Happy day.

Stopped off at Builders on the way to work this morning and they had these strings of coloured banners all across the entrance. The burst of colour against the blue sky was so pretty, made me feel so happy.

Has legs

I found this shallow crate in the basement at work and bought some legs so that it would be a table. I painted it inside and out and used the inside for the table top. That way nothing will ever fall off. As always my lovely dog photo-bombed my picture.

Limpopo

Limpopo is the name of the glaze I used. These are the first glazed bowls I have since I started the course a month ago. I'm so excited and rather happy.

I like the personality you find in the handmade ones and just when I thought I would stick to handmade my teacher says I am leaning nothing if I use the moulds.

He's right and I will take it to heart and conquer the wheel. Apparently I just have to make one perfect pot on the wheel and then I can do whatever I like.

Summer rain

We went from drought and water restrictions to so much rain. It's wonderful for the garden. In some places I can't even see my house anymore, from the corners of the garden. It's a jungle out there! Beware, haha!

What about your life?

Wisdom at the local McDonalds. Popped in to grab something for breakfast. While I was reading this the food was already delivered. What?

The Blue Rose

My niece did this drawing for me. First she asked her father if you get blue roses and he said yes. Then the blue pen leaked and so the one rose smudged, but we rewrote the story - a stem of blue roses in a vase got caught in the draught and ruffled the petals on the largest rose.

The others are buds so they wouldn't be affected by the wind. What you can't see on the photograph is the the vase is metallic gold, classy, but what you can see is how thirsty that plant is, there is hardly any water left in the vase.

I just love the drawing. I framed it and hung it on the wall.

Movie night

The past two years we have been wanting to go to the movie night they would have at Lonehill Park. It was always rained out. Then at the February event it rained again, it was overcast all day but at four o'clock the sun came out and the sky cleared up, so we went to the movies. While we waited for the sun to set we had our picnic and a glass of wine. Pretty Woman. Wrapped up in my blanket, outside, stars above and  some others on screen. A pleasant way to spend a Saturday evening.

Folding it this way and that

You see all these great ideas on Pinterest, like some beautiful lampshades folded from paper. 
I downloaded the folding instructions and tried it out. It's fairly easy but I am not making actual lampshades. It was more about the challenge of getting the folds right. I have tried other origami projects and have always been defeated.

This was fun and I should get a large sheet of paper to make up a proper lampshade.

Note: You need to use a retardant if you want to turn paper into lampshades.

Hanging onto memories

This may seems like a weird thing to share but when we were children there were no plastic coathangers. There were wooden ones and there were wire ones. The wire ones were used by the dry cleaning industry so they would find their way into your wardrobes by default. Mostly we had the wooden ones. 

To protect our clothes my grandmother and mother would cover the hangers with fabrics. They would use left over cloth from dresses my mom made. 

When I left home I just gathered up my clothes, the hangers attached. This is how I still have some of these coat hangers. Whenever I take something out the wardrobe and slip it off the hanger and it reveals the fabric hanger I think of them both. Those two wonderful woman who taught me so much, they creating a home with warmth and love and put so much care into everything.

A few minutes is all that is needed

For Valentine's the Joburg Ballet were giving a short dance routine from Swan Lake at Hyde Park. It was so beautiful. Watched it from the floor above and it gave a lovely angle for my photos. Just used my cellphone, they had professional photographers running around taking the wow shots. Just a few minutes of the music and movement was therapy for the soul.

Valentine surprise parcel

It means so long ago already.

I made up a Valentine's parcel for my nieces. Why for my nieces, you ask. Well, they said they have never had a parcel delivered by courier to their home. And because I love them, it is the day of love, after all. They're still young enough to not be hoping for a valentine from some boy, in fact my one niece said she was too young for boys and she only likes dogs.

I cut the main message from the WW broadsheet.

Portrait of my father

I took this portrait of my father for a college project, in 1981.
He loved reading, books, magazines, fact, fiction, no matter. He would get so involved that he could completely forget his surroundings. Normally we wouldn't interrupt him when he was engrossed in a book. I can image if he had around in the time of the internet, oh my word!

(I put a layer of texture for it to give it an aged appearance.)