Author Archives: zefiart

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About zefiart

Blogger, DIY-er, poodle lover, graphic designer, dog groomer, recycler, artist, wonder woman in my spare time.

cowpig and other ceramic animals

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Its been years since I did any work with clay. High school in fact. And back then I didn’t think I really enjoyed sculpting.
Well, I tried it again a little while ago and I LOVE it.
This little pig bowl was my first foray into the world of pottery. He’s called a cowpig cause that’s what a friend called him when she saw the colour. Ok, so I got the holstein patches on a pig, ok, I stuffed that up… but he’s still darn cute.

I picked aqua blue for the inside cause pink would just be wrong… and disturbing… plus I love aqua.. The idea is that its a little bowl I can plonk bracelets or such in. For now its sitting on the air conditioner (which is a floor model) in the living room where I can see it every time I walk past.

Love his little face…

And his little tail!

Next I made some little critters. I made a chicken, two bandicoots and a wombat. The chicken is not here, neither is one of the bandicoots, but the other two are.

Let me introduce the brown bandicoot and the common wombat.

I gave the little bandicoot a copper wire tail.

I’m loving this. Both the building up and the carving out. I want to buy a slab of this paper clay and make a ton more stuff.

The paper clay is clay mixed with paper pulp. It dries completely white and is easy to work with. I then take it to a place in Hobart to have it fired, paint (glaze) it with the right paints and have it refired.

I’ll get onto that soon as I find some time…

After the huge garage sale at the end of October. After moving the grooming room to the storage room.

When I find time.

z

when a fry basket becomes a cloche

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Don’t you love a quickie? Quickie project I mean!

I’ve had this base for quite a while. I originally made it for a birdwire cloche I’d made but ended up finding the perfect antique silver base for instead. So this wooden base just sat in my workshop, gathering dust.

As I prepare for the garage sale, going through everything I own and evaluating it, I found the base and thought, I wonder if the old sieve food cover I made would fit it? I know I have photos of that but I can’t find them right now so take my word for it… Anyway… Nope. It didn’t fit.

So I looked around and what did my eyes alight upon? A fry basket.

I tried and and it fit perfectly!

All I had to do was give it a wash, spray it antique white and find a knob that suits. I went with a tiny wooden knob which more or less matches.

And voila! A quick project finished.

Isn’t it nice when things just work?

And a quick project only takes 30 min and one year to complete.

z

spring on the farm

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When I lived in Melbourne I’d see photos like these and I’d feel so envious. I wanted wide open spaces, grassed plains where the dogs could run and play. I’m so lucky here. (Lucky you can’t see the weeds in photos!)
These are different views of our place from the bottom paddock, looking back towards the house. 

I love our place. Even when its squishy underfoot. It’ll dry out soon enough… then we’ll be hoping for rain.

Thanks to Google, I now know the difference between daffodils and jonquils. I’ll soon forget, but while I remember here goes…

The bottom ones in this pic are jonquils, the top ones are daffodils:

These are jonquils:

These are double daffodils – my favourites:

We also have paperwhite narcissus in a couple of spots but I didn’t get any decent photos of those.

A couple of years ago I planted some daffodils and snowdrops along the driveway and they are finally flowering.

The garden is beginning to pop with colour too. Like these gorgeous purple anemones:

In pink too:

There are still lots of empty spots in the garden beds though, where things are yet to grow or have died… When I get around to gardening again I have lots of work to do. More weeding, planting new stuff. Then just sitting back and enjoying the prettiness.

Ah. I love that part the most.

Oh! And the gumtree I thought would die when we dug the driveway run-off trench is doing great! Plus we have two more little gum trees coming along. Love my gum trees!

You can see the little gum tree on the side of the driveway above. One day it’ll be nice and big… but hopefully we’ll be long gone by the time it decides to fall over across the driveway. Gum trees have notoriously shallow roots and blow over at the slightest huff of wind.

Actually, they don’t. They stand up during storms, then fall over on quiet days. At least that’s the story our neighbour told us and I believe it. One quiet, totally still day last year, a huge gum tree came crashing down on the slope opposite us.

Its true!

z

poodles and daffodils

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Today was one of those days when the sun came out for small bursts. And when it did it was glorious. The sky was deep blue. The grass really green. The air was clean and the dogs were excited.
We decided it was time for a romp in the daffodil paddock.

Romeo ran up and down the banks of the creek so many times. Both he and Montana were covered in splattered mud by the time we were ready to go home.

If you look closely you can see Romeo in the creek bad. All you could see was his tail at one stage.

I love happy running Romeo!

And happy, not so running Montana.

In case you’re wondering, Barney was there too. He ran too, believe it or not. Just not with as much abandon. He has arthritis and running too much takes it out of him, poor boy.

Can you see the slipper feet soaking up the mud? When I clipped them off I didn’t wash them, just clipped off all the curls and dreds. Montana curls, Romeo dredlocks. Anyway, as I was saying, when I clipped them off I didn’t do their feet as they were too dirty to risk my blades. They look so funny, slim all over with clown feet.

