rusty wreath reborn

Posted on December 30, 2013 by zefiart

I love rust. Its no secret. When I see a piece of rusty wire, no matter how bad its condition, my heart skips a beat.

I found this old piece of messed up rusty wire out the back of our property somewhere and picked it up. It was pretty mangled. No way to unravel it, so I did the next best thing. I weaved it into a circle, added a few bits of rusty barbed wire and called it a wreath.

You can see how it looked in its first incarnation here.

I lived with it like that for a while but it just wasn’t … finished.

You know what I mean.

It needed something… more. It needed a strand of wire with glittery green beads on it.

And a couple of aged keys.

The wire with beads was given to my by a friend who said ‘I thought you’d be able to use this’… how right she was!

I love the shine of the gold wire and the sparkle of the beads against the flatness and colour of the rusty wire.

I love the tangles of the wire.

I’d say its finished now… it just works!

PS On an aside, the ‘search this blog’ link isn’t working… I have no idea why. It used to work!

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a primitive bird

Posted on December 23, 2013 by zefiart

Time to share something creative. Its been all ducks, geese, seeds and driveways lately on this blog.

Here’s a primitive* little bird I made out of some old fabric scaps. The inspiration came from artwork I’d seen on, where else, Pinterest.

*Primitive = my hand stitching is pretty primitive.

The idea was to make a picture using fabric instead of paints or pastels.

I learned a couple of things doing this.

I enjoyed doing it.
Its much quicker to paint or draw.
I’m way better with a brush than a needle.

It was worth trying it, though, right?

Still, I had fun. Hand stitching is therapeutic. You can do it while you watch TV if you’re not too invested in actually watching TV.

I framed it in an old frame I’d got at a tip shop. One of those ‘slide a photo in and stand it up on the dressing table’ type of frames.

Its a cheerful little bird. And its made up almost entirely of small scaps which had been destined for the bin cause they were too small to make anything else out of.

When I get the chance (time, inspiration, whatever), I’ll make another one or three.

Meanwhile, the duckling is still alive. Maybe even a little livelier today…? He cheeped at me.

I checked on him this morning, dreading what I’d find, but found a snug little duckling, some food eaten and all the water gone. Most likely spilled. Still, he was alive! That’s a win.

This afternoon I gave him a bigger box, more space but still snug and warm. I hope his foot gets better. I really do.

ps. When I say ‘he’, I have no idea, he could be a she like Little Herman is.

pps. Little Herman was the runt of a duckling we saved and raised a couple of years ago. I named him Little Herman and he turned out to be a she.

wire, frames and photos

Posted on December 20, 2013 by zefiart

Thought I’d share these two wire frames I made and sold at the last market.

This first one is using… you guessed it!… birdwire!

‘Cause as you know, I have a ton of it. Though a ton less than I had before after lining the dog pen with it for the ducks…

Speaking of which, we now stand 2 ducklings down, 8 remaining. One egg down, 9 remaining. And holding our breath.

But I digress. Back to the frame. I have a couple of frames with this design on them so I decided I’d try one as a birdwire photo display.

The second frame I did with the wire lines for something different. (I like the birdwire better!)

Still, they’re both very handy. If I hadn’t sold them I’d be using them right now.

make a crown from a tin can

Posted on December 17, 2013 by zefiart

Don’t you just love crowns? Especially rusty crowns.

I saw a rusty crown on Pinterest when I first joined it and really really wanted one of my own. But where to find one?

Solution: make my own!

Firstly, I got a tin can. This one used to have some kind of fruit in it so it was bigger than your usual baked beans can.

I got a piece of paper and cut it to fit around the can. Then I folded it so I could divide it into uniform peaks for my crown.

I cut out the pattern and traced it onto the can using a marker.

I used tin snips to cut the can and then used a file to make the edges a little less dangerous.

Its still pretty sharp, however, so if I was to make another one I’d go a step further and fold over the edges to round them off.

