Friday Friends, Australian ETSY Sellers - Art by Aune

Happy Friday lovely Maddabling Blog Readers. Yesterday, the 26th of January 2012 was Australia Day !

How did you celebrate ? I listened to Triple J's Hottest 100, ate lamingtons, cocktail sausages and party pies, then watched the fireworks display in our town !

I have a wonderful artisan to introduce this week - meet the lovely Aune from ArtByAune !

Aune opened her Etsy store quite recently and I was browsing Australian Sculpture when I stumbled upon her gorgeous shop ! I think I may have mentioned once or twice before that the best part about featuring artists on my blog is that you get to have a really good look around their shops and you fall in love with new creations every week. Here are two of my favourites from ArtByAune !

 I love the composition, textures and colours in this painting  http://www.etsy.com/listing/83540682/abstract-painting-large-textured

which Aune describes : "Abstract Painting large mixed media original was created by Aune using Tar, Acrylic and oil pastels on oil paper. It was so fun to create as you are not sure how it will turn out with the reaction of tar and acrylic.Then I added the lady in the oil pastels. It is very textured. the back is a bit marked from the tar."

And then there is this little lady.  http://www.etsy.com/listing/83280449/sculpture-garden-art-original-small

What is not to love ! She really is just the cutest ! Aune describes here as : "Sculpture Garden Art Original small punky fairy,black witch,indoor,outdoor This garden sculpture is a one off original created by Aune using a wire base and wrapped and dressed with fabric dipped in Wrapertoire / paverpol a textile hardener. sitting on a wooden block."

Dear readers, time for you to take some time just for yourselves now, and explore the Art by Aune Archives. Enjoy and see you all next Wednesday for Wednesday Wishes !


The Art By Aune Archives

Hi !  My name is Aune I live on the NSW/ QLD border of Australia and love it. I started sewing at a young age and wanted to become a designer but family commitments put an end to that. Later I started painting and creating as a hobby in all types of media eg. Watercolour, acrylic, mixed media, mosaics and paper clay sculptures and my fabric garden sculptures.

I went to all different workshops to see the different techniques and loved them all. My favourite might be when I just throw everything onto paper and then later look into it and bring out what I see. You never know what you will end up with and that is exciting.


I also started holding workshops with my fabric sculptures - such a fun day, you have ladies saying they haven’t got a creative bone in their bodies and they go home with this piece that they have made and are so proud of themselves it is so wonderful to watch.

I just started my ArtByAune Etsy shop at the end of 2011 (wow into 2012 already ), when I finished working and decided to put some of my works I had online and focus on that. Just had my first Etsy sale last month, which was a fabric sculpture of a Hippy that went to the USA ! So happy with that !

The painting below of the dolphins head was featured in Australia Artist magazine they did a wonderful critique on it. The other is one I painted and was sold straight after I framed it they both are based in water colour with a few other things thrown is such as onion net and cord.




Then there is a fabric sculpture that I did - they can be placed outside in the garden you can hose them down, I’m not sure how they would react in extreme conditions but in normal weather they are fine.

Dear Readers, are you keen to see more ? Here is how you can connect with ArtbyAune.

You can buy her wonderful creations on Etsy here :

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtByAune

or follow ArtByAune on Facebook here :

https://www.facebook.com/ArtByAune

Happy Australia Day (Eve) - Wednesday Wishes

Football ........meat pies..........kangaroos...........and holden cars...............

Happy Australia Day Eve everyone - this Wednesday Wishes Blogpost includes five creations which epitomise Australian popular culture - enjoy ! Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi ! 

Australia Day Vibes - Print by GasBombGirl

Sydney Opera House Earrings in Sterling Silver by MissWrightDesigns



Throw Pillow 1982 calendar birthday red Australia Tea Towel Repurposed
Cotton Pillow Cushion OOAK Eco Friendly by collectingfeathers

Australia Day Card Girt By Sea Blank Greeting by pinkdesertbluebird

Made to Order -- Australian Rules Football Player by  Sandra Eterovic

Friday Friends - DUSTy Divas - Unique Dichroic Glass Creations

Dear Readers welcome to a new edition of Friday Friends ! I hope your week hasn't been too hectic and that you had some time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.

