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The Fance is back! I’m going to start curating Fance posts from the images that I collect on my tumblr, if y’all don’t mind. 2010 is looking fabulous and busy and finding extra content is getting to be a luxury these days!

V Loves U Just The Way UR spread by Terry Tsiolis
This shoot is fantastic because it doesn’t include one body type and exclude the others – it reflects the reality that we all have different shaped bodies that do wonderful things.

Ice lantern by Design*Sponge
I wish I lived somewhere where these wouldn’t melt within half an hour! They’re gorgeous.

A page from Stella Im Hultberg’s sketchbook.

This brooch by Maria Cristina Bellucci is made out of reclaimed colour pencils. So beautiful!

This photo is from Plus d’idees que d’argent. What a stunning location!

⇒ If you move in the typographic circles online, no doubt you’ll have gotten wind of this already but I wanted to show you Jessica Hische’s project called Daily Drop Cap. She’s an incredible letterer(erererer)! F stands for “Fancy”, indubitably.

⇒ If you like photobooths and fetishising French quaintness, you will probably lose your shizz over La PhotoCabine.

⇒ I would like to do my hair like this (even though I’ve been thinking of cutting it!) Julianna Swaney’s little drawings are just so beautiful.

⇒ I found this illustrated cover by Willy Pogany on tumblr, and traced it back to where it was posted on The Pictorial Life, a blog that has tonnes of gorgeous illustration!

⇒ Jeremy Clarkson is hot, there I said it. I posted this unaltered picture to tumblr because it looked suss and dear Shaun came along and managed to make it G rated AND fancy in one fell swoop. Well done, chap!

⇒ What a stunning idea for a piece of jewellery! I wonder if all those books were hand bound… it must have taken forever. This was found via Chainsaws and Jelly.

I present to you four more of the most awesome people around, including a musician, burlesque star, jewellery designer, writer and photographer! They all have my seal of approval

Sharon Walker – jewellery designer for Kittycat Black

Sharon’s polymer clay sculptures caught my eye years ago, and I got to know her through our hugely irregular but always fun Stitch n Bitch sessions. She is a huge role model for me, being incredibly focused and driven to make her business succeed and caring for a growing family as well!

Chelsea – “Erin GoBraughless” with Big Star Burlesque

Chelsea is a hot redhead who performs with Big Star Burlesque as Erin GoBraughless, the daughter of a potato farmer and a whiskey heiress whose three passions include drinking, fighting, and dancing. I think Chelsea has huge balls to do what she does – recently she even performed in a bacon bikini!

Melissa Maples – writer and photographer

Melissa has a fabulous way with words, and she is my go-to lady on what I can and can not do with the English language (though I probably fall foul of these rules daily!) She blogs about living in Turkey, and posts photos of garments with hilarious slogans available for purchase by the discerning tee collector at her local bazaar as well as other very beautiful shots of Antalya and surrounding areas. Melissa and I are suspiciously similar in personality, which is probably why I think she’s so great!

Bryn Ridd – Twist Oliver, Twist

Bryn plays the synth for Brisbane band Twist Oliver, Twist, and has always been a lovely supportive friend. He manages to have the most fabulously groomed facial hair, and always makes me laugh! Bryn also does film, photography and painting. Oh is there no end to your creative scope, sir?

I have a lot of talented friends, and I only realised it when I sat down and thought about writing profiles on all of them to share with you here! I have friends who are photographers, artists, designers, models, performers, publishers, writers, musicians and activists. For most of these guys, I’m lucky to have fallen into their company as just a “friend” while others I met in a professional sense and then we developed a friendship. Because there are so many, I am going to break this up into a series of sorts, to allow you to digest the sheer amount of talent and creativity I have around me!

Tea Tasbihgou – jewellery designer for Sacré Coeur

I met Teayam online so long ago now! She does heaps of creative things – illustration, modelling and jewellery design. She recently started up Sacre Coeur, and creates steampunk styled accessories out of the most beautiful found objects. Of course, I chose the above image because there’s a paisley pendant in it, muahaha!

