Friday Friends - Australian Makers - Magic Earth Mumma

Happy Friday to each and every one of the lovely Maddabling blog readers. The last of winter is certainly here, we have drenching rains here this morning and a bushwalking adventure for this weekend will need to be postponed! Stay warm and dry :)

This week it is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you all a new Friday Friend and Australian Maker - meet sweet Nette of Magic Earth Mumma. 

Nette specializes in complimentary therapies and creates beautiful botanical perfume blends, home spa pamper products, fine herbal teas to name but a few of her talents. Let me share some of the things I found in her gorgeous store. How good does this Peppermint Perfection Tea look, almost too pretty to brew! I can imagine that the blend of Certified Organic Peppermint Leaf with pink Rose and blue Cornflower petals would smell beautiful and taste divine! 

For that special someone who deserves an extra special gift, why not consider the "Isis Rises - Organic Home Spa Gift Set" Total organic luxury...if you can't bear to part with it why not treat yourself? 

I seem to be drawn to natural perfumes rather than synthetic perfumes and am putting this choose 3 set of organic aromatherapy Botanic Perfume Oils on my wishlist :) 

Dear readers, I hope you something nice planned for the weekend. In the meantime, why not make yourself a nice cup of tea and read the inspirational story that is The Magic Earth Mumma Chronicle. Happy Reading xo♥

The Magic Earth Mumma Chronicle

Magic Earth Mumma is an independent business run by one very busy mumma of four. I’m a qualified Holistic Feng Shui Practitioner and specialize in complimentary therapies like Reiki, Aromatherapy, Flower Essences and Crystal Therapy.

I have always been involved in creating pursuits and love all avenues of creative outlet using all kinds of mediums. As a teenager I would draw and sketch and used to take commissions for sketches and calligraphy pieces to make some pocket money. MEM’s logos are my artwork, and actually, MEM started on Etsy as a place where I could sell my sketches!

Nature inspires me; the grandeur and majesty of wild places, people, and then the manufactured world and the various lifestyles of people on this planet. It’s a very holistic viewpoint and one that provides endless inspiration. 

Magic Earth Mumma is a venture born out of my own experiences of motherhood. Becoming carer for these little people and learning how to detoxify our modern lifestyle so we are more in tune with our environment. The products started as things for ‘me’ and the children and then blossomed very naturally from there through friends and family, and finally as a venture on Etsy which then led on to a full-blown passion and a ‘real’ home-based business.

My current passion is Botanical Perfumery from the local environment. I am sourcing some base ingredients from flowers and plants that grow around the pristine environment of Tamborine National Park. I’ve had a connection to the mountain since childhood (we were taken on regular rainforest ramblings and bushwalks all over the area) and the magic of the place is palpable to everyone and anyone, regardless of whether they think they are receptive to such things or not. 

It is a sacred Aboriginal place of Dreaming and a vibrant community with many artists now. My current inspiration surrounds the language of its energy from past to present…this ‘message’ of slow change, deep connection, reverence and sublime peace. It’s a delicious thing to immerse myself in on a regular basis!

MEM is all about integrity of ingredients.  I use basic, raw or unprocessed ingredients; Certified Organic or Wildcrafted mostly. These constituents have such a pure energy signature that working with them literally alleviates stress and makes it a pleasure to create. My intention is to pass this blissful energy onto the person who purchases the product.

I guess my favourite things to work with are the scrub bases like Himalayan Salt, Oatflour, Riceflour and Arrowroot Powder. Nutritious and luxurious. Then the ever-growing collection of essential oils, tinctures, essences and infusions (that seem to be breeding in my ‘cabinet-o-magic’) which I use intuitively to mould a particular energy signature. ‘Solaris’ Body Ritual came about like this (as do most of my products) and is one of the most popular scrubs I have.

Magic Earth Mumma grew from just a selection of Body Ritual scrubs, Rescue Remedy items and some useful sprays, to now having a range of Skin Care, Organic Botanic Perfumes, Mists & Sprays, Teas & Infusions, Essence Remedies and Aromatherapy Treatments!

The future for MEM is opening up to include a regular spot at a local organic market or two, doing seasonal dates where I can showcase new products (like the lovely lockets of solid perfumes!) and provide access to the regular range as well. I love to personally interact with my clientele, and speak with people one-to-one, especially when they are just beginning their exploration into natural and organic products.  The minefield that is modern mainstream personal hygiene needs to be explained, and labelling is way too confusing. These things need simplifying, and one of the best ways for me to do this is to have my products speak for me with ingredients that are 100% organic and natural.

