Monday 2 November 2015

CRAFT SUPPLIES FOR SALE! To sell or not to sell?

CRAFT SUPPLIES FOR SALE!

With three craft room's you can imagine that I would have some 'things' hidden in them that I do not actually need and as I am on the hunt for money I thought  "Why not sell some of it?"

Why am I on the hunt for money? Good question, because I have finished my fantasy novel (finally, it has only taken 8 years). Anyway because there is not a fairy or a witch in site in my novel, only creatures I have invented, I thought (after talking it over with a well known author) that it would be a good idea to have some drawings (illustrations) that could be sent with it to the agent I have chosen (granted they do not know I have chosen them put I will put it out to the universe if all goes to plan... well you will know the rest one day. Anyway this is the reason I am on the hunt for money. Illustrators, good ones, are not cheap and as I consider it soo very important to have an illustrator that can be the advantage, a benefit,  a reason for someone to pick up your book and read it, buy it, hence it is worth the money a person has to pay to him or her.
So far I have been able to have some posters made up by Aaron Pocock.
With this in mind, I started selling "stuff" through Facebook Groups. This was successful to a point. If any of you have had dealings with Facebook Groups you will know how difficult it is to snag a sale. I consider it like fishing. You happen to put up a post at the same time a person just happens to be looking through the group and just happens to see your post and just happens to be wanting what you are selling. And then there are the RULES! I'm not very good at following rules and I suppose I should have known that I would, eventually, not be able to put up with it so hence I started my own Facebook Page to sell my craft supplies. In the end I choose not to do this either because of the shear amount of time it took to earn a couple of dollars. I deleted everything I had done and went back to my job of maintaining fish ponds.

Now I have not completely given up my idea, as I still want an illustrator, but I am going to have a go at selling everything at a BIG craft show. So I have to package everything up (which is a lot) see how much it will cost to get a stand in a BIG craft show and see if, at the end of it, I will actually make some money if I sold it all. Few! I will let you know how I go.
 Well I am back to tell you that all things were put on hold because the roof of my craft room gave way. If you would like to read about it click here. So anyway the stuff I do have left has been put up on shelves and will have to sit there for a while as I have a school to go to with my models, I have a couple of shows to do and get three of my models ready for a three month display at Lollipop Land.

Sunday 20 September 2015

For Sale - Microspheres

 220 gram bottels of White Microspheres

These tiny microspheres reflect the colour beneath them. I have also found that I can colour them with alchol inks. These do not absorb moisture but do accept colour over the top of them. I then cover them with a sealer to ensure that they stay in place and that any colour added does not wear off.

I am now selling 220 gram bottles of White Microspheres for $10 a bottle.  These fine microspheres can be used to add a bit of bling to your creative project and can (once glued in placed) be coloured using alcohol inks.

Postage (in Australia) is $7.60 no matter where you live because the parcel weighs under 500grams. Please note that it is the same price for the postage for one bottle or two because of the weight. Please contact me on e-mail blackhawk@qld.chariot.net.au if you are interested or have any questions.
Payment can be made through Paypal.


Below are some of the uses I have put these microspheres to.  












 





Friday 18 September 2015

The Gold Coast Show 2015

The one and only show (at the moment) that I display my miniature fantasy models at is the Gold Coast Show.
 
 I have displaying my miniature models there for eleven years. It is strange how it seems like it was only a couple of years ago that I met Doug Reiser (the President of the Gold Coast Show) and he asked me to display my models.

Because of this I then met Jeff Gilberthopre of the The IconCollection. If it was not him I would now not have written my first story of the characters living in my miniature fantasy world and started the second.
 If it was not for these two men my life would not be where it is now. Opps I should mention that if it was not for my partner being so tolerant when it comes to my craft (which nearly all consuming) and my writing of course, my life would not be the better for it because from there I have met amazing people.

This year was the second year of displaying my miniature models in the new location at Bundall. This year the new modern pavilion had been built and I was so pleased to display my models in one of the booths.













