WOW (World of Wearable Art) 2008

"WOW" indeed! Our weekend down in Wellington for the World of Wearable Art show was nothing short of incredible - and I don't use that phrase often. The show was an extravaganza - like a cross between Cirque de Soleil and Paris Fashion Week! 2 hours of non-stop spectacle and I couldn't take my eyes off it - I had trouble sleeping that night, so much was running through my head - talk about inspirational!

The costumes were just amazing - here's an example for you so you know what I mean:

The Supreme Award winner - "Ornithio Maia" by Nadine Jaggi of Wellington, NZ

First Time Entrants Award - "Perfect Pins" by Hannah Gibbs of Nelson, NZ
Commended (Childrens Section) - "Synchronised Silliness" by Karen Gurney of Rangiora, NZ

We spent the rest of the weekend shopping till we dropped and having lots of fun. Thanks to Sheryl, for suggesting we do this, and to Janet 1, Janet 2 and Anne for their wonderful companionship over the weekend :) Lets do it again next year!!

Right, back to uploading more new stuff on the website :)


~A

Time flies, redecorating, cleaning...and coiled wire

I have NO idea where September disappeared to. I mean, really - what happened to it? I posted my last blog post on the 1st of the month...and here we are, nearly 3 weeks later and this is the first chance I've had to update it. Crazy stuff...

What have I been doing? Well, to be truthful, I'm not sure. Plenty of custom orders to keep me busy, I guess (which I love). Been doing a spot of redecorating around the house (painting and suchlike), and (oh yeah, how could I forget?) I spent about 7 hours yesterday tidying my 7 year old daughters bedroom...you wouldn't believe the stuff that came out of there, destined for the dump! I didn't even believe it...why must she keep EVERY SCRAP OF PAPER she has ever doodled on?? Why? This is something I'll probably never get to the bottom of. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll be doing this every 6 months until she leaves home...oh joy!

I've also recently rediscovered my passion for coiling wire. First introduced to me by Eni Oken, now I'm spreading my wings abit and utilising it more and more. I purchased a great tutorial from the lovely Magdalena Borjeko recently, using coiled vines inside outer shapes, and I am just loving the look! Here's a few of my latest designs:

I'm also working on a new tutorial, this time for beaded flowers. I'm almost done! So keep an eye on the website for it's launch (hopefully some time this week!).

Heading off down to Wellington for the World of Wearable Arts (WOW) awards this Friday with Mum and Sheryl, and I can't wait! A 3 day weekend without the kids, with the girls, shopping, art, design, fun...what more is there?!

Right, off to continue working on this tutorial...had forgotten what a lot of work they are :)

~A

Year of Jewellery

I've committed myself to a "Year of Jewellery"! That's right, a full one-year commitment to producing one item of jewellery per month, based on that month's theme. Quite a challenge, considering everything else I have going on! But very exciting!

Each month, I'll announce the theme for that month on my "Year of Jewellery" page on the website. I'll then post a pic of that month's item on the page. I'm also inviting some friends to join in the fun, and will post all our pics onto my Flickr page. If you'd like to join in as well, please do! Just email me your pics and I'll put them on the Flickr page as well!

Due to a variety of things, I've not snagged much creative beading time this weekend (can't believe the weekend's over already!), but did manage to get these two crosses made on Friday night - will be posting them on the website this week for sale:

Catch up again soon :)

~A