greenolive

just my type

sans serif I mean!

Close up of some fabulous wood type block cards made by Albert and bought on madeit last week.

When I saw these cards I fell in love with them. They were printed using wooden type blocks. The sorts of blocks that were used to print most things many years ago. The same type blocks that graphic designers can't wait to get their hands on. And that I have a few of. Lucky me!

I was reminded of a design job I'd done several years back using wooden type.

It was a freebie design job for the AGDA Queensland christmas party. (Why is it that freebie design jobs are always the best?) And it was designed in collaboration with a great friend and fellow designer Maryann.

We inked up and printed a selection of wooden type blocks in letters that spelt out the headline. (That was the fun bit!) Once dry, these prints were scanned and turned into graphics so we could create our own font. Manipulating them on screen we were able to layer the letters over each other to create the design. Printed in three colours (dirty gold, green and purple) the invite was accordian-folded and fabulous!

Seeing (and buying!) Albert's cards gave me an immediate reminder of my past life as a graphic designer. I just hope I can rekindle that creativity...

distraction

a day at the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair

Friday saw a cashed-up greenolive while away a few hours at the fair. I mean, it only happens a few times a year and I might discover some fabulous yarn/fabric/ribbon/beads (insert the word of your choice here!). Mighten I?

And I did find some fabulous yarn –

and more fabulous yarn –

and even more fabulous yarn –

some beads –

an old wooden spindle –

and some Japanese silk fabric
some grosgrain ribbons
some silk ribbons
and even more beads and yarn.

If you look closely you'll the a strong green theme happening. As you'd expect from greenolive!

exploring greenolive

a work in progress

I've narrowed it down a bit. Action item 19 from my to-do list I mean. (If this doesn't make sense, read previous post!)

From I-can-make-and-do-lots-of-things (not painting or illustration!) to I can make pieced fabric scarves and knitted scarves.

I need a medium that exploits my love of texture and sense of colour. I was told at an early age that I can't draw. (Not by mum and dad but some horrid primary school art teacher. Apparently my still life with pineapple wasn't realistic enough. Well, I topped my grade 12 art class and graduated from art college. That showed them didn't it! The fact that it was graphic design and not illustration or fine art is not really relevant is it?)

So instead of paint, ink, pencil, paper and canvas, I use fabric, yarn, thread and notions. These materials also appeal to my very tactile nature. I'm always feeling and touching things.

So far I've made three types of scarf designs. (Why scarves? That's another post. And yes, there is a story involved!)

Number 1: Pieced fabric scarf

Sorry the photo isn't great, I did these when I was just starting to get to know the digital camera. I could also blame the lack of light in winter perhaps.

This design evolved from the need to pad out my design folio with some textile work. The idea had been rattling around in my head for ages and subconsciously I had been collecting fabrics to execute it for quite awhile. I was preparing for an interview for part-time study in RMIT's studio textiles course. (In case you are wondering, I did get in.) It was the day before the interview and I decided to make this scarf. (I've told you before that I'm very good with deadlines!)

It was the first one I made. I was really happy with it, and the finished piece was even better than I had envisaged. I'm about to make up a batch in charcoal, navy and chocolate. Think traditional menswear colours, fabrics and patterns. Then add a hint of colour to spice things up. The backing is a plain, understated crepe fabric.

Number 2: Stripy thing

This was the original Stripy Thing, circa 2004. It evolved out of my love of knitting scarves lengthways on circular needles. And a bunch of silver grey yarns I'd been collecting. I just loved all the different shades and textures and I wanted to wear all of them together. It was a bit like painting with yarns instead of pigments. Since then I've made several variations of Stripy Thing. I've also broken the self-imposed one-colour restiction with the latest one, I call it Rhubarb Stripy Thing. (I realised it shared the same colours as a bunch of ruhbarb.)

So far all Stripy Things have been knitted in garter stitch, but I suppose I could crochet them too.