With the black carpeted booth and the flood lights my models were displayed brilliantly I am assuming that this is why people literally stopped in their tracks and turned to see my models.
Veeleeta's House and The Shadow House




My Donation Box
Two new little models I am making

I have joined a new writing group.

Sunday 9 August 2015

Stage 14 - Shadow House- Finished

I HAVE FINISHED.

I am soo proud of this house, it is soo different from the others.

At the moment I have put up the day time photos. Tonight I shall take the photos in the dark and put them up later with the lights on.

These images are to show the daylight view and the night time view.

These image show another side of the Shadow House by the day and night.

These images show another side of the Shadow House by the day and night.

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Shadow House - Stage 13 - Decorating Fence

Decorating the Fence of the Shadow House
The fence has been made from a Christmas Wreath that was taken apart and re-glued together

This Fence was made from sections of the 'Christmas Wreath fence' and a twisted plastic flower stem.



These three images give you some idea on the decoration I have used on the fence. The items are made from gumnut caps, rubber bands, balloons, silk flowers, plastic flowers,microspheres, micro beads, flocking, wool etc.

How to - Sample Book

I thought you might be interested in something I have been working on- a Sample Book, including a collection of physical samples of the hundreds of different plants, fungi and creatures I have designed over the many years of making my miniature models.
Below is one page from my new Sample Book and a photo of the finished Physical Sample that I am keeping to one side as a reference so I can look at it in the round if I ever wanted to make it again.
Sample Page of how I made the Yellow Fungi out of a plastic bath mat.
The finished Physical Sample to be kept for reference.
I am doing this because the one thing I had forgotten to do was keep a record of each one. Oh I have the original designs (a lot I haven't even made yet) and the photos of them all BUT not a description of how they were made and from what. If I wanted to go back and remake something and needed to work out how that was done I would have to go hunting all over the models to find an example of the item and then work it out. Not all the items I make are simple so this would take a lot of wasted time.

Friday 24 July 2015

How to:- Remove Hot Glue from fabric

I shall be moving this post to a Page  titled HOW TO:- The aim of the Page will be to place tips and tricks I have either learnt or heard about in the hope that some or one of them will help you with your project.
The first How To article is about removing dried Hot Glue from fabric.
The main ingredient is Isopropyl Alcohol found in rubbing alcohol and a cotton bud.
As can been seen in the video supplied* and the photos** the removal of the Dried Hot Glue Stick Glue is soo easy it astonished me the first time I tried it.




What I have found when using this method on silk rose petals:-

First:- The thicker the glue to be removed the better. Upon using the cotton bud to apply the Isopropyl Alcohol to the area with the dried glue, (do ONLY one section at a time),wait 10 seconds and then with either your fingernail of the tip of a knife you can pick the blob of glue off and it leaves no trace.
Use Isopropyl alcohol to removed glue.
Soak one spot at a time with alcohol.












After 10 seconds pick at the glue with either finger nail or tip of knife.



Glue pulls off cleanly.















Second:- When dealing with thin scrappy bits of dried glue then it becomes a bit trickier. First you apply the Isopropyl Alcohol to one small section at a time, wait 10 or 15 seconds and then using the end of a pointy knife and stretching the fabric with your fingers to keep the fabric taught, scape the glue off. This may have to be done many times as can be seen in the images supplied.

Silk rose petals with dried hot glue on both sides. By using a cotton bud soaked in Isoprophy alcohol you can see the before and after.

 

























Reference:- * The video was found on http://www.instructables.com/id/Easily-Remove-Dried-Hot-Glue-aka-Hot-Melt/ and put on by John Mangan (siliconghost)
** The other images are mine (Nicola Tierney) - All images within the blog can be shared for your own personnel use BUT CAN NOT be used in any commercial endeavor.

Saturday 11 July 2015

Books I Have Read - The Railway Children

The Railway Children
By
E. Nesbit

This story was first published in 1906 by Wells Gardner, Darron & Co.  Published in Puffin Books in 1960. Re-printed in 1963, 1965, 1967 (twice), 1968, 1970 (twice), 1971 (twice), 1972 (twice), 1973, 1974 (twice), 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 (twice)

This story has appeared as a television series and has been made into a film.

