the illustrationator takes over craftland

Well I have been focusing on illustration as I have a deadline coming up so I still have had no time for my second love. :( (crafts I miss you and I promise to spend time with you soon!) My illustration project is coming along and will be finished by next week so maybe I will post the results. depending, you know. This project involves the sketch of the little girl I posted last week in a sequence of 8 small storyboard type illustrations. Right now I am working in water colour and using a pretty realistic style so it it challenging. Yesterday I had a MAJOR set back which is complicated and upsetting to explain. It involves the limitations of the brief (assignment) and a misunderstanding between me and my tutor. I feel now that my project is very compromised and I can't complete it the way I was intending which means it won't be as good. Its like dying a little death inside and I actually wept while I made the necessary changes. It sounds dramatic but it was painful thing for me.

I am very blessed to have Luke. He works in the art/design world as well and has experienced the similar sense of frustration as loss when projects he is working on get compromised/changed. So he understands me and doesn't think I am just 'too hard on my work'
and taking myself too seriously. He had flowers waiting for me when I got home from the studio and then he took me out for dinner. what a chap!

Also we have reorganised out tiny studio apartment and added in another desk for me. YEAH! I'll share :)

Are you all are having a good week? Sorry I have been neglectful blogger. Hopefully things will calm down a bit and I will have more time to read and comment in blog world. Cheers for all your comments about my illustration work. I got a major case of the warm fuzzies after reading all your encouraging words.
xoxox
Kimberlee

Good bye Lies !

Oh Lies I will miss you too! Thanks for the kind words!

For some reason the photos that Lies put with her last post have disappeared and I can't restore them because she posts from a different computer. and she can't restore them because she is away in Belgium. I know she had been having trouble posting photos last week so I am sure the problem is related. So for all you who missed the pictures of the colourful kerchief/small neck scarf she knitted, I am sorry you missed out on some eye candy there. It really is something to see.

Anyway it I just finished my special order ipod nano covers last night so I will be mailing those today. I think I will put my ipod order form online to see if there are any interested people (nz only because of overseas money/bank account complications). At the last craftwerk it was wonderful to meet repeat customers who had decided to get another cover for a change, you know two different 'outfits' for their ipod :).

I just thought I would end with some illustration work, and a work in progress so you can understand why there have been huge gaps between my posts lately. This is my life outside of crafting, or part of it anyway :) (I did the owl above as well)
-k

click to enlarge... this is meant to be seen as a double page spread

a sketch for a project I am currently working on

one of 4 posters I made fora band then 'poster bombed' around Auckland... good times and a major adrenaline rush!!!!!!!!

Soul kerchief

I have finished a knitting project : the kerchief. I started knitting with a blue-green soft mohair yarn but soon ran out of that. So I decided that this scarf would be made of all my left-over yarns and I sometimes used two sorts of yarn at the same time. I got inspired by something a very nice girl showed us when we were having a stall day. She said 'look, this is very nice and not too diff, maybe you girls could give it a go'. Indeed I gave it a go, in a moss-stitch as that stitch lends itself best for long strappy type garments. The kerchief will come in cosy-warm and handy as tomorrow I`m off to see my family and friends in winter-springy Belgium. My best friend Sarah just texted me that it`s snowing over there. And this kerchief wouldn`t be one of my creations if it hadn`t at least another way to wear (cfr. reversable stuff) : it can also be worn as a headband.




As I leave tomorrow and will be away for a small month, I feel quiet and thankful. I have a beautiful life here in Auckland. I have my very own amazing family. I have many and interesting friends. Kimberlee is one of them, she is not only a creative soul but also a very loving spirit. It`s great to do all this crafting with her, we really have wonderful experiences like making and inventing things, tending stalls. blogging, feasting (sweet Hana and Jake, husband and wife now XXXX), chatting. It gives us a small window to do our own little but different thing and we feel very satisfied in this expression. Thanks K-darling. Here are some more photo`s that picture the warm feeling you produce in my heart, I`ll miss you :



See you soooooooon
-L

New Friends

Here are some new friends I have made who have come over for Hana and Jake's wedding. Above is Jeanine who is on hiatus from the traveling 'cyclown circus'. She is playing her bassoonie but I will tell you more about her and her adventures in the circus later, so more to come later including special pictures from her amazing,beautiful CIRCUS BOOK.

