make

Federation Skippet replica

Posted by hil

Federation skippet replica

I’ve just finished making a second replica silver seal box, known as a skippet, for the National Archives of Australia. I made the first one (above) earlier this year. They are used as hands-on items in the National Archives Charters of our Nation exhibition. Making the skippet was an interesting and challenging project because it was finely detailed and required the use of some materials that I wasn’t familiar with, such as sculpey, silicone and resin. It also had to be done from photos only, as the original skippet is too precious to be handled by anyone other than archivists.

I visited the archives collection in Mitchell, and was able to look at and photograph the skippet. It’s a rather beautiful 7 inch diameter silver box that holds a Queen Victorian beeswax seal. An ornately tasseled cord attached to the federation documents is embedded into the core of the seal and runs through holes in the side of the skippet. On the hinged and slightly domed lid of the skippet is the Victorian Coat of Arms:

Federation seal

My photoset at Flickr shows the making process in detail, with comments and explanations, but here are a few photos of the main steps:

The sculpey modelling in and early stage:

Lid design sculpt in progress

… and finished, just before baking:

Lid design sculpt in progress

The silicon mold and the final cast of the lid:

Second lid

Another view of the completed skippet:

Federation skippet replica

More here.

Kicking up my heels

Posted by hil

Amophoid

Playing around after discovering the wonderful drawings of Jim Woodring.

Amenoid2

Amophoids3

Cool cuttlefish and blenny puppets

Posted by hil

Cuttlefish

Raggy Rat has made a couple of beautiful marine-themed puppets for Portland’s Seafest: a cuttlefish and a tompot blenny.

Blenny

There are some great photos and commentary on the making process here. I love the mixing of different types of fabric, and the wool in particular reminds me of Mimi‘s use of wools. I’m looking forward to seeing photos taken at the festival, too. (And look at this cool jellyfish cake!). Thanks for letting me post your photos, Cat!

A strange girl

Posted by hil

My friend Lynda would like to know seven strange things about me… Thanks, Lynda.

  • I disliked dolls as a child, but loved teddy bears and other animal toys. My favourite was a panda I was given when I was about 4. I was fluent in Panda talk. Another favourite was a little German-made bear that I was given to keep in my pocket on the plane when my family moved from South Africa to Australia when I was seven. (I don’t think he is a Stieff bear, because I don’t remember him ever having a stud in his ear, but he is a dead-ringer for Peter Bull’s bear, Theodore, that sold for a fortune in 1995.)
    Edward Bear
  • When I was little I used to save up my pocket money for 10 weeks to buy little felt mice from a tiny shop called The Acorn in the Adelaide Hills. They had tartan clothing, and you could get girl and boy mice. Later I started to make them for myself, and I had a whole family of them, all with alliterative names like Miranda Mouse. I also made them things like tiny books, bags and babies. I still have some, and I still make them occasionally. There are notes on the photo if you follow its link through to Flickr.
    Felt mice

  • When I was about 12 I went through a phase of carving rabbits in the ends of matchsticks.
  • Another early foray in craft was making miniature gonks in football colours for friends at school. Gonks were a 60’s fad, essentially humpty dumpties with big hands and feet, and a fuzzy tuft of hair.
    Gonks

  • At about the same age I started making soft toys from patterns in women’s magazines, only I often made them straight from the miniature pattern on the page, rather than scaling them up
  • We have a couple of treasured crocheted blankets made by grannies in the family, but on the whole I dislike crocheted objects. Amigurumi drive me nuts. I don’t know why.
  • I find it very difficult to tag people; not sure why. (I also have a telephone thing, have to push myself to telephone at times). So if any of my blogging friends would like to take up the meme and run with it, please do, and let me know in comments here.

Butterfly colour palettes

Posted by hil

Swatch

I once had an idea to make colour swatches from Australian landscapes for people to use when designing webpages. My main site Spirits Dancing dates from that time; it’s sorely in need of updating in other ways, but I still like the colours, which were sourced from a eucalyptus tree. So I was interested to come across a thriving community website based on a similar idea, COLORlovers. Check out their colour palettes sourced from butterflies.

(via Laughing Squid)

Cockroaches

Posted by hil

Cockroach

(photo credit: Ella Misso)

This very cool cockroach puppet, made by my friend Ella Misso, looks as if it could come straight out of some Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers trip! Incidentally, here is a pilot of a proposed clay-animation film adaptation of the Freak Brothers.

John Cox: How to make a monster

Posted by hil

Gillmanx

John Cox‘s exhibition How to Make a Monster has been travelling around Australia for some time now, and at present it’s at the Scienceworks Museum in Melbourne until mid July. John’s work became known with his making of the animal cast in Babe, but he has since been involved in many movies, including Crocodile Dundee in LA, George of the Jungle 2, Peter Pan, and Inspector Gadget 2. Often exhibitions only hint at how things are made, but How to Make a Monster looks as if it goes into the making process in detail. I feel there is often a hunger for this kind of information, perhaps especially among children. The willingness to share such detail both here and on his website is a generosity I respect and appreciate.

How to make a monster: the art and technology of animatronics is a great review, talking through many of the facets of the exhibition, while Ghoul School ‘explores the workshop of Australia’s pre-eminent monster-maker’.

I’m interested Cox uses computer technology linked with a router for some sculpting.

The 9-metre crocodile made for Peter Pan is amazing. Check out the video studio for footage of the crocodile being tested…

Jcox

It took 4 months to make and is a favourite of Cox’s, and of the puppeteer, Richard Mueck:

‘RICHARDMUECK (SCULPTOR/PUPPETEER): This was an absolute joy to perform. This was possibly the most powerful, impressive puppet I’ve ever had my hands on, and I was like a little kid in a toy shop who just got the coolest Christmas present. — ABC 7.30 Report

Unfortunately, due to financial pressures, the director had to cut its use to a cameo role: “You see it open one eye and move its head about 30 centimetres,” Cox says. “We could have done that with a head on a stick.”

Experience has taught him not to be too precious about his creations. Making them is the real buzz; what happens after that is often beyond his control. “We got to build this amazing, big thing and it worked,” he says. “It makes for an interesting story and there are no bad feelings.” – SMH

This rings absolutely true. As do Cox’s practical hints for students.

From big things little things grow

Posted by hil

Bigthingsx

(photo credit: Australia Post)

Today Australia Post is issuing a stamp set featuring five of the 150-or-so Australian Big Things, large roadside attractions that seem to occupy an odd little corner of our national identity. The legendary Reg Mombassa is the artist, an inspired choice, as his style reflects the quirkiness and humour with which the big things are regarded.

The big merino about an hour up the highway from us in Goulburn was moved a few weekends ago. It’s an almighty concrete ram nicknamed Rambo, but has a souvenir shop nestled between it’s hind legs instead of rambo-ishness. It used to be on the Hume Highway to Sydney, until Goulburn was by-passed, but now it will be again. Sadly it seems that after all the effort, it is visible but not exactly predominant.

There are a few pictures of the move:

IBN News slide show
Newspix gallery
Tiscali News: On the rig

Merino

(Photo by Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)

The ABC NSW also has a photo of the ram being built, and details of its construction. It actually is a light glass-reinforced concrete skin. Like a number of other big things, it was made by an Adelaide based company, Glenn Industries.

Merino3

Big Things: Australia’s Amazing Roadside Attractions by David Clark is also a good source if you are interested in how the big things were made, although from my point of view they never give enough detail. I like the stories of those that were made just by one or two people, eccentrics with a bee in their bonnets.

Back to Reg to finish off. This postcard has been on my fridge door since some campaign in 2002. I love the title as much as the drawing: