Botanical Beauties.

My one-off felt creation shown by my pretty model.

As you can see I have been busy felting lately.This time an OOAK hat. (One Of A Kind : took me ages to figure out what those letters stood for...)
I was commissioned to make a mushroom shaped hat for a 9 year old expert on fungi. He requested a brown and yellow button shape, and even though I had never made one, I was sure I knew how.

Top of the Mushroom Hat

And I am quite happy with how it turned out, and judging by their enthusiastic response, so were the boy and his Mum.
I left a small ridge on the edge (usually on a 3-d shape like this, I work the ridge so it disappears.) to make it more of a division between top and underside. The only stitching is is on the underside to sculpt the gills, and give it more upward rigidness.

The sculpted underside.

I also added a loose padding inside, soft cotton with sewn in wool sliver.
The measurements for his head circumference had already been provided. It had to fit of course, and not sink over his eyes...

Super shrinking rate!

This time I worked the felt even harder than with the hobbit hole. You can see the bubble-wrap resist, which was the size I started off with! Usually I felt until the object has shrunk by a third of it's original size, or even less if I want it to remain supersoft and flexible.
But this time it shrunk to one third of it's original shape. This also means that the different coloured layers of wool used, will "travel" and subtly blend to make the final colours.
I definitely had quite sore arms the next day...

 Weird Impulse buy:

Alfred Meakin dinner set "Oaklands"

So there I was in 1 of the opshops on my "Thrift Queen List" and my eye fell on this dusty bunch of plates and cups. I really liked the stylized acorns, beech nuts and leaves pattern. I figured it was late 1950's or mid 60's.
I turned it over and to my surprise it said Alfred Meakin, England, glow-white "Oaklands".    I often pick up porcelain because of it's cheerful colours or patterns, and I often see Meakin, but usually much older looking, pre-war. Not that I can find any information on this particular pattern, but I just like it.
I also noticed the price on a wee little sticker: $5 (NZ)
Well, I took it home, didn't I....
 My love liked it too, and it will make a nice change at dinner time after 27 years of the same plates. Not that I will chuck out the other set mind you.
 It is Crown Lynn, "Wild Wheat", bought new from the D.I.C. store. I can still see us walking through town with the boxes of our dinner-set, ready to go flatting together. I felt so proud and excited!
 And there is nothing more Kiwiana than Crown Lynn crockery.


How does our garden grow:

Pointsettia.

It is winter time, so our Christmas star is in full bloom. But no X-mas in sight for our pointsettia...
 We get the forced potted plants with that season in the supermarkets.

Poinsettias get bigger than you think...

It is a small bushy tree in our garden here. Last year a big branch snapped off in stormy weather.
Are you Northern Europeans surprised with the size your little potted plants can grow to?

Creamy delicious magnolia.

The tuis love our neighbours' magnolia tree, they dip their beaks into the back of the flowers and have a little sip.

Next to the magnolia is a native "cabbage tree".

We have a lovely view of this winter flowering tree from our living room.
 It is nice to be on canopy-level!

Clouds in our Skies.

Volcanic ash on my car.

 So last Monday 6th august,11:30ish at night, Tongariro, one of our volcanoes in the central North-Island plateau, erupted. It had been asleep since 1897. It burped out a bunch of rocks, a few explosions, much steam and ash, accompanied by small tremors and lightning.
None of which we heard or felt in Napier.
 But it did smell funny in the morning on Tuesday; a faint smell of sulphur.
I then heard it on the radio news, and went outside, where I could see small flecks of white-grey ash lying on the ballustrade of our deck.
And once I got to school for work, this (above) is what my car looked like.

Looking north west across Havelock North and Hastings.

I had taken my camera along, and after work in the early afternoon I drove up Te Mata Peak look-out point.
On a clear day you can see Mt.Ruapehu from here, the sister volcano of the 3 grouped together there. But you can see from my photo, that it was cloudy and hazy.