Number three: Entangled thing

This design is the most recent and is a progression of the linear nature and multi-yarn features of Stripy Thing. However I think it exploits both characteristics even more. I create (knit or crochet) long thing strips of five different yarns. Playing with the colour and texture combinations and deciding which five get to play together is the most enjoyable bit for me. I then attach them together in one place, allowing the five strips the dangle independently down each side. As you wear it, tossed, knotted, whatever, they all move about entangling and creating a sense of movement. Don't you just love the word entangled?

So what do you think? Uniquely greenolive enough? Which would would you buy in my soon-to-be-set-up Etsy and madeit shops? Perhaps a custom order is what you are after?

reflective focus

Technically, these buttons have nothing to do with this post except they provided yet another distraction today when I bought them at a local op shop. After I went to the bank to enquire about business accounts. Action item 17 on the to-do list. And, you can't have a blog post without a photo. Its just not the done thing.

Thirty-six hours ago we were unthrottled. Yay! Mr greenolive also increased our download quota to some huge amount of gig for good measure. I think he was relieved when I assured him I could claim part of the cost as a business deduction. (I can, can't I?)

Anyway, I could hardly sleep Monday night, I was itching to get online and upload and post. I spent almost four hours on Tuesday morning doing just that. And leaving comments left, right and centre! (A tad obsessive, even I can admit that!)

I'm also finding it very hard to focus on creating anything while I have all these loose business ends lying around. Almost two weeks ago while buying some Jo Sharp wool, the lady from Coach House Furniture told me to bring my stuff in to show her. A potential stockist and I still haven't been to see her! (I blame it on not having finalised my labels or having the business bank account set up.) I must see her before the weekend.

Subconsciously, I've been going back to my to-do list, wanting to cross off action items 8, 17 and 18 as done. Hopefully by tomorrow I can cross out numbers 8 and 17. But 18 is proving more difficult. Rather ironic don't you think given that I'm a graphic designer?! When I cross them off, I hope my brain will switch from business start-up mode to creative mode immediately.

I've been reflecting on the market stall decision. While disappointed, I think that it is probably a good thing. It has forced me to focus on what exactly greenolive will do. I mean, I can make and do lots of things (not painting or illustration!), but that's not the point. What is it that is uniquely greenolive? At this point I'm not really sure, I'm a work in progress...

the tale of one scarf

the history of the handmade

There's a story behind this scarf...

Every handmade item has its own tale. A story about how it was conceived, who made it, how it was made, who it was made for, what it was made from, where the materials were collected, when it was made... (who, how, what, when and where: aren't they the elements of any good story?) Oh, I forgot the main ingredient: LOVE.

Everytime I see something I like on a flickr site or blog post I find it has its own tale about how it came to be. And I love finding out about its story...

And this scarf, known as Mum's scarf, has a story too. Everytime I look at or wear this scarf I'm reminded of my mum and the day we discovered this fabric together. It was Boxing Day 2006 to be precise. I'll never forget because this scarf started its life as two remnants from the Clegs remnant sale. (There should be an apostrophe there somewhere, but when the word ends in 'S' and its not plural I get all confused. My mum is an english teacher so she'll know where to put it!)

The Clegs Boxing Day Remnant Sale is an occasion not to be missed. (I really mean it. Ask anyone who has been.) Aunty Shabby and I had gone to the 2002 event and we both still have remnants bought on that day in our respective stashes. (I'm not sure if that means we bought too much or they are just so nice we are saving them for the perfect project. Probably a bit of both!) Each time I look at them I'm reminded of that day: the queueing; the grabbing; the women who were clearly more experienced at this than us and managed to grab that fab remnant just before we did; the baskets brimming with our score; the sitting on the floor at the sides of the store rationalising the remnants into piles (those we MUST have because they were just so beautiful, those which we knew exactly what to do with, and those just-in-case ones); and returning the leftovers to the pile for another woman to discover.

Anyway, last Christmas our mum was down from Brisbane. Mum had heard all about the 2002 sale and we thought it would be fun to go together. Based on our past experience, we briefed mum on our plan of attack. (We knew having three of us would be a distinct advantage!) Her very important role was to grab multiple baskets, stand back and take the remnants off us as we handed them to her. This would give Aunty Shabby and I two free hands each, optimising our grabbling potential. However, if Mum saw a fabulous remnant just stitting there, she was instructed to grab it!

