Give away!!!

August, the month of cold winds, the exhibition, and my granddaughters first birthday!

Also the month for me to give away this lovely pen

.

It's made from Spanish Cedar - it's lovely warm and smooth and writes beautifully!

All you have to do to win it is to comment here - a random number post will be picked at the end of the month.

I'd love to say that I'll pay the postage - but I can't, I'm going to have to ask for that (and I feel dreadful for doing so, but that's the way things are at the moment.) So if you can't afford the postage, please don't comment.

Postage in Australia will be $1.50, elsewhere in the world, $4.00

Thanks and good luck!

Little boxes

The latest woodturning project has been round boxes, or lidded bowls, either name can be used.

I'm adding a finial to all of mine - then they can be used as ring holders! You can put things inside, and/or slip rings over the top of the pointy bit (the finial).


First one is Spanish Cedar with a Jarrah finial. It's tiny, only 1.5 inches across and 3 inches high with the finial.




This one is camphor laurel with foot and finial finished with a black stain.



Now that I had the process down pat, I concentrated more on the shapes. This one is Camphor Laurel again because I can get that easily. The finial is red cedar.

Give away results!

Due to a huge lack of response I'm not going to wait until the 18th - I'll announce the winner now!

Hey Harriet - the first person to respond, wins!

Congratulations :)

Post op Gem

Last night, after the op. A little under the influence.



this morning she is more alert.

Give Away!!!

Here it is!



It is a keyring made from Majestic Olive and 24 karat gold! The Olive was grown in South Australia and sent to me by a friend. It has the most wonderful colours and grain. The wooden bit is about 2" long.

Just comment here, and on the 18th I'll pick a name at random. You don't even have to pay postage!

But - I'd like to ask you a favour. My dog Gem needs an operation on her leg and I have to raise money to pay for it.

Gem is very special to me because she is more then a pet and a friend, she is my Medical Assistance Dog. I can't leave home without her. She comes with me to the Doctors, the shops, resturants - anywhere that I go she comes with me. So you can imagine how precious she is to me!

I have a "Specials" category in my Etsy store, but in fact I'm happy to drop the price on everything if it means making a sale. I need to raise $900. I've borrowed it, she is having her operation on Monday, but I have to pay it back as soon as I can.

http://elvenhair.etsy.com

If you could please tell everyone you can about this give away so that they can read this as well? I'd really appreciate it, and so would Gem.




Thank you, and good luck!

First Fountain pen!

I made my first fountain pen this morning. It's myrtle burl in a Classic Elite Fountain Pen.

Raising money for Gem's operation - 4 hair sticks

4 hair sticks on etsy for only $25!



Each one was turned on the lathe by me, each one is different. The two longer ones are close enough to be worn as a set, if you do a style that needs two sticks.

I have no idea what the light timber is! I was given a load of fletches (the bit with the bark on it) and it was all mixed up. One of them is Almond, I think.

The dark one is easy, that's Black Heart Sassifras from Tasmania

The two long ones are 8" and 7" and the smaller ones are about 5".

See all my specials here!

BrisStyle Bog give away

Check out the give aways here...

http://brisstyle.blogspot.com/

Bombed the house!

Bombed the house for bugs today. Put the birds cage outside, put the cats in cages in the car and with Gem on my lap went for a long drive. The cats were pretty well behaved, except that Licorice kept up a constant "meow, meow" the whole time!

Home now, opened all the windows, cleaned out the animals water bowls etc. They are wandering around going "what's changed?" being very suspecious.

Sale on now!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6898849&section_id=6103205

I've put up a "Specials" category and anything I list in the next week or so will go in there to raise money for Gem's leg operation.

Here is Gem...



So check it out! If you see something in my store that isn't in the specials section you can always ask me if I'll discount it! I'm extremely open to that right now.

YAY! It's MAY!!!!

Still a few days before my blog giveaway - stay tuned!

Had more bad news yesterday (of course, it was still APRIL!). Gem needs an operation on her leg, poor pup :( She has a luxating patella (hope I spelt that right). Op is going to cost abotu $900! There goes all my savings! I'll be having sales to raise money, and I might even have to go back to ebay as much as I don't want to. But I'll see how we go on etsy first.

