Pretties – life at 1:1 scale

Well (Gallery) Hung

I’ve waxed lyrical about my Gallery Hanging System (as evidenced by this post, and this one, and let’s not forget this one). And it came to the fore when I was looking for places to stash paintings that I was slowly finishing (some of these I started 15 years ago, some 10, some 6). I needed to get them out of the studio, both away from possible paint spray and also away from my constant re-tinkering.

After the original living room configuration, I rejigged it to fit in another two paintings I’d finished (my sister and my buddy Brettski’s 30th birthday presents…which they are getting in time for their 40th birthdays):

It was a little weird having a bunch of eyes watching me as I lay on the couch and watched TV. Or slept through what I was attempting to watch on the TV:

And this configuration was nice, but I’d already decided I wanted to give Adski some paintings as well (Adski is Brettski’s partner), so I had to find room for them as well. You can see them clustered around the TV:

So I tried another configuration:

Configuration #3 was less eyes, more geek:

Configuration #3 with some paintings waiting to be finished and/or hung standing at the gate

When I got to catch up with Adski and Brettski, that removed some canvas real-estate. And I could reconfigure with a painting I had worked on over a weekend (but spent 3 years imagining how I could execute it):

Configuration #4 will change once I take the portrait down to post it to the UK for my sister, but the post has been pretty buggy for her so I will wait a while longer. This also gives me time to think how I will rejig it next:

For now you will sit like this my pretties…

Crazy Cushion Lady with Crazy Kitten Cushions

You know me, dear reader. So you know I like a cushion. I like a pretty cushion, I like a playfully witty cushion, I even like to make a cushion or two.

I like to swap them around, I like to change the covers with other covers from my (currently small) stash of spare cushion covers. Because of course I have spare cushion covers: I do like a cushion.

I like how they change the mood of rooms, I like how they bring pops of colour and difference to a room, I like how switching them brings out different aspects of an existing room: the room is exactly the same, but the cushion design and colours mean you focus on different things and you “read” the room differently. Yes, I do like a cushion.

I like lots of cushions and I cannot lie, you m*thafl*ppers can’t deny….

So it may surprise you to know I’ve been harbouring a little stash of cushion covers that I’ve not yet used.

Cushion covers made to my specifications by my sister in the UK, we’ll call her the ckrafty roo (yes, she does spell it differently, but spelling has never been her strongest point 😛 ). And they are g.l.o.r.i.o.u.s:

Aren’t they just the maddest, funnest and perfectest cat (or kitten) cushions ever:

The ckrafty roo made me a library/shopper bag out of this glorious fabric and had more metres of it so I asked if she could make cushions. They had to have the perfectest thinnest yellowest piping around them (at my request).

My list of demands includes: a plethora of crazy kitten cushions

Imagine me making bold but precise demands because if you did anything else around the cushion edges or they didn’t have piping…my soul would .d.i.e.

It’s not that hard to imagine, is it?

Without the perfectest yellow colour, and the thinnest yellow piping, my soul would DIEEEEEEEEE

It’s really not.

And my poor, beleaguered (or so she would have it) sister rolling her eyes and adding this to her ever increasing list of specifications for the cushions. Because I wanted multiples dahling. MULTIPLES.

I love how their eyes just follow you around the room. Watching you, with that mad eye.

And you KNOW the yellow piping had to be the perfectest yellow colour. Or my soul would d.i.e.

I’ve stashed away them away while I had a feline housemate, because imho if you have actual cats and you also have cat themed memorabilia on display in your abode, you are just setting yourself up as the ~~target~~ recipient for every possible cat themed present there is under the sun.

And that’s a risk I could not take.

I did bestow some of my crazy kitten cushions bounty as gifts to some grateful (or shellshocked) recipients. Why did you think I wanted multiples, dahling?

DIY Dad was astonished to receive two to compliment his new living room curtains. Astonished, bemused, flabbergasted…to-mah-to to-may-to I say.

If you would like a crazy kitten cushion or two (or even several) in your house, my ckrafty roo is selling them. You can message her facebook page for details: https://www.facebook.com/KraftyRooUK

Happy StyleMAS 2020

Given I only got around to writing about StyleMAS 2019 in.July.2020, I am making a point of trying to document 2020’s effort a little earlier. So here I am in January posting about Christmas Tree decorations I put up in December and took down 2 weeks ago. My posts are definitely getting more timely… 😉

This year’s theme was pale blue, silver and white: so I used miniature white, silver and pale blue Christmas baubles along with mercury glass acorn lights that give out a blue hue when lit. And finally my long beloved wire butterflies (I got those when I got this tree umpteen years ago).

Nothing says Christmas quite like pale blue butterflies imho.

Popped my tin star lights at the base of the tree for a final bit of shiny festivity, and I call StyleMAS 2020 DONE.

