Camels are the new donkeys (foxes, owls...whatever..)

 You heard it here first! Camels are the new donkeys.... Well I made that up. But why not? Why can't I be the arbiter of international style trends? I'll put it out there and see what happens....and if you start seeing camels everywhere.......... then remember you heard it here first!

I've been playing with camels for the Materialized exhibition at Gleaners inc - part of the cultural program at the Melbourne Fashion Festival.

For this exhibition, Liz Jones, curator, and hostess with the mostess (and all round creative maker of all things in recycled linoleum) gives each participant a swatch from the same fabric.  Here it is!

You can use it (or in my case, lose it!D'oh!)in any manner - for inspiration, colour, pattern, incorporated into your piece or not.


Word was going out that it was a bit Morroccan or Arabic in design and I started thinking about how we as westerners interpret other cultures through our very "white" western lens...about our sense of what is exotic?

So I wanted to use very common craft techniques and materials - crochet and tapestry - to make "exotic" emblems....and I thought about the camel....and then added that other "exotic" cliche...

...the pineapple! 

Then I kept going....

Because camels and pineapples go together like...well....camels and pineapples.

Materialized exhibition is at Gleaners Inc,2 Ballarat St. Brunswick. Opens 7th of March and runs through to the 23rd. 

piece of cloth part: from black and white to technicolour

A piece of cloth exhibition is hosted by Gleaners inc and curated by Liz Jones as part of L’oreal Fashion Week.

Over thirty artists/crafters/designers were given this little swatch of 70’s fabric in orange, green and brown to respond to in any way they liked - colour, pattern, feeling - whatever.

Initially, my reaction was to go into complete denial about the 70’s (yes I’m sure there are others out there who are in denial about the '70's too..) and bleach the hues away in my head...

And I made this. The poncho is 100% recycled material(even the sewing thread was vintage and from an op shop). The base is a felted cream blanket and the lines are from jumpers recycled into felt rope/yarn and hand dyed black. 

Yes. A bit drab isn't it? But then, like Dorothy going to Oz my world burst into technicolour! I embraced the Seventies. I revelled in the colour scheme.
 

 I tried all the groovy seventies crafts...

like macrame, crochet, wooden beading, latch hooking and tassels....

and then I added pineapples. Because wasn't that what you did in the Seventies? Just added pineapples to everything?

It doesn't look Seventies - which is what I wanted. I wanted it to look modern - but it strangely looks a bit Edwardian. Hmmm.

A Piece of Cloth Exhibition opening night is Friday at 6pm at Gleaners Inc