So, my crown was made, but of course it was WAAAAY too shiny.

I put it in a solution of salt and vinegar, but really, I’ve never had as much luck with that as they claim on Pinterest. I found that you can leave most things in salt and vinegar for-EVER and nothing happens. HOWEVER, once you take them out and expose them to the air a while things start to happen. ie Rust happens.

With the crown, I sat it in a bowl of solution and kept turing it to get a kind of rusty effect.

Given my crown is a bit on the deadly side, I’ll be using it as a decorative item in places where no one can impale themselves on it. ie, I won’t be leaving it on the couch…

I really enjoyed working with the tin. I’m thinking of a few other projects I could use tin cans for…

For now I think I’ll just concentrate on the other 5097 projects I have waiting.

PS. Some updated photos of the crown. Turns out it wasn’t finished after all. It took Wayne 5 seconds to ‘fix’ it. All he did was bend the points and it was better!

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birdwire cloche becomes a birdcage

Posted on December 11, 2013 by zefiart

I decided to try my hand at a wire cloche. I’ve seen photos of them on Pinterest and I love them.

Let me tell you… its not something I’m going to be rushing out to do again any time soon! Its really not that easy to shape birdwire. There are tin bits of birdwire all over the place in the workshop!

However, it came up ok. I had a wooden base missing its top so I created a wire cloche which would fit in it, then added a broken drawer pull as a handle to the top.

This is what it looks like with a photo in it.

It was okay.

Not great.

Just okay.

I wasn’t entirely happy with it.

So I did some more work on it. For one thing, I found the perfect base for it. A very old, discoloured filigree silver dish. It must have held a cystal bowl at some stage. Anyway, it was perfect.

Goodbye wooden base, hello gorgeous silver base.

Now it was a birdcage, not a cloche.

So, what does a birdcage need? A perch… and a bird!

I’d seen these gorgeous little fat birds made of fabric on Pinterest but I seriously didn’t want to sew. So I made up my own birdie pattern and made it out of felt – I cut up a piece of wet felted ‘fabric’ I’d made, then felted colours over it to create a colourful little bird.

Here’s the finished product…

Don’t you just love the typewriter? A friend of mine found it on the side of the road on a hard rubbish collection day and had to fight off 2 guys to get it for me! What a friend!

Its all rusty, the bits are kind of welded together and no parts move, but isn’t it great? I think it’ll look great with the right plant growing around it on the porch. If I can find the right plant for the porch… Only succulents can survive summer on our porch!

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the broken rose frame

Posted on December 3, 2013 by zefiart

Have you ever had one of those ~~days~~ ~~weeks~~ months when your life just seems to be so busy it overwhelms you?

I’m having one of those months. I look at each week ahead of me and I groan at how many things I have booked in. Work, dogs to groom, meetings, appointments, other work, supplies or groceries to buy, things to fix, make, wash, etc.

Wayne is always lecturing me on how bad I am at prioritizing. That I have a busy week ahead of me and I go on and cram more stuff into it. That he virtually has to drag me out of the house to spend a bit of quality time just relaxing.

I always say that I can’t not do something. I even like to work on something while I watch TV. I love audio books cause I can listen to a book while I drive, groom dogs or work in the shed.

I do remember being able to just relax, once, a long long time ago… and I remember having days in my life when I had nothing planned and could spend the day doing as much or as little as I wanted.

What happened to my life?

Does anyone else have this problem?

Up till about a month ago I was working 5 days a week. Now I’m working 3.5 days and I’m busier than ever. Please, someone, explain to me how I manage this.

Failing that, can someone please point me in the direction of a cloning facility?

Ok. Enough of this self indulgent crap. Time to share something creative.

I had found this old frame in an op shop a long time ago. I loved the rose pattern on it but whole chunks of the roses were broken off. A friend (yes, you Diane) told me I could create new roses but that sounded like too much hard work to me.

