I am besotted by the chunky yet detailed and historically influenced jewellery of Francis Willemstijn. The piece above I think is my favourite because of that carved peice of wood, it's so gorgeous it makes my tummy ache.
Also making my tummy ache with excitement is an email I got today from Lisa S about Sew Green. I'll say more soon as it is very very exciting for me. But for now the time fast approaches for Miss P's arrival and still there is no-spare room sorted yet. Plus I've to make two Bond/Casino themed fancy dress outfits for a birthday party on Saturday and it's Mother's Day on Sunday (in the UK). Busy busy.
The neighbours have this little set up outside their caravan, but I've never seen them sit out. I always want to sneak round, put tea, scones, jam and a jar of flowers on the table then knock at the door and run away. But they'd probably just find that freaky and still not sit out. And here is some more nice seating, it's the fabric I really love on this one...
Read about the eco-friendly Tio chair by Concious Design here at Inhabitat. I like how my green coloured posts, turned to small scale eco green (ie peeing on my compost) posts and then to green blogging (sew green) so that the whole week has all my favourite kinds of green in one place. And speaking of green and blogging, Louise (of Gracia & Louise) has a great post about her latest zine " How to... be a little more green' which is so cutely illustrated and at the same time, a genuine little 'How To' guide. Go and see for yourself.
My main effort to be green still focuses on renovating my home. I could have it done in 3 months if I just bought new and put it together in the 'normal' way that mobiles are constructed. But that's not for me. I'm insulating beyond the standards that are law even for solid homes. But it's hard work.
As I dismantle all the cheap crap inside I am saving it to make art, rather than to end up polluting our beautiful scottish landscape by getting dumped in a landfill site, which is where, currently, 90% of Scotland's household waste gets dumped.
There are days, so many days, when I think how my home could be transformed overnight if I just threw that stuff out, but my concience won't let me. There are even more days when I half wish I had just flattened the whole thing on day one and put in a brand new eco mobile with all the wool insulation already in the walls, with all the wood panelling and siding already on the building. I yearned, a lot, for 1/3 or the houses featured in prefab friday at inhabitat or on fab prefab.
Like the Retreat home which I like a lot, except I wanted 2 butted together to form an internal courtyard). Or an M-house (the cedar shingle one) so I can betten down the hatches during gales, or a Wee-house. Or even couple of eco space studios with a turf roofs...
I'm a big fan of turf roofs. I keep telling the local Council they should make it part of the planning regs. for new shopping builds around here. I live on the Edinburgh Green Belt, which is rapidly dissappearing under concrete as they build more and more out of town shopping on it. I know we can't stop the shops, but I still think they could at least be told they'll only get planning permission if they build green, and have turf roofs to maintain the green space that was bulldozed to make way for them. Not much help for the trees or dog walking, but the birds and insects could continue to thrive.
1/3 of my house has a flat roof and once the main house is fixed up my next plan is to re-roof that section so it can take the weight of a green roof. I'm thinking I might to a test run on my shed roof first, to make sure the high winds that hit my house wouldn't just whip it all away!
Crust Station fed my love of papercut work with a new mane (to me) Emma Van Leest. Once again, someone who puts my own pieces to shame, aren't they amazing, so much details and no rips. I always have rips, or at the very least, ruchles (a scottish word? for ruched up bits, crumpled). Here's a detail of her above piece from her December Saints series...
Beautiful work by Nelli Tanner, I REALLY love it. I'd seen her men in raincoat work before but never these pieces.
The first is cotton and newspaper with stitching detail (scroll through her site to see it properly). The second is silver and old mirror, and you know how I have a bit of an antler fetish!
Ring by Luzia Vogt showing at Platina.
I like things that are imperfect, wonky, bent, cracked...
A crumbling carpark I pass each day and my dented kettle.
Not all cracked things are good, my knee feels cracked after Marley spun round to bite his tail and my knee was in his way. Teeth met bone at full speed. Instant bruise, intense pain, even now after 3hrs. We had a lovely walk though.
I say walk, but actually, with my energy not great just now, we got to the fields and then sat by the gate and just watched the birds and sheep and blowing leaves for half an hour. It was really lovely and he was so good about it, no pulling or whining.
There was a fence on the hillock above us with a worn yellow carrier bags blown against it. The sunlight was streaming through and lighting it up and because we were sitting so low, it was seen, glowing, against a part of the sky that was dark grey/purple with rainclouds. Very beautiful.
Marley didn't even lunge when a slinky cream coloured cat appeared on the grassy path in front. I looked at him, he looked at it, it looked at us. Then it carried on wandering around in the long grasses for 5 minutes before walking off, totally unbothered by our presence. Lovely.
sew green logo + my alfalfa sprouts with shadows
(sorry, I was so excited i didn't ask to post this logo, but I know you'd say yes)
I am enormously excited by what Lisa just told us, she's part of a new blog, a group blog a green blog! Sew Green is and arty crafty eco blog. It's the blog I've wanted to start but never had the time, because I was too busy peeing on my compost heap :0)
Living sustainably and caring about the world around us, people, plants, places, creatures - all these things are enormously important to me and explain some of the unusual ways I live my life, and why it's taking so long to finish the eco-renovation of my mobile home. It takes a long time to find the right materials in skips, or to afford to buy the eco alternatives.