You can see the colour of their feet today. Oh well. Its just mud. It’ll fall off once its dry.

I have more photos but there are enough in this post. I’ll share the other photos in another post, less dogs, more our place in spring.

Don’t you miss the silent gaps of no posts now?

z

little paper suitcase

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This is just a quick and easy little project I thought I’d share for the fun of it.

I’ve got photos waiting to be downloaded off the camera but was too busy (sore and tired) to tackle it yesterday so you’ll have to make do with this pititful little project for now.

I’ve made little suitcases before, I even made one out of felt last year but unfortunately I don’t think I have a photo of it. This one is made out of a ready meal box. You know the kind: Put the contents of satchel 1 into the container provided. Pour the the contents of satchel 2 over the top. Heat for 2 minutes.

Healthy stuff.

We have a lady at work who loves anything to do with going away on a trip. So I made this little suitcase for her as part of a project I have going where she can decorate her entire bedroom ceiling with ‘mobiles’ of trip related items (planes, suitcases, caravans, etc).

You can see the ‘tear here’ strip on the side. Since its going to be up high I didn’t worry too much about making it perfect, I just wanted it to look like a real suitcase.

First I glued it shut, then sprayed it with flat white paint. I found some old vinyl in our fabric box and cut the strips I needed for the handle and strap.

The corners, buckle and handle ends were made of plain cardboard. Ordinarily I’d paint those gold or silver but decided I liked them in their natural colour this time.

Cute don’t you think?

Not that there’s much use for little cardboard suitcase in every day life… Unless of course you made it so it opens and you can keep small things in it, like USB sticks, paper clips, jewelry….

Unless you do this with a shoe box that offers actual storage:

Sorry, no link for that one. But the ones below are way easier and do have links.

How cute are they? I’ve always meant to make some of those boxes for around the place…
z

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a little gardening and where on earth have i been?

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Tomorrow is the first day of spring. Not that the weather has been told. Its sunny one minute, pouring with rain the next, frost in the morning, warm in the afternoon… Pretty normal really.

The garden is confused. Plants flower. Then the frost gets them. So they flower again, The frost comes again and gets what survived the previous frost. Pretty normal really.

The garden isn’t the only thing that’s confused. Annabelle (the goose) has laid eggs. On top of last year’s dead eggs which I never got around to removing from the nest she abandoned.

In fact we’re not sure she’s actually laid new eggs on top of the old ones or if she decided to give the stale eggs another chance… either way, she’s gone clucky. Too early.

The place is a mess. Muddy and wet. Seeds I tossed out are growing and blooming between the frost bitten plants. The grass is growing and the weeds are growing faster. When walking across the yard I sometimes just can’t resist picking up the grandpa weeder and ‘just grubbing out that obnoxious weed that’s just staring me in the face, laughing at me’.

An hour or so later I put away the weeder and go into the house.

In the good news department, my new hyacinths are up. And the tyre retaining wall is filling up as the plants grow.

I put more wire up for the hardenbergia so it can spread across the carport wall.

Even the dogs got into gardening – digging new holes where pretty succulents used to grow.


I’m trying to get the garden done in short spurts, a bit here, a bit there. There’s just so much to do. And so little time. Which is why I haven’t posted. I just haven’t felt like writing, watching TV is all I want to do at the end of the day.

That and exercising my fingers.

With the broken finger now healed I can do almost anything again. My fingers are very stiff and sore and my left hand has only 1/2 the strength of the right,but I’m grooming again and I’ve started doing things in the workshop again. Finally.

One of these days I’ll be organised and have time to do it all.

In my dreams.

z

what language does your phone speak?

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This afternoon I ran into a problem I’ve had on numerous occasions with my phone. I was in my car, using bluetooth, to make a call. I hit the ‘phone’ button on my steering wheel and the phone said ‘Main Menu’.

I said “Call Amanda”.

It said ‘Would you like to call Pam?’

I said “No.”

‘Would you like to call Tourist Information?’

“NO!”

‘Please press the call button to select from the following names: Brian. Mano. The Japanese Embassy.’

“Cancel.”

Lets try again…

“Call AMANDA!”

It said ‘Would you like to call Pam?’

“NO.”
‘Would you like to call Mom?’

“NO!!! Cancel.”

‘Sorry, I don’t understand that request.’

“Cancel.”

Lets try again…

“Call Ah-MAN-DAh!”

It said ‘Would you like to call Pam?’

“NO.”
‘Would you like to call Steven?’

“NO!!! Cancel.”

‘Sorry, I don’t understand that request.’

“Cancel.”

At this stage I asked Wayne to help. I pressed the phone button and he said (in an INDIAN accent): “Call Amanda”.

It said ‘Calling Amanda’.

I mean, really.

Its like that message to text thing some phone services offer.

Have you ever got a message from them that makes sense?

You say “Hi, I’m calling about the table you have on Gumtree. Please call me back this afternoon”.