I am thrilled to announce a personal Blogging milestone today - the Maddabling Blog has reached 100 Blog Followers ! A HUGE thank you to each one of you, it makes me happy to share creative finds and other things with you and your comments always make me smile and feel the blogging love !

This week I am continuing my focus on local artists i.e. creators located in the South West and Great Southern of Western Australia. I am so pleased to introduce a new Friday Friend and DUSTy Diva - the absolutely lovely Deborah of Unique Dichroic Glass Creations.

I have been lucky enough to meet Deborah in person at the Denmark Markets a few times, and although we don't get to chat for long, it's always nice to see her big smile and she always has kind words to share ! 

I must admit, I do love glass jewellery and I have a beautiful Unique Dichroic Glass Ring in my jewellery collection. The simple silver on black is so effective don't you think ?

I also think that this pendant is very very tattoo cool, I will have to look out for it at the Denmark Markets this weekend.

LOVE Dichroic Fused Glass Pendant, OOAK Hand Etched Love Heart Design

Dear readers, I invite you now to read The Unique Dichroic Diaries and learn a little more about the art of Dichroic Glass creation. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, see you next Wednesday for the Wednesday Wishes post xo

Dichroic Pendant, Fused Glass, Pretty Calla, Pink Rainbow, Dichroic Glass

 The Unique Dichroic Diaries


Hi ! My name is Deborah and I am passionate about glass! I’ve been playing with dichroic glass for about 7 years and I still love it. Dichroic Glass is such a wonderful medium to work with..the colours are amazing. And there are so many different things you can do with it.

It does surprise me that I’ve been passionate about dichroic for so long.....I’ve always been ‘crafty’ and I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t creating things..  I usually only play with things for a couple of years and then move on to another medium. But this glass has got me hooked!

And I think the reason why I still love it is because I’m still finding new ways of working with it. I am still able to experiment and come up with new ideas and new techniques. I love firing it it my kiln, watching it glow red hot and melt together. And I still get excited opening the kiln after it’s cooled to see what has been created.

I also love to hand-etch the dichroic glass! This has allowed me to express my artist side, and really does turn the glass into a little piece of Art. I freehand etch designs straight into the glass...I don’t use patterns or templates. I am able to turn things I love into glass art.

I live on a very quiet and peaceful rural property surrounded thousands of acres of National Park forest, and my studio is a tiny single room cottage at the bottom of my large garden. So naturally trees are a big influence, and I enjoy hand-etching trees into the glass. They are probably my most popular designs, but I also hand-etch other things I love like Grass Trees, dragonflies, emus and even robots...(yes I’m a robot geek)

I mostly create glass pendants, and have a wide range of different styles...from colourful 3D ‘tack-fused’ designed which require a very precise firing technique, to wire-wrapped pendants where I cut a discrete groove into the side of the glass and wrap with silver wire. Others are created by building up layers and layers of tiny chips of glass and kiln firing up to five times...lots of work but the results are amazing!



I also make a range of dichroic glass earrings. My faves are my hand-etched tree earrings. They have such fine detail I need a magnifying glass to hand-etch them. The earring hooks are also handmade by me. Like a lot of other people, I have sensitive ears and had problems wearing earrings. So I started making my own solid sterling silver hooks which solved the problem of itchy ears, and I do enjoy making them.

Something new that I’ve just started making is a range of Charm jewellery...little charm pendants that incorporate my own handmade dichroic glass, and sweet little charm earrings. I do love these.



What’s next???...I can’t tell you because I don’t know LOL I just follow my passion! 

Life is far more enjoyable when you do what you love :)

Dear readers, do you want to see more ?

You can find Deborah and her gorgeous creations online here :

Etsy :

http://www.etsy.com/shop/UniqueDichroic 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DebUnique

BigCartel shop  :

http://uniquedichroic.bigcartel.com/

Follow the uniquedichroic blog here :

http://uniquedichroic.blogspot.com/

or you can shop in person at The Denmark Markets  this Sunday 22nd January.

