Liquid pencils, lace and other things

Been a while between posts, a lot has happened in the meantime.

"Liquid Pencil" tests: Fun times testing out a new typographic piece as an inked up poster before the sewing phase. I had bought a bottle of "Liquid Pencil" (Derivan) on impulse a while ago but haven't had a project to test it out on 'til now. It's less liquid than ink and more the consistency of globby paint but it glides off the brush smoothly and has a nice thick look to it with a graphite finish. I used it in combination with masking fluid which was a bit hit and miss. The bottle of masking fluid is quite old and probably past its prime but seemed to be working alright, although some areas dried too thin and ended up not masking at all. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results, I know I probably could have composited it digitally in photoshop with all the masking etc but its nice trying to do it the old fashioned way. The roughness of the edges where the fluid pooled at the corners and brushed edges of the mask add that extra bit of charm you can't emulate digitally. Or...I suppose you could but it wouldn't be half as fun.

Kevin Tran exhibition: We checked out Kevin Tran's exhibition at Mils gallery after seeing his work posted up online, the works up close are so vivid and detailed. Thanks to Catherine and Matt for the heads up on the show. (On a side note we went down to chinatown after the show for our favourite cheap eat at the Chinese Noodle House. Nothing beats special braised eggplant and combination hand made noodles!)

Lace Study Centre: We had a great time chatting to the extremely helpful ladies from the Powerhouse Museum's Lace Study Centre. They were nice enough to share their love of lace and give us a quick demonstration and pull out some amazing examples from the museum's collection. We went straight out and bought a book so we can start learning how to lace. So many possibilities.. so many things to make. First step, modify some chopsticks into bobbins.

Gaffa Gallery: Went to the exhibition openings at Gaffa gallery which were jam packed with a lot of great works. Anna Fraser's photographs and Linelle Stepto's flora/fauna studies are some of the works on display right now. After this show we also had a food odyssey, this time it was a reunion of sorts at KFC. We used to live on popcorn chicken while at uni. It's greasy and usually leaves me feeling a little ill afterwards but the smell always beckons me back!