It's also why my creative life swerved in different directions. The things I really wanted to do used toxic chemical were often not eco-friendly, so I stopped doing them and opted for less beutiful/practical options, but ones which my concience felt ok with.
Of course it's a lot easier nowadays to source non toxic printing inks, recycled papers and all manner of sustainable art materials. But for me, I'm not keen on buying stuff at all, I don't really want to be a consumer, so finding and reusing are my preferred options, most of the time, with thrifting as my naughty consumer pleasure from time to time.
Here's a snippet from the 1st Sew Green post, please do visit them and participate, and LIVE it-
The first month or so, we'll be introducing ourselves and sharing some topics we're interested in. Topics we're interested in will undoubtedly range from simple (tips on how to stop receiving junk mail), to more complex (how global economics affect environmental issues).
After our initial month, we plan to all research the same one environment/consumption-related topic per month and to share our findings/art/stories/thoughts/ideas around that subject. We're going to figure this blog out as we go. We hope you'll join us on our Sew Green journey!
I like the 1960's feeling of these creations from jeweller Willemijn de Greef.
Me distracting Marley from the sheep
To my great delight some of you expressed an interest in my compost making and wanted tips. Since you all live in very different climates with different 'ingredients' I'll give you a general recipe for success and answer any more detailed questions (if I can) in the comments section of this post so everyone can benefit.
A BALANCED HEAP
The main tip is to treat it like a balanced healthy diet, an even mix of things will generall produce the best results. Whenever possible mix rough with smooth, wet with dry. And as a rule, don't add cooked foods, meat, fish or oily things as they attract vermin and flies etc. and can upset the mixture or make it gross to work with later on.
INGREDIENTS
'Moist' ingredients like fresh veggie choppings, soft garden prunings, grass etc. should be mixed in equal parts with dry materials like torn or shredded paper/card/cardboard or fallen autumn leaves. I would say ideally aim for a 2inch layer of moist with a 1inch layer of dry (try to mix them about a bit so they blend). The smaller the shreddings and choppings the faster and better it will compost. Things like hair from your brush or your pets can go in too.
DRY COMPOST
If, like Tracy, you live somewhere dry, or if you have a high proportion of dry ingredients then you'll need the magic elixir of the compost heap - urine. It's beneficial in all heaps but especially good for making rich beautiful leafmould* or for dry heaps/places. It acts as an activator so it gets the process going and it speeds it up.
MALE URINE
Yes ladies, it's true, I really am that dedicated to my compost. Now, clearly, men are more equipped for this task us as they have the equipment to do the deed on the spot, so to speak, though if you have neighbours they may only be willing under cover of darkness. And according to Gardeners Question Time recently male urine is actually better than female urine, I think they said it was stronger.
FEMALE URINE
So, our stuff isn't as strong, but it's still very good so for a single gal with a devotion to making beautiful and, ultimately, sweet smelling compost- grap yourself an empty bottle and a funnel. I'm not joking. When I had my big garden with multiple heaps I kept a 5 litre bottle in the bathroom. I made a lot of fantastic quality compost and as long as your pile has a lid, or an old piece of carpet or card or board over the top then it won't smell like a public loo (unless you lived in a student flat and 10 guys were peeing on it night and day).
HOW MUCH URINE?
It's hard to generalise as climate, ingredients and size all make a difference but I'd say basically you want your heap to be damp- not soaking, not dry. MrP (ha ha) and I used to put all our pee on my 3 heaps and they could have handled more.
TURNING THE HEAP
If you can be bothered to 'turn' the heap every 3 months to get it mixed more, then that speeds things up a bit and helps identify any problems like wetness, dryness or things that just aren't breaking down (so may need chopped smaller in future). I tend not to turn mine as I'm too busy and my mix is fine.
So that's a basic recipe. If there is any interest I'm happy to talk more about different kinds of composting (aerobic/anaerobic - ie. with/without air), different ways of gathering (bins, pens, wire frames, bags) and really anything else that I may know. I hope this has been helpful, or at least interesting!
* leafmould
Leafmould is simple, fill a heap or even a black bin bag with deciduous autumn leaves, pierce a few holes in it, pee on it, pop it somewhere out of the way and come back in a year- beautiful compost.
Same can be done with a 50/50 mix ofs grass clipping and paper shreddings from offices (or torn up card). Mix it really well, pee on it and leave it for 6-9months. If you shake up the bags occasionally it will happen faster.
Karin Johanson has the answer if you have to carry a pill with you every day. Vitamins or mints at your fingertips.
