material! I'm the most happy with how the wool turned out but the silk was quite nice too. The finished colours are like home-made icecream sorbet.

I used India Flint's book 'Eco Colour' and Gwen Fereday's book 'Natural Dyes' for tips on how to mordant and the amounts and timing. I found that alum is the only real 'safe' mordant unless you use a copper/aluminium/brass pot etc (which I don't have). Obviously my interest is keeping things as environmentally friendly as possible, so I don't want to work with anything that could be toxic. I got my alum from a 100% crystallised alum deodorant that I crushed into a powder. I also used their tips on how to scour the material before colouring but I suspect that the cotton and bamboo needed more scouring as they gave off a real ammonia smell when I washed them. Each material was washed in soap powder 2-3 times and rinsed thoroughly.

As dye substances I used spanish onion skins, carrot/sweet potato/tomato, ginger flowers, blueberries (frozen), bougainvillea flowers, various greenery from around the garden, pandan leaf and balsamic vinegar. The results vary but I love the onion skin and ginger flowers on wool and the ginger flowers on bamboo. Interestingly the ginger flowers made green on wool and grey on bamboo but were orange flowers!

The blueberries produced nice subtle purple spots on the blue silk which is quite lovely.

I attempted some eco prints with leaves and flowers and onion skins but it didn't turn out so great. The colours are not strong as I unwrapped after just a few days as in this tropical weather it started to grow lots of mould. I will try again with different vegetation and things and try it in a ziplock bag the fridge to keep the mould down.

These are just pictures of some of the materials and processes... results to come soon

By-the-way, the jar of dark liquid is a concentrate of bougainvillea flowers made by soaking the flowers in hot water and squeezing them. It was then left in the fridge for 3-4 weeks where it started to oxidise and turn brown.