Mark Payne – artist and designer

Mark and I struck up a friendship on Red Bubble when he sent me a ffffound invite (no sorry guys, I still don’t have any and even if I did I’d give it to one of my mates!) Since then he has been one of the biggest supporters of my art practice – he even won the auction for my drawing at the Brisbane Twestival! His graphic work is beautiful – foreign worlds of fragmented and dizzying objects twisted like bright alien car crashes.

Kate O’Brien – photographer

I had the fortune of befriending Kate a couple of years ago when I was planning my wedding. I had admired her vintage-esque photographs for a while, and nervously emailed her asking if she’d like to photograph our wedding – she agreed and we became friends! She has also never done another wedding since

Ashley Moyer – fat activist and Chunky Dunk organiser

It may or may not come as a surprise, but I am fat and I am a fat advocate. Ashley is one of my fat activist friends: she has been a cheerleader and is running Chunky Dunk in Portland this year. Chunky Dunk events are private pool parties for people of size and their allies, and were started last year to provide a shame-free venue for swimming, bathing and bomb diving for fat folk. I really want to be Ashley when I grow up, and start Chunky Dunk parties here in Brisbane, Australia!!

Stick around for the next few days to cop a load of my other talented friends!

I have been making jewellery today after stressing that I didn’t have a long silver chain to wear with the dress I bought for tomorrow night’s exhibition opening. The dress I bought was way too expensive (oh, my rant about poor quality and overpriced plus sized fashion is for another day!) and is a paisley printed chiffon. I didn’t mean to do it! Paisley is “the trend”, apparently (which means it was a real trend like two years ago overseas) and pretty much everything was paisley print in the shops I went into the other day!!

So I cut two paisley shapes out of leather and attached them to this long contraption as a joke, and I’m not sure if people will get that I’m being facetious!

Anyway, I started making a ring out of one of my precious leather buttons and couldn’t stop there, so I made two more.

eta:

AND THEN EVEN MORE!

I’ve been on a bit of a mission to find cufflinks for the groom and his merry men for the wedding. I uncovered a motherlode of rad cufflinks for non-traditional grooms/men (or if your traditional groom wants to use his sleeve to rebel a little!) All prices are in USD.

Nerd Groom

Left to right: Pac Man Cufflinks by beaujangles, $48; Arcade Token Cufflinks by dmented, $35; Shadow Storm Trooper Helmet Cufflinks by Cufflinks, $27.99.

Steampunk Groom

Left to right: Steampunk Watch Cufflinks by Rivkasmom, $55; Vintage Typewriter Key Cufflinks by KeysAndMemories, $20; Steampunk Watch Parts Cufflinks by edmdesigns, $55.

Stylish Groom

Left to right: Snakeskin / Silver Cufflinks by depd, $60; Palm Wood Cufflinks by lotusjewelrystudio, $95; Brownie Cufflinks by ChicLinks, $75.

Graphic Groom

Left to right: Fleur de Lis Cufflinks by gurlygirl, $58; Bubbles of Love Cufflinks by deboradestefanis, $38; Awesome Porcelain Octopus Cufflinks by lusterbunny, $25.

Now I just have to decide…

I found this talented jewellery designer on craftster.org and followed her to her Etsy store where I found some amazing pieces. I love seeing jewellery that is a little bit different, but in most cases the end product is something I would never usually wear. The pieces of jewellery designed and created by Nikki of Lace Print Ring (bottom left), but don’t tell anyone because I want to buy it for myself once the wedding is out of the way!! AND, did you see the Brownie badge ring? OMG flashbacks!

