Origami Cranes

Did I say before that I love everything Japanese?? Including origami cranes. I made so many origami cranes for my wedding - they were in all different colours and were scattered on the tables at the reception. I'm not sure what happened to them all at the end of the night - I hope they flew away to somewhere nice and exotic. Two sterling silver cranes have stayed with me though, albeit cruelly trapped on this necklace.

GFC

So with the GFC cramping my shopping style, I have decided to use all of the fabric that I have at the moment before buying any more. I know I am kidding myself, but it has started off well as I found an obi that was just beautiful underneath piles of material. I bought it years ago at the Valley markets in Brisbane. I've never really been game to unpick it or worse yet cut it, but I think not having purchased anything in a while muddled my brain and so I just hoed into it. Luckily it turned out well in the form of a bolero top, which I am in total love with now!

Rudolf

I'm learning how to sew at the moment with a designer called, Rudolf of Rudolf Couture. My Mum has always loved sewing and makes the most gorgeous quilts with a variety of techniques including hand applique and crazy patch. When I was little I would go with her to patchwork shops - I loved looking at all the fabrics and seeing what she would make from them, but never really tried sewing myself....that was until last year when I decided to do a traditional tailoring techniques class with Rudolf. The classes are held in a room of an old terrace house in Surry Hills, which is filled to the brim with vintage sewing machines - it is like stepping back in time. I can't count the number of times I have had to unpick my samples - but can now create pockets, zips and plackats like a professional (ok, well perhaps not...but I'm getting better!)

Information on Rudolf's classes can be found at www.rudolfcouture.com

This is Rudolf, Sam, Julie and I at the Tessuti Awards, Sydney 2008.

Marley Markets Madness

I first met M at the Marley Markets in Newtown. I was wearing a necklace made from shredded calico, from which dangled three of my origami cranes. This is the conversation that we had: She said, "I like your necklace, where did you get it from?". I said, "I made it". She said, "Do you sell them? I'd like to stock them in my shop". I said, "ok". I was so thrilled and stunned at the same time that I forgot to ask her name and where the shop was and had to then go back and find out the details. So now I have some necklaces in M's shop called The Back Room. It is at Petersham and is called the Back Room because you have to go through a florist/cafe (which used to be an 1890's butcher's shopfront) to get to the shop. Once inside, there are fabulous, edgy, eclectic collections of clothes and accessories from a range of Australian and New Zealand designers - a fashionista's treasure trove!

Sweating it out at Rozelle Markets

The weather forecast said that Sunday was going to be a scorcher in Sydney, but that did nothing to deter my friend, Sam, and I from setting up a stall at Rozelle markets. Satsuki Design made its debut amongst old books, clothes and handbags - perhaps not a glamorous start - but a fun one!

Notes on the New Range

Still desperate to work with sterling silver, I came across a technique that has been around for thousands of years and one that the ancient Egyptians used to create Tutankhamun's death mask - the lost wax casting method. The method involves carving designs out of hard wax or pouring soft wax into moulds with the pieces then sent off for casting into sterling silver - there are so many possibilities with this process and it suits me very much, particularly now given my deep-seated fear of blow torches. My new range is a combination of hard wax carvings and soft wax moulds.

New range - Summer 08|09

More photos of this range can be found at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/satsuki.design/SatsukiDesignNewRangeSummer0809#

Photos: Marilia Ogayar