Creative Inhibitor?

Nothing inhibits creativity like a house makeover . Here are photos of the main room of our house and the timber which will hopefully be the floor in a couple of weeks’ time.

We have decided to pull up the carpet in all the main areas of the house – living room, dining room and office, and “match” the already beautiful timber floor of our open kitchen/family room.. The furniture is all stacked in the garage .

I am in a little bt of a panic as we have already had one delay in the timber delivery and we need to have the house back in order by the time my mother comes to visit for a few weeks on 14 July. However, with a little bit of help from the grandchildren...who knows?

Not to be deterred, I am reminded that ‘to think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted. ( George Kneller) “, so I am trying not to worry too much about the floor and visualise the new spotted gum timber floor it will be. This week I am preparing a little sample for my friend Bobbi ( LamboArt) who has a new line in “nostalgia” kits for her market stalls. Here is what I unpacked from one of her kits . Hopefully, I will be able to post next week a photo of what I create.

And a another bright spot in the week, a wonderful swap gift from my DUST ( Down Under Street team) Craft Swap partner. An elegant pin, with special charms, a beaded bookmark, and some very useful,and very beautiful gift tags. Thank you very much, Samara from Albany, Western Australia. .

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

29 Faces

"29 Faces " is an online art challenge - blog and Facebook . The challenge is to create a face each day of September ( with one day for catch up) .... I decided to take up the challenge to practise drawing faces for my dolls and to practise techniques with coloured pencils. I received a set of 60 pencils from my daughter last Christmas so I wanted to be sure I used them before next Christmas! I love making tags so I combined tag making with "29 Faces", so I will also have some unique Christmas gift tags for gift giving this year. Here are the first 9 faces for the first 9 days of September

Wednesday's Child /2

Work in Progress - 3 of the 193 for "Stitched Up"- Wilma Simmons The work for the "Stitched Up " Project continues. See the previous "Wednesday Child" post for the background to this art project celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Newcastle Industrial School. I have been documenting the progress of my work, so I thought it might be interesting to share some of the early stages of the "stick dolls" ... Here are some of the beginning steps.. Sticks collected while walking the bushland in my neighbourhood Drying and getting rid of any insects - oven heat 75 degreesC for approx 1-2 hours. Trimmed and cut if necessary Ends sealed with matte sealing solution. Drying - solution goes on white but dries clear. First wrapping - foil to create a body shape Second wrapping - stretch fabric. Third wrapping - fabric strips Some stitching - more stitching and embellishment to ...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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