A very, very, V.E.R.Y. Belated StyleMAS 2019

And I said last year’s was a very belated stylemas, turns out it can get EVEN MORE belated! This is now StyleMAS in July territory!!!!

Happy 2019 StyleMAS, in 2020 StyleMAS in July!

But I wanted to share with you because:

Tradition
I did a craft

After decorating my 2019 StyleMAS tree, it was missing a certain something, something, something. So I finally tried out a random craft (making baubles out of old book pages) that I’ve been meaning to do for several years!

Defacing and repurposing books is a very loaded topic, but where the book is past usefulness but you still have an attachment to it…what to do with it? I have some old books that have been so well loved over the years that they have given up the ghost, and I’ve replaced them with more sturdy versions. And I have a couple of very battered abridged versions of books where I have also got a copy (or copies) of the non abridged version, and that non abridged book has more meaning to me…so what to do?

[I really only need 3 copies of Little Women, not 4 where the fourth is abridged. And two working copies of the complete Sherlock Holmes is fine. And one properly functioning copy of Anne of Green Gables is acceptable, as opposed to one properly functioning copy, and one that’s spilling its paper guts out every time you pick it up.]

Obviously there is still the sentimental attachment to the books, even if the actual physical item doesn’t instigate the same emotional response. And old paper is quite beautiful, so I was never going to throw these slowly degrading treasures out. But I really wanted to find something quite special to repurpose them for.

I found a couple of tutorials online about making paper baubles, and baubles out of old books:

And I earmarked them to try with one of my stash of decrepit but still possibly useful books! And last year I finally got the time…

Repurposed copy of Anne of Green Gables, and bell from the crackers used at last year’s Fambly Christmas party

All you need is a glue stick, a circle template (I used a glass), invisible tape, a pencil, scissors and some twine.

And you don’t have to use these baubles only at Christmas 🙂 They can be an all year round ornament if – as a random example – you like hanging things of some random twigs you have in vases in your house:

These are actual pages from a PD James book. Crime and Detective fiction for the win!

I made some for friends who either love Anne of Green Gables (kindred spirits, ya know) or are Canadian, and decorated them with little bells repurposed from last year’s Christmas Crackers:

QA Assured them by hanging them on my own Christmas tree

And I found that 3-5 segments is the perfect amount (there was some testing early on), while 7 is a bit too much. So I made versions that were either 3 circles, 4 circles or 5 circles. You can see some of my source books in the background:

My StyleMAS tree, covered in crimes to be solved

Pretty happy with this effort!

Art Restoration

As you know from my post about the Gallery Hanging System in my office I have a beautiful painting by my mum that my uncle framed with a gorgeous, hand-made plaster frame. My uncle worked in a bespoke picture framing and restoration company in London for many years before he retired, so the frame is VERY special, unique and rare.

Sadly the beautiful plaster frame came into contact with a hard floor when it fell off its hook. And when bespoke, but slightly fragile, plaster meets immutable objects like floors…tragedies happen:

I asked my uncle’s partner whether it could be restored, and sadly the advice was that it was a handmade frame and if I’d lost the plaster bits (which I had, when they shattered into a bazillion pieces), my only resort was to get a new frame. One that – sadly – that wouldn’t be in the same style.

Much tragedy.

So I started looking for fine art restoration companies in Western Australia, and came across Guest Fine Art Services: Picture Framers and Restorers and sent them the above tragic photo.

Gregory responded that they would be able to restore it (one corner was in perfect condition so they could take a mould of it).

After a couple of months of eager waiting, my beautiful painting is back on my office wall in pride of place with a newly restored frame:

My uncle and his partner are in the UK so they can’t see the outcome in person but I taught them how to Facebook video call and took them on a tour of my home gallery in our second video call, that was fun!

I asked if Gregory could save the framing label and information my uncle had written on the back of the painting (as it’s about the painting and who mum was studying with when she did it). Gregory was super accommodating, so he’s helped preserve all the important parts of this work – from the painting, to the frame, to the writings on the back ❤

The Silk Panel Project: My Work Is DONE

After getting quite a ways into my goal of starting and finishing a project that my mum had always wanted to do: creating a wall hanging out of some strips of hand-painted silk wall paper.

I had to take a break and regroup because although the panels were part of the same picture, they weren’t all the same height. So I stopped, and this also gave me time to consider the logistics of how I wanted it to hang (knowing there was no way DIY Dad was going to put this into a 1.9m x 2.5m frame: he had a brainfart when I asked).

I decide to sandwich some natural batting in between layers of calico, and sew the connected silk panels onto that. And then sew along the seam lines of the panels to “quilt” it.

The calico immediately behind the silk is a natural colour (it seemed to work best rather than the bleached white calico), and then the backing is bleached white. Once it was all sewn together, I edged it with a toning cotton-canvas ribbon in green.

