Tasselmania!

The Brisbane chapter of Brown Owls made funky tassel bunting to hang high above the recent ECO Bazaar in the Queensland Museum's whale mall.

a tasseled silk cap that I made for a recent themed exhibition.

Tassels, the close relative of the trending pom-pom, are a wonderful way to add embellishment to hats, beanies, bags, cushions, clothing, curtains and so on, and SO easy to make.

I'm going to include here a tutorial about making tassels. Once you have mastered the basic technique you can apply it to all sorts of materials that you may have to hand (think streamers, plastic, string, braid...) and use the results to add something a little extra to any project you are undertaking - or have undertaken in the past. You can also add tassels to store-bought items such as cushions, tote bags, and so on, or to furniture or architecture. Easy peasy - sky's the limit!!

 Christmas crocheted baubles with tassels. 

 Using yarn in your choice of colour, wrap it repeatedly around a piece of card (this one measured about 12 cms.), a small book, or even your hand.

Once you've reached the desired thickness (experiment to get a feel for this - depends on the material you are using and the use to which you are putting the finished tassel), slip a separate length of yarn between the card and the body of the tassel and tie firmly.

Slip the yarn off the card, and cut through the body of the tassel at the opposite side from where its tied.

 

Hold the bundle of yarn to make a small ball where it is tied and use another length of yarn to tie off the tassel's 'head'.

Now give the tassel a hair cut - hold it firmly and cut off all the extra long bits, turning slightly to make sure you find them all.

To tidy up the tassel, use a wool needle to weave tie ends into the centre of the tassel. Take another length of yarn (vary colour as required) and wrap it around the neck tightly before using the yarn needle to weave the end of this length into the body of the tassel as well.

I use embroidery thread and a finer needle to attach the tassel to an object. If you like you can add some beads at this point - again tidy the finished tassel by sewing the end of the thread into the body of the tassel. 

Ta-da!

wimcee will be at the fabulous BrisStyle indie market in the city hall on Saturday 14th September, from 9 am until 3 pm,  so if you are local please feel free to drop by, have a chat, and see what new things I've been making!

Or visit me on Facebook 

Have great tassel-making days!

wimceexx 

The happiest market of them all...

It's ECO market time again!

 The BrisStyle ECO market is a special market every year - for no really obvious reason it always seems infused with a mellow mood that speaks to my inner semi-hippie.  It might be that the crafters who take part are those particularly driven by an environmental passion - there are always, certainly, local ground-breakers aplenty who fit that description. It may be that the customers and browsers who come along to this market are inspired by the hunt for wares that are slightly different to the normal markets out there, BrisStyle and others - not simply hand-made, not only vintage, not just green, but a market that brings it all together and presents itself as a unique work of art.  The music is usually perfectly matched to the occasion, and the avant-guardedness of marketers, marketeers, and market all seem to dove-tail happily in the early spring sunshine (or, this year, in the cultural centre concrete shade).

tassels decorating the Whale Mall, Queensland Museum

This year, BrisStyle is holding its annual indie ECO market - with the emphasis on recycle, vintage and eco-friendly - in the Whale Mall, adjacent to the Queensland Museum at South Bank. Even more enticingly, in association with an opening exhibition of things Afghani at the museum, the theme this year is ECO-BAZAAR.

Bizarre Bazaar - look out for the hip, the edgy, the rock-abilly, the shabby chic, the Frankie-esque, the steam-punk-pumped, the eclectic, the boho, all in one significant event with green values and artisan artistry. See you Saturday, 7th September, from 9am!

wimcee altered jumper with crochet embellishment

wimcee altered jumper and cardigan skirt with crochet detail

Until next time,

wimcee x

To market, to market...

This Friday night I am setting up shop at the BrisStyle indie Twilight Market. This will be my first 'real' market all year and here it is almost the end of August.

Markets are rather special, especially when it's BrisStyle, which is hand-made only and the primary retail out-let for this not-for-profit collective of craftspeople. These twilight markets can be hugely successful, especially running up to Christmas, but it's also an opportunity to catch up with members of long standing and meet some of the newer recruits.

I've got some new work in the pipeline for Friday night, the nature of which has been in part dictated by physical limitations after surgery in July - my beloved sewing machine hates my back at the moment. So lots of crochet and some paper and glue and embroidery have been my most comfortable options.

I have crochet bags:

...fabric and crochet cushions....    

clothing for chickadees...

and some pixie houses that are actually pin cushions in disguise...

