Made on the Left Press Article

Another feature in a local paper! This time the Guardian Express.

The beautiful feature photo is of the work Cheryl from Wire & Paper. She will be selling at this Sunday's MOTL and has a giveaway for the day.

Visit her blog for details.

Made On The Left In The Press

Check out the feature the Hills Gazette did on our 'Hills' artists in this weeks edition!


Click on the image to read the article in detail.

pssst...have you seen Made On The Left in the press? We'd love to see it, please email it to admin[at]madeontheleft.com

Work Spaces

Hello, this is Liza of Letters4lilly and Lillybuds, back again as MOTL guest blogger.

Ive always been very curious about where people do their crafting, whether they would have a proper studio, thats seperate from the house, or a spare room thats been turned into your own little piece of heaven.

At the moment I am working on our dining room table, since the birth of our 2nd child I have lost my work room, its not ideal, but it will do for the meatime and until then I am dreaming of my perfect work space.

Martha Stewart and Amy Butler have the most incredible work spaces, obviously when money isnt a problem you can whatever you want, one day I hope my work space is as functional and stylish as theirs !!

My work space.

Amy Butlers Studio
Martha Stewarts Craft Room

The Time is Almost Upon Us!

Are you excited? I mean , it's less than a week to go! All the designers I've had a chat to are toiling away, getting stressed about their stock levels, wondering if they're going to make sales and generally getting excited about seeing each other and all of you lovely customers on the day....

...Yes, I am talking about the July installment of Made On The Left market! Being held in the warm and cosy (which if next weekend is anything like this one, we'll all be grateful for) Hyde Park Hotel all weekend long, with a new mix of artists each day! We've had some lovely press (due to lots of behind-the-scenes work!) from the local papers and bloggers, hopefully ensuring a great turnout on both days, so make sure you come along and enjoy all the handmade goodness on offer. If you'd like, you can take a look at the photos of some of our past markets in our Flickr pool...

See you There!

Press - Habitat / The West Australian

thanks to tea for bini for spotting the article!

Crafting With Kids: Part 2

For my final guest blogging post I am writing about my own experiences of crafting with kids. I have a 3 and a half yr old (pictured left when she was about two and a half, claying with me) and an almost (this week) one year old so creativity can be both fun and frustrating depending what I am aiming for.

When I had my first daughter I had just finished a uni degree in painting and found it increasingly difficult to paint with a baby in the house. For one thing babies are unpredictable and some days
they stick to the 'routine' and some days they don't . This doesn't leave a lot of room for planned long periods in which to paint and its also quite difficult if you are covered in paint and the baby cries (not to mention some paints and paint products being non-baby friendly). I was also in a house which did not have enough space to really set up my paints and leave them there.

My solution to this at the time was to change mediums and I started to play around with polymer clay. I figured I would pick up painting again when things were better set up. That was almost four years ago now and I'm still playing with clay.

Now that I have a one year old things are back to square one. As my first daughter grew older she was able to understand more about 'don't touch' but having a second baby means you are starting again. We also moved house just before baby number two and our new house has even less room, in fact there is no spare room that I can use at all in which I can shut the door.

Its now that my cravings to paint are increasing once again so I am at the point of trying to work through solutions for this. When I use my clay I tend to get it out at night and spread across the kitchen table and then pack it up again before bed (important as I use a metal skewer and a blade for my work) but I did discover one day that I need to get the clay out during the day as well.

I had an order that I really needed to fill and so I had been trying to clay while my daughter was off with her grandfather. They arrived home early and while we were chatting my daughter went over to my clay table and proceeded to pick up the clay and squish it (including some of the little shaped apples I had made for the order). Of course I quickly took the clay off her and packed it all up.

The next day she had her playdough out and I noticed that she was rolling out the clay (she was only 2 and a bit) instead of just smooshing it. It was then that I realised that she was copying what she had seen me doing when she came home early the day before. She told me to get out 'Mummy's playdough', so I did and we had a good time playing together. She learnt very quickly how to roll and shape the dough through copying.

Since then I have been a lot more flexible with sharing my creativity with her, whether it be clay or paint. I have included her in a few things and let her see what I'm doing and she learns so much faster.

Crafting with kids around is always tricky but I do think that if you are a creative person you need to allow them to become involved from as early as is safe. Let them see what you are doing and allow them to play with your scraps (paper, fabric etc...) or even give them their own safe version of what you are doing. Include your kids and you will be rewarded in the long run.

Happy crafting everyone and thanks for reading my blog posts for the last couple of weeks.
Amanda (Polyclarific)

Hello to you, I'm Liza !

