hmc

New blog address

2007-10-08T08:05:00.000+10:00

I have moved on from my "blogger" blog...

My new blog is here www.helenmclean.com.au - pop in for a squiz!

There's much more to see in my art developments, new photography developments and the odd modeling photo shoot chucked in there!

Gorgeous photos by fellow RedBubblers...

2007-07-29T14:50:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I caught up with some members of RedBubble. They all headed out for a photographic excursion - although I met up with them over lunch at Chocolate Buddah, Fed Square.

My boy was certainly the famous one at the table, with about 4 cameras capturing his every move! Given the high caliber of talent there, the photos were absolutely brilliant.

Thank you to Daijiro Kato for these awesome shots:

Thank you to Hien Nguyen for these brilliant photos:

Me talking about my Cherry T-Shirt design...

Featured in The Age's Blog Central & Runner up winner of a T competition

2007-06-21T19:49:00.000+10:00

Recently I submitted one of my images in The Age's Creative Corner as the theme was "Desire". I submitted Kool-Kat for obvious reasons:

The image ended up being on the Blog Central homepage, the subsequent page, and the page after as the feature image!

Also, I submitted a design especially for a RedBubble competition called 100% RedBubble and the winner have just been announced... I came runner up! This is the design:

To celebrate, I am offering this T at cost price until the end of this weekend (24th). Then the price will go back to $32. I have only just listed the offer on RedBubble and I've already sold 1 T!

Been awhile - A few developments!

2007-06-08T08:18:00.000+10:00

Well well well... loads of things have happened since my last post! So much so, it'd be easier to dot point them (I'm a busy woman you know!!!)

My Etsy store:

I sold a Tiki painting!!!! Thanks elaine23!

I have listed more items in my store, including T-Shirts now!

helenmclean.com.au

My new website www.helenmclean.com.au is under development. I'll be using that Blog more often once it's set up.

I've sold a painting, Heidi Van Horne!

Competition: Win $2,000!

2007-05-10T10:37:00.000+10:00

Tourism Victoria and Publicis Mojo invite you to be the first to leave a Red Thread.

The Red Thread is a new online forum that uncovers Melbourne’s untold secrets. Be the first to share your Melbourne experiences by posting a thread entry and help to kick-start The Red Thread forum ready for launch on June 12. Use video, photography or creative writing to reveal what you’ve discovered within Melbourne’s maze of streets and lanes. There’s 3 prizes to be won: $2000 for best video, $2000 for best photo, $2000 for best text. The best threads may also be displayed on posters in Melbourne streets and in online banner advertising. Entries close June 7, 2007. Go to visitvictoria.com/redthread to enter.

Start your own thread now. Who knows where it might lead.

helenmclean.com.au

2007-05-09T18:33:00.000+10:00

Hey hey, I have my very own www!

I mean, I have my business website, and another business website and and and… galleries and stuff, but I actually have my own name as a website address now! Woo, go me!

Oh and, here ‘tis www.helenmclean.com.au (nothing really there yet, just some unexciting text and a little, teeny weeny pic).

Tagged again...

2007-05-03T21:32:00.000+10:00

OK - the last time I was tagged, I disclosed 5 things about myself that I otherwise would never have mentioned in my blog... now I've gotta disclose 7 things... gosh darnit.

I was tagged by Anna Laura, and the rules are:

• Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself

• People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog

• Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names

• Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog

1. I love gourmet (read: gor-met) beer. Some of my favourites are Coopers, Newcastle Brown, Mountain Goat and Hoegaarden.

2. I will own a Hotrod or muscle car one day, I will.

3. I love dark chocolate, milk chocolate is good and white chocolate is me being desperate.

4. I prefer red wine to white or champagne.

5. I used to draw Smurfs when I was about six while watching them on tele.

6. I have a Fez and a smoking monkey. They were gifts for my gallery (read #7)

7. I own a gallery decked out as a tropical paradise.

Another 7 people huh? OK, Welcome onboard Phil, Laura, CherryRocket, Crumpart, FlyingSouth, Blossom's Special Orange, and ... 6 will do for now!

