Twice in one day-Good heavens!

My red vase-I call it-this is the one with the crack and so far so good. We laced it with some Dresden base for raised gold and till now it is looking OK.

This last picture is where the crack is. The design is that these petals will be outlined in gold which to those who know me must sound strange as I do not like a lot of gold but i thought I should step outside my comfort zone this once. I have awful trouble when I make cards if I choose colours that are not particularly those that I like.

Spring has sprung!

Gosh it is a month since I have had a minute to do any writing. I cannot believe that.
My brother has gone into a nursing home and I haven't even had a minute to visit him yet. He has reached this point so quickly it is really very distressing.
His wife has done a marvellous job with him and I have no idea how she has managed.
During this time she was diagnosed with bowel and liver cancer and then to add insult to injury she broke her collar bone! So with chemo and radio therapy and Bob's dementia the poor love has been run off her feet.
I have fixed the little butterfly dishes and will log the better photo-it wasn't those dishes that had the crack it was the large vase-I will also post a photo of where I am with that. What I did with the butterflies-I painted over the butterflies with dresden base for raised gold then painted them gold again and they look so much better. I need a lot more practice with the underlay gold thingy me thinks.
I have nearly completed the blue cherry blossom vase, so I have not been idle.
We attended a wonderful wedding at the Ba'hai Temple at Ingleside on the 10th September.
Ryan, our step grand son, married his lovely Parisa. The bride danced all night until midnight! And wouldn't you know we forgot to take the wedding present. All good now because Pam called over after her return from Bali and took it to them. Thank you Pam:)
I have made a maternity smock like the ones I wore back in the 1950's-for Encore. Only have to make the buttonholes and finish the hand stitching and that is finished.
Have made some cards-not a lot-but hope to get onto that today.
It is going to be hot here today 30 odd degrees, so I will be staying indoors. I hate the heat at the best of times but when it is so soon into spring I really HATE it.

This cup and saucer I have painted at home, using a design from Herend in Hungary. They have beautiful porcelain. You should check their website. I am now working on the October issue of our Gazette and need to put my thinking cap on. Sitting at this computer too long is not good so I am going to sign out now. Thank you for your comments Nancy.

Not Happy Jane!

Can you believe it that vase I resisted has a crack in it...
I tried out that gold underlay and here is the result:)

These little boxes(?) don't photograph well as they are painted in blue green lustre -that's my excuse anyway. And what about the close up of our strelitzia? I cut this one and took it inside as I believe they last a couple of weeks but it is just spectacular.

Resist!!!

Good morning:)  I have been resisting this morning.
 Isn't it funny when you take up a hobby there are all manner of expressions that only people in that hobby group can understand.
When I was making porcelain dolls we were always asking questions like'are my eyelashes uneven or are my eyebrows level and are her eyes looking in the same direction' We thought of putting messages like these on T shirts. Now it is all about resist.
When I first entered Fay Green's porcelain art class they were all resisting and I thought 'That's different and is this the class I really want.'
Now I will post a couple of photos and you will see what I mean.

So you can see that I have resisted all the parts of the vase that don't need paint at this stage. This means that I can sponge on my persimmon red without any trauma. I intend to paint this in persimmon red and gold. Not usually the colours I like but one needs to do this sometimes -out of that comfort zone.
I am also happy with myself this morning because I have already fired two small pieces on which I have used gold underlay on butterflies. Then I need to paint them with gold and fire again. Not very confident about this but I shall persevere.

Another UFO!

I had a quick look at Nancy's blog this morning and saw her beautiful knitting and it reminded me that I have a beaded skirt to finish. Trouble is the weight of the beads is such that i can only manage a row at a time before I need a rest. That's my excuse and zi am sticking to it. Here's a little photo.

I think the craft room will have to wait-Art has gone out to lay pavers and I think i should help too:)
Am I making excuses not to get in there-after that I have to make a pie for dinner tonight too-I promised.

Busy, busy, busy!

Do you remember the old Bing Crosby song 'We're busy doing nothing'? Well that is how I feel at present. I seem to be flat chat but not achieving anything. i haven't been in the craft room for over a week and I have birthdays and anniversaries and a friend wants a wedding card -so -I am going in there today and forgetting the housework things -they can wait until tomorrow.
We have a bird of paradise plant (strilizia) and yesterday I cut one to take indoors. They are exotic plants so I hope you enjoy the photo.

This dress-more a gown than a dress-was one of those that was being photographed at Cavalcade of fashion yesterday. Beautiful beadwork. I went there to help catalogue some swimsuits from the 1920's to the 1960's.

Off to the craft room now:)

Busy Week this week.

It is all go this week. Had a lovely day at Pam's (my daughter) last Saturday. All the family there except the Lindens en-masse, although our lovely Amy was there. We have been invited to Ryan's wedding and Greg and Fran are shouting us a room at the hotel for the night of the wedding so that we can stay in town. Brilliant. We are so blessed with all our kids. They are all just brilliant.
Have been trying to make a tassel today out of gold embroidery thread. The fingers are not as nimble as they once were and it really annoys me. My Porcelain Art teacher needs a small gold tassel to finish one of her pieces for the APAT do(I think). Anyway I have made the tassels but when I attach the red bead it looks hideous so I shall leave that for a later day, when the brain is in better gear.

They actually don't look too bad now -since I have put them away for a couple of hours:)

Craft and porcelain painting with Holmes at Home: Jolly July Day 2011

Craft and porcelain painting with Holmes at Home: Jolly July Day 2011

Edit JJ Day

I want to apologise for the poor quality of the video. I just thought I could see what this clever Heather Keily was doing when I got home. Her roses were magnificent.
The second lady is Jenni Ford and she taught us how to experiment with gold underlay. So looking forward to giving that a go.
The third lady is Leoni Marsh and she taught us the beauty of monograms. Excellent!

Jolly July Day 2011

Jolly July Day at Hornsby is an annual event put on by the Australian APAT Group.
It is just the best day. For $25 you get morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea door prizes and three porcelain demonstrations by great teachers.
The food is all home made so you have top be careful not to over indulge as it is tempting.
I will upload some of the photos I took on the day.