"S" is for Sushi ! Wednesday Wishes

Sushi
noun

a Japanese dish consisting of small cakes of cold cooked rice flavored with vinegar, typically garnished with strips of raw or cooked fish, cooked egg, vegetables, etc

Have you ever made Sushi ? We are going to try making Sushi this weekend ! Wish me luck..................
"S" is for Sushi is the theme for todays Wednesday Wishes. I can only hope ours turn out to look half as good as these xo

Kawaii Sushi Ring Traditional Japanese Food Jewelry by SouZouCreations

Felt Food- 3 Sushi Rolls, 2 Chopsticks and a Fortune Cookie by  jdensing

Sweet "Geisha Chibi" t-shirt / tee (with lanterns and mochi hair ornaments) by http://www.etsy.com/shop/PeppermintCarouselAU

Sushi Soap set by Bubblelanesoap

Sushi Beeswax Candles - Set of 6 by Simple Natured

Friday Friends - Australian Etsy Artists - 4Eggs

Welcome dearest readers to a new edition of Friday Friends. I hope your collective weeks have been filled with laughter and sunshine. I am excited this week to introduce a Maddabling guest blog writer - meet Emma from 4eggs !

Emma hails from one of my favourite parts of Australia, being the Busselton area, which really is only a hop skip and a jump (as the crow flies) from the Southern Coast. A local artist who makes the most divine soft furnishings, bags and clutches. I featured one of Emma's cushion sets in this weeks Vibrant Wednesday Wishes list - did you spot it ? Before I hand the blog over to Emma for your reading pleasure I just want to share one or two of my fave items from Emma's Etsy store :  

I really heart this Red ladies cushion cover - 'Armando Caruso' Fabric. Red, white and black with tulle Fringing - isn't it just gorgeous ?

  http://www.etsy.com/listing/85940437/red-ladies-cushion-cover-armando-caruso

oh and you really must see for yourself the amazing level of details and textures in this Black Embellished Evening Shoulder Bag...... The Perfect Accessory for your Little Black Dress ! 

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/88490946/black-embellished-evening-shoulder-bag

I will now hand you over to Emma so she can share the wonderful tale of her creative journey with you all. Be kind to one another, see you all next Wednesday for a new blog post full of Wednesday Wishes. xo

Who is 4Eggs?

4Eggs is me! Emma Egginton. I used to tell my husband that I would name my brand 4Eggs because it represents my first passion, my family. All my family call us the Eggs so it was fitting that it became my shop name. It also keeps me a little bit anonymous which suits me because I can be a little shy when it comes to my creations.

When did my artistic journey begin?

I have always loved art. Many moons ago I looked forward to going to art class, I rarely got into trouble during art lessons unlike the rest of my studies. I remember making scrunchies out of liberty print fabric and selling them at a local beauty therapist. I also made Christmas cards when I was 16 and sold them at my Uncle’s book shop.

This is my year 12 major work for art; it is a self portrait of me made up of coloured photos. This was pretty cool way back then, there wasn’t any Photoshop around! I used black and white film and had it run through a colour processor to get the coloured photos. It has seen better days but I will never throw it away because it took so long to complete.

My mum is an excellent seamstress I was always impressed by her ability to whip something up on the weekends so at the age of 23 after being fed up with being a beauty therapist since leaving school I decided that I would learn how to sew and enrolled in an Advanced Certificate in Garment Production at the Canberra Institute of Technology. Let me say I had no idea what “right sides together” meant when I started out, but finished the course with an array of skills and techniques that I still use today.

I made several tailored jackets and ball gowns for friends and family but realised very quickly dress making wasn’t going to be a viable option for me because people were not prepared to pay for the time it took to make a customised garment. I made the odd outfit for friends or myself and went back to the work force and got a degree in Community Education at the University of Canberra, getting a job as a Youth worker until I had my daughter Amy.

This is a close up of the hem of a chiffon embroidered dress I made at CIT.

I started doing craft again when I was bored at home waiting for my daughter Amy to arrive; she wasn’t interested in leaving my womb so I ended up having weeks off work and nothing to do. I would wobble off to Bunning’s nearly every day to buy something to paint or stick on somewhere! After she was born I loved making her little dresses and hat and still have her special little pinafores I made for her.