The message the guy on the other side probably says “Hi I’m talking around me cable pull have up tree. Please collar after you.”

I don’t have a typical Australian accent, but I really am not that hard to understand. I speak English. As a native speaker. With a mostly northern American accent… you wouldn’t think technology would have such a hard time understanding me.

But its not just me it doesn’t understand. The amount of times I’ve received incomprehensible texts (which have been conveniently converted to text for me by a helpful phone provider) makes me wonder if they aren’t just having a joke at our expense…

z

indian sign

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Yippee!
A project I began and finished entirely since breaking my finger!

I had this large piece of plywood, with a thin metal border from when Wayne bought a wood splitter. It arrived in a lovely ply crate which was, unfortunately, destroyed during the unwrapping stage.

I went into the garage to see the unveiling and snuck off with the intact top. I put it in the silver shed where I store a lot of ‘future projects’ (ie junk I have plans for) and forgot about it. For at least a year, probably closer to 2 years… A few months ago I saw it while searching for something, thus it was near the front of my mind when I was wondering what kind of project I could do with one hand.

I had always planned to paint the Indian Motorcycle logo on it for Wayne’s garage. I mean, he’s a cowboy, he loves anything american indian, and its a great sign for a garage…

First I undercoated it with a 3 in 1 primer, sealer undercoat I had on hand. Then I projected the image I wanted onto it so I could trace it. I’m no sign writer, I needed the help!

I worked on it in the grooming room (since it wasn’t being used for grooming!) so I could keep it a surprise for Wayne. I only worked on it in spits and spurts as the inspiration and energy hit me so it took a full 3 weeks to complete.

I began painting it with artist acrylics but they didn’t give a nice finish. The face and head dress (which is a pale beige but looks white in the photos) are textured and not smooth. I had to buy some tiny (and expensive) pots of water based enamel paint. Its liquid and goes on smooth. However they have limited colours – I used those for the red, yellow and black.

The sign will hang in the garage, probably be put up next weekend if we’re lucky. Its something thats best admired from afar… the black outlines are a bit wobbly in places.

Wayne is pretty impressed with his gift. Its for putting up with me constantly complaining about my finger and for using it as a good great excuse for not cooking.

UPDATE

Wayne has hung the sign in the garage.

z

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passing the time not so productively

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So, other than pondering the big questions in life (like is DIY worth it) what have I been doing with myself since the circumcised finger incident?

In short: not much.

Today I managed to make the bed almost entirely by myself. I had to call in reinforcements to pull the last corner of the fitted sheet down… But I was able to wrestle the doona into its cover all by myself.

I call that a victory.

Other than that I’ve been doing a lot of computer stuff. My mouse hand works fine.

Things like a heap of pics for my dog grooming:

And some self promotion for the radio show Wayne and I do:

Or, my favourite:

I’ve taken to wrapping my splint in neon coloured vet wrap.

I’ve been bored.

Tomorrow I’ll try to take some photos of projects which have been finished for a while but lack photographic evidence.

Plus, I finished a gift for Wayne’s workshop which I can photograph and share.

I can do that now cause I got batteries for my camera.

z

DIY – is it worth the bother?

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Seriously, I’ve been thinking this for a while now… in fact its a thought I get every time I go shopping…

And let me say right now, this is in no way an advertisement for Kmart (though if they’d like to throw some money my way I’d be more than happy to take it!)

Why bother making our own stuff when Kmart, The Reject Shop, Big W, Target and just about every other big store sells the stuff we pin, make from scratch or make over from curbside finds.

And (usually) for less than we can make them for!

We spend hours and often $$ making these things when we could walk into Kmart and just buy. No muss, no fuss.

I mean, I’m a fan of old, rusty, crusty and broken, so I’m not a big fan of cheap new imitations… but if you make things to sell then this is what you have to compete with. And not everyone has the same passion for old dirt as I do.

How about some examples? All items on right are from the Kmart website.

Ladder shelves are a big thing, pretty and practical. Image on left from Pinterest.
Who doesn’t love cement lamp bases? Image on left from Pinterest.
Trendy pegboard shelves… Image on left from Pinterest.
 Cement planters. Image on left from Pinterest.
 Come on, haven’t you been tempted to make one of these? Image on left from Pinterest.

Test tube bud vases… Image on left from Pinterest.

If I didn’t love old things with authentic scratches from many years of use, rust from being treated with a healthy amount of disrespect, and antique grime, I would be decorating my house with this stuff.

So what if it breaks in a year or less? Just buy a new one. Or something else. Just means you can re-decorate again!

So where does this leave us DIYers?

I don’t know.

I will still make, remake and revamp old stuff. For my own home and enjoyment. And maybe there’ll be enough people out there who appreiciate the real thing with all its not quite perfection.

But sometimes I’m tempted…

Like this faux cowhide rug. I plan to buy this soon as I have some spare cash.

So its not real… it’ll look pretty cool on my couch.
z
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