Besides, I’m a trashy kinda girl. I like things in their natural state of disrepair, patina, rust, grime, etc.

All I did was paint the frame white, then give it a bit of age using some burnt sienna acrylic paint and a damp sponge. It made the roses really pop and the blank spots actually don’t look that bad.

I had been considering putting a chalkboard into the frame, cause, you know, chalkboards are so popular… but I wanted to go a bit different this time. So I put in bird wire.

Yes… I’m going through a bird wire phase…

I did mention the failed attempt at keeping birds from nesting in our roof. On Saturday I had to cut two holes in the wire I slaved to put up in order to remove a dead adult bird and to let out 3 youngsters who were trapped…

I have tons of bird wire I won’t be using on our roof….

Anyway… I got out my trusty staple gun, put in the birdwire and voila!

The photos, for display purposes only, are my parents. Mom as a beach babe, my dad, and the two of them in a loving pose on a beach.

I took the frame with me to the Lazy May Market on the weekend and donated it to the raffle. I did consider buying tickets to the raffle… it would have been quite cool to win it back and keep it! But I didn’t. It didn’t seem fair.

Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll make myself another one!

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another day, another market

Posted on December 1, 2013 by zefiart

Its been another long day, another fun day at a market. After this market I’m taking a break.

Till the next one.

Actually, I don’t plan to do another till sometime in the beginning of next year. I need a break. I need to do some housework (though I’ve successfully avoided it for so long I’m not sure I remember how…), I need to groom my own stinky dogs, I need to make more stuff to take to the next market.

I need to finish painting the house…

Here are a few photos. Some of these items I will post about when I get a chance, others are sold and I won’t be able to get more photos of.

Like these two bird prints. They turned out great but I wasn’t able to get photos of them before the market.

A flyscreen bulletin board…

Some bin lid magnet note boards…

Some felt animals… little ornaments… sold and not photographed.

A fun altered art frame…

Some bird wire framed birds…

Wayne came with me this time which was great, he’s always handy to have around to carry things, but he’s also chatty and funny.

My brain is fried right now, we had the work Christmas party last night and got home at 11pm, then got up at 5am.

Hopefully, once things get back to normal I’ll be able to post a bit more. You know, normal. Like only 133 things to do a day without the added pressure of a market to get ready for.

I need some sleep.

raggedy lampshade

Posted on November 24, 2013 by zefiart

Its been a quiet day here at Wind Dancer Farm. I’ve pretty much succeeded to avoid doing much of anything today.

Wayne’s been out behind the garage sorting out old timber. When we bought the farm there were piles of all sorts of things in the paddocks. Over the last couple of years we’ve gone through and sorted things out, burning the timber which was beyond saving, re-using some of it to build the stable, trying to save as much of it as we could.

In fact, every time Wayne made a pile of rubbish to burn off, I’d sneak out and rescue any bits of wood I thought I could use. He hated it!

The reason we have to do this right now (and by ‘we’ I mean ‘he’) is because we’re planning to have our driveway and the dam fixed and the old timber is lying right in the path of the excavator. Of course, the other reason is to clean up the place. I know farms aren’t usually neat and tidy as there’s always that extra space to ‘just toss that there till later’… I just don’t like big messes. We’ve cleaned up a ton since we moved in here, but there’s still plenty left to do.

Last weekend Wayne sorted out weatherboards for the eventual revamp of our small timber shed. Today he sorted out floorboards. One day I’ll have a little studio shed.

I can dream…

For now I’d settle for a new stove. A new kitchen. A new bathroom. A dam that doesn’t leak. A driveway that doesn’t turn into Niagara Falls when it rains.

I don’t ask for much.

At least I have my projects which allow me to feel a sense of accomplishment amongst all the things on the To Do list.

Like this lamp.

This is an old lamp that I’ve had for quite a few years now. I never had the original shade for it so I’ve never really used it. Its been hanging around in the aforementioned timber shed since we moved here.