I have been struggling to come to terms with my decision to have a break and do the art/ craft thing for a month or so. For as long as I can remember, I have followed everyone’s rather sensible advice about keeping your job until you’ve got another one to go to, never quitting when you’re angry, being professional, etc etc etc. So my decision to resign from my job this month was a really difficult one to make, and it’s also proving a difficult decision to reconcile with too. I am the ultimate worst critic of myself, and believe me I’ve been having some stern discussions between brain and heart this week.

Two things have made me feel a lot better about where I am, and ergo, where I can go from here. I even have a name for what I’m about to embark on… it’s the Craft Odyssey!

The first was this bangle by Delias Thompson. Simple by design; forged and hammered: this bangle spoke to me… It’s exactly me, rough and simple and direct. When I read the description Delias wrote, I saw that the letters pressed into the piece were actually a poem.

I will not forget who I am
I will never forget from where I came
To myself I will always be true
On this path I will call home

I have only gotten around to writing this entry now, and as I sit here writing it, I see that she has sold out of these bangles! I hope they inspire their wearers like they’ve inspired me. And hopefully she gets around to making some more! I will continue to drop my fiance not-so-subtle hints about this piece AND the stackable rings until then

The second thing was watching Stefan Sagmeister’s talk at TED in 2004 – “Yes, design can make you happy”. He spoke of using visual milestones and writing lists and really investigating happiness in design, or happiness through design. Above all his lists made me feel that I can do what I want to do, as a designer, crafter or artisan, because I think about the same things Stefen Sagmeister thinks about! Hopefully you get as much out of them as I did.

What I like about my job – Stefan Sagmeister
Thinking about ideas and content freely – with the deadline far away.
Working without interruption on a single project.
Using a wide variety of tools and techniques.
Travelling to new places.
Working on projects that matter to me.
Having things come back from the printer done well.

All the things I’ve learned in my life so far – Stefan Sagmeister
Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
Being not truthful works against me.
Helping other people helps me.
Organising a charity group is surprisingly easy.
Everything I do always comes back to me.
Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
Over time I get used to everything and start taking it for granted.
Money does not make me happy.
Travelling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
Assuming is stifling.
Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
Trying to look good limits my life.
Worrying solves nothing.
Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
Having guts always works out for me.

I’ve been pretty busy lately, however this week I actually resigned from my job to focus on arting and crafting for a little while! I’ve got lots of ideas and pretty soon you’ll be able to purchase some of their tangible forms

At any rate, it’s that horrible time of year again… it’s almost my birthday! I was born on December 20, and hardly anyone gives a rats about me on my birthday because they are too busy with Christmas. Poo on that I say. I present to you a list of things I desire.

Broadhurst pendant necklace by Lola & Bailey
Florence Broadhurst is one of my heroes. She was a remarkable and intriguing woman who was murdered in her own workshop.

Lace Pendant (white on black) by Kyo Hashimoto
Kyo’s jewellery is amazing, I’d like to put one of everything on this list!

3 Ring Mahogany Earrings by orno
I have lusted after these earrings for ages, and they keep popping up on other people’s blogs too… just to taunt me!

Oceana Demi Lune by paulus
This is a splurge, but my gods what a piece of furniture!

These are only a few of the items I’m sure I’ll lust after…

You know I’m a sucker for craft and motif. On my search for jewellery making tutorials, I came across Prismera’s Lace Earring tutorial, and it reminded me so much of a pair of earrings I actually own! Last year I met Keena online, and saw a few pictures in which she was wearing these totally awesome crocheted earrings. I had to have some – DAMN THE COST!

So I emailed her and told her to take my money and get some of those earrings into my ears! She and her mother came up with the design, and I had a feeling that crocheted jewellery would be hot hot hot in the next year. Lo and behold, the crochet revolution came upon us, and even I’m trying to learn how to do it! My mother thinks I have a freaky talent for trend spotting. I can’t explain how I know things are going to be hot, I just get a vibe from things.

Any way, here are my earrings from Keena – I love them, and think they’re wonderfully unique and a bit crazy (like me, ha!) Viva la crochet revolution!