We'd discussed what we were looking for. Aunty Shabby makes handbags and has a thing for warm colours and strong prints. My thing is scarves, so soft, fluid, silky fabrics in pinks and warm browns with a hint of floral would hit the spot. But anything green, charcoal, woolen or silk would suffice. Mum was looking for something for scarves in earthy tones.

After the grabbing, we sat down to sort our score. Mum had done a great job of grabbing too – so good that she had two remnants that we both fell in love with. A lovely sheer fabric in a warm brown shade probably best described as truffle. And, a floral-ish, circle-patterned fabric in pinks, browns and a bit of blue. They went beautifully together, and were a bargain: less than $20 for the two.

A close up of the patterned fabric

After an extended period of intense negotiation (the sort only mothers and daughters, or perhaps sisters can do), we struck a bargain:
1. Mum would buy the remnants in question
2. I would made the scarf immediately
3. And, if she didn't wear it by my 40th birthday (10 May) she MUST give it to me as a present.
(I admit it was a hard bargain, but she did agree!)

Look at how nicely it drapes. I was very happy with the design solution. Both fabrics were lovely and we had more than a metre of each. So I ended up joining them together and letting each to feature on one side of the scarf. When you wear it knotted like this, the two fabrics blend together into a lovely pinky-brown tangle of fabric.

I expect you can guess the rest. The story had a happy ending (for me at least!). Mum – being the mum she is and knowing that I love scarves, this one in particular, and that it was my milestone birthday and the colours were more me than her after all – gave me the scarf. She also got me some beautiful rose pink quartz beads that I turned into a great necklace...She gives the best presents!

try, try, try again

also known as third time lucky!

Technically this is the third BEFORE shot of this yarn. What I mean is, this is the third time I have started to knit this. And I've decided to document the starting point as you do in craft blog tradition. Actually, the first attempt was crochet, but I don't have a photo of this.

These four balls started life as three skeins of Noro Silk Garden. I bought them a few years ago from Sunspun. Its a very nice yarn, a wool/silk blend with a lovely variegted colourway ranging from charcoal grey through olive green to an intense metallic green.

This is a close up of the intense green section of the yarn. I'm not that fussed about this bit, it tends to overpower the other sections. It screams look at me! And I don't really want to. I tend to prefer muddy, dirty and understated colours. Maybe that's why I haven't been happy with pervious attempts...

I think the real reason is that I haven't found the perfect yarn/stitch combination yet. You knitters will understand I'm sure. Each yarn had its own personality. And this provides clues about what stitch would best suit the yarn. This yarn has a strong, stiff and dense texture contrasted with the delicacy of the colour blends. I needed something to soften up the stiffness and also showcase the colour and variegation in the thickness of the yarn. A tough call, probably why I'm knitting it up for the third time...

Attempt 1: was a crochet scarf, done lengthways in a treble stitch. It showed the colour nicely, but the resulting fabric was very stiff and didn't feel like something that would softly curve around my neck. It felt scratchy and a bit nasty and like a waste of the yarn...

Attempt 2: was a traditional garter stitch scarf. I used a bigger than normal needle to loosen it up a bit, and I cast on about 30 or so stitches. This time I found the colour blends, transitioning from one to another, a bit too harsh. Bugger, I was losing heart. Would I ever make this into the perfect scarf?

Attempt 3: started in last few days. I'd seen a Silk Garden scarf on Nora's blog, and I thought I'd give this yarn one last chance. It was silk after all, and it was in my favourite colours, green and grey. But what stitch to use? Heartened by my recent conquering of a lace stitch, I decided to give it a go. It would be loose enough not to feel to stiff, and the open-ness of the stitch should show off the colourblends. At least that's the theory...

Here's a close up of the work in progress. This yarn is holding or defining the lace stitch much better than the first yarn. It must be the stiffness in the silk. I probably won't need to block this one, thank goodness!

Here's the DURING shot, the shot bewteen BEFORE and AFTER. I'm much happier with this attempt. A much better combination of yarn and stitch. You can see that pesky intense green colour at the bottom. I'm going to try and keep it at the edges where you won't see it much when I'm wearing the scarf. This might just become one of my favourite scarves after all...

letting go

I need to do some of that!