Custom pin-up finished

2007-05-02T16:35:00.000+10:00

I love it, Tamra loves it - everybody loves it!

And why the hell not - just look at her:

Lippy-di-do-dah

2007-04-23T14:19:00.000+10:00

Ms Tamra's lovely lips...

Shag's Movie

2007-04-20T14:32:00.000+10:00

Not a movie about shagging - but a movie about the artist, Shag. So far I have no idea if the movie "The Sophisticated Misfit" will ever be released on DVD or whether the Outre Gallery will even stock it if it does... but one can only hope.

The eyes have it...

2007-04-15T11:24:00.000+10:00

Only a tinsee winsee snippet if Tamra's artwork:

It all comes together once colour is added and all the tonal "airbrushing".

Congratulations to "The Number Plate Man"

2007-04-13T13:41:00.000+10:00

Congrats to my husband, now known as "The Number Plate Man" (on radio's 3AW), given the recent story about the VW signature plates he purchased and VicRoads.

Yesterday was an amazing day, with 3 television channels visiting to interview him, listening to updates via radio and the news - and again today with follow ups on the story.

I think it's pretty cool though, that the area I had set up in my gallery to start video blogging paper craft projects was used as the interviewing area, and now that I've seen it on tele I know that it will look good for when I begin my video recordings ;o)

And I was also chuffed to hear compliments on my photography up on the wall by channel 10's cameraman and channel 9's cameraman!

Lost in the 50's

2007-04-08T19:29:00.000+10:00

We went to visit Castelmaine & Daylesford over the Easter long weekend and saw some pretty neat-o things.

Castlemaine is known as the "Hot Rod Capital of Australia" and we did see some nice vehicles around town. Unfortunately the "Rod Shop" was closed so we'll have to pop in again another time. There was an awesome antique store there as well. XXXX Antiques have a section dedicated to motor vehicle collectibles called "Automobilia". There are items such as old tins, signs, pedal cars, petrol bowsers...

Daylesford was filled to the brim with day visitors such as ourselves but we managed to check out what we wanted quite easily. There's a store in the main street called "Lost in the 50's" and oh-my, I loved this store. I asked about having my artwork up for sale within it and I'll to contact the owner about that again as he wasn't in.

I bought myself a little badge with cherries on it and a very cool "Valiant" badge - for my passion of Pacers. The Valiant badge was made like a real chrome car badge but a mini version. Will take pics once a charge up the 'ol batteries.

Custom Retro Pin-Up Style Portrait Job

2007-04-05T17:23:00.000+10:00

Yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!

My artwork was spotted at the Iceberg bar and as a result, I was contacted by Tamra regarding a custom job!

I'll be adding updates as they occur - stay tuned...

Rove's back

2007-04-02T08:14:00.000+10:00

In case you've been living under a rock - Rove's back on tele. This makes me happy, 'coz he's a funny fella.

He even inspired this once upon a time:

Used to be in Croft Alley in the city (Melbourne) but as is the case with all stencil art, it has a limited lifetime in public view.

Forget the DVD - I'm going to the concert...

2007-03-31T19:38:00.000+10:00

Ok, having the DVD listed on my wishlist would still be nice (Gwen Stefani "Harajuku Lovers Live"), however, going to The Sweet Escape concert just kicks arse!

And isn't this promo shot just gorgeous - hmmm, inspiration for another retro style artwork perhaps?

Anyway, absolutely can't wait - but unfortunately will have to wait until 2nd of August. And thanks to my husband for such a wonderful gift, even though I wasn't supposed to know until June - he accidentally opened the mail with the tickets in front of me - doh!