One way I am connecting with people is by running workshops on using natural remedies. It is called ‘Simple Family First Aid with Essential Oils’ and is a very basic introduction to using just four essential oils in a myriad of ways. The workshop booklet and pack will be able to be purchased separately online through the website too. I'm also grateful for the input from clientele about what they want. This brings more ideas to me and has been responsible for the introduction of solid Organic Botanic Perfumes, and solid Aromatherapy Treatments, or the new aromatherapy car diffusers and lockets. I wonder what I'll be asked to create or stock next??!

There is plenty of information about MEM and the processes I use on the website at www.MagicEarthMumma.com, 

or you can find me on Etsy www.MagicEarthMumma.Etsy.com 

and I am pretty regularly on Facebook www.facebook.com/MagicEarthMumma 

Pinterest and Blogger www.MagicEarthMumma.blogspot.com

Light all my Lights - Wednesday Wishes

Wednesday Wishes today is inspired by a Seeker Lover Keeper song called "Light All My Lights" 

If you haven't heard this song before, you can listen to it here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpEAsKe3270 

Enjoy xo♥

Industrial Plumping Pipe Steampunk Wall Light Fixture with Water Meter from RVsupplyco

Vintage Industrial Re-purposed Tripod Floor Lamp Genuine 1960's Strand Patt 149 Light from Industriana

Orb Pendant light from MarkDouglassDesign

Black / White Vintage Gothic Table Light from MutatingCreatures

Tokyo Vintage Shipping Light from Mulbury

Crocheted Bicycles, Gold and Strawberry Ripes

Hello lovely Maddabling readers! The weekend is now over and tonight I share with you Crocheted Bicycles, Gold and Strawberry Ripes.Happy Reading x♥o

Crocheted Bicycles

The Purly Queens are at it again with a new community artwork called "Tour De Fleece"

As if by magic, crocheted bicycles have materialised in the CBD of Albany. 

The message behind this installation is to promote a Cyclist Friendly strategy for Albany. 

If you are in town, look out for these brightly coloured works of art - big love! 

 

Gold
This song caught my attention early this morning, especially the creative skating. I know how hard some of these moves must be to pull off - practice makes perfect they say! I hope you enjoy the official music video for Gold, taken from Chet Faker's debut album 'Built On Glass'. 

Strawberry Ripe Balls 
I am developing an addiction experimenting with raw food balls, they are quick to make, easy to eat and you can stash them in the freezer to pull out when you need a sweet fix.This recipe is from Jane and Nic of http://www.marinyacottagekitchen.com/ Check out their fab blog for yourself. I would love experiment with a variation on these, incorporating some dates and dried sour cherries, watch this space! Note - I used almonds in this recipe, and just blitzed them in the food processor.

this photo is credited to Jane and Nic of http://www.marinyacottagekitchen.com/

Strawberry Ripe Balls
Ingredients:
2 cups Descicated Coconut + Extra for rolling
1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (plain almonds can also be used if allergies aren't an issue)
250 grams fresh strawberries or 1 cup of frozen raspberries or blueberries
1 or 2 tablespoons of honey or maple syrup
2 tablespoons of Raw Cocao or carob
2 tablespoons Cocao nibs (optional)

Method:
Place Pumpkin Seeds in a coffee grinder or food processor and grind until fine. Add all of the other ingredients and blend until combined. If the mixture is a little too wet, add some more coconut. Roll into balls before rolling in extra coconut. Refrigerate to firm up. 

Tip: I added in the cacao nibs at the very last minute only blitzing them for a really short time so they still had some crunch :) 

Readers, I hope you enjoyed Crocheted Bicycles, Gold and Strawberry Ripes. See you on Wednesday for a new edition of Wednesday Wishes x

Friday Friends - West Australian Makers - Fox Hill Llamas

Hello Maddabling Readers, welcome to a new edition of Friday Friends! Have you had a good week? What have you been creating? I am super excited to introduce you to all a new Friday Friend and West Australian Maker; meet the lovely Nichelle of Fox Hill Llamas. 

I don't think I have ever featured a maker that has such a diverse range of products as Nichelle creates. I just LOVE her work. The first thing that caught my eye was this Native Bird Nester in the shape of a Wire Bird. These help to invite native birds into your garden around nesting time, and give them natural warm and water repellent fibres to build their nests with. So cool! I think this would make a fantastic addition to our developing native garden :) 

Then I saw this. For the crafty people in your life, these Make Your Own Cards and Bookmarks with Handmade Recycled Paper packs would make a perfect gift - or maybe you could keep them for yourself. 

Lastly, I spotted this pretty lady while browsing the Fox Hill Llamas Etsy store. For a totally different gift, why not take home a Little Llama Decorated with Tassels, they are  just like the Llamas of Fox Hill!

