The Hot Rods came to town.....

The Drag-ens Hot Rod Club based in Chipping Norton, Sydney, NSW held their Show & Shine Spectacular in Nambucca Heads over the weekend.

More than 400 hot rods filled the main street of Nambucca on Saturday morning.

Every size, style and colour imaginable!
My all-time favourites are always the ones that have been faithfully restored rather than "rodded".

The rain held off just long enough for the show - and it has been raining steadily every since!

T

A Beautiful Visitor!

While we were out clearing and working - look who came to call.  He is a carpet python - wonderful for keeping the vermin under control and excellent for keeping other more viscious snakes away!

Isn't he gorgeous?!

Having a break tomorrow so it will be back to work on Tanglewood!  I look forward to that.

No Mini-ing today - but went back to nature!!

Today I took time off from working on ANY of my many projects.  Instead, I spent time in the garden where I found yet another lovely orchid in bloom.

These are native cymbidiums - so pretty!

Below are snaps of our 28 acres of rainforest with a shack on it.  We are in the process of clearing area around the structure so we can have extensions done and then move in.  Yet another project for us - just a change from working in 1:12th scale!!  But this too will be fun!

A lot of work to be done here!!  But it will be the perfect place to create miniatures......can't wait!

Welcome to my new followers!

I just wanted to welcome all the new followers of this blog - and to say thank you for dropping by and taking a look!

My Tanglewood Project

Several years ago, I went to New Zealand to do this Rik Pierce workshop and it has sat at home waiting to be worked on for so long.   I spent a long time thinking about what I would do with this because I just felt it deserved more than just being a room box!

This image shows how Tanglewood looked when it arrived home from New Zealand

This image shows Tanglewood on it's final resting place with the extension on the right side to allow for the stairs up to the first floor and providing cart access to the rear.

A close up - showing the cobbles and a few other details.

A view into the alley way showing access to the first floor.

And another view!!

I think it will be a while before this project gets finished - but it will be fun!

An Introduction to Indianna Jones ......and some baskets, of course!!

I have made mention of Indianna Jones in a previous post and thought I would introduce him to you all!  So drum-roll please............

And here he is - checking out his saddle and other bits, obviously getting ready to go on another of his grand adventures.

And here is a close-up!  He's quite handsome I think.

Made by Kim Murdock from Western Australia.

And I played a little too!  Some of
the results..........

.......and other stuff!

It never pays to have idle time as far as I'm concerned!!  Sitting quietly never works - it leads to trouble!  Actually,  it leads to insane ideas!

 I think they're finally going to lock me up!  A lidded picnic basket in 1:24th scale!  But I must say it is CUTE!!  Once I started, I had to get it finished as fast as I could - just to see the end result so I had a pretty late night last night!!

I'm starting on a shopping basket next!  Stay tuned!

 

Susan came to Play!

Been quiet for over a week - but I fixed that!!

Susan came to play yesterday and look what she did!!  She dressed my babies for me!

I'm one lucky duck!  Susan made the rompers, and the bear (of course) and the beautiful rug!!

 And how about Pooh Bear!!  They're all wonderful!

Some quiet time..............

This would have to be my favourite time of the year -  in the garden at least - and before the heat and humidity hits, and that won't be long now that winter is done and gone!  Here are some of my favourites - they are all Australian native orchids.

     

And they smell divine!

















And now .......back to work!!

Where did that week go?

Wow - it's been over a week since my last post - and where did that go?  Busy, busy, busy!!

On Monday, Susan came to play - armed with her courtyard - which is looking just wonderful so say the least.  She's such a perfectionist!!  But, she did NOT come empty handed - oh no!  I was the very grateful recipient of some treasure from Sdfioh* Adkjfbd`~!! and here they are - displayed on a little table I made!

These precious items will eventually find their rightful place in Indianna Jones' house - which is currently under construction - but that's a whole  l-o-n-g other story and the word "long" is not used lightly here.  This house has been languishing in the workshop for the last 15 years because I had no vision for it.  It's so difficult to work on a place if it has no "history".  Well, about 2 years ago I found it's destiny - a home for Indianna Jones!  And so work began - then it stalled again because of commitments in the "basket" world.  But we are on track again!  I will never complain about being bored!

I have also been playing during the week - 

Some tribal pots using our Australian gum nuts!

A serious change of heart!

I was asked to make one of my moses baskets large enough to accommodate a 2" baby - equivalent to a 3-6 month old babe in 1:12th scale.  I had grave reservations about how this basket would turn out - it needed to be 7cm long and 4.5cm wide to fit a baby comfortably and allow room for bedding and bears etc.  That is a large basket!  So I set to it with little enthusiasm.

I have changed my mind!  I think it turned out quite nicely and now find the need to make one for myself especially for this baby!

(3 guesses on who made the teddy bear!!)

I don't know when THAT's going to happen - perhaps I'll start one straight away........hmmmm.

My weekend at Play

I spent time having some fun with these baskets!  Sometimes it's just nice to try different techniques after concentrating on making the more "traditional" style baskets.  Hope you enjoy!

Cane overlay 

Inside view

Diamond weave

A three-some!

Large platter with cane overlay

Ezio’z Place – an introduction:

This is my current project – the Venice Canal House – a Rik Pierce workshop held in Wellington, New Zealand, in February this year.  It came home in a wooden crate and there it sat until about the middle of June when I was once again able to work on it.  I recently finished the last of the external claying and painting and internal floors and walls.

Ezio lives here!  He is a moderately impoverished painter who lives in Venice.

So far I've made an easel for him - most important - if he can't work, he can't eat!  Here it is in it's pristine state:

This is Ezio's studio!

Ezio's Living Quarter

His Rooftop patio

I still have lots of plants to make for both the window boxes (yet to be installed) and for his rooftop patio.

Water still has to be poured – lights to be made and fitted – and all the furnishings to be made as well - so a long way to go to completion.  But I'm having fun!

A big thank you to you all!

I just wanted to say "Hello" to all of you who have recently joined my blog!  A warm welcome to you and I hope you enjoy my ramblings - I am really a true basketcase!!

Cliche ?

Jessica e-mailed me this little something this morning and I thought it was so clever!
What goes around comes around.I made up that phrase this morning.Do you like it? Would you like to use it?Be my guest. Help yourself.You can have your cake and eat it too.You get the best of both worlds,six of one and half a dozen of the other.But don't bite off more than you can chew.I've been smoke-free now for three yearsand there's no such thing as a free lunch.But say you get your ducks in a row(your sitting ducks, your lame ducks,your lucky ducks, your dead ducks),then, at the last moment of consciousness,when your whole life flashes before you,these words will go from your mouth to God's earand he (whatever you conceive him to be)will nod once, with mild eyes,and say, “Been there. Done that.”

Back to miniatures!!

T

Tuesday and Wednesday morning of this week was spent at my dear friend's house - Helen Beale - a real life basketry artisan.  She asked if I would be interested in observing the rebirth of an old chair that had been rescued from the tip and of course, curiosity got the better of me.

"Observing" meant helping pull the  l-o-n-g lengths of cane through the weave so they didn't twist.  We had a fun time.   Every time I visit Helen I learn something new - and this time was no different.  How to get a neat finish top and bottom on a piece of flat weave - for joy- for joy!! 

This is one chair I would definitely like to try in miniature.  Isn't it beautiful?  Who would throw something like this out?!  Admittedly the old cane looked like....well, terrible, anyway....but in no time at all it is going to look fabulous!