I liked two things about this story. The first was the story line. Again it is a story with a happy ending. It is a story with an awful lot going on. There is a secret that you know nothing about until the end. The second is the way E. Nesbit speaks to the reader. I am a fan of this style but I have been told that it is frowned upon these days. I should also say that there is another thing I like, the details. I love stories with lots of detail. Detail about the characters, the emotions, landscapes, the reasons why – which is the background into why the family is in the position it is and how they get out of it. This makes for a long story but I don’t mind that.

I love the way Nesbit has been able to make the ‘voices’ of each character their own. She has a real knack of being able to show how even though there are times when the children niggle and argue with each other, in the end they are a family who love and care for each other and the other people around them.
The story is based in England and revolves around the children’s father being taken away by some men one night and not returning until the last chapter. The children and the reader never know why. Because of this, the life the family, Mother, Roberta (Bobby), Peter and Phyllis (Phil), had, has gone and they are forced to move to the country and live in a cottage called Three Chimney’s near a railway. The servants are gone, the niceties of life are gone and the money is disappearing and they are struggling.
Their mother spends her days writing, writing, writing. She is writing to anyone who will listen to her about her husband’s plight and getting nowhere. She is writing stories to sell to newspapers and magazines to bring in some desperately needed money. She also home schools the children and helps them and attempts to keep them happy. 


The children have lots of time to explore the nearby railway station and many other parts of the countryside. This means they encounter lots of people and help all of them in some way. They stop what would have been a terrible train accident from happening. They save a baby from a fire, a young man who broke his leg in a railway tunnel. This young man (Jim) turns out to be the grandson of the ‘Old Gentleman’ they had been waving to as he travelled on the train every day.
I find it interesting how Mother keeps the devastating situation their family is in a secret from everyone, except Aunt Emma, until her daughter Roberta sees a newspaper article about her father’s arrest. Even then it is only Roberta who knows, the other children are not to be told. This is when Roberta contacts the Old Gentleman for help.
I also found it interesting that the children never seem to ask what has happened to their father, they just accept everything. They accept him leaving, them moving to the county, them suddenly being poor. I am sure the children of today would not take these circumstances so calmly. They would question everything.
The reader learns how Roberta is worried about her mother but does not ask why she is working so hard but if it was not for her the doctor would not have been fetched when her mother gets very sick. Their Mother does not want anyone helping them or knowing that they are poor but fortunately the children have other ideas. In the end this means that the Old Gentleman helps to prove their father innocent and released from jail.


Books I Have Read - The Wishing Tree

The Wishing Tree 
by 
Ruth Chew 

Published in 1980 by Scholastic Book Services. Printed in Australia by Hedges & Bell Pty Ltd.

This a small book for younger readers. 

It is about two children, Peggy (Peg) and Brian, ages unknown but they are old enough to walk two blocks to Prospect Park. The park is located in a town or city in the USA. The story starts with the children leaving the park just as the sky is turning pink as the sun starts to set. As they head for the exit they see an old beech tree with what looks like ‘little faces peering out of it’. A bird sings in its branches even though it is November and old woman, sitting on a stone bench with a shopping bag next to her, was watching the bird. A striped grey cat suddenly runs out of the bag. Now remember the cat as he is important as is what is in the shopping bag.

The cat follows the children home but this is no ordinary cat, this is a cat that can talk. It is also a cat that leads the children into a magical land.  He does this by taking them back to the old beech tree. There they find the old lady feeding a mockingbird on a blue tablecloth. She runs away taking the tablecloth with her. The cat runs behind the tree. The bird tells them he has gone inside the tree and the children follow. 