So, give away in a few days, specials coming up on etsy! In fact, I'm going over there shortly to start a "specials" category and put some things in it!

April doesn't exist

In my books, April just doesn't exist.

It was a horrible month. First I got pnuemonia. No cold or anything first, just bam, pnuemonia. With asthma it's not something they play around with, so into hospital for IV antibiotics, steroids AND oral antibiotics as well to make sure. Then home with two different lots of antibiots, twice around, and steroids, and all those horrible puffers which, once again, have left me without a voice.

And then this...



That's my face after it caught a metal chuck flying off the lathe at 1450 revolutions per minute. One inch higher...

I've never had a black eye before. And unfortunately getting up and punching out the lathe would have been counterproductive, so I didn't do it. I went and bought a full face mask instead, although it feels a bit like shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted!

So, I'm hiding for the rest of April.

HOWEVER!!! I hope to hit the ground in May running! I've decided that I'll have a give away in May, in honour of Zoe's birthday, so keep watching for that!

OK, time for me to go cover myself in pillows so nothing else can hurt me and hide. Another 2 days...

My friend are having a giveaway on their blog! It's a LOVELY little runny babbet. Go see!

http://www.edwardandlilly.com/

Modofly - art on books!

Modofly has released some books with my art on them!

http://modofly.myshopify.com/products/peacock-mask-p-eliza-leahy-p

http://modofly.myshopify.com/products/cobs-p-eliza-leahy-p

http://modofly.myshopify.com/products/jaguar-p-eliza-leahy-p (that's

one of the pictures that sold in the show, first day in fact!)

http://modofly.myshopify.com/products/mice-p-eliza-leahy-p

http://modofly.myshopify.com/products/the-emu-p-eliza-leahy-p

http://modofly.myshopify.com/products/goldfish-p-eliza-leahy-p

Please feel free to spread the word! I'd love to see people using

these books :)

Eliza ambrov Halwyn

Give away???

Coming soon!!!!

Watch this space.

la la la!

Every Friday morning I toddle up to Morningside to sing with MorningSong. You can read about them here... http://www.morningside.com.au

Today is Saturday. We have to vote for local government. One of the guys is Springborg and he calls himself "the borg". We of Star Trek fandom know that this is NOT a good name. The thought of being assimilated by him is not a pleasant one. LOL

Show opening - and tired!

Boy, the poor Queen!

That might seem a little left of centre, but after the opening last night I really feel sorry for her. Standing on my feet for hours, answering the same question over and over (what is scratchboard, of course). It was ok, but too many people, too hot, too many people drinking too much because it was hot, and then talking to me, and, after all, I was there because I'm NOT social!

Give me the internet any day.

And that was my own art show. The poor Queen has to attend function after function that she probably has no interest in, be, not just polite, but NICE about everything, stand for hours at parades and so on.

I would not cope.

It seemed that everyone had a good time. My art got lots of attention, people couldn't work out how it was done. It was nice seeing Judith, my cousin there, and my son Garth did a brilliant job on the bar. Gem behaved well and got lots of pats, and Zoe was in charge of chatting to people about my work, which she does very well.

I think next time I'll make a name tag "Eliza", pin it on Zoe, and she can just pretend she is me!

Show opening TONIGHT!!!

Very nervous. Here is my wall...



25 artworks! One has sold already, I have hopes for the opening!

It's kept me busy, we have a roster for looking after the gallery. I've managed to do a little bit of woodturning, but I can't show you until tomorrow.

Here is the website for the art show.

www.artistcitizen.com

A bowl, and some keyrings!

I got busy with the keyrings and this morning I made a bowl to put them in. It turned out so nice that I have it on Etsy for sale! Here



Here it is with the keyrings inside



Here are the keyrings!



The keyrings are $10AU each plus postage. If you are interested email me - eliza@elizasart.com

A goblet

This is camphor laurel - and you will have noticed by now how much I like this timber. It's 13cm high and 4cm across. Not really big enough to hold much drink! But a pretty think to have on the cupboard anyway!