Last week, while sorting out things to make, do and finish for the market, I found the lamp base and decided it was time to actually do something with it. I mean, the colour is gorgeous!

I pictured beachy, fresh, white. I pictured texture, rags and frayed edges.

I had kept a couple of skirts I was given , even though I’d never wear them, cause I had planned to do just this with a wire basket I have. I guess the basket will have to wait for other fabric now.

I wove and wrapped the ripped fabric around the wire shade frame, tying new strips as needed, creating a random pattern of weave and knots. I added a few lines of pale taupe as well for a bit of interest.

The result is a gorgeous textured lamp shade. The freshness of the white combined with the turquoise of the base is exactly what I’d been hoping for.

I’m quite happy with how it turned out!

fun day at the market and another baking tin caddy

Posted on November 23, 2013 by zefiart

Its been a long ~~week~~ day. Today a friend and I had a market stall in the Shabby Chic Market. I enjoy meeting people, selling stuff and spending some of my hard earned cash at other seller’s tables!

Its always fun to do a market but getting ready for them is a killer.

I don’t do them very often. I have more than enough on my plate as it is. A market means more time spent making things to sell and less time spent on cleaning the house, washing dishes or doing laundry.

Come to think of it, I should do more markets…

I’m sleep deprived.

I’ve been up late every night in order to get a few things finished and guess what? I haven’t finished them all.

And guess what else?

I’m doing another market next weekend!

What’s that saying? “No rest for the wicked”… or is it “Glutton for punishment”?

On the positive side, I came home to a cooked dinner, washed dishes and clean washing. Wayne is a gem!

Anyway, thought I’d share another baking tin storage caddy. I made 3 but only photographed two. I shared one last week but this is my favourite. It didn’t sell today and I think it might be a sign.

I’m seriously considering using it at the sink to hold dish washing liquid, hand soap and sponges in the kitchen.

I’ve taken photos of some of my projects which I’ll be sharing soon but I apologise in advance for the quality of some of the photos… The weather was ‘ordinary’ yesterday so I had to take most of the photos indoors with lousy lighting. Not even Photoshop can fix some of those photos….

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art from trash – the plastic fantastic chandelier

Posted on September 28, 2013 by zefiart

I’ve been trying to post a bit more often, like I used to, but you know how things go. You work, you get home tired, you work more at home, you make stuff to sell, you groom dogs, you clean house, wash clothes, think about mowing the lawn…

Then you have to attend functions and exhibitions where you win 1st prize…

Yeah! You heard me!

I won first prize at the Kingborough Council Salvaged Art Competition!!!!!!!!

This is the winning entry as it was when I was putting the finishing touches on it at home in the living room. I’d put a hook in a beam on the ceiling and one of us or one of the dogs would brush by and it would make hollow plastic clunking noises like a badly tuned windchime every time we walked past it.

The thought behind it was that I wanted to make a chandelier. Something large and pretty but out of ‘rubbish’… Plastic cups and old tuperware lids which I found at tip shops and in the bottom of my cupboard.

The ‘base’ for the chandelier is a large plastic clock I found at the tip shop. It was perfect!

I used wire, odd beads and crystals to give it a bid of bling and sparkle. Then I got 2 four meter strings of battery operated fairy lights so it would light up. The idea was to make it possible to light it when it was hung for exhibition without needing to wire it in.

Here it is in the competition. Hard to see the lights in the bright gallery.

There was one downside… somehow the lights would not set to ‘ON’ but stayed on ‘Blinking’. Not the effect I was after. If truth be told I wanted it to be full of fairy lights… a tangle of them above the clock base and going up towards the ceiling.

Still, I can’t complain.

I WON!

To make the night even more special, the Roadmap Bookcase I had worked so hard to pull together with the guys I work with on the Revamp program won 1st prize in the Amateur Artist category!