Saturday 13 April 2013

Secret Garden...


I called this post Secret Garden because I had no idea it existed until last weekend when Scott and I were walking the dog and stumbled across it. In fact it's not secret at all it's the North East Valley Community Garden

This blog post has nothing much to do with anything apart from the fact it's a lovely Autumn Sunday here in Dunedin and we walked back there this morning to take some pictures. The space is very peaceful, placed on a hill looking out over the city. There's something about the idea of a vegetable garden for the community that I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge. I'm not sure if you can read the sign above 'Please give a little of your time and labour if you wish to harvest- THANKS'... Seems more than fair to me!


It's pretty much the end of the growing season now in New Zealand but Scott and I will be going along to help out next season, not that either of us are green fingered but we'll learn.

Above images of some of the practical parts of running the garden including a beehive, compost bins made from pallets and a pretty complex irrigation system. 

Greenhouse growing tomatos, peppers and chillies. It smells amazing in there. Someone I knew most of have a greenhouse when I was a kid as the smell took me back but I can't remember who's it was.

Wednesday 3 April 2013

Making Zines and Public Speaking

This is a really short post just to let you know I've been asked to do a couple of talks in the coming months. What feels like I life time ago I used to work as a tutor and had to talk to room full's of people on a daily basis but boy I'm feeling rusty. I'm mostly looking forward to it though or will be once I have my images sorted.

On Wednesday 8 May 1pm-2pm I'm speaking at the BNZ Business Centre, Dunedin for She's Motivated. It's free of charge, you can find out more here.

I'm very excited that my partner Scott and I have both been booked to talk and teach a class at this years Handmade in Te Papa, Wellington. Scott is my smarter half and although he'll hate me saying it a sought after public speaker and design tutor. I'm so gutted that my class clashes with his talk time as I was looking forward to hearing him speak. He's also teaching a paper toy making class, which I'm fully intending to gate clash as his assistant.

I'm also giving a talk about the ins and outs of running a online creative business with plenty of insider tricks and tips and teaching a zine making class. I used to teach the same class at Edinburgh College of Art and it was always great fun and kind of magical how you can make a perfect little booklet from one sheet of paper. I hope some of you will be able to join me.

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Tigershark: April, Printable Freestanding Calendar

Damn it I'm so late with this post, lets blame Easter and no print shops being open. So here's April (can you believe it's April already). He's half tiger, half shark. Yeah you're got it this months little snapper is a tigershark, complete with strips and tiny fin.

Download 'Tigershark" here...

1. You don't need much to make the tigershark,  just some thick paper/card, a ruler, scissors and double sided tape or glue. Firstly download and print out the design.


2. Use the back edge of the scissors and a ruler, score along the grey fold lines. Be careful not to score through the ears!

3. Using a small sharp pair of scissors cut along the black dotted line. Go slowly when cutting around the ears, fins and tail. These can bit a little tricky.

4. Once you've cut the Tigershark and his fin make a small incision in his back along the white dotted line. Fold the fin in two and slip it into the cut. it should fit pretty well without help but if it's lose just hold in place with a little tape (on the inside of the design).

5. Now fold along the scored grey lines.

6. Put double sided tape or glue on the top side of each tab. Stick the taps to the body, so the flaps stick behind the adjacent part of the body.

7. Sweet you're done. Stand on your desk and enjoy!