I got some of the NICEST beads today! I can't wait to make hair sticks for them!

Rejoined the eBay crowd

As much as I didn't want to, I had to rejoin eBay - it still holds the market share of the buyers. Depressing, isn't it?

But within 1/2 hour of having 3 of my hair sticks listed there, I got a bid! Naturally, as it's an auction, prices are low to start with (I'm starting everything at 9.99) but I'm hoping that people will like them and there will be more then one bid.

Here is the link to my store.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/elizas_art

I probably won't be turning anything interesting the next few days - tomorrow I have choir and doctor, Saturday I have framing and getting ready and on Sunday we hang for the art show at the Metro in Brisbane. Let me know if you want to come and I'll send you an invite!

I made a pot out of a Banksia pod. I'm not sure this would go overseas and get through customs, so it's only for sale in Australia.

It's 18cm high and about 7cm across the bottom. It's certainly and interesting piece!

You can put a pen in it, or a hairstick or a small bunch of dried flowers.

It's $45 AU + $5 postage.

EEEKKKK!!!! What a mess!

Robyn on BrisStyle suggested that we drop everything and take a photo of our workspace - no cheating cleaning up first!

So I did. I'd just finished turning my last spinning top of the night, all the shavings from the days slaving over the hot lathe are everywhere.

Hope you get a laugh at my workspace (corner of the verandah!)




I made a Nostepinne today too. I think I got the size right. I'm checking on the timber type before I list it on Etsy - I'm not sure what it is. It's pretty though.

The Nipple Bowl!

This one came to me while I was sleeping. I had gone through the bottom of a bowl the day before. I thought "why not go through on purpose and make a stand that comes through the bottom of the bowl???"

It wasn't until I was turning the stand, as I was cutting the top bit off I realised that if I rounded it, instead of cutting completely through, it would look like a nipple!

So I did...



Then I made the bowl bit.



Put together it looks like this...

I'll put it up for sale on etsy - maybe. Or keep it and put nuts in it when people come over! :)

2 pots, 4 keyrings

Heon pine, King Billy pine and Camphor Laurel keyrings



The fat pot is blackwood, I'm not sure what the other is!

I made some beads for hairsticks too, but didn't photograph them before I lost the light.

Oh dear...

Headache today, so no successful woodturning! Tried to make a bowl - but broke through the bottom. Should have known better then to try to turn with head in this condition.

On the bright side - I now have a new learning project. How to put a false bottom on an otherwise really pretty bowl!!! :)

And I found out what the other wood in the keyrings is - it's MANGO!

A round thing for hair toys!

It's a hair toy holder! Holds 8 hair sticks, and you can put bobby pins, scrunchies etc in the middle. This is the prototype - I'll make them larger I think.




6 more keyrings. I adore keyrings! They are a great size to hold and are so smooth and shiny. timber is - the white, Huon pine which is amazing. The other is really pretty - and I'm finding out what it is, I'll have to get back to you about that.



Two little pots. Red Cedar and Blackwood (which isn't black) The blackwood has flat sides. Kinky :)

Keyrings in Camphor Laurel

Camphor Laurel is one of my favourite woods. But then, I have so many timbers that I love!

Today I taught myself how to make keyrings, and made two in Camphor Laurel.

Back to the wood pile!

After a 20 year break from turning wood, I've returned to it again!

This time I have a little mini Jet lathe, tucked away in the corner at the back of my house, where the house meets the tiny shed we have. I'm ready to turn little things like hair sticks and little pots and bowls!

I just wish we didn't have bull ants...

http://www.faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_ID=251

I could really have done without being bitten today.

I did get some lovely wood today! I got a gift pack from a friend on the Woodturners forum! And some burls - I'm going to make "caps" for the hair sticks from those.

I have to get another chuck. Once I got the pin jaws on the one I realised that taking them on and off all the time was not going to be an option.

I'm realising that a lathe really is something that spins away money!

But I hope that people like my hair sticks enough to buy them. Otherwise I'm going to end up with cupboards full of hair sticks!

I can only wear one at a time. Well, two maybe. Three at most. Four is right out there...