Plus plenty more.

If you are local, drop by King George Square from 5 p.m., browse the stalls, bop to the band, and grab a bite to eat at The Groove Train...look forward to seeing you and being back in the thick of a market once more!

August August

Love August!

My birthday comes along at this time of year and I still harbour that little-girl anticipation of celebrations, not to mention gift-getting, even though, if asked, I don't actually feel I need or want a lot of frivel...much prefer sourcing out the perfect present for other people in reality.

In Brisbane, August (also) = Exhibition: the mighty Ekka, the annual horticultural show, the RNA, a rose by any name...more echoes of childhood! A sun-shiny week when the Westerlies blow icy, all sorts of nasty flus abound, as the first summer fashion forces itself out on brave (very) young things.


For the young the Ekka was - still may be, although somehow I doubt it - a bit of a rite of passage: eventually you were deemed old enough to go alone and unsupervised in the company of friends to spend a day and an evening riding the big dipper and the octopus, feasting on dagwood dogs and get-your-cheerios, and collecting trophies from the sample bag pavilion. Young girls and young fellows strutted their stuff - too young perhaps for boyfriends and girlfriends, but old enough to be aware of display.

Pre-Dreamworld days, we loved the Ekka, with its something-for-everyone...baby animals for the kiddies, floral dioramas for the Mums, spivvy cars for the Dads, handicrafts for the Nannas, and traditional pit-stops like the wood-chop and the silhouette cutter's stand that were as predictable as night following day in a world otherwise full of flux and change.

August this year involves a number of wimcee ventures: a workshop, an exhibition entry, a market - more of these shortly or visit me on facebook to be kept up-to-date.

Have great weeks!

wimceexx

Retro campers and kitschy kitchenesque

The little red caravan that could!

BrisStyle's craft caravan took the damp Brissy CBD by storm last Friday, with yarn-bombing, make-and-take, a Brown Owls meet-up, talks and demos all day, and BrisStylettes of all ages and shapes selling their hand-made goodness from cosy and colourful stalls. 


The caravan is a marvel - Helen, BrisStyle eventista extraordinaire, and beautiful Bel have done magic with their collection of retro lounges, beach brollies, and charming flamingoes!

I was also really tickled to see my own UFO's put to such good use at last by the Owls in their craftactive activities!

And I had a great time sharing a tent with the talented Anita from Mum's Cupboard (as in, what's in Mum's cupboard) for wimcee's first market outing for 2012.

Anita's Dr Mid-nite and Charlie the Owl glass stud earrings from her etsy shop
at http://www.etsy.com/listing/99280858/doctor-mid-nite-and-charlie-glass-stud

I've gone kitchenesque for the time being, which has been fun, in an effort to build up my stocks again after the hiatus. Had such a lovely time making five new aprons to take to market only to sell four of them before opening time...very happy for them to find good homes so quickly, but it threw my theme for the day just a little.

some new retro style aprons available from: http://www.madeit.com.au/detail.asp?id=554834

All we need now is some old-fasioned Brisbane winter sunshine to smile on the market season in full swing. Here's to blue skies, with no early Westerlies!

great snap of the yarn-bombed BrisStyle flamingo from Little Chrissy at
 http://little-chrissy.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/brisstyles-soggy-but-awesome-craft.html

Caravan-a-go-go!

We have lift-off!

The BrisStyle Craft Caravan has hit the road!

With support from the Brisbane City Council, BrisStyle - our collective of crafters, artists and artisans - has this year been tasked with spreading itself about a little more liberally. The brief is to share skills and experience with the wider community, and, more importantly bring creative heads together to support each other.

OK, so we've had a bit of fun too, fitting out the vehicular manifestation of this initiative.

The call went out: daggy old banana lounges, girls! Bright beach umbrellas!

This is vintage kitsch, banana-bender style...kitsch as nobody else can quite do it (or might wish to), from the land of the choko vine and saos with cheese and tomato.

   




             






On Friday 1st of June, the Caravan will park itself in King George Square, in central Brisbane, for a day-long event featuring craft demonstrations, craftstalls, and a crafters' drop-in-zone. This has been augmented with various info sessions and get-togethers in the suburbs already, and will kick-off a week-end of similar activities at Zillmere Festival on Saturday, and at Hamilton on Sunday, where the Craft Caravan will be part of the fabulous, annual Racecourse Road Carnival.