Sondra and Danielle are over from Norway. Danielle makes these amazing Zines so read more about that here.

Hana (in pink), the bride to be, is looking pretty relaxed in this photo. You should see her now though, her wedding is tomorrow and since she and Jake are very DYI about it, there is much to do and many details to handle. Taylor (in yellow) are visiting from Korea where she and her partner have been teaching English for the past 6 months. Check out her awesome glasses- jazzy eh!?

Here is my dog yoshi getting all the attention and loving it!

enjoy your weekend everyone!
-kimberlee

Craftwerk

Another fair for us today, this time Craftwerk was in the world traveling Spiegle Tent. Lies and I are both pretty exhausted from a busy prep week (also I had a major assignment due and submitted an illustration for a book this week as well so I have been working from sun up until way past sun down for 7 days straight, eek!) and poor Lies has been sick so I am afraid we were both run ragged by the timecraftwerk started. It ran for 3 hours and was overall a pretty amazing afternoon jam packed with people. In fact, many people had to wait outside in queue until there was enough room for more people to come in... like some hot night club:)

Tomorrow is VERY SPECIAL day for both of us as our good friends Hana and Jake are getting married! So we will be heading out to Piha, a west coast beach, for ceremony and a very big party afterwards. Bring it!

all for now xoxxox
-kimberlee

A-little-late-friday-poem-pants

Hey-ho! It`s been a while. The weather was so stunning this week, I`ve been out, out, out. Walking, pramming, singing, swimming, play-grounding and sand-pitting with Lieveke. Wonderful this late summer-sun, this jolly light, the thousand greens of trees! Ah! Auckland-she shines! Have a look how fab Lieveke`s washing looks with a little help from our benign weather-goddess!

It`s been so busy too, in between lazy sunny restfulness. Last saturday Kimberlee and I set up (or should I say, `sat at`) our little stall during the Carnival Against Carmageddon-happening on K-road. As you can make out from the photos, it was an event with lots of young kids rallying for the environment. Although we didn`t sell much, we savoured quite a relaxed saturday afternoon with plenty to see and hear cause K-road was buzzin` with fresh energy. Notice the snow-heap on Kimberlee`s left -the ice-caps are melting eh- after a while kids started playing in the snow, such joy! Notice Kimberlee knitting! We can`t help ourselves... I sold a pretty dainty pinafore with Japanese anime-prints to a Japanese lady. That made me smile. Nice. Sweet destiny. They belong together.


Now, I`ve been a bit negligent of my discover-the-poet-in-yer-kauri-bookcase-soap. As it is a friday -and my NZ poetic `rencontres` are usually on thursday- I`ll just post a little Sam Hunt maxim :
Tell the story,
tell it true
charm it crazy.
I met the Sam in Christchurch airport some three years ago. It was one of those kindred spirits things. I was bored waiting for my flight, he was bored waiting for his flight. We had a little talk (oh yeh Belgium yeh Oh yeh). I thought he was strikingly rock-and-nice. He was dead-proud of his little kid that was wreaking havock in the airport lounge. I kinda understand such feelings now. I didn`t know he was the Sam of course. And he WAS charming.
Did you think that I didn`t craft this week? Oh honey come on! I slaved over these tiny party pants for Lieveke. It was great sewing fun and for the first time I followed a pattern, from Ottobre magazine. I actually learned a lot from the pattern AND it all fitted together to my amazement! These are party pants for two reasons : the fabric is the most gorgeous changeant tafeta silk (bottle green variegated with a deep pink red pommegranate color) - a gift from Hana AND Lieveke will wear the pants at Hana`s wedding next weekend! Oooh lah lah. Check it out. Lievie had a test drive :



Have a good`n this weekend.
-L

a mid week boost

I have been quite busy working on a research project so I haven't been doing much crafting, even though craftwerk is in less than two weeks, eek! Since I have been looking at papers and computer screens all day, these flowers I received yesterday were especially appreciated. Yes, something three dimensional! and pretty! thank you Luke.