Tiki Oasis Homepage

2007-03-20T08:09:00.000+11:00

I love this homepage design of Tiki Oasis! Love the illustrations but the colours work really well too - it's different to all the other Tiki sites that are typically brown toned - not that there's anything wrong with that because I love brown tones - it's just that this is refreshingly different.

art.craft.design listings

2007-03-14T18:56:00.000+11:00

I now have my artwork listed on art.craft.design!

Unlike my etsy store, art.craft.design is an Australian store so there's no confusion with pricing for Aussie buyers.

art.craft.design also has a load of bookbinding supplies, scrapbooking supplies and general papercraft supplies.

1 Tiki Mug left

2007-03-11T09:54:00.000+11:00

I have sold 7 out of 8 Tiki mugs that I made!

I will be making more this year and I will make more than 8 mugs in the second run.

Last Nights Launch at Iceberg

2007-03-10T10:46:00.000+11:00

Thanks all for coming to have a look-see and catch-up! It was great to get your feedback on my artwork - and it seems as though there's a common favourite (or two)...

This one most people seem to like, including my husband who wishes to have a custom surfboard made up with this image:

Then there's this favourite:

My artwork is also listed on art.craft.design!

Arghhhhhh!!!!!

2007-02-26T19:43:00.000+11:00

Insanely Busy February!

As part of the Art in Public Places run by Hobson's Bay City Council, I have created more of my retro pin-ups to be exhibited.

They’re going to be displayed during the Williamstown festival at the Iceberg bar, Nelson Place. There are about 40 artists doing the same thing but exhibiting in different locations around the area.

And here's the line-up:

Tatts Baby 20" x 32" : $480

Kool-Kat 20" x 32" : $480

Heidi Van Horne 24" x 32" : $480

Velvet Kitten 24" x 32" : $480

Deluxe 20" x 44" : $780

Freedom 20" x 44" : $780

These are all digital prints on artist canvas. Using vector and photo software together with a pressure sensitive pen / tablet combo, the image is ‘drawn’ and ‘airbrushed’ as though it were on real canvas.

Featured on Etsy again!

2007-01-26T19:54:00.000+11:00

Thanks to Freckled Nest for bringing this to my attention today!

One of my "You're a Tweety" cards made it to the featured list on the Esty homepage...

Bottom right hand position again.

Project Update: Bookbinding

2007-01-23T15:43:00.000+11:00

I have created all the covers, folded all the papers (signatures), cut all the inner papers and now I'm up to poking holes in all the signatures so that I can stitch them together to make text blocks!

The places we craft - 50s retro house

2007-01-22T07:45:00.000+11:00

I think crafting can be done almost anywhere - the lounge room couch, the dining table, the car, a 50s retro house...

I have found out, now that I have a baby, crafting is the sort of hobby that is very portable and flexible. Other than book binding, which needs to be done on it's designated studio table - all the other things I create can be done almost anywhere.

Over the weekend we went to Ocean Grove (unfortunately I couldn't make it to the Rose St market to see annalaura) and I brought along my craft stuff just in case. On the way there in the car I stuck things down and the next day as the weather wasn't beach worthy - I continued to stick bits down at the place we were staying. Sweet! Very productive indeed.

Now, this place we stayed at was awesome! Just a quick glance over my blog would tell anyone that I love 50s + 60s retro. This house was the bees-knees in retro... it even had a glass float hanging at the front door!

Check this beauty out:

Crafting at Ocean Grove -
My most recent Valentine card designs...

For sale on Etsy!

Just like a kid in a candy store

2007-01-18T11:02:00.000+11:00

Other than Bunnings, the other stores I get excited over and spend way too much time & money at, are Spotlight and any scrap booking store. I tend to not only buy things that I need, but may need in the future. This helps tremendously when I am creating things and I have stuff “on hand” all the time. The other fun yet somewhat annoying thing is to work out how to store all of these accumulated items… neatly, cheaply, functionally and as a bonus – creatively.

I found cheap storage jars that fit all of these descriptions at Ikea – which now brings me full circle - as Ikea is another place I love to spend way too much time & money at!

