Deeply inspired by the newest issue of Mollie Makes, though we hadn’t the materials suggested.
Proudly presenting Mae-Mae’s first guest blog.
Mabel’s Instructions: ‘Get the little scissors and the piece of paper and cut dem, and then I sticked it together, and then get Mama to help you. I love glitter! I sticked it with glitter. It’s pretty. It’s blue. There was a stick in the photo. I got one from the garden and I put it on’.
‘I wanted to make them because I did’.
Say hello to this dapper little fellow. He was terribly fun to make. He likes crosswords and Russian literature and Chet Baker. He’s embroidered and appliqued on vintage bed sheets. He has a reoccurring dream where he’s in an old wooden house, overlooking the ocean.
Original Illustration by Julia Croucher.
Kings Seeds / Homemade hummus every week / Hiding on the trampoline / Hummus fixin’s for little hands / A page of hand lettering every night. ‘You have to live until then’, just some casual wisdom imparted by my Mother, drawn by me / Alphabet couch / Always drawing, belly down on the living room floor / My Grandmothers collection of miniature teapots. There’s 127 of them. They’ve moved with me 7 times in the last 10 years. They’ve been packed away for the last 3 years; trying to keep them from Earthquakes; from tiny hands. Here they are after a bath. Preparing to have a cabinet made, finally / Thrifted: Floral sheets. I’m going to make these into a little tent and hang it in the garden to have tiny tea parties in.
Baking day 1 + 2 + 3 / Afternoon walks in her favourite shoes; always on the wrong feet. / Oh, hello to you! The bulbs I planted in April, arriving just before Spring. So cheerful. / Quilts, embroidery, and a well stickered sewing box. / My stylist making some last-minute adjustments to my outfit. Or trying to get at all the Lego that he keeps in my handbag. / Sitting on the back deck, waiting for Summer. / Knitting, knitting, knitting.
The first cheat in this series, but warranted inclusion! Offensively Yellow handbag…matches the walls at a local restaurant. / I have ignored Winter all together; sandals forever. And glitter everywhere. / Tea parties on the living room floor every day. It does wonders for morale. / They call sticky plasters ‘bandaidles’. I found these on the wall ‘healing the house’, they told me. / Knitting. I’m obsessed. / Thrifted: Hello hen! Hand painted chopping-board. / New colours for a new project – an exciting collaboration on the horizon. / Poor little neglected garden; still feeding us everyday. / Do you think it’s a good look for me? My stylists have been hard at work.
I used to draw all the time. Then, like so many things that fall away with age or expectation or exhaustion, I stopped. Now I do a page a night; mostly hand lettering for now. I’m excited about where it’s going. The ‘crazy right’ you see there is a trace from the previous page. Serifs are hard to get looking evenly fat. / Little Mabel feet hiding in the curtain. And yes, they’re on the wrong feet. And no, she doesn’t care. / Washing shells collected in a polka dot bag and carried home from Sumner beach. / We think we’re clever. / ‘Look, Mama! The drawer has a moustache!’. / It’s hard to say which is my favourite; the ‘E’ he drew in his name, or the hair on the self portrait. / Florals all the time. / Project! / And something so exciting made for me by sweetest Yas at Quill and Fox.
You will need:
Sheets of card in your desired colour way.
I went with for sort of toned down disco. Like, disco for ladies. You want to dance all night, but you also make a hell of an ice tea. Do not feel limited to using card. Fabrics. Maps. Wrapping papers. Pages from children’s books. Though you may need to back these for weight. A texture wall would be great in a kids room. Or for drunk people at parties. Confetti made of fake fur. Foil. Sequins and sparkles under Duraseal. Let your imagination run wild. Channel Yayoi Kusama. Invite me over.
A pen, scissors and a template in your desired size. A side plate is perfect.
Blu-tak. Those tiny stick dots they use for photographs, maybe? I don’t know. The preferred adhesive of the person who owns the walls you are about to confetti.
You will need to:
Bake a large cake. Lay out a drop cloth on the floor in front of the television. Find the least watched most watched children’s animated feature you have. On drop cloth lay all the items the children could ask you for in an hour. Water. Face cloths. Batteries. Remove all items you would usually confiscate in an hour. Water. Face cloths. Batteries. Give the children half the cake each. Roll film.
Draw as many circles as you can fit on your card. This will take some time, but will be strangely fulfilling in the way repetitive menial tasks can be. Cut out all of the circles you have drawn. This will take some time, but will be oddly meditative in the way strangely fulfilling way repetitive menial tasks can be. Breath in and out uninterrupted. Then confetti what needs confetti-ing.
Chair #1: $2 from salvage yard.
Chair #2: Found on the side of the road.
Chair #1: Sanded / Base coat in Resene Havoc / Taped off in stripes / Top coat in Resene Fizz.
Chair #2: Reupholstered in a pin dot polkadot.
Painting rocks from the garden.
And then sprinkling them with glitter.
Because childhood is serious business.
Outtakes:
I have so may helpers it’s a wonder I get anything done.
(I don’t.)
Outfit and brooches + hair clips made for the Twilight Vintage Market.
A girl has to pay the Rates somehow.
ourtinylandscapes.com 