Binary at Lord Coconut: Celebrating the Digital Age

Stitch and Fusion were created for Binary at Lord Coconut, opening next week.

Binary

Exhibition Opening:
5:30pm - 7:30pm 20 May 2014

Exhibition:
21 May 2014 - 7 June 2014

Lord Coconut

Suite 3, Level 4
Carlow House
289 Flinders Lane
Melbourne 3000
Tuesday to Friday – 11am to 6pm
Saturday – 12pm to 4pm
Other times by appointment

Enquiries:

0450 015 263

info[at]lordcoconut.com



My little robot brooches will also be in the show.

How to make a vine wreath in 6 steps.

Wreath made of wisteria vine prunings, decorated for Christmas.

This is so easy - you don't need to be an expert florist or craftsperson to get a good result. It's a great way to utilise waste from your garden, so it's also free! I enjoy making them so much I've been making one every year since moving to this house. I will have to start giving them away. They could make a sweet gift for a loved one.

Depending on how you decorate this wreath you can use it for all sorts of occasions or as a year round piece of decor. You can also use the same technique on grapevine. That is what the commercially sold natural wreathes are made of. The advantage of the wisteria prunings is that the vines are more supple and won't snap like the grapevine does. I have successfully used a similar technique with young bamboo with the leaves on but the edges of the the leaves are like tiny serrated knives. Wear long sleeves if you go down that path.

You will need a round bucket to dry the wreath on. Preferably it has no moulded in spout - this may lead to a less round wreath - and a good slope to the sides for easy putting on and removal of your wreath.



1. Strip vines of leaves. If you are using grapevines you can leave the tendrils on. They add interesting texture and make the wreath fuller.



2. Starting with the thickest end, wrap a vine over itself into a circle of the size wreath you want. Pay attention to how the vine allows itself to be bent and don't push it in ways it won't yield.


3. Keep on adding more vine lengths - preferably in one direction only but it isn't the end of the world if you don't...


4. ...Until you have used up your prunings.




5. Push over upturned bucket until it fits snugly. This will ensure a perfect, round shape. As you can see it is possible to dry more than one wreath at a time. Leave to dry.

6.It's ready for another wrapping session when it the vines have shrunk back and are no longer green. It takes 3 to 4 sessions of pruning and wrapping to get a sturdy, solid feeling wreath. It can not be done in one session because of the shrinkage. It loosens as it dries and you need fresh material to tighten it up.


Dried and fresh wreathes.


Grapevine wreath

Never double peplum

I dislike peplums and I am not alone - just run a google search on 'peplum ugly' and get results like this. This is ridiculous. Never double peplum/ruffle. Some stylist at thought this was a good idea. WTF. She looks like she's a moulting kangaroo with a prolapsed pouch.

Oia melds with Indigenous Art

Corner of George and Moor Streets, Fitzroy, Melbourne
October 2013

The colour scheme and most of the patterns used have a Greecian influence, but the layout and use of concentric forms and said patterns, plus the little hand print give it an indigenous flavour. It's a successful meld radiating a positive, inclusive energy.

Adventure Time Mural

Corner of Condell and George Streets Fitzroy, Melbourne
October 2013



The interesting thing about finding locations like this on Google Maps, is that the street view usually was taken before the art existed.

Street Art in Little Smith Street Fitzroy, Melbourne - 5

Street Art in Little Smith Street Fitzroy, Melbourne - 4 Inner Space

Not a favouite of mine but done well, incorporating the architecture and indirectly inspired by Pattachitra a traditional, Indian painting style.

Street Art in Little Smith Street Fitzroy, Melbourne - 3 Outer Space

Street Art in Little Smith Street Fitzroy, Melbourne - 2 Wildlife

Bear mural


This particular artist also did another mural in Fitzroy off Johnson Street with pandas:



Our critically endangered, state (Victorian) emblem:

Helmeted honeyeater mural


Detail

Street Art in Little Smith Street Fitzroy, Melbourne - 1 Decomposition

Late last year I had an appointment in Fitzroy and went for a wander down a few side streets to see what street art I would find. The following post is the first of a series showing what I consider to be the best works walking north in Little Smith Street, in October 2013. They are not all to my taste but they are well done.