The ribbon fulfils two functions: it frames the silk panels, but it also provides a robust surface that we can clip curtain hanging clips onto so we can hang it from a curtain rail (an ornate curtain rail) from the wall. Originally I wanted the rail to be lucite (or an acrylic drapery rod) with gold brass hanging clips (see these listings on Etsy to understand why). But the price for a 3m length was…prohibitively expensive to say the least (DIY Dad had another brain fart when I looked at prices).

So I am compromising with gold brass hanging clips, ornate gold brass end pieces…and a long black metal rod, with DIY Dad’s blessing. When he (finally) hangs it up (in the Jungle Living Room) I will share a photo so you can see the end results!

But wait there’s more Gallery Hanging System: InDaOffice!

It’s not only the Gallery Hanging System in the hallway making me happy, it’s also the Gallery Hanging System in my office!!!! Yep: my office now has a bad case of the Gallery Hanging Systems AND THIS IS ONE THING I DON’T NEED TO VACCINATE FOR.

Gallery inspiring productive prettiness.

I chose my hallway (hello to hanging my amazing Miik Green’s) and my office as the first two rooms to receive the glory of the Gallery Hanging System. And it’s a decision making me very happy.

FYI: phase two will be: bedroom, lounge room; phase 3 will be studio and part of the other side of hallway…I dread to think how many drillbits DIY Dad will go through (one reason why this project is being approached in stages.)

Most of this artwork is actually my own work, so I don’t get to #humblebrag and #namedrop an amazing artist, I just get to #humblebrag that this is mostly me 😉

This is what I see when I look in the doorway of my office, and it makes me happy.

From the top left: You have a drawing of my mum (study for a larger painting I still need to do for my sister…it’s only about 7 years late), a painting by my mum and framed in an ornate plaster frame by my uncle (sadly the frame was damaged when the painting fell off a wall – we don’t talk about that, it still hurts – so I need to get it reframed e.x.a.c.t.l.y. t.h.e. S.A.M.E. or else: and you’ll be pleased to know, dear reader, I DID) and the rest is me again.

How could you not be happy with this view?

On the other side, from the top left: that’s me, then a still life donated to my by my aunt Denny, then a painting donated to me by one of my workmates (we’ll call her Isabella’s mum)…it was Isabella’s mum’s mum’s if I recall correctly, and then the rest is me again. Fun fact: the bouganvillea cuttings I painted in the bottom right and on the opposite wall, were from my aunt’s garden #itsallconnected

Making me happy (in spite of the awful damage to the amazing plaster frame that still makes me sad)

Gallery Hanging System in Da Housie

You know I’ve wanted a gallery hanging system in my house since 2012. Technically, I’ve wanted it since 2009 but I made it official by telling you that I wanted it in 2012. [I do like to workshop things before I commit in case they are passing fancy (cough…peacock blue coloured hallway), or I find a more practical/economical/suitable solution (cough…felt storage boxes as inserts for my expedits instead of costly expensive milk crate decalled plywood boxes shipped from Europe)].

And now, in 2019, I’ve broken the seal and bought the first set of lengths of the system and begun populating my walls with gallery hanging system and then artworks hanging from the aforesaid system. First room off the rank, is the hallway where I’ve finally hung two massive Miik Green paintings. Miik is a contemporary Western Australian artist (and friend) who does both paintings and sculptures, very amazing!

Looking down the gallery Miik Greens into the living room

Miik’s paintings draw from cell-staining techniques and biological pigmentation, where colour can define abnormalities or infection. He injects, drags and extracts liquid materials, pigments and chemicals, and the paintings evolve and develop as the materials and mediums used interact with each other.

I’m a fancy art owner now. Like a grown up.

Miik finishes his paintings with a hardened, highly reflective skin so any photograph of his paintings is also a photograph of reflections. Super amazing.

I’m quite enjoying seeing parts of my house reflected back at me, although it has made it challenging to take pics of only the works, especially given their placement in my hallway means I’ll always take the pic on an angle.

Much reflection, many book. Such artwork.

Just glorious. SUPER massive props to DIY Dad who did the drilling and fixing of the points into the wall so we could fasten the rail to it.

DIY Dad’s efforts were not without challenges: we went through 3 drill bits thanks to the occasionally super hard bricks in my house; and 3 different sizes of wall plugs thanks to the occasionally super soft bricks in my house; and had to discuss our different appreciations of levels (DIY Dad = use a level, DIY Daughter: follow the cornice so it looks good, I can level the paintings.)

Reflection of a bekvan stool in a Miik Green.

3 drill bits, 3 sizes of wall plugs, 1 trip to bunnings, 1 trip to DIY Dad’s house to collect a couple of important things he’d forgotten, a brief stop for Yum Cha et voila!