(Nasa Photo)Tongariro Ash plume seen by moonlight 1 hour after eruption, drifting east towards Hawke's Bay.

This is a Nasa photo, much clearer, even though at night.
The distance between Napier and the volcanic plateau is about 110 km as the crow flies.
 Or in this case; as the ash drifts.

Looking north towards Napier by the sea.

We live on that large hill outcrop at the sea side. On the left is Havelock North and the outskirts of Hastings. Hazy everywhere.

Looking westwards.

You can really see the ash filled air between the ranges in the distance and the green hills in the foreground. By this time of the day it was slowly moving south .

Looking east across the Tuki-tuki river.

I then turned around to the east and looked down into one of my favourite scenery, the Tuki-tuki river valley. Across the river is a glade of pine trees, which was softly smoking it seemed.
No, not more ash, but soft green-yellow billows of pine pollen.
Can you feel a sneeze coming on?

Aaah-chooo...
I did have some teary eyes that day and the next, but I usually have a more severe response to other pollen allergy, so I think I was reacting to the ash.

 The volcanologists are saying that there are 3 scenarios: *1 Tongariro will simply go back to sleep, and it was just farting in bed, *2 it will keep going quietly for a while, with gentle steaming and ash throwing *3 it might be gearing up for more activity.
The ash etcetera was coming out of 3 new vents apparantly. Also the magma is bubbling up higher than usual, measured by certain gases in the steam. But that is all they can tell us.
-However, White Island off the coast of Bay of Plenty has also erupted, either on Tuesday or Wednesday. It hasn't done that for 12 years, although there is always some bubbling going on there. White island is a volcano, of which only a quarter of its full size is sticking up out of the sea.
- And if that isn't enough to make you wonder if they are connected, so has another underwater volcano North of New Zealand, called Mount Monowai.
A navy ship found 25 000 square km worth of floating pumice on the surface of the ocean.
All these volcanoes are of course on the fault line of the tectonic plates on which we balance here in little old New Zealand...
Interesting stuff! We'll just keep watching this space...

Exotic Balinese Critters.

Pollinating the hibiscus flowers.

There were many little delights in Bali, here a series of insects we chanced upon . And my camera does up close quite well. Don't forget to click on a picture to see it bigger.
Unfortunately I do not know any of the beautiful creatures' names.
It was very difficult to get a picture of the black butterfly with the swallowtail shaped wings. It was bigger than a monarch butterfly and it had a flash of deep blue on its wings, the yellow was pollen. It flapped its wings rapidly even when sitting down.

Looking ancient.

 This huge bug was making its way up a rusty gate. It moved woodenly and slowly. It looked very robust and would have filled the palm of my hand.

Didn't like my hand.

Electric blue dragonfly.

This is the colour-way you  would expect of a dragonfly. Although beautifully offset by its black wings. Shimmering against the green foliage.

Golden dragonfly.

This dragonfly was a glowing golden colour. Just right against that dark water background.

Velvet red dragonfly.

 And this one amazed me! A velvety dark red, but with see-through wing tips.
This is one of my favourite photos.

Super size snail.

 Near the rice fields a whopping big snail was slipping up the wall.
 Didn't like my hand either.

Big beetle.

At night on the porch this bumbling big beetle came crashing into the lamp. We helped it back up and on its way.
I would have loved to film the fireflies, but the camera couldn't handle the focus in the dark, what with those little beetles blinking on and off all the time.
 Shame , because they are just magic!

Emerging gold dragonfly.

This was a brand-new golden dragonfly, just emerging from its pupae stage. Its wings haven't quite un-crumpled yet, and are still drying out.
It will fly off soon, for the first time in its short life, and it will know exactly what to do.
 Astounding!
I just love the little things in this world, don't you?

How to dye cotton ribbon with food colouring.

I bought some cotton tape, which was plain white, for a $1 from my local Sallies, as I wanted to use it as some kind of binding for a craft project. And I like to re-use stuff.

So here's how you dye it with food colouring until it has pastel shades.