Detail of a mural. Unfortunately the ground level section of this piece has been vandalised with spray paint.


Stencil art skull. I like the decomposing substrate and grittiness with the visceral red splash.

Chewbacca Bunny

Chewbacca Bunny sticker on a parking meter,

Footscray, Melbourne 2013

Sticker bombed sign, Fitzroy, Melbourne

Typical of the area, street art sticker bombed sign in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne. Features sticker by GhostPatrol.

Monochromatic street art mural, Fitzroy, Melbourne.

Fitzroy, Young Street, October 2013


Mural by Makatron, Phibs, Vato and Gore.

I have photoshopped out some vandalism to the mural as best I could off the hippo. See link to see unadulterated close up by Makatron.


View Larger Map
The location as captured by Google Maps

Good eggs and bad eggs - An old fashioned test

So your eggs are close to or past their recommended use by. Or maybe you have your own chooks and you're not sure how old your eggs are. Before you throw them out you can test them to see if they are still good. This is an old trick your grand mother would have used.


First take your egg. Funny face drawn on is optional (done with a Chinagraph / wax pencil)

Gently place it into a glass of water.
Make sure you choose a glass big enough for the egg to sink to the bottom.
If it sinks, it's a good egg and it's fine to eat.


If it floats, it's a bad egg so do not eat it!
It floats because of the gas created as it decomposes.

I usually test a whole carton to see if any need to be disposed of, then retest them as I use them. I break our bad eggs directly into the compost bin.

Stewed in warmed melted butter

'The heat was so extreme as the ship sailed towards Rio de Janeiro in February 1832 that Darwin slept naked on the mahogany dissecting table at night. Even then he complained that he felt as if he were being stewed in warmed melted butter'
from Darwin and the Barnacle by Rebecca Stott

Another way to express the sensation of feeling really hot here (NSFW: coarse language):

Open - my bear at Toy to the World 2014

Open
Work in progress animation of customised vinyl Popobe bear figure.

Here are the details for the Toy to the World exhibition and silent auction my little bear 'Open', will be at.You can bid for it here.

Toy to the World 2014

WHEN: Tuesday 21st January
WHERE: ArtBoy Gallery, 99 Greville St Prahran
ENTRY: Gold coin donation (voluntary - covers cost of venue hire)

From the Facebook event page:
'Since early December over 80 artists from Melbourne and around the world have been busy customizing over 100 blank vinyl toy bears for the Toy to the World Project.

They're now just about ready to exhibit and to auction off to raise funds for HIV research and education.

Part design competition, part charity fundraiser, the opening night of the TTTW Project kicks off the 2 week long online auction.

The bears will all be on display for only 5 (sic actually 4) days after the opening night at ArtBoy atop the locally crafted quality display plinths from kist3, big ups to these guys.

Once the opening night is over you can continue to check on your bids in the auction and place new bids via our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/toy2theworld the auction will close on Tuesday Feb 4th at 7pm sharp.

Bears can be collected at an arranged time from South Yarra after this, or can be sent via post (additional postage & handling costs will apply on top of your winning bid)

All profits raised via the auction go the Victoria AIDS Council.'

More Band Names

Continuing on from my previous post of band names:
Nematode (explaining a home crop issue to J)
Anal Plate (flipping through a field guide of Australian butterflies. I think it describes part of a caterpillar)
Dirty Measure (housemate talking about reusing a measuring cup)
Pissweak Paperweight (an observation made about an antique acquisition of my father's)
Sticky Spud (~can't remember~)
Spank the Colander (action taken to remove droplets caught in apertures of colander to ensure it dries in dish rack)

Chicken Twirl Mascot

I was unusually checking out Woolworth's frozen food section and was reminded why I don't usually do this:

Chicken Twirls, Southern style.