This illustration is an e-card from Sam Toft

After the yesterday I had, I really need to learn to let go.

The morning started out ok. Fresh snow.

It went downhill from there.

Two job interviews last week. Found out yesterday I didn't get either. But, offered a contract as a PM instead. Do I really want to be a PM? I'm not sure...

Then, rang the Hawthorn Craft Market contact. You'll remember we put in an application for a stall there. The committee thought your stuff was beautiful, but we have products in those categories, and we want to put you on a waiting list. I'm sending you a letter. Is that a polite no? A maybe? A don't call us, we'll call you...

Rang Aunty Shabby. Had a bit of a cry. Rang Mr greenolive. Nobody wants me. Had a good cup of tea (truth be told it was more like three cups of tea – things were that bad!). And some chocolate (two fun-size bars isn't excessive is it?). Then started tidying up my desk. You know when you just want something non-taxing to distract you from thinking about things...and I was a bit too sad to knit...

While tidying, I cam across the printout of the e-card (see above) that I sent myself on 20 June. The illustration is called Letting Go. And the note I wrote to myself was: take heed! (Yes, I included an exclamation mark – point, if you are an Elaine Fan. I loved her hair, my curls never behaved themselves like hers.)

Spooky, four weeks ago I must have known that sometime in the future I'd need to be reminded to let go. Its a big thing for me, I struggle with it all the time. Once when I was having reflexology, the therapist told me that the mantra/thing I needed to focus on was letting go...

I wonder what card I'll pick today? I'll let you know once I rediscover it in a pile on my desk!

four-year-olds and felt flowers

a tale of how Hannah inspired my felt flowers

According to flickr comments/views this is my most popular flower. Its not my favourite – isn't it great we all have different tastes!

The power of the internet to connect people continues to amaze me. (Even when I've been working in web management and publishing for almost a decade!) I'm even more amazed when it happens to me, and when it involves my sister. You need some background...

I sent my sister (not Aunty Shabby, the other one, married with kids) links for my blog and flickr site. I needed the sort of constructive and honest feedback only family members can give. Was greenolive really me, was I trying to hard...you know what I'm talking about.

She emailed back: Hannie would love your flowers, can I buy eight?

Eight, wow, my first sale! Why eight?

For Hannie's party, for her little friends. Instead of lollie bags.

Great idea! Quick reality check, she couldn't afford eight. And would Hannie and her friends appreciate the sheer beauty of these flowers? And wouldn't they wreck them? (I'm not a mum, but I don't think four year olds are known for their care and attention to accessories.)

Necessity being the mother of invention and all that, I thought on my feet (or email in this case). How to get Hannie and her friends handmade flowers at a price her mother could afford and in a style robust enough to survive their wear and tear?

It flashed before my eyes: felt flowers with a 50's Warhol twist and button centres. Not in the usual colours but yummy colours like ruhbarb, dusky pink, lavender, purple...

This is exactly how they looked in my mind – more photos on flickr site

I pitched my product, a bargain price was struck, a delivery date agreed. Being a designer, I knew that without a "client" (my sister) and a "deadline" (Hannie's birthday party) I'd put it off.

Oh, two boys are coming to the party as well, I'll have to get them a yo-yo or something...

No problem, I'll make them some stars.

And so, that's the tale of Hannie's felt flowers. And the felt stars. I posted them yesterday. The party is this Saturday. And I have visions of some very stylish four-year-olds running around in Brisbane wearing my badges. And their very savvy mums asking my sister where she got them...

PS: it snowed last night too, and as of 3pm this afternoon it still hasn't melted!

throttled, blocked, smashed and snow

that about sums up my day!

We've been throttled and I'm starting to feel the pain. Its hard to maintain one's enthusiasm and momentum when blog posts take minutes to publish and you can make the bed while you wait for flickr to respond to your clicks! In case you are wondering, our ISP (they shall remain nameless for the timebeing!) emailed to say we'd be throttled for the next two weeks, resulting in a trickle of data when we'd been used to a torrent. It seems Mr greenolive went over the download limit during week 2 of our account. I'm far too impatient to wait for things to download in slow motion, and as a result I'm experiencing blog and flickr withdrawals. No matter, knitting up a storm...