In 2006 we decided to leave Canberra and move to Busselton. During a visit to Yalingup Gallery I discovered “The Ritzy Tote bag” by Caroline Thomas.  I tracked her down in Dunsborough and asked her about her bags, she offered to teach me the technique and so I did a two day course and got the creative juices flowing again...

I've made four bags and two clutches using this technique. I currently have one of them on sale on Etsy :  http://www.etsy.com/listing/88490946/black-embellished-evening-shoulder-bag

The creativity carried on until my son was born in 2008. Two little people left little time for sewing so my craft activities was redirected to painting and paper art with my daughter and my son as soon as he became mobile. Here is Amy proudly holding a painting I helped her with.

Below is a purple people eater outfit I made for Amy and 20 other little girls for their dance concert a few years ago. They all looked so cute !

As Tom got older I was able to do more and come 2010 we decided to build a house so I started painting all our furniture which was all wood and dated. You name it, I painted it  - a pink tall boy for my daughter with decoupage bedside table. Tommy got a blue and aqua tall boy with matching bedsides. The kids helped with a lot of the painting (even if it meant another sand after they had contributed ! ).

I bought an old desk and dressing table from Vinnies and did them up. I love my acrylic blue dressing table. I also tried my hand at upholstering some old chairs from Vinnie’s. I just used some IKEA fabric which I embroidered and painted. Hard work but I’m proud of the finished results. 

Inspiration

2010, Enter Pinterest to my life, this site is truly inspiring! I love how visually stimulating it is.  

A myriad of images in front of me, pins on anything and everything your heart desires. It is an amazing resource and source of inspiration and motivation for me. Pinterest ignited my creative side and motivated me to start crafting and creating again. I began (with the help of my kids) trying out things I’d never dreamt of. We made homemade glue and wrapped yarn around a bowl. Amy’s (who is 6) turned out better than mine but I persevered and tried with fabric and sari silk. I love making a creative mess, drenching fabric and yarn in gooey glue was very therapeutic and the end result I called ‘fabricmache’!

I have discovered really cool techniques from other talent artisans and I always go straight to Pinterest if the kids want to do a craft activity. We had a great time making glitter goose. Glue, glitter... what more could you ask for?

If you would like to see my Pinterest boards : http://pinterest.com/4eggs/

My Etsy Shop

I was talking to a great friend in QLD about getting a job when Tommy went to school, she made some comment along the lines of why don’t you just make stuff and work from home. I ummed and arrhhed for a while and then one day made a conscious decision to try. Knowing myself as well as I do I knew I had to pick a forte and concentrate on it. After throwing around a few ideas I decided on cushion covers. Why? Because to me cushion covers are like a laid-back canvas that comes to life when the insert goes in. Cushion covers allow me the freedom to create a one off piece that is unique. I can create something different every time. Colours, techniques, fabric type, embellishment, always different. I love mixing vintage fabrics and deconstructed vintage clothing with new satins and cottons to create bold, quirky, fun designs. I love mixing textures and weights to create unconventional cushion.

I draw influence from everywhere and anywhere for my cushion creations :

Shapes, patterns, interior and fashion designers, art, artisans, nature, colours, kids craft books, jewellery just to name a few. I am inspired by fashion and the colour's and patterns designers use to create eye-catching ensembles. I believe cushions can be a powerful entity, they have the ability to completely change the vibe of a room. I like knowing that what I make and sell has really power in the home decor world. I read just today that they are the ‘five-minute face lift of interiors’.

My designs are partly planned partly spontaneous. I sometimes have to walk away from one for a while till I work out what it needs next. I have to have about five on the go at a time otherwise I can get a little bored.

To see my shop in its entirety please visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/4eggs

Future aspirations

To be big you have to think big... so I dream of seeing my creations in a magazine like ‘Inside Out’ or ‘Home Beautiful’. That would be the best thing ever. I hope that crafting can be my business and that I can contribute financially to my family through my passion. For now I will continue making my cushion covers, jot down my ideas, do craft with my kids because, that is what keeps me happy, and as the saying goes “happy wife...happy life”.

ps you can also catch 4eggs sweet tweets over on twitter  : http://twitter.com/egg4

or on her inspirational blog here : http://stufflessordinary.blogspot.com/