That's what I have probably washed off the storage containers, bead boxes, chests of drawers, shelves, my clothes, hands and hair. There was also rodent crap and cockroach legs.
I once made earrings from lacquered koala poo as a fundraiser for wildlife rescue but I doubt that rat shit would be greeted with anything other than horror and disgust unlike the 'awwwww - cute koala-kack,' which, even with lacquer, still smelled of eucalyptus.
More dirt, a bin of leaves and twigs. the reproachful glares of displaced spiders, one fat gecko no doubt responsible for the cockroach legs and returned to a safe place in the shed. Lots of trolly wheeling, lumping boxes, searching for missing stuff, assembly, measuring and stacking.
All for this. . . .
****PWAAAAAAAARRRRRRR****
Isn't it awesome?????
Aren't you jealous??????
Yeah I'm jealous too .....
Now before the hate and flame mail starts about passing off and misappropriation, this neat, tidy, tool filled space of awesomeness belongs to artist and silversmith Kirk Burkett of Virginia. Tool porn, lust and envy to the fore.
It is customary to open things with popping champagne corks but in this case, one hissing beer can will have to suffice.
I present the all singing all dancing INSIDE studio!
There is also a corner reserved for the metal bench when I find an old desk or the materials to build one. The desk will be rolled across the door, where the wind will vent outside for soldering, burning things with the torch, sanding and grinding, the application of toxic chemicals and, should the occasion arise, the disposal of nuclear fallout.
Take a looooong hard look, go on, I can assure you right now
it will never look this tidy again EVER!
The 'Grunge Studio' that was in the open shed
has been packed into boxes, dust, leaves, spider crap, rodentia and all and now resides in 'Our Gunyah'.
My future studio has become the repository for everything that does not, as yet, have a permanent home. Piles of linen, towels, blankets, pillows, books, magazines, suitcases and assorted bags, boxes of photographs and laundry baskets in varying stages of being emptied.
Everything was waiting for this.
The fit out of the linen cupboard and the filling of shelving therein.
Almost finished and the blank canvas is being slowly exposed.
It is tradition this time of year to look back over the past year and review events. And what a year it has been. Building a house at our age has been a challenge to say the least. My eyesight (or lack of it) has meant that I have not made a single piece of jewelry for over 12 months. Still the eye surgery is done now and this week I pick up my reading glasses.
We promised each other, if possible we would move into the house by Christmas and we have kept that promise to ourselves.
Still lots of temporary stuff, like the kitchen, but we are IN and I am content with where we currently are.
As it is summer, and so far, very hot nothing much will be done on the house. My husband has worked so hard to get to here so a break is what the needs and what he will get and besides there is plenty of cricket to watch on tv.
So this year holds more completion of the house, unpacking boxes, my new studio, creativity, contentment and no doubt some challenges, but bring it on!
Back home (temporarily)
Surgery went well, and I was right, it is far better than a root canal. From prep time to off the table was about an hour. At the end of this time I was sporting a most fetching eye bandage consisting of a stonking great pad, big plastic dome and about 40 metres of micropore tape specifically placed to cover all eyebrows and any other area of skin containing hair follicles.
Grand daughter and grand son wanted to know why my eye was bandaged I told them that Grandma had had an operation so she could be a pirate. GD looked skeptical while GS was delighted. So pirate talking began. Arrrrgh Jim lad, wherre be me poirate hat? GD, rising to the challenge appeared with a black tricorn hat which was duly placed on head at jaunty angle. Arrrrgh matey and where be me poirate sworrrrd? GS bolted to his room and returned with a plastic sword. Much swashing and buckling, plank walking and aaaring ensued until Grandma conseded that pirating was quite exhausting.
Sometime during the night the local anaesthetic wore off and a gravel truck came by and dumped a load in my eye. Lots of fumbling around looking for the Panadol which became my best friend.
Next morning the eye bandage was ripped off gently removed taking eyebrow hair and exfoliating my cheek.
WOOOOAAAHHH I was prepared for being able to see clearly like seeing the leaves on the trees. Hell I can even see the bugs on the leaves on the trees but I was totally unprepared for the light. The brilliant painful blinding light!
Am getting used to the "new eye" and I go back this weekend for a check and hopefully a date for the other eye.
Stay tuned for morrrre adventures me hearrrrties.
Big chunks of time have gone by and my posts have been non existant, but our build is progressing well and we are currently installing plasterboard to the walls and ceilings.
The deterioration of my sight has continued and I can best describe it as living in a vaseline jar. Everything is blury, I can no longer drive and have had a couple of tumbles through not seeing clearly.
BUT
On Tuesday I undergo surgery for the removal of the offending eye lense and the fitting of a genuine artificial plastic prosthesis.
I confess that the thought is rather confronting of someone coming near your eye with something sharp, but it can't be any worse than a root canal right?
So by Wednesday I should have clear sharp vision back in my left eye.
Wish me luck.
The universe has certainly tested us in the sector of 'nest building' namely in the process of getting building materials to site.
The council has been working on the bridge over our local creek that was damaged in the floods 12 months ago. This years flood had 20 metres of water roaring down the creek over the bridge and the earthmoving equipment, storage containers and smoko shed and apart from the excavator, everything else was washed away.
This resulted in the load limit of the bridge initially being lowered to 5 ton, then eventually raised to 15 ton. Naturally the last load of building materials plus delivery vehicle was waaay more than 15 ton, but with some local assistance in the form of a smaller crane truck, EVENTUALLY got everything in.
The result is this - all the cladding finished!!
The downside at present is that no, nil nothing in the way of jewelry has been made.
My eyesight has deteriorated to the extent that I struggle to work with fine detail. All is not lost as the upside is I am waiting for an appointment with a eye surgeon, Can't wait!
I have of late, been a neglectful woman.
The construction of the house has consumed me utterly. This combined with weeks of extreme temperatures has sucked out all creative inspiration. My 'grunge studio' is in a state of chaos with proto projects in forgotten piles and leaves scattered on the bench from the hot dry winds and I have no motivation to even clean up.
Christmas and a family wedding have drawn me away and this week events consisted of deja vu in the form of catastrophic flooding in Queensland and New South Wales, again for the second time. We had 90% of our annual rainfall in 72 hours and apart from a few leaks, one over my side of the bed (naturally) we have only had to wait until our local creek was passable.
My hear aches for all the people affected by the floods and hope they have the courage to dig deep and rebuild their lives again.
I have been neglectful of my blog and worst of all, I have been neglectful of my online friends. I am slowly working my way through everyone's posts and hope I am forgiven for not commenting.
