Moon Rabbit

New for August: Another rubbish rabbit, this time a whimsical nightime bunny.
Todays rubbish picture is created entirely out of household recycled rubbish.
The background consists of fish finger boxes, a swimming pool timetable, and a couple of magazine pages. The moon is almost entirely created from a Poppy day information leaflet from last November and the rabbit consists of an article all about wooden floors, with a couple of wallpaper samples and a habitat kitchen brochure chucked in for good measure.

Teapots, bunnys, mermaids... what next?

Todays ponderings have come about through cabin fever mostly... My young apprentice is centre of attention again this week after a day in hospital on Monday having her adenoids removed. She was such a brave girl and has well deserved her entire week off school being pampered and cossetted. But, maaaaan a week is a long time when you're 7 with a sore throat and it's an even longer time when you're the one kept firmly inside away from germs and sources of infection with a boooored 7 year old. (actually.... on reflection, with 2 siblings in the house there's probably more chance of infection inside these walls than out.... but hey, I'm sticking to what it says in the leaflet!)

So.... to spare my sanity after the first 7 loops of High School Musical 3, (plus obligatory bloopers and behind the scenes hilarity), I've snuck into my den and have been creating away like a crazy lady, making the most of this enforced at home time to fulfil a new order of rubbish pictures for next week. But then here comes the dilema...
What exactly to create? An 'open order' is a wondrous thing. A customer who would like 'some pictures', similar to the last batch, but the subject can be 'whatever I fancy'. Wow. After years as 'Wallop' - illustrating for children's publishing in it's various forms, I have become very used to being dictated to exactly what is required. In this pc world we live in, each project generally requires a child of each gender, colour, height, weight, you name it and so artwork briefs are notoriously precise. When they're not, it inevitably means a reworking and so it's become ingrained to try to understand exactly the clients requirements first before ever setting pen to paper or mouse to...erm.... table.
So now I'm all of a wobble. Teetering on the edge of an 'artists block'? Dithering over the possibilities.... So far the Rubbish pictures portfolio has been pretty diverse featuring mermaids, dragons, dogs, cats all sorts... but how to know what will be a best seller? What should I do next, now that I can do....anything? I'd love to know - suggestions on a postcard please.... (or just in a comment would do and would save a stamp :-) )
In the meantime - I'm trying hard not to be distracted by the warblings of the delectable Troy Bolton and concentrating on a few more pre easter bunnys and pre mothers day teacups. Just to be safe.

The demise of Tallulah...

Well it's been a sad couple of days in Wallopsville, particularly for my apprentice who is mourning the loss of Tallulah...the goldfish. She has been unable to aid me in any creative way this week partly due to her sorrow and partly due to her sudden macabre interest in funeral directing. Our Tallulah, it has to be said, wasn't a particularly much loved pet. She was well kept of course, (by me) and regularly fed (by me) and cleaned (by me) and even occasionally given such treats as a new bit of weed or a nice looking pebble from the beach.... (by me) but on the whole she was ignored for much of her soggy life. In death however, Tallulah has come into her own. Her funeral was not far off the scale of royalty, relatively speaking of course. We had an after school procession of reluctantly rounded up neighbourhood children somberly gathered at the graveside, gallantly braving the recorder recital, the placing of daisies, the reminiscing.... before making their excuses and running home for their....ahem... fish fingers and chips...

So - especially for my bereft little apprentice, todays rubbish picture is in honour of Tallulah. A lovely orange fish made up entirely of Sainsburys nappy packaging and a few old Charlie & Lola birthday invitations. RIP old gal.

Now I must dash, apparently 'Nemo -Lulah' (and friend!) are ready for collection from Petsmart.....

Not only is it rubbish. It's also going to be a whole load of poo.

I've been gazumped from my own drawing table by my particularly enthusiastic, self styled apprentice 7 year old daughter... A situation with it's downsides (ie trying to persuade her not to steal all the best bits of green packaging for her flower picture or we'll be eating soya beans for the rest of the week so that I can finish off my own latest creation...) but also advantages. Firstly, it takes a 7 year old to tell you, very honestly indeed, whats working and what just like soooo isn't. Plus she thinks the whole rubbish picture should be recycled including the base sheet the collage sits on, not just the materials used to create the actual image itself. She's got a point. So I set myself a little research project as to what I could use... Besides what else can I do but surf the net for ideas when I can't get elbow room at the workbench or glue pot?

It's amazing what you can just stumble across on the internet isn't it. I was thinking about making my own sheets of paper from mulching the food packaging that I don't use in the collages... but I think this is something more suitable for the summer and looks particularly messy and not compatible with my compulsively tidy husband, so that idea is on the back burner and whilst googling all sorts of paper products and recycling methods. I think I've found the best solution. POO.

How brilliant is that? Paper made out of poo. And not just any old poo. Elephant poo. No sh*t. well actually, yes sh*t. Lots of it. From real life big old flappy eared Sri Lanken elephants.

My googling has led me to Paper High