Hello, I'm Liza, of Letters4lilly and Lillybuds, I am your MOTL guest blogger, a little about myself... I live in Perth southern suburbs, I'm turning 38 very soon (scary), married for 15 years to an Englishman and we have 2 wonderful children.

For as long as i can remember I have been making things, I have 4 siblings, all but one is crafty, I've always said its genetic and we are following in Mums footsteps ! Mum over the years had many hobbies and interest in crafts, painting, drawing, pottery, knitting, crocheting, macrame, sewing and needlework.

As children we lived quite isolated, my father was a lighthouse keeper at Cape Leveque, north east of Broome, we were taught school at home by Mum and Dad on School of the Air or by correspondence Distance Education, our lessons were flown in in a tiny plane every 2 weeks along side our mail, food and supplies. In later years my brother and I would ride a 3 wheeler motorbike to and from school at One Arm Point. After 8 years at Leveque we moved to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse near Dunsborough.

Ive dabbled in painting, drawing, knitting, jewellery, and paper crafts over the years, but making button bouquets is definately the most enjoyable and rewarding, particularly since ive started making wedding bouquets. I take great pride in my work, every order I take is very special and receives acute attention to detail, from start to finish. I like to think of my bouquets a heirlooms that can be handed down from mother to daughter.

To make a bouquet I use hundreds and hundreds of buttons, silk and satin flowers, diamonte embellishments, old pieces of jewellery, wire, ribbon and other things that ive collected over time.

I buy some of my buttons from a wholesaler, just to keep up the quantity that i need and also to keep prices sensible, I also buy buttons from Ebay, Etsy or anywhere else can find them, I love to shop online for embellishments, trims, ribbons, feathers, crystals, brooches or anything with a bit of sparkle, I'm a bit of a bower bird, love anything with bling and diamontes.

Some bouquets can take days to make, others can take hours. I love the process of selecting buttons and goodies to embellish the bouquet, quite often I work on the floor in front of the television, normally late at night when everyone else is asleep. Having 2 children can make it very hard to keep to a schedule, and of course with weddings and brides there are schedules to keep and every bride wants their bouquet to arrive well before the wedding, there are some days when I just cant get anything done, so working at night has become the norm to me.

My most proudest crafting experience ? Exhibiting a piece at the Art Gallery of Western Australia for Art in Bloom 2008. Very surreal and rewarding to see something I have made in an art gallery !

Thanks to the ladies at Made on the Left for having me as a guest blogger, I will return soon with another post about some of my brides and other things that interest me.

Photos below show my most favourite bouquets...

"Vintage Countryside Chic Bouquet"

"Deluxe Elegance Bouquet"
"The Time Keeper Steampunk Bouquet"

"The Summer Wedding Package"

My blog... http://lillybuds.blogspot.com/

My website... www.lillybuds.com

My Etsy Shop... www.letters4lilly.etsy.com

Variation

There is an amazing variety of hand made items created (and for sale) here in Western Australia. Within each 'category' the different mediums, styles and items available allow the buyer to look for their preferences and yet find something truly unique. Here are some examples of what is available here in WA.

Letters4lilly - paper flowers, wedding button bouquets

Planet Lime - resin jewellery
GetSilvered - chainmaille & Metalwork jewellery
Princesslotta - fun jewellery, beading
17threads - embroidered silk jewellery
Odd Girl Out - retro styled jewellery
Osier - fun /quirky/ vintage themed jewellery/accessories
Polyclarific - polymer clay jewellery, home-wares and beads (pictured right)
Cocoa Pod - jewellery: silver-smithing and beading
ThyLady - victorian style jewellery

Tea For Bini - paintings/illustration, journals, magnets, brooches
Ali J Art - Art, illustration, accessories, stationery
SusanMossArt - Art, prints, cards, photography
DaraArt - drawings, paintings, recycled paper
Niina Aoki - illustration, crafts: home-wares, plushies, accessories
Little Mo and Friends - Stationery, art & illustration (pictured right)
Wild Celery - Zines

Smithandbird - Children' s gifts and clothing
Two little Banshees- fabric soft toys and bags
One Fat Slug - hand dyed yarn

PipandEmily - laser cut designs

Delight Society - soap, bubble bars and bath bombs (pictured right)

For a more extensive list of WA hand made talent, please visit this page on the Market section of Made On The Left. If you scroll down you will see a long list of sellers that will be appearing at the upcoming market from July 25-26.

Crafting With Kids: Interview with Kate Henderson

1. Please introduce yourself

Hi my name is Kate Henderson. I live down in Bridgetown with my husband and three children. I have 4 year old twins and a one year old. I sell mainly soft toys, bags and hand dyed yarn, but have also sold clothes and hats.