Speaking as a marketeer of a number of years' standing, winter has to be the magic season for Brisbane markets and festivals! Even if it's cool, the sun is usually shining and the sky is almost always cloudless and blue. So, no better way to kick off the winter markets season than a craft festival in the CBD for the first day of June! Check it out!

Have great weeks!

A twilight affair

"The city" is a pretty magic place in the nights leading up to Christmas...somewhere I took my boys when they were little to see the lights, the giant Christmas tree in the square, and the Myer windows, and it's where my own parents also took me and my brother and sister when we were small, for much the same purpose.

Debra Lidster's photo of the Myer Christmas windows

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It's great fun to be part of the Christmas events with the Christmas BrisStyle indie Twilight Market this coming Friday night...not just about offering our hand-made goodies for sale as stocking fillers and presents for under the tree in a world where we all have to search harder and harder to find something a bit unusual, a bit special.









It's also about sharing the buzz with the city workers, the families come to see the lights and the tree, those starting out their Friday night festivities, those on their way to pick up trains or buses to get home...the chat is always interesting and stimulating and we all love talking to people who are interested in what we do and why we do it in the happy crafting collective world that's BrisStyle. And the many others we've got to know - the customers, the suppliers, those from allied fields, the extended families, the new babies, those who have faced illness, even a few we've lost along the way. The hand-made world is like a very large, disparate family and I feel very blessed to be part of it.

In BrisStyle we have a little band of special, special people who dedicate a great chunk of their "spare" hours to organising and promoting us and what we do - arranging markets and seminars and workshops, liaising with government agencies and business organisations, supplying us with all sorts of info and suggestions to help us all along our chosen paths, and at the same time still trying to find the time to ply their own crafts.

Peppermint Magazine's photo of a BrisStyle indie Twilight Market in full swing.

So if you are local, come and visit us in King George Square from 5 p.m.  - have a chat, and by all means look around at our wares for some Christmas shopping that's outside the parameters of normal retail shopping. Look forward to seeing you!

A Christmas Carol

The St Augustine's Christmas Community Carols is something I used to do with my boys when they were little enough to go bathed and in their pj's, ready for bed straight after we'd headed for home via a quick viewing of the city lights from Bartley's Hill. Grandma came too, and we feasted on sausage sizzle, were directed in song by the legendary Hugh Cornish, and all waved around real live candles, stubby ones with little cardboard collars to protect small hands from hot wax, without burning down the church or the congregation.

Which suggests the singing went on inside that magnificent old building, but in fact we were gathered on rugs in the equally magnificent grounds of the church.


Not sure how much the boys enjoyed the carolling, but they had a lot of fun being boisterous around the trees and bushes and flower beds in the late spring twilight, and Mum and I did the singing, which we love!

Last year I went back with my market goods to support a brisStyle twilight market extension of the carols. I had such an enjoyable time of it - everyone who I spoke to was cheery, if rather hot and sweaty, and many good parents and grand-parents, having watched children performing in school choirs, and fed children sizzled sausages, wandered into the hall for a browse and some comparative calm, leaving their young to be boisterous amongst the trees and bushes outside. No stubby candles these days, but most things don't change all that much.

Wimcee will be at St A.'s this coming Friday night again (25/11) for the Racecourse Road community carol service/sausage sizzle/twilight market - can't wait! If you are local, and especially if  you have children, come along and share the festive cheer.

Day and Night, Night and Day...

This Friday night sees the staging of another BrisStyle indie Twilight Market in King George Square, Brisbane - fingers and toes crossed for a perfect Brissy-style balmy spring evening under the non-daylight-saved stars! Something a little dia de los muertos about this one too, being just around the chronological corner from Halloween. (If day-of-the-dead over-the-top calavera-chic tickles your fancy, take a stroll and visit the Crafty Chika here, or Calaverita Mexicana here.)

This print for sale from etsy here: Mariposerfuerte

see more of Carmen here: chica chica boom chic

                                            

Things Latino - a la Carmen Miranda and Frida Kahlo - have always had a fascination for me...all that colour and pattern, the symbolism and multi-cultural references, the whole outrageously, joyously, ketch-chi kit-and-kaboodle!

Iconic Frida

So wiggle on down town to King George Square this Friday night - I'll be doing my bit for the festive vibe with lots of new bags, aprons, headwear, childrens' wear, soft toys and accessories,  plus a couple of recycled and upcycled pieces for grown-up chicas! (boom-boom)