Having worked up the courage to knit a lace stitch (see earlier post), I finally succumbed to the need to block the scarf in question. (I mean, the thing was curling at the edges and you couldn't see the lace stitch properly!) I was surprised at how easy it was, and how good the lace stitch looked once blocked. I'm not saying I'm going to block everything from now on...

Smashed...now there's a story! Its very cold up here in the hills today. The forecast is for snow down to 500 metres. We're about 660 metres, so there was a good chance we were in for some snow. (I think only other Queenslanders would understand how excited I was feeling about the prospect of snow!) Sure enough, round 12 noon the first flakes started to flutter down. Yay! I went outside to get a better look and maybe catch some on my hand.

Big mistake! I shut the glass sliding door behind me, and the wooden dowel we use to keep it shut (dodgy rental property with doors that aren't flush or square!) slipped down. I didn't realise this for a few minutes as I was entranced by the snow. But it wasn't long before I discovered it! Bugger. It was jammed shut. So, locked out. Not wearing blizzard-proof clothes. Wall of glass between me and the warm interior. All windows and doors locked. Three levels up. No neighbours home. No mobile phone on my person. Mr greenolive not due home from work for almost four hours. (I ran through all the scenarios in my mind. I'm very good in a crisis remember.) Weighing up all the options, freezing to death while waiting for Mr greenolive to return vs smashing a window and paying for it to be replaced, the window won. I sized up all the windows and decided a small one at floor height would be the cheapest to replace plus the easiest for me to crawl through and the easiest one to block up while I waited for it to be repaired. Just in case you don't believe me, here's the photographic evidence. I can tell you that the guys from O'Brien Glass are very prompt and friendly...

Well, after the ordeal of the smashed window, and after Mr O'Brien left, the weather had the decency to really snow. Real snow with big flakes that didn't melt as soon as it reached the ground, plants or deck. It was quite exciting, and Mr greenolive even made a snowman. And left big footprints in the snow. The forecast is for even more snow tonight... maybe we'll be snowed in!

order from chaos

yesterday's common thread was order from chaos, organisation from disorganisation...

BEFORE

I had a day off yesterday. What I really mean is that there was nothing planned. I had a job interview the day before. I'd been stash shopping already this week. I had nowhere I needed to be. Plus the weather was not great: cold, fog-bound, raining – no good for washing. But, I did have a messy studio and it was as good a day as any to tackle it. Then I might have some space on my desk to start action item 12. (The one I hadn't got serious about yet!)

AFTER

What started as a stash sort-out turned into full-blown domesticity. Even included a batch of scones, eaten with strawberry jam and double cream and a cup of English Breakfast tea.

I had to psych myself into tackling the dishes though. Its the one housework chore I really hate. Mr greenolive did most of the housework while I was working as corporate greenolive but now she's been replaced by just plain greenolive, I've had to reacquaint myself with the dishes. But there is an underlying reason why dishes and I don't mix. Feng Shui. (Yes, you heard me right.)

In Feng Shui there are 5 elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal. Each has an inherent energy, and an effect on each of the other four elements. Dishes represent water. As a 1967 baby, I'm fire. And in the Feng Shui energy cycle, water extinguishes fire. (You can see where this is going can't you?) So, you now understand why doing the dishes isn't one of my favourite things.

To further strengthen this arguement, I can reveal that I'm not into swimming, and I've been known to delay my daily shower until lunchtime if at all possible. (Very possible if one isn't rushing off to work!) Mr greenolive thinks this is a very convenient excuse, but I see it as the underlying reason why water and I don't mix. Vacumming, dusting, making the bed, sorting the pantry, filing stuff away – all of these I find very appealing. Luckily we have a dishwasher in our new place. Though being green dictates we only allow ourselves to use it once a week. With a full load. And on a low temperature. I'm getting very good at stacking it to maximum capacity!