I've been tagged

2007-01-17T10:19:00.000+11:00

OK – I’ve been tagged by Lara to do this internet game thing. It's pretty cool actually!

The rules are:

1. someone tags you,
2. you post five things about yourself that you haven’t already mentioned on your blog,
3. you tag people you’d like to know more about

ONE
I use to work part time at Johnny Rockets - my first ever work shift was on a New Years Eve (nasty). I loved the dancing as it made the time fly when I worked there. My favourite dance was to Aretha Franklin’s “Think”. . And I LOVED the 50s style hat we had to wear.

TWO
I went to art school from age of 9, but my mum pulled me out eventually because I talked too much and she felt I wasn’t learning enough…. I was a real chatterbox at school as well – my report cards would usually say “Helen talks too much”.

THREE
I love the Beastie Boys and I’ve listened to them ever since I was 15. I started off with a cassette tape of “Paul’s Boutique” and it had songs such as “Hey Ladies” on it. Get funky….

FOUR
The first ever cassette tape I was given as a gift from my parents was Julio Iglesias and Elvis Presley (I know, I know) and the first ever tape I bought myself with my pocket money was Olivia Newton-John with songs such as “Let’s get Physical”. I never thought the song was about anything other than aerobics!

FIVE
The first car I owned my dad bought for me and my mum called the colour of it “goose shit brown”. I thought it was gold ;o) It was a ’76 Ford Falcon XB and it was a TANK! I got my first real bicep muscles driving that car as it had manual steering. It was also known as the “Rad Mobile” as back then I was known as “Rad” because of my maiden name.

Now that you know 5 things about me that haven’t otherwise been mentioned in my blog – “I have to kill you” ;o)

I now tag Cherry Rockette

Uh-Oh... Another Magazine!!!

2007-01-13T15:06:00.000+11:00

I don't know how long this mag has been around, but I only found out about it today and I had to have the Dec issue...

It's appropriately titled "Handmade".

It was advertised in a scrapbooking mag (see, it's a vicious circle), and I bought 2 issues while out at Spotlight today.

Speaking of Spotlight... nahhh, that's a story for another day.

Wasting valuable time

2007-01-11T14:45:00.000+11:00

I admit it, in the past I have wasted so much time doing meaningless things. To the point of feeling guilty about spending so much time, wasting it. I’m talking about (apologies in advance if I get anyone else here hooked on this) isketch.net

My husband knows of this site and knows the sounds that come out of it when participating…. So if I’m still playing when he comes home from work, and the first thing he hears when he opens the front door is “dun¹ dun² dun³!” he knows what I’ve been up to. Instead of asking, “how was your day?” he would ask, “how long have you been on that?”

It took a few months, but I have removed this wonderful time waster from my life. No twelve step program needed, just a re-assessment of where my life was heading ;o)

PS: Thanks to my husband who mentioned I should make the ‘dun, dun duns’ a bit more musical by adding descriptive pitches to them. So who’s wasting time now???

¹ low pitch
² high pitch
³ medium pitch

Another idea at stupid o’clock

2007-01-10T08:24:00.000+11:00

At about 2am again (up feeding the tacker), I got thinking about an idea I had a while back about making sunglass covers – and how exactly I would make them. So my thoughts were technical based… and I had to write them down before going back to bed.

Which got me thinking about all you other creative types out there. Surely if we’re all that similar (according to one of Lara’s posts, it’s frighteningly clear that were are that similar), how many of you have found yourself in this situation:

You go to bed (apparently tired) and your mind ticks over with a few ideas. One idea leads to another, hours pass and you haven’t slept yet, you try to convince yourself that sleeping is good and that’s why you’re in bed, your mind still ticks over with ideas. Enough is enough you think, you get up to write all these ideas down otherwise you’ll never get to sleep. However, sometimes this isn’t enough to get back to sleep, so you give in and continue thinking away until your mind has run out of ideas in its own time ;o)

Some of my best ideas come to me at these ridiculous hours, so I have learnt that sometimes giving in is better than fighting the fact that I should be sleeping instead. These times don’t happen often though, if I had to think of how often, I’d say about 3-4 times a year maybe?