2. Creativity and Kids is always an interesting combination, how do you find the time to do something so hands on while looking after them?
We have gone through phases when the children are happy playing on the floor around me or happy drawing and playing by themselves and then some weeks I can get nothing done during the day and have to do it all at night. The older two are in Kindergarten now so on two days a week when Evie is asleep I sew as fast as I can! Saturday mornings has become my time while everyone else in the house goes out for milkshakes.

3. Are there ways that you include your kids when you are making things?
It is getting much easier to involve the girls as they get older. They love playing with my fabric and all the scraps. They learnt from a very early age what they are allowed to touch and not touch (like scissors). I have big bags of buttons they like to sort through and beads they like to thread. They have started talking about wanting to learn to knit and sew.

4. Any tips for Mums (or Dads) out there who are wondering how to balance both kids and being involved in the hand-made industry?
I wish I did - it has been a learn as I go process. I am still trying to find the right balance. It is usually quite crazy around here, but I hope they grow up seeing that they can combine work and a hobby and their work can be something they really love doing.

5. Where can we find you on the net?
My blog is
http://www.neverenoughhours.blogspot.com/
I sell my toys and bags.
http://www.neverenoughhours.etsy.com/
and my hand dyed yarn can be found here
http://onefatslug.etsy.com/

Interview: Sarah from TeaForBini

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself, what you do apart from creativity?

My name is Sarah, I’m 21 and I live in a character home in a sweet little leafy street with my partner Niels, who is from Belgium. Our next door neighbours are musicians which means we are often accompanied by a melodious soundtrack while taking our morning showers. Luckily we have a similar taste in music to them!

For the large part of the year you can find me reading textbooks, as I am in my 5th year of a combined degree in Law/Arts(Communications) at UWA. I also work a couple of shifts a week at an optometrists, where I help people choose glasses. Although most of my time is taken up working and studying, when I get a spare moment I love to get crafty! Not only is it creatively satisfying but it also saves me from drowning in all that legalese.

2. Your shop name is very interesting, how did you come up with that?

I spent a lot of time browsing etsy, seeing what was out there already and listing other names that I liked so that I would have an idea of what I wanted. ‘Bini’ was my starting point as it was my nickname at high school, formulated as a sort of cross between/shortening of ‘albino’ and ‘Albertine’ (the former because I had woefully pale skin, thanks to my Irish Dad, and the latter as a character from a book). My friends were clearly creative (albeit in a convoluted way!).

While I was sitting down brainstorming my shop name I happened to be drinking tea and it struck me how it seemed to be a habit of mine to work more creatively when I had a cuppa in my hand. Walah – Tea For Bini was born!

3. What sort of items do you make and sell?

I’ve sold a variation of items since starting my etsy store about 2 years ago, but can confidently say that I’ve reached a point where I feel there is a real sense of cohesion about my existing product lines. I think most people associated Tea For Bini with my whimsical block canvas paintings of paper aeroplanes. However, the project I hold most dear is my Outdated Technology series, which features illustrations of things like VHS tapes and floppy discs on little round canvases. I began creating these drawings/paintings when I noticed how much people value and enjoy reminiscing. Now, instead of merely verbally lamenting the extinction or declined use of their beloved (and sometimes even mundane) works of technology, they can hang a painting on their wall and thereby immortalise the memory.

I also sell decorated moleskine journals and some other little tidbits such as magnet sets and brooches (I had to made at least one product that was wearable!).

4. I hear you will be selling at the upcoming Made On The Left market, is this your first physical market? Are you looking forward to it?

Yes, that’s right! You can find me there on the second day – Sunday 26th July. I’m super excited as it will be my first ever market. I have always wanted to sell at a MOTL event but have been overseas or had exams scheduled on the same dates as the previous ones.

I’m looking forward to it very much – first and foremost for the novelty of having my own stall (yay) but also as a learning experience. I’m familiar with many of my fellow sellers’ work and I must say I am very lucky to be included with such a talented bunch of West Aussies.

It’s a bit daunting to think of all the preparation I still need to do, but also really fun brainstorming creative ways to display my work. As I’ve traditionally only sold my work online, I’m especially looking forward to meeting some of my buyers face-to-face.

5. What are your hopes for Tea For Bini' in the future?

Well there is a good chance that after the upcoming MOTL market I will have all these lessons and new knowledge under my belt which I will want to use/test again – so perhaps some future markets will be in order. Ideally I would love to be able to further expand Tea For Bini once I graduate and have the time to do so.

6. Where can we find you on the net?

Etsy: http://teaforbini.etsy.com
Blog: http://teaforbini.typepad.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sarah.edgar