Paper Wreath

They call me Mello Cello.  Well, actually they don't as my musical abilities are quite lacking.  However, Mello Cello is the name of one of the pieces of music from Albert's Album of 14 Modern Waltzes, a book I used to make this paper wreath.

The wreath also features pieces from Chappell's Song and Dance Album when I ran out of paper.  These songs came with ukulele accompaniment.  Both books were originally 2'6, and I got them for 50 cents each at the Save the Children book sale last year.  That's not quite true.  My Dad was going to the book sale and I sent him on mission to find old sheet music, which he did, and he bought a whole pile and generously donated them to the paperbakesew cause.  Dads are so good like that.

Wreath-making is time consuming, but ultimately very satisfying.  I started with a 15cm foam ring from Spotlight, and covered it with small pieces of modern waltzes.  I cut pages of sheet music into 4cm squares.  I put some glue on the bottom of each square and then rolled each side into the centre so it looked like a double cinnamon quill.

I then started glueing each 'quill' to the bottom of the wreath and slowly built up layers around the ring.  It was a tedious process as I kept running out of quills and had to keep cutting more and more paper and using more and more glue.  The paper was also quite fragile and would rip and tear if I wasn't careful (or even when I was careful), which led to more cutting and glueing.  I have to admit there was a moment when I felt like frisbeeing the wreath across the room. However, I overcame my frustration and continued glueing until there was no more room on the ring. To finish off, I glued some quills around inside the centre of the ring.

I then neatened the back of the wreath with some washi tape (I am always looking for an excuse to use it!) and then glued a ribbon to the back. For extra strength, I pinned the edges of the ribbon into the foam.

The photos don't really do the wreath justice as it has texture and character, history and interest.  This post doesn't really do the wreath justice either as, in spite of my earlier comments, it made me very happy to give new life to a discarded book of sheet music.

Kittens and such

During the 1977-78 Christmas holidays, I went to on a family holiday to Sydney.  We did all the sights, the Bridge, the Opera House, the Rocks....and all the child-friendly places that poor Mum had to take us to, like Taronga Zoo and Luna Park.  At Luna Park, I went on the Big Dipper after my brother bet me 20 cents I couldn't do it.  Never one to knock back a challenge or money for that matter, I did it and Mum, the trooper that she is, came with me.  I spent the whole time with my face buried in her arm screaming "I want to get off".  We all needed a little sit down after that.

Seeing Star Wars was another highlight.  The movie completely blew our minds, and my brother and I immediately had to go searching for merch.  Which leads me to Tom Kitten.  We went to the David Jones toy department looking for R2D2s and C3POs, when I happened upon a kit for making Beatrix Potter figurines out of plaster.  As I am a cat person, I bought Tom Kitten. I am also a Jeremy Fisher person but my pocket money did not extend that far. When I got back home, I made up young Tom and painted him in his traditional colours.

As you can see, he is a little worse for wear as he's had a few moves over the years.  He now sits safely in a cupboard at my parent's house with my other childhood treasures.  Looking at him now, I notice he has crazy eyes. I hate to think what I would have done to Peter Rabbit.  A realistic case of myxomatosis, I suspect.

And why am I mentioning Tom in 2013?  Well, I was at the Post Office the other day and discovered that Australia Post has issued a 60 cent stamp to commemorate the 110 year anniversary of Peter Rabbit.  The stamp comes in a special folder with other stamps of Beatrix Potter characters.  These other stamps do not have a value and can't be used on actual letters.  However, they are soooooo cute and I just had to have them.  Unfortunately, I can't reproduce them here as they are subject to copyright.  However, check them out at the Australia Post website.  Tom looks a little startled in his portrait, so perhaps the eyes I painted do reflect the original.