The hallway is not completely done: there’s another section where I can put the hanging system but that’s not as urgent as getting Miik’s beautiful works on the wall. So 75% of the work is done, but there’s 25% to do when budget and DIY Dad time permits me to continue the progress in the hallway.

A V.E.R.Y. Belated StyleMAS 2018

This post 2 months late, no biggie…

I took these photos in early December, but just didn’t get around to writing the post for a number of reasons: 2018 was a big year for me.

Why? Well let me unpack how big it was for me…I am still trying to process it myself.

I started studying late January 2018, while still sorting out being burgled in late 2017 (that situation didn’t get fully resolved until early March 2018). So there’s that.

I studied two modules that overlapped by a month in April/May, so I could apply for a Masters at mid-year (which I was accepted into). So I swung from the modules, to applying for a new course, to studying again. And of course I decided to do a second year unit in my first semester of the Masters #nobiggie!

My exam was 2 days before my birthday in November, the results didn’t come out until the 11 December so I didn’t completely wind down from that aspect until the grades were up (got a High Distinction so it paid off!).

The study load alone would have been tiring, but we went through change management at work too.

If you’ve been through one, you know how shite they are for months on end. That’s months and months and months of stress, speculation, the anti-climax of the announcement, followed by the drag of waiting for the changeover date…and then months and months and months as new hires and new teams storm, form, norm and perform (and that’s still going on).

And while there appears to be a fantasy that change management can be smooth, easy, not stressful and transparent, the reality is it’s about change, people’s livelihoods, and change. And that is always stressful: whether you have the stress or whether you are surrounded by others who are stressing, speculating, second guessing. And then there are the people who are impacted, really impacted by the change. People who you know and work with for many years. It’s a tough time on so many levels, and that suck is part of the ugly nature of organisational change…

So yes: 2018 was a big year. On many fronts.

And then on top of that, my sister announced the date and location for her wedding: so I knew I would be travelling in early 2019. That threw a wonderful spanner in the works in terms of house stuff for 2018-19, study in 2019 and meant other things to prepare for. Delightful, wonderful spanner, but a spanner in all my finely laid plans nonetheless.

Make no mistake, it’s going to be great: DIY Dad and I will be travelling over, celebrating with friends and family in an all inclusive resort and then doing a road trip afterwards.

Meanwhile planning and logisticating for the epic trip in early 2019 meant much time in between study, shite and stuff has been spent planning the itinerary, destinations and logistics for the upcoming holiday. Also planning menu items: I plan to eat my way across the USA, eating all the regional foods. And maybe see some sights…in between courses.

On top of that, I was still on planning duties for DIY Dad’s epic home renovation. ARGH. If my lunch breaks weren’t full of study, or trip planning, then they were full of Ikea kitchen, bathroom and laundry planner and planning. I was even tempted to add Expert at Ikea Kitchen Planning to my resume: I did it that much.

Across 2017-2018, I have tried every online planning tool there is, and then had to jig, and rejig designs as DIY Dad confirmed measurements, requirements, preferences and then selectively listened to counsel about important features for kitchens, bathrooms and laundries which he then turned into some naively optimistic demands that could not be facilitated in the space he had, on the budget he had or with the design constraints he himself had put in place.

If you have ever wondered where I get my Veruca Salt level demandingness, wonder no more. DIY Dad gives Veruca and me a run for our money (something that not only impacted kitchen, bathroom and laundry planning but has also impacted Daddy-Daughter road trip and itinerary planning as well).

You can thank me for the fact that there is a place inside DIY Dad’s house where you can fill a bucket for a mop, wash a cat litter bowl and soak clothes…that isn’t the kitchen sink. You can thank me for planning a laundry that meant he had to get rid of his twin tub washing machine and upgrade to a front loading washing machine. You can thank me for the ample amount of bathroom, kitchen and laundry storage (DIY Dad has so much storage he does not know what to do with it, but for everyone else there is an ample and satisfying amount). You can thank me for introducing him to 4 switch light switches, over trying to have 4 separate light switches on one wall. Yes: thank me.

I even hit my holidays running: going up to the beach house with DIY Dad to drop off the day bed, making curtains for DIY Dad and cleaning and jzuzzing his house, having sleepovers and making cheese, testing out blancmange and junket recipes (long term goal, tell you about it later), plus reorganising, gardening, and doing all those annual jobs and stuff around the house in preparation for the big trip plus getting the flu…and then recovering from the flu (still not 100% yet). YIKES.

So I have been a bit slow on posting, and I probably will be for a little while as I catch up and think about what else I want 2019 to have in store for me…

Take a moment to smell the tulips

I ❤ these placemats. They were my 2017 birthday treat to myself, and they only come out on very special occasions.

…even if they are unscented.

Yes that is an ikea watering can being used to hold a floral arrangement.

The shot glasses holding the smaller tulips were my Nana and Poppa’s (Australian grandparents). They have history.