STUDENT:- BIANCA 1st model

STUDENT:- BIANCA 1st model

Isn't it amazing. I have my second student. She read about my first student, here on this blog. This is brilliant!

I have finished Spring Cleaning my two rooms, my studio and I am now open for business.

This is what Bianca started with

Bianca choose to start from scratch so she choose a gourd, cleaned it and then used a saw to cut her gourd open revealing the seeds and pith inside. She then needed to cut out the windows.

Her next job was to create all the permanate fixtures. These were a floor, fireplace, three cupboards and shelving and stairs and a clock. She also designed and painted her own stain glass windows.

As can be seen from the image to the right the 'bones' of the inside of the house has been placed inside. There is still a 'few' things to do just to finish it off.

The inside with the lights switched on.
The inside is almost completed.

It has three lights and one flickering light in the fireplace and she will be using optic fiber on the outside. All up it took Bianca 60 hrs to finish her house. She visited me once a week for 3.5 to 4 hrs. The cost of her lessons were $15 hr. The cost of the gourd was $25 and the cost of materials was $20 and lights $25.00. The lights are run on two 9v batteries.

 

After 60 hours of work she made this. Isn't it wonderful!

STUDENT :- LUKA

STUDENT:- LUKA

I have my first student turning up next week to learn how to make a gourd house. Isn't that brilliant! I am hoping that she will be the first of many and then I can give up my watergardening that I have been doing for the past 30 years.
I am presently spring cleaning my studio 'again'! I am really hoping that this is the last time. I've put up lots of shelving and purchased lost of clear plastic containers and hopefully it will be enough to keep these two rooms in a nice ordered fashion.
My hope, if the student will allow it, is to put up a photo of her completed work.

Well hear we are photos what do you think. Pre-t-e-t-y good I reckon.
I am EXTREMELY proud to put forward the results of my first student. She is girl aged 10 year named Luka.

A pre-made Gourd

She started with one of my pre-made gourds. Others can be seen in the back ground of the image to the left. By starting with one of these a 1/3rd of the work is already done.

Luka wanted to create a bakery.



The inside of the bakery

 Luka built the long shelving off to the left of the building out of balsa wood. Then two small shelves off to the right.











She created the stain glass windows, the pleated curtains with music notes all over them. Then created a fake door on the inside, made cakes and bread to go in baskets and bowls. She then stuck everything in as you see here. Luka also placed a light in her gourd house and also had a bunch of optic fiber that would be placed on the outside. This was run off a 9v battery. She also created fake vines to go around the gourd.

This is the last photo I had before the project went home for Christmas
to show to other memebers of her house hold.

As you can see an awful lot has been done. There is still a little bit to do. Luka created her rabbit (with a little help from me). She dressed her and created the counter and the cakes that are sitting on the shelves. She then decorated the outside of the gourd and can you see the row of ants walking under the floor boards? Very creative.

I am extremely proud of Luka's work. She learned how to cut wood, how to solder, how to work out what lighting she needed and how to put it all together. How to iron fabric, to sew fabric, to design her work, to work with colour and to create a model out of polymer clay. She also designed and painted her own stain glass windows. Luka's mother was extremely pleased with her daughters work and the classes I held and the way I taught my lessons and the information Luka learnt.

All up it took Luka 29 1/2 hrs to reach this point. She visited me once a week for 2 to 2.5 hrs. The cost of her lessons were $10 hr. The cost of the pre-made gourd was $25 and the cost of materials was $12 and light $10.00.

In the end Luka was very proud of herself and that is worth more than any money can buy.

Grant Workshop with Artslink

Artslink

Last Wednesday (22nd August) I attended a workshop on how to go about getting a grant. What was different about this workshop was that I was able to do a 5min presentation of my work and then the next day sit down and talk about how I should proceed.

My new movable sign with a hanging house
with lights, plastic sleeves to hold leaflets
and of course my new name
Bramblewood - where secrets are hidden
and magic abides.

Overall the night was a great success. There were representatives from various departments that deal with funding. There was a remarkable young lady talking about Rabbit & Cocoon which is an art pre-sink she and two other people have set up at Miami on the Gold Coast.

At the end of the workshop I now have a clear idea on the way I wish to proceed.

The first is to put away all the little things I am doing at night (I build fungi and flowers for my models) and get out my hanging houses and work on them. My aim is to build 50+ hanging houses so that I can hold a huge exhibition. It will enable people to walk through the village as if they live there.

The second thing is to work on selling my skills. Not just my craft and art skills but also the skills I have with watergardening (which I have been doing for nearly 30 years). It was also suggested that I join Artslink and put a blurb about myself on their website. This website is available to anyone but especially to councils. The hope is that (as I am very happy to travel) that councils out west and others of course, will employ me to do a workshop.

I feel much better now as I have a better sense of direction.

Bees and Insects

I know this has nothing to do with my art or my books BUT I am VERY passionate about this. Albert Eienstein quoted (something like)

"When the last bee dies the world has 4 years of life left."

Humans pour out poision into the air and soil and chop down trees and flowers like there is no tomorrow. ONLY a few of us try to do 'something'.

I think that the only way this world can be saved from the people on it is by getting one person at a time to do 'something' to change the world they live in. Sometimes that one person gets other people and a group of people do 'something' and that is great but other times I feel the indivual person feels "What can I do? I am only one person."

Well here do this. Make or buy an insect hotel and hang it in a tree, hang it at the back of a shed.
Check out You Tube there are lots of people doing this. It is very inspiring to see. I am going to do another post with two videos.