Slight Sidetrack…

2007-01-09T08:49:00.000+11:00

I made another item before starting my next bookbinding project. Well, I guess I had started the bookbinding as I have spent time putting together all the colour combinations of covers, threads and inner papers...

Here is my sidetrack item, a cherry iron-on patch.

Next project: Bookbinding

2007-01-07T12:05:00.000+11:00

Now that I’ve made all the things I had in mind for Valentines Day in my shop, my next project is to make blank journals. Or should I say, continue making blank journals... I have about 10 of them that are near completion – I started them about a year ago and got somewhat side tracked with other hobbies ;o)

I will finish them and list them on etsy and start my new design idea for blank journals.... *or* I will start my new idea first then finish the others - let's be honest here, this sounds more like me!

But first, to photograph the last items for the Valentines Day section that I have aptly titled the "Heart Felt Collection" as all the items are made with felt!

Creation: Lovey Kissy Mushy Stuff

2007-01-05T19:28:00.000+11:00

Wellllllll, apparently Valentines is around the corner and now'd be a good time to start thinking about creations to sell for the *special* day. So, I thought I would try my hand at lovey dovey versions of the recent baby girl card I made.

I have listed some on etsy and will be listing the rest of them tomorrow.

I've also made a couple of plush toy / pin cushions (whatever you'd like to use them for)... I really love the flame version.

I have a list of other things I'd like to make and add to my shop, but I guess we'll see how much spare time I have after the number one priority in my life at the moment... my little boy.

Featured on Etsy

2007-01-02T19:12:00.000+11:00

My Tiki painting featured on the homepage of Etsy the other day!

(Bottom right hand corner image.)

Because of this feature, the image received 190 views compared to my other Tiki image which had... well, less ;o)

Creation: Baby girl card

2007-01-01T09:29:00.000+11:00

Our friends have recently had a baby girl and my husband mentioned that perhaps I could make a card for them. Now, having a baby ourselves (2.5 months old) I said that I wouldn't promise anything and that I didn't have any ideas for one anyway.

It's very important for me to be inspired to begin with otherwise the outcome will be less than satisfying... and then I'd probably scrap the whole thing and have a less than perfect day ;o) Not to mention that it wouldn't be fun to create - and that's just wrong!

Well, while I was up at stupid o'clock feeding our boy (it was about 2am or thereabouts), the idea came to me! I thought I could make a felt flower just like the one on the recent photo album / brag book I had made, and go from there.

So here's the outcome, I'm very proud of it and I'm considering making them to sell on Etsy as well. I'll make a boy version first so there's more than one card to choose from ;o)

Hubby really likes it, what do you think?

How-to: Make a ceramic mug (Tiki Mugs!)

2006-12-31T13:39:00.000+11:00

Here is a direct link to my 'how-to' post.

It's way too lengthy to re-post the whole thing here... However, here's a snippet of the first step:

I will be doing a 2 step mold making process.

Create a mold to make a silicon master from the original clay master
Create a plaster mold using the silicon master

So, here's the not very exciting photo of the 3 items - plaster, silicon and clay. Woo Hoo!

Intro to my Blog thingo

2006-12-31T12:26:00.000+11:00

I had entertained the idea of having a blog many times in the past but never found a good enough reason to have one. It was however, a fellow etsian and blogger herself, that had popped the idea back into my head just recently... and you know what? She was right.

I like the idea of having a blog to log my inspirations, trials and arty, crafty errors. It also reminded me of how I once posted a "how-to" in a Tiki Forum, and when reading back on it months later - was relieved to know that I could refer to it again as my memory 'aint that good ;o) So hopefully this Blog thingo can serve its purpose as my memory in a way!

Thank you Lara, and here's hoping that I remember to at least add to my newly created Blog.