Needed;

*white cotton tape of some sort,  *splash of white vinegar,  *drop of detergent,  *red, blue, yellow and green food colouring,  *old microwave proof containers,  *baking tray or similar container,  *plastic wrap, *syringe or dropper,  *microwave.

First I soaked the cotton tape in boiling hot water, with a splash of white vinegar (as a mordant so the colour will "bite in") and a drop of dishwash detergent (for the fibres to be more receptive).
 I even microwaved it in the container with the water solution for a minute or 2.
 I then lined a baking dish with gladwrap ( to contain the mess somewhat) and laid down the hot wet ribbon in it.

 I mixed up colours into separate containers, dropwise, you don't need huge quantities, and added the same amount of water drops.

Formulas with red, blue, yellow and green food colouring:

orange;   1 drop of red , 2 drops of yellow

purple;       3 red        , 1 blue

dark green;   1 red  , 4 blue , 1 yellow

lime green;    3 yellow  , 1 green

aqua;    4 blue  , 2 green

pink purple; 5 red,   1 blue

Double the quantities or triple  if you want a larger amount. Add the same amount of water, or keep it concentrated.

Mix into containers, and suck it up into a syringe or a dropper , so you have good drop control.

Now put 1 drop at a time onto the wet tape. Don't worry about the white spaces, because while it is cooking in the microwave the colours will flow together and blend.

 I wrapped the package up in the plastic wrap, keeping it flat. Otherwise the colours will flow together too much and the colours will become muddy.
In to the microwave with a glass of water for extra steam.
 I microwaved on high for 2 minutes.

Then I took it out and let it cool down. I did not leave it overnight, because I was afraid the colours would run together and the clarity would be lost. However you could experiment with that, you might get stronger colours.
Then I quickly rinsed the ribbon in luke warm water with a splash of vinegar. And rinsed again in cold water.

Let the ribbon dry and then iron flat. Don't iron while wet; a strange thing happened when I did that. The heat seemed to suck the dyed moisture upwards to the iron and the bottom side of the ribbon turned out paler in colour. Weird.

Remember to have fun with colour combinations!

Oh and don't forget to wear some gloves.... Unless you want your hands to look mouldy!  :)

Light Above.

Original 70's ceiling asbestos and plaster coating.

 Some home improvement updates now. After our holiday we had a company booked to come and strip the ceilings in our living-, dining-, bed-room and 2 small hallways of their textured coatings.
This coating, consisting of plaster mixed with asbestos, was sprayed on in the 70's to create a fashionable texture look. All dust and spiderwebs stick to it and even if you use a soft brush on the vacuum cleaner, it will start to crumble off. Yikes! So I didn't touch it!
The texture absorbed light and did not reflect it back.
There were beautiful original 1940's cornices hiding under it.
We moved out for a couple of days, after emptying most of the house into the garage upstairs, and downstairs into the smaller bedrooms.
Had a lovely stay at my brothers' house, nice bonus!
 The layer was quickly and safely removed by wet steaming and scraping it off like porridge, all the rooms were encased in plastic, which was all taken away.
Great!

After stripping the textured layer.

 Then a bunch of very weathered ceilings came to light.
 It looks very "wabi-sabi" ...
Well, they'll have to be tackled 1 by 1.

1940's plaster cornices in ugly state.

Some of the old plaster cornices had cracks in them and bits fallen off, even a couple of holes in the living room that had a leak above it, now fixed by The Man. (For the plaster to have worn away, how long had that leak been there already?)

3 New layers of plaster in the dining room.

So then we employed a professional plasterer, who luckily had some spare time within 2 days of the stripping job, and he re-plastered the dining room with 3 new layers.
 Since that was the room we want to concentrate on first.
He did a lovely job.

Cornices fixed up and sanded.

Then The Man fixed up the damaged cornices, sanded them, painted them with a special paint.
He was very careful, and as always, meticulous.
Although he criticised his own work....

Painting the cornices carefully.