Nothing is as it seems in this story. The tree is not an ordinary tree, it is a wishing tree and as the children find out it is dangerous to wish for things you don’t really want. The old lady is homeless but she is a thief. The blue tablecloth is not just a tablecloth. The box the children find at the bottom of a pond holds something precious. The cat, as I have said, is no ordinary cat, for one thing he likes watching television. One thing or person I should say, that is definitely not what it seems is the giant. It is not a giant and why is he not a giant because he is an ordinary man who wished to be big and he was. 


But wishes do come true, the giant become his normal human size again after a year of being a giant and following the children and the cat through the beech tree they go from brilliant sunshine into freezing cold snow. Laying on the ground, in the snow, is the old lady.  Fred, who was the giant, picks up the lady, who is not soo old, and carries her and the blue tablecloth back into his own magical land, back into the sunshine. Meanwhile the cat goes and lives with the children because, well because as he says, “Magic is all very well, Peggy. But that tablecloth never brought forth anything to compare with your mother’s pot roast.”
I liked this story, again another happy ending with a bit of a moral, I suppose. Be careful what you wish for, you might actually get it.

Monday 22 June 2015

Books I Have Read - The Family from One End Street

The book 'The Family from One End Street' by Eve Garnett was first published in 1937 by Fredrick Muller. It was published by Puffin Books in 1942 then re-printed in 1945, 1949, 1951, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971 (twice), 1972, 1974, 1975 (twice), 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, (I have been unable to find info on any other reprinting dates for the 22 years until 2004 but as it has been reprinted in the following dates  2003- audio cassette, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2014 I would assume that it was still being reprinted in those 22 years. If you find some dates could you please let me know so I can add them to this blog.


I found a  website rarestkindofbest.com that mentions that 'this book is perhaps most notable for beating J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit for the Carnegie Medal of 1937.' Amazing!

I have been fortunate to pick up a 1981 edition of this little book from the Life Line Bookfest that was held in Brisbane (2015).

I always like to read books at night, it gives my brain something else to think about before I go to sleep. When I picked this book up I didn't really think that I would like it and granted I nearly put it down as the beginning of the book was not something I would normally like but I decided to read more than the first page before I would cancel it out and I am glad I did.

I found this story delightful first because every story has a happy ending. Second the characters especially the mother Rosie. She has such a fierce love for her family and even though her five children test her patients she loves them dearly. She is a Washerwoman, her husband (Jo) is a Dustman and they have six children, Lily Rose (12 1/2), Kate, the twins - James (called Jim) and John, Jo (junior), Margaret Rosie (nickname Peggy to Peg), William

I love the down to earthyness of this story. They are poor but do not let that get them down, they just get on with life and not look to what other people have and regret the life they have.

Another thing I like about this story is the writing. There is soo much back information. The thoughts and think processes about why something is happening, why it is not wanted to happen, what happens if it does. These days authors are told to delete, delete, delete. Make the story short, compact and in doing so a lot of the back info that has been told to the reader in this story, I think would not be available if it was written today. It makes me wonder when I look at how many times this book has been re-printed since 1935!

I am very pleased that I have read this book and would recommend it to anyone.

I have found a few remarks other people have written about the story and thought you might be interested.
1930-1960.blogspot.com.au
A remarkable series of three books showing the lives and aspirations of an urban working class family, children (Lily Rose, Peg, Jo and Kate) of a refuse collector (Mr Ruddles) and his wife. We are introduced to the Black Hand Gang (innocent by today's standards). The first title was published before WW2. The second, Further Adventures... takes the three youngest children into the country where they experience village life and farming, staying at the Dew Drop Inn. This book was written shortly after the first, but the manuscript was damaged, presumed destroyed, in a Blitz fire but was recovered and reconstructed in 1956. The children return to the Dew Drop on holiday in the third book of the series, Holiday at Dew Drop Inn. These books are not in print, which is a shame, since the writing is of good quality. The most common versions are by Puffin, the second and third made expensive by rarity. The writer (middle class) shows this working class family in a good light, hardworking, anxious to be clean and to better themselves whilst clearly being proud of their roles in life. The story is told with humour, to some extent laughing at most of the characters.