I did manage to do some preserving and here is my booty (think pirate, not J Lo). So in mid winter we will be able to taste summer and sunlight and there will be a bounty of desserts starring possibly my favourite fruit. These are what I could some up with :peach crumble, preaches over ice cream, peach sponge cake, peach smoothies. Any more peach related dessert that you can think of? recipes welcome!

okay I better get back to work.
-kimberlee

Knittin` getty IT with!!!

WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT? Kimberlee and I are back to our telepathic predestined design preferences! I knitted the SAME tunic a couple of months ago!!! Mine turned out a bit different because I choose to knit it with a black raw silk yarn (I fell in love with it AND it was on sale!). Because I wasn`t faithful to the suggested gauge of the pattern, my tunic is rather stretchy and netty. I have to pin the sleeveless side with a brooch to my T-shirt. But the result is pretty sexy, je pense, and I do wear it a lot!
It`s all knitting for me at the mo, by way of a break from the sewing you see? I know – compulsive crafting disease… I have the feeling that the sock-tutorial our friend Emily gave us last Saturday, has unleashed some wild knitting desire! Have a look at my embryonic sock. And my basket : plenty of beautiful yarn and projects to finish. I`m currently experimenting on a kerchief, will post the result later! -L

Gettin' knitty wit it

BAM!! I finished my knitting project!!!!!

This is the first ever wearable thing I have knitted for myself (not including scarves). I finished it this morning and just *had* to post about it even though I have already posted today. I followed a pattern from Loop-de-Loop and this is the one armed tunic. Since that is a boring name, I call it 'Amazon Warrior in slate blue.' :)

I suppose I have started a tradition of collaging pictures (like above) in photo shop when I finish a project that is just for me. I did the same with the mini dress I made last month so will carry on with this because it makes 'unveiling' more fun. and I used to be camera shy. pshaw!

-k

fair days, pictures

Well Lies said it all about our recent market adventure so I just thought I would add a few photos of our set up. This chalk board belonged to Gabriel, Lies' partner, when he was a child. I loved incorporating it into our set up not just because I like the aesthetic, but it partially represents what we are trying to do. We want to put forward use able goods that are playful and fun in both design and function. We create these goods using old methods of hand made craft because we see value in preserving old traditions. At the same time we endeavour to be relevant to today's culture by blending vintage and modern materials, designs, and concepts. I am thinking of writing up a mission statement/manifesto for our next fair, nothing too serious. Something like:

Tired of world where everything is spit out by machines? sick of mass production and homogenization? Wish everything would just slow down a little? THEN SUPPORT CRAFT! where each item is an original, designed and produced in fair conditions by the person standing in front of you(HI!).

And here is Lies, (standing right in front of you in square radiation) at our stall set up. Lucky us, we got two tables!

a side shot of our stall

My friend Rachel has a stall called Penelope Sugar and we were lucky enough to be situated along side each other. Rachel just launched her jewelry label this year and is now working out the best way to sell her product. There is a lot of variety here and I wish I had a better photo so you could see the different mediums and materials she uses. She does bead work, wire work, crochet and uses felt, vintage buttons, stones, and even nylon stockings! She will be at the Auckland's next Craftwerk (march 17Th, 1-4 pm at Britomart) so be sure to check her out!

have a lovely day. Will I be seeing any of you on K' road this Saturday at 3? It's the take back k'road festival and Lies and I will selling. To market we go!
-k