I want to

And we shall. Though the mode of travel will be surface based. Today we are heading to North Stradbroke Island for 4 days to work on the Wallum project.

I'm looking forward to working with Shannon more intensely than is possible during short trips. Amongst fieldtripping we will do some experiments with clay and molding. And on the Friday we are being guided by Shane Coghill from Mookin Bibonmari Aboriginal Tours and will learn about the indigenous Goenpul culture of the island and visit some wallum areas.

And in between all the hard work I hope to get in a few swims and sleeps to recover from a busy time working and teaching!

Earthing Pebbles

I made a pebble rainbow on the floor but could never really do these worn beach pebbles justice in a piece of jewellery. But that doesn't stop me from trying.

These Pebbles in a Pebble pendants are for new UK stockist Serena Hall Gallery in Suffolk and Framed in Darwin, Australia. I'm hoping that twirling the timeless pebbles will help to earth people in opposite hemispheres. Or at least give them something to do while caught in traffic.

iNana2.0

Months of R&D has resulted in the release of iNana2.0. Let's hope it lasts longer than the ill-famed snack of a similar name since disapproval was expressed at the highest levels .

CNC (computer numerical control) routing is scary new technology for a neo-luddite to be messing around with but I was lucky to have a spirit guide into this strange twilight world in the form of bubble-mage, Russell Anderson and the sexy CNC machine that he built. It just merrily zooms around tracing out the shapes with a drill-like bit while you watch closely to make sure it doesn't go beserk. It certainly beats cutting out the shapes with a jewellers saw! And the time I save on cleaning up the edges can be spent ingratiating myself with the Nana Mouskouri fan club. The shapes (3 different styles of Nana eyewear representing the length and breadth of her career) still get pressed onto 4 different kinds of glass (sparkle, Japanese floret, tarando and starburst) and all the other bits are handmade so don't think I have completely gone to the darkside. I'm just dipping my toes in.A reworking of my nana pins, these nifty summer accessories now sport new slimline stainless steel pins and reinforced bridge. We cut out my latest Nana 100%s from the White Rose of Athens (sung in German) LP. Four of these 12 (Edition No. 14) are already heading off to Athens for a customer over there who has dined with Nana herself at a restaurant in the nations capital! It gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

I've also make snack size versions of the Nana 100% brooches. I will have them all at Brisbane Finders Keepers market although if you want to buy one via mail just drop me a line and you can make your selection.

Wallum Hakea

On a recent trip to Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach I found a forest of Hakea actites and a story to tell. On one side of the road, vegetation was struggling along with old dry woody seedpods and fine needly sheoak type leaves. They'd been heroically carrying the heavy lumpish pods at least a year. The other side of the road was all but wiped out by a scorching fire. In this monotonal landscape of burned sticks, the Hakea pods had opened up to reveal a surprisingly rich interior. The seeds were well protected in these tough old pods just waiting for a fire hot enough to open and release them onto a scorched earth. There they will have little competition and can proliferate in the fertile remains of their ancestors. Sex and death in a nutshell.

Shannon Garson and I have just been awarded an Arts Queensland to explore the Wallum and create new jewellery, porcelain and glass work in response. See our new blog.

Louvre Lovers

Still in Beta testing but with Valentine's day (a great day for louvres) on the horizon I made this louvre-lover bracelet. It moves like a snake and looks a bit like an army of processionary caterpillars cruelly joined into a circle marching towards certain starvation and death. Not that these comparisons are at all metaphorical.

Louvres, much like lovers, are great when they actually work. When the louvre-lever moves easily and opens to let in the cool breezes or closes tight to shut out the storms, burglars and mosquitoes they are indeed a pleasure to have around. But too often the mechanism corrodes and they either shut out the cool breezes or let in the storms, burglars and mosquitoes. Sometimes when panes are missing they cunningly manage to do both. People then opt for the short-term paneless solution: louvres are removed to be replaced by hideous fixed aluminium framed windows and air-con units to speed our headlong march towards aesthetic extinction.

Fortunately this means I've plenty of lovely louvres, more than a decent girl has any right to have. It makes me wish that jewellery made from the goddamned stuff was more popular.

The naughty pee

Come and sea the naughty pee

It may not be your cup of tee

but drink with me and you shall see

How much fun a pea can bee.

More pea poetry here.

Nibble story. *Nibble (by Shannon Garson and Rebecca Ward) @ ADORN, a group ceramic jewellery and glass exhibition of leading Australian makers opens
Friday 6pm -9pm the 23 January 2009, the show runs until Saturday 7 February.

Venue: Fusions Gallery, 483 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley. PH: + 61 7 3358 5122

Marianne Huhn button brooches

These are some brooches I made using 3 gorgeous Marianne Huhn porcelain buttons owned by Shannon . I spent ages looking for her online before I realised I'd missread her signature on the back of the button - Huhn not Kuhn!

Marianne says of her work "I wanted to build on the idea of containment in our lives. I used maps and borders in our landscape and houses and the roles they play in our lives, to speak about the pots function of containment." The buttons certainly fit well here then containing people as they do in swathes of cloth. I also love the translation into buttons of these map fragments- so you can glance down at your coat to get your bearings. It makes me think of the cloth labels we had to wear as children in the first week of school with our name and grade on it.

Anyway I get to keep one. I bags the one with 17 on it (my childhood street number). I know there is always a room for me at number 17 - or so mum threatens! They are made with rubber, st silver and stainless steel. I'd like to say that the rubber discs are a well thought out reference to the streetscape graphics on the porcelain but they were just some bits and bobs I'd collected from Reverse Garbage which happen to conceal the hinge of the pin.