 www.theguardian.com

The Family from One End Street marked a series of firsts for me. Perhaps most importantly, it was the first book to break the stranglehold of Enid Blyton. Much as I loved the 826 billion volumes of Famous Five et al, the day eventually dawned when I started running a speculative eye over library and shop shelves for stories about something other than the spy-catching quintet. And there, suddenly, were the Ruggles family — two parents, seven children — all rendered equally lively and interesting but all utterly different from each other, and all utterly real.
Episodically structured, it became therefore the first book I loved for its characters rather than its plot. And it was the first book not only for me, but for all of its readers when it was first published in 1937, to make urban, working-class children its heroes. Some critics detected a patronising tone towards Garnett's characters, but others praised her for avoiding both sentimentality and condescension and replacing them with what one called "a careful truthfulness" instead.
Not that I knew or cared about any of this at the time, of course. I just knew it was a relief to spend time with book-children who, like me, had more experience of a world bounded by building sites, patches of grubby parkland and knackered working parents than they did of one strewn with rolling moors, private islands and spies.
It was also the first book I owned that had been written and illustrated by the author. Garnett had been an art student and the book grew out of her walks through the back streets of London as she searched for subjects to sketch. Incidentally, the drawings are lovely — sweet, strong and deceptively simple, like the book itself.
But better even than the book was this: it had a sequel. Two, in fact: The Further Adventures of the Family from One End Street, and Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn, which were, if you can believe it, even better. This gave me a wholly misguided sense of life as a process of cumulative improvement, which would take several painful years of experience to dispel, but on the plus side, Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn gave me my first understanding of just how deep the pleasures of reading could run.
It was as if, with the story of Kate Ruggles' summer-long stay at the eponymous hostelry and enthusiastic embrace of village life, Eve Garnett had peered into my mind and written down exactly what she knew would delight me most. That seemed to me magic of the highest order and I raced off to other shelves to find it again.

 shelflove.wordpress.com
The book is a wonderful, crammed-full, meandering affair, exactly like the prose you just read. Each chapter follows the adventure of one of the children (if adventure it can really be called; it’s more like day-in-the-life, but life is very full in a large family at One End Street.) Lily Rose tries to help her mother with the ironing, but the iron is too hot, and the artificial-silk petticoat shrinks to doll’s size. The calamity is enormous: how will they pay to replace it? But in this, as in every other chapter, disaster is averted, and Lily Rose goes home with nothing worse than her mother’s scolding and a slice of cake. And so it goes: Kate takes a scholarship but loses her school hat, and demonstrates intelligence and resourcefulness getting another; the twins James and John have day-long adventures for a secret society; the whole family has a Day Out to London. Every moment is both suspenseful and gloriously ordinary.
I have a colleague who is writing an article about the representation of poverty in children’s books. This is a perfect example. This family is living on the very edge of respectability, keeping everyone fed and clothed. Sixpences matter dreadfully. When Kate gets her scholarship, and it pays for tuition but not the uniform, it’s clear she won’t be able to go to school at all, because she’s required to have things like a tennis-racket and shoe bags. But there’s no misery here. Frustration, sometimes; longing for a trip to see family, certainly; sharp reminders of necessity, in almost every chapter. Mr. Ruggles has dreams of finding as much as five pounds in the trash he picks up! But the tone of this book overall is from a child’s point of view: there’s much more interest in adventure and exploration than in the ordinary world of getting enough to eat. Garnett’s skill is that we see a little of both in this book.