At least he seems like a polite mascot with hat doffed and toothy ah, disarming smile - even if his legs are a bit too heroically apart! Can you imagine him sitting on a horse? Why does he have a belt? What is that curious bulge at the top of his leg? Why am I calling it a him?

Humane Anti Bird Barrier - ground plants and seedlings.

A free and easy way to protect young plants and seedlings from foraging birds. Blackbirds in particular like to forage through garden beds flicking mulch and dirt about in their search for food. They often dig up young plants in the process!

We have used bamboo twigs neatly placed in 'A' shapes as shown above but a triangular teepee or encircling fence in similar proximity will work as well if not better. You don't have to use bamboo -any stick or twig will do. It needs to be sturdy and long enough so it won't be easily dug up and is close together enough to prevent the bird from getting close to the root system or the plant itself. More rather than less is best for delicate seedlings. As the plant gets older you can pull them out. With found twigs you can be a bit lazier and just leave them there to disintegrate.

A larger version of this system also works well for stopping your dog from continually peeing on a plant.

Forest Spirit Tree

This dead tree overgrown with vines near J's house used to remind me of The Forest Spirit (Shishi-gami) from Princess Mononoke by Studio Ghibli. It was cleaned up and cut down last year. That's a full moon in the sky behind it.

Potted herbs

Potted herbs on an outdoor table are easy to look after and harvest.

My favourite garden herbs:

• Thyme is a perennial and a pretty little plant. Tasty sprinkled on buttered, toasted bread but also in more complex things!
• Oregano is also a perennial but needs to be trimmed back hard after flowering before returning in the spring flush with leaves. Lovely in pasta dishes and on pizza.
• Chives and garlic chives are handy perennials when you want an onion or garlic hint without the full punch. Garlic chives are particularly easy to grow.
• Italian parsley is an annual that grows so easily from seed that you need never buy fresh parsley again. Even a black thumb should be able to grow some! Cut some excess by the stalk, bundle with string to hang dry in a dark, warm place so that you will have some all year round. Better still, let some go to seed and save the seed to plant at intervals so you always have harvestable amounts.
• Sweet Basil is annual you can grow from seed or buy a punnet full of seedlings. I prefer the punnet option because I want them NOW. Well soon anyway. The fragrance is divine. Freeze your excess leaves to add to pasta sauces and pestos over winter after your plants have died.

The feminine wiles of aubergines.

My housemate grew one bootilicious aka callipygian (cal·li·pyg·i·an) aubergine last Summer.


I bought this one because I couldn't resist sharing her with you!

Ladies we should not be ashamed of our - or our fresh produce's - sexy parts. It's empowering to see female artists reclaiming female genitalia back from the censors and celebrating it as something beautiful, sensual and intimate. I'm not sure I'd want to wear it around my neck but to each her own!

"...And For Dessert..." by Ron Adams

"...And For Dessert..." by Ron Adams

o..O

Seen at Vinnie's Op Shop in July. Going by my internet research - I didn't buy or look inside this book - it's a recipe book for sensual play with food published in 1974.

A banana a day.

Current Australian Bananas advertisement on tram. 'Uranus Choc Log' [smirk 'n' giggles]

Bird Sticker at the Docklands, Melbourne

C'est la vie...

...That's life as a shy, colour blind, queer heart. It's like they channelled Freddie Mercury and completely missed the mark.

Ladies' t-shirt seen at Target.

Guinea pig bumper sticker

The cutest car sticker I've ever seen. It made me squee. I had to pull over and take a pic to share. I love the foreshortening and his happy little face.

Street art pimp my metal box

Signal box on Lygon Street, Carlton near bike track.


Fire Indicator Panel box (?) at Eckersley's Art shop in Franklin Street, Melbourne CBD. I didn't see the chameleon at first!


My favourite from the sticker collection at Eckersley's by Trimbles.

Blurred Lines aka 'What rhymes with "hug me"?' - both nonsensical notions.