Dear readers, I invite you now to read all about The Fibre of Fox Hill Llamas.  Maddabling wishes you a wonderful weekend, whatever you are doing xo♥ The Weekend blog post will be returning this week - look out for a new recipe!

The Fibre of Fox Hill Llamas

Who is Fox Hill Llamas? Fox Hill Llamas consists of myself (Nichelle), my husband Trev, three daughters and of course a magnificent herd of llamas! I am the cause of creative chaos at our place, the maker of our fibre products and handmade papers. 

Fox Hill is quietly hidden away in picturesque Marradong Country in the South West of Western Australia. Our property is a rough and tumble granite hill and the perfect addition to this property was llamas, with their gentle tread and love of heights. While we have been always been delighted at their quiet curiosity and playful nature, we saw so much more in these enchanting animals. 

Having loved these animals since I was a child and wishing to find a truly sustainable reason to farm them gave me a great incentive to look beyond their value as a companion. In our first years of sharing our lives with llamas, we would store our shorn fibre, considering the ways in which it could be really admired and utilised. I wanted the natural beauty of llama to be displayed for many to see, so I began to look for inspiration and knowledge on how to turn my ideas into a reality. Using the internet as my guide and the ideas in my mind I began our adventure!

What inspires me? I am inspired by the beauty of our location and our gentle animals. I hope that the handmade items that I create enable this to be shared with others. I believe everything has worth, when something is deemed 'worthless' it is just waiting for someone to think of a way to add value to it :) I wish for my children to see that an idea can become a reality. That anything is possible if you commit and are willing to work to achieve it. Our Etsy store opened at the start of this year. 

What mediums do I work with, what are my favourites? 
Llama Fibre and recycled paper.  I sway between both in regards to favourites. Fibre processing and felting is hard work and can be a challenge. I find paper making is very calming and relaxing, so it depends on how I am feeling as to which one I prefer on any day!

What kind of things do I make? Decorator items from llama fibre, vessels, area rugs, native bird nesters, handmade paper, llama poo paper.

My favourite techniques? Fibre art - wet felting would be my favourite technique.
Paper making - the hand dip method .. hands down!

Creating items with fibre from the animals we have raised is a fun, challenging and dusty process! These products are truly home grown and handmade from start to finish. We even shear our own llamas. Every one of our animals has an uniquely individual fibre.. as micron, fibre length and guard hair all vary. (Some of the llamas in our herd had never been shorn until they came to us.) This individuality makes me aspire to ensure that all our llama fibre pieces also have individuality, with most pieces being 'one of a kind'. As no two llamas can ever be same, neither should their fibre creations be the same! 

Colours depend on the natural colours of our animals. Using the llamas and our beautiful location as inspiration and the many materials for my creations has been very rewarding process. In the last year, I'm happy to say that we've built a product range that includes all of the fibre our animals produce with nothing going to waste. We even include our llama fibre and manure in our handmade paper range.  Shearing, fibre tumbling, picking, carding and creating mostly takes place outside with our llamas looking on. The young animals are often a distraction, but I'd very much miss their playful interruptions.

Handmade Recycled Paper... Paper-making has been a part of my life since I was a child. My mother has had many a laundry sink overflow as a result of my paper-making endeavours blocking her drains! I love to use recycled paper and botanicals sourced from our property in my paper.  Much of the paper is custom ordered for weddings and made to suit the occasion. We source shredded office paper to make all our recycled paper products.

As I am always looking for something new and interesting to do, our Llama Poo Paper is the result of merging my love of paper-making and our llama products. We have a lot of fun with the concept and making of our llama poo paper and it has been funny watching some reactions to this item. The manure is sanitised before it is used in the  paper-making process and then the paper is sun and/or air dried. I love the uniqueness of every piece of paper and the variance of all handmade items.

My favourite piece? That is a difficult question! I love the concept behind our bird nesters. While not an overly creative item, I love that this is a traditional waste product that is reinvented. These are made from picked llama fibre that is left over from our processing and shearing. To see how excited someone is when they see a bird collecting fibre from a nester is rewarding. Providing a way to connect someone with their environment and the animals we share it with is valuable to me. The story of our Llama Fibre Bird Nesters is here: http://foxhillllamas.wix.com/foxhill#!lifestyle/c14ak

What are my future plans and dreams? I am on a  mission to share the beauty of llama fibre with as many people as possible :) I would love to be able to provide work to our community in the future. To share the art of recycling paper with local children.

We were featured in the Temple and Webster 'Raw and Natural' Handmade Markets earlier this month. There will be new vessels and llama fibre rugs in our store soon. I am also working on an collection of rugs and soft furnishings made from local alpaca fibre.