rarestkindofbest.com
Several episodes in the life of the Ruggles, a large working class family in a small English town. Mr. Ruggles is a dustman and Mrs. Ruggles takes in washing, and their seven children are well-meaning but occasionally disobedient, resulting in many adventures and mishaps.
The Ruggles family is quite poor but morally upstanding, hardworking, loyal and supportive of each other. A little rough around the edges, but fun-loving and lively. The book is a series of separate episodes loosely strung together: Lily Rose’s desire to do a good deed results in an ironing mishap, Kate wins a coveted scholarship but must scramble to afford the uniform, the twins James and John fall in with a gang of older boys and in an effort to impress them have two wildly different adventures, Jo schemes to sneak into the cinema to see the new colour Mickey Mouse cartoon, and baby William wins first prize at the fair. In the final chapters father Jo finds lost money in a dustbin and the reward for returning it allows him to take the whole family to London for a grand holiday.
In the 1930s in Britain it was very unusual for a children’s book to have working class characters. Eve Garnett provided ordinary children from the poorer areas of England stories which reflected their reality. And the Ruggles’ poverty is not underplayed – in every chapter the cost of things is a continual worry, and every penny scraped together is done so with great effort (and sometimes, luck).
Today the book is still charming but quite old-fashioned. Children will be amazed by the freedom which the Ruggles children enjoy, as they wander about town and countryside without adult supervision. Nothing terrible transpires, as their fellow villagers and all the strangers they meet are kindly and help them out of difficulties. In particular the rich folk they encounter are without exception generous and giving – a gentler outlook on society than later books about class warfare in Britain.
This book was, and still is, a sentimental favourite in the U.K., as it appeared in the top ten favourites of all the Carnegie winners on the 70th anniversary of the awards. Relatively unknown outside of Britain, this book is perhaps most notable for beating J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit for the Carnegie Medal of 1937.


Sunday 21 June 2015

Stage 12 - Shadow House - Window Panes

I apologise for taking so long to post more information about the Shadow House. Life gets in the way but finally I have been able to spend some time making windows. I have decided to have a go at making them out of sequins. 

This is the finished window. I have added a brown stain over the 'glass'. I have added 'moss' and placed a double layer of rope around the edge.

First I laid plastic cling film on a solid
base then spread a circle of glue.  I then
stuck sequins on top. Most are transparent.

I allowed the sequins to dry overnight
 because I found that if I tried to spread
glue on them before they were glued
together, they came apart and it was
almost impossible to glue them
 back together. When dry I then spread
 glue over the top of them and covered
them with very fine white microbeads.








I have just placed (not glued) the 'window
pane' into position. Because I am doing a
dark Shadow House I felt that the
 'window pane' was too white and not
suited to this house. It is suited to other types
of houses and I will certainly use them again.


The left image is the final look when the microbeads have dried. I then very carefully pulled the plastic cling film off the back. I then turned them over. On the back of the 'window pane' I found the glue still tacky but needing just a bit extra glue. I then covered the back with the microbeads and allowed to dry overnight.
The RIGHT image is what the 'window pane' looks like with light behind it. Notice the one tiny solid sequin that sneaked in.













I have just placed (not glued) the 'window
pane' into position. Because I am doing a
dark Shadow House I felt that the
 'window pane' was too white and not
suited to this house. It is suited to other types
of houses and I will certainly use them again.










To solve the problem of them being too
 white I have used alcohol ink to colour
 the microbeads. I have used Isocol
rubbing alcohol as the base and Daler
 Rowney Sky Blue Pearlescent Liquid
Acrylic. I am pleased with the colour.
The black card is the template of the hole for the
 'window pane'. I have three different size windows to make.

Just to show you the window, the
template and 'window pane'.

This is what the lights look like in place.
 Please note that this image on it side. I will
change it when I can. You will notice that
 the wires are sealed with clear heat shrink
plastic tubing. This is so I know if I have
 added a resistor or not.
I thought you might like to know how
I have suspended the lights (white
Christmas lights). I always (in
closed rooms) put lights in by attaching
 them to a bar of balsa wood. I used wire
 but you can use string. I then glue the
balsa wood in place, just under the windows.

I like the look of them but they need work because they look like big eyes.





A lace 'stainglass' effect using rubber bands
Glued the rubber band lace in place and then will trim it up.










This is how the stain-glass looks like all cleaned up and the right hand image shows how some purple alcohol ink has been put on the left and right and painted onto the rubber bands as the windows still look to new.


This is the finished window. I have added a brown stain over the 'glass'. I have added 'moss' and placed a double layer of rope around the edge.