I know I'm late to the table on this one but my favourite dancer in my favourite performance from SYTYCD danced to 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke. Upon looking into the track I read much controversy over both the lyrics and the clip (PG and a M+ version unsuitable for YouTube).

Having read the lyrics and watched all I could stand of both versions of the clips, as well as various parodies my conclusion is thus: you can get away with singing anything you want if you sing it in falsetto and he is a f*** wit with a good voice. The 'we're married with kids, this is tongue in cheek, have you no sense of humour?' line is bull$#!+

Just be honest Thicke: sex sells and if it's explicit you can rake in the $$$$$. You said it was a pleasure to degrade women in this clip becuse you usually respect women such as your wife. Respect of women is different to respecting a woman's authority. Also you mention that the British don't understand the humour of the clip yet you say it was inspired by Benny Hill. You do know he was English right? I think the reason they and the rest of us don't find it funny is because your clip isn't funny. Having topless women and a goat doesn't make a clip instantly funny. Then again I never thought Benny Hill was funny either but that's just me and my feminist ways (felt even before I understood what feminism is).

Thicke, in answer to
'You wanna hug me.
What rhymes with "hug me"?'
it isn't 'f*** me' unless you mispronounce f*** or hug. Whilst that works when composing couplets for a song because you control how it is pronounced, asking the listener to do so is onerous and clumsy. Suggested answers to your query are;
Bug me
Lug me
Jug me
Pug me
Rug me
Thug me
Snug me
Plug me
Drug me
Mug me
Tug me - is that what you're getting at? If so then okay, as you were.

I don't believe that the song endorses non-consensual sex but it's certainly not a healthy outlook and it does make arrogant assumptions. This is nothing new. The non-explicit lyrics are on the whole not much creepier/sexist than some of these other older song examples off the top of my head:
5ive
Depeche Mode
Billy Ocean
Sting and The Police
The difference? The clips and the lyrics are suggestive rather than outright pornographic or explicit. In the case of The Police this was so well done that most people think it's a love song and not about a controlling, manipulative stalker.

The explicit lyrics are unnecessarily disgusting and I can't believe this man is happily married ... yech. Then again he claims his wife is the one who told him to put out the explicit clip after he had misgivings about it.

Had Thicke not put out explicit versions of the clip and song it may have done just as well as it has and we wouldn't be having this discussion. I actually like the catchy melody with its 1970s funky flavour pseudo early Michael Jackson feel, the PG clip is inoffensive, but now knowing the lyrics and the attitude of the performer there is no way I would buy it.

Word Salad / Band Names

Throughout and beyond my relationship with J we have enjoyed playing with words, learning new ones, and recombining common phrases or ideas into sources of amusement. One of the things he taught me was band names ie. curious phrase, word combination results in "That would be a good name for a band" - either because it sounds cool, or it's so silly/funny it could work for the right act. Since I got J's old i-phone 4 I've been taking note of them for posterity to share here. I know this concept isn't unique to us. If I bothered to Google* it maybe there's a whole site/community/twitter feed dedicated to it. No matter. You're welcome :)
I've also added how the origin/context of the phrase if it isn't self explanatory and I can remember it.

Ox Blood Goat (trying to recall the word for the colour, misfiring it as ox gall and being misheard as goat)
Left Curve (road sign)
Arm Fart 
Random Kebab (comment after seeing many kebab caravans in an area)
Oozy Crumpet (with honey and butter)
Joffrey and the Oozy Crumpets (had been watching GoT)
Plush Tuxedo (my description of Fonzie the Cardigan Corgi's coat/markings)
Death Burp (discussion about preserving olives)
Death Fart
Smurf Jerky (may have followed a discussion about the crapness of Avatar and how it ends?)
Decaf Goon. (was talking about coffee...)
Fridge Funk (J's shared fridge emanates a stink) 
Segregated Pumpkin (J roasted some organic and not-organically grown pumpkin on seperate trays)

Feel free to use any of them - let me know and send me a link if you do!

*I would get this sort of thing.