Then he painted the ceilings several times, all at night. He never saw them in the daytime, as he had to go to work, but it turned out beautifully fresh and smooth.

A fresh, white, smooth dining room ceiling!

 The new wallpaper has been ordered in a fresh light aqua blue, but we'll have to wait another 6 weeks as it has to come from Germany. Plenty of time for the next jobs; getting the fireplace out and stripping the wallpaper off.
There is a second woodfire in the dining room which we don't need. We had the house insulated last year and we always have the rooms open to the woodfire in the living room.
The firebox is already out and sold to a friend, chimney and all.
 Next: the ugly dark brick fire place surround is coming away!

A new macho toy to tackle the bricks!

Oh Yes!  Just you watch out!

Winter Warm and Cosy.

The oak tree from the kitchen.

It is still very much winter, even though some early jonquils are out. The winter daphne is blooming below our deck, and every time I go out there to feed the birds their nectar water, the beautiful daphne scent wafts up. A fresh sweet, lemony smell.
 I do put some in a vase, but it will only release its scent in a cold room.

Wet lichens

The oak looks all soft and fresh, clad in its green lichens.
The raindrops are twinkling in the morning light.
And the tuis and bellbirds have started their late winter song contests.

I love living here...

and raindrops.

Impulse Buying.
The big Lions' garage sale was on recently, and my hubby and I scored some really good stuff! A near new steam-iron (his idea), another alarm clock (mine's broken), a much newer dishwasher ($10), some vintage fabrics for me and a radio tuner for him.
Then the auction started for the nice big things, so we went over to have a look: always entertaining if there is a good auctioneer full of quick jokes.
 We wanted to bid on a t.v.cabinet with storage, well no problem: ours for $45.
Up came the 2 black leather recliner chairs with footstool. We had already sat in them, but hadn't discussed them. We looked at each other; ok we'll go up to $100...
People stopped bidding at $70. Fantastic!
We already had a brown one similar, but these black chairs matched with the black leather couches. And one of our good friends is smitten with the brown chair, (he runs in and hogs it!), so he took that of our hands quite happily.
What a spiffy living-room!
We love to re-use, and all the money goes to local charities. Everyone happy!

Matching furniture.

Dana, my fire-cat.

She just sits there staring at the fire at night.
She gets really close, her whiskers just about frizzle up!
I usually look after the fire, and I always feel she is checking up on my job.

Happy-cat Fox

This is Fox, her brother, they are 15 years old. He is still very playful, but only for about half an hour a day. Then it's time to sleep.
He is the boss-cat, and always manages to keep De-ja-vu just under control.
He's a good boy!

De-ja-vu, are you sure you're comfortable?

This fat boy snores something awful. We try to control his food intake, but he steals from the others, and from dogs in the neighbourhood as well. But he is such a docile, gentle and affectionate fellow, he just has a little eating disorder...

He came as a stray and is about 13 years old.

Enter! into Bali

A hotel side entrance.

 My first series of Bali photos, of front doors.
I wish we had a garden gate like these, the one above shows a tantalizing glimpse of a lush water garden. A bit like in Alice in Wonderland, where she can only look through the tiny door at a sumptious garden far away, but has just grown too big to fit through.

Front door to a family compound.

 Doors can shut out that which you don't want to enter.
 Or they can protect that which lies within.

Unassuming front door with offerings for the bad spirits.

Doors can shut something within, which you don't want to get out.
It lies locked and enclosed.

Sanur front door with walls made of corals.

 Permission might be needed, special codes and entrusted keys, in order to pass through.

Carved posts in Sanur.

A door is the portal of change, you go from one place into another.
The point of transformation.
From one situation into another, and sometimes the door might announce what kind of place this may be.

Sanur beach front door with guardians, salt sprayed.

 I love this one, all weather beaten and overgrown.

Ubud hotel room door.

As if it wasn't decorated enough, every morning this door had fresh flowers placed into the carved posts. And on our bed. And by the washstand. And inserted into the lamp.
Glorious!