Dear readers, do you want to see more? Here is how you can connect: 
Buy lovely things on Etsy here: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FoxHillLlamas

Become a facebook follower here: 

https://www.facebook.com/foxhillllamaswa

Visit the Fox Hill Llamas website here: 

http://foxhillllamas.wix.com/foxhill

and follow sweet tweets on Twitter here: 

https://twitter.com/foxhillllamas

Wise Owl - Wednesday Wishes

Wednesday Wishes today is inspired by the Wise Owl........enjoy xo♥

Paperdermy Mini Owl from EllaClawley

Green kawaii owl - felt toy - owl stuffed toy - plushie from WishsongCreations

Nested Grass Owl - ECO Limited Edition Archival Fine Art Print from ReneesArtwork

Owl Candle - 'Hooter' from Skandals

Ceramic Owl with Wooden Frame Brooch from lovelysparrowandco

Friday Friends - DUSTy Divas - Conversations in Clay

Hello dear readers, it is Friday once again. Have you had a busy week? What exciting plans do you have for the coming weekend? I am looking forward to catching up with a dear friend who will be visiting my town :)

Today it is my great pleasure to introduce to you all a new Friday Friend, DUSTy Diva and Australian Maker - meet Keryn of Conversations in Clay. 

Keryn makes the most beautiful jewellery from Polymer Clay. And I mean strikingly beautiful. Let me share some of my favourite pieces with you now. Firstly, the Shield Pendant Mokume Gane Technique in Copper and Teal. Oh my! What a gorgeous statement piece. 

Next on my list are these cool minty Green Wiggles Polymer Clay Stacking Bangle Set. They remind me of the colours in the shallow waters of our white sandy beaches during the summer months. 

Lastly this stunning Large Leaf Pastel Batik Polymer Clay Brooch.  Isn't it just divine?

Dear readers, I invite you now to pop your feet up, perhaps indulge in a cup of tea and a biscuit and read The Conversations in Clay Chronicle. Have a fantastic weekend everyone xo♥

The Conversations in Clay Chronicle.

"Conversations in Clay" is me....chatting to myself as I experiment with yet another clay technique ... excitedly yabbering on to my husband about my latest project (and sometimes muttering about a failed one - sorry, learning opportunity) .... debriefing with my long term friend over our weekly cuppa ... And more recently, joyfully swapping tips and clay experiences with fellow clayers on a Facebook polymer clay forum. Since the teenage years I have rarely been without a craft to busy my hands - sewing, crochet, embroidery, all dabbled in as a novice - it is a joy to create. 

My jewellery-making started out with woven seed bead items a few years ago and in purchasing beads from Heather Richmond at "Over the Rainbow" noticed her sway towards polymer clay. With a little guidance about my first purchases from Heather I have gone on to learn from the many tutorials available online (isn't technology wonderful!).  I have been lucky enough to do workshops with Melanie Muir and Tory Hughes when they came to Australia and enjoyed meeting them along with other clayers. I usually work in isolation.

"Conversations in Clay" is a bit of a mouthful, but I think it serves to form a link between 2 major aspects of my life - polymer clay +; speech pathology.  It also describes the way in which I hope to communicate different messages and moods with my work.  Polymer clay, with its boundless versatility is a soothing haven to me after a full-time week of nutting out speech/language/literacy solutions for children in bustling schools.  It provides such satisfying play with colour, form and texture. 

I love to cane, extrude and emboss.  I am equally drawn to the free form organic as I am to the clean lines of geometric patterns.  As well as creating jewellery I have decorated vessels and plan to take my work in this direction as I hone my skills. 

As I work my way through each day I find my eye is drawn to all sorts of images that stir my creative juices, and always find myself asking..."How would I achieve that look in polymer clay?"  I love to browse places like Pinterest, Flickr and dedicated websites to keep abreast with what clayers all over the world are doing and it is wonderful to see polymer clay making its way into the world of art in its own right. I am inspired by so many peoples' work, and their influence is seen in my pieces.  What I am really working towards is creating a look of my own - so back to the studio!

The next few images below shows some more of some of my work... and I will share a little something about each one.

 

This is one of my earlier pieces - a collection of eclectic beads in the same colour way that was created with canes and Skinner blends. 

These are Stacking "Wiggle Bangles" that have been decorated with extruded canes.

Here are a series of earrings that were crafted following Melanie Muir's techniques for mokume gane, framing and backing of beads. 

This piece is a bangle of firm polymer clay structure and covered with a caned veneer.

Earrings in Faux bone and Jade, inspired by Lynda Moseley's caning techniques.

These BIG beads have been caned using  Sarah Shriver 's caning techniques.

Dear readers, would you like to see more? Here is how you can connect. 

Buy lovely things on Etsy here: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ConversationsinClay

and become a follower on Facebook here: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keryn-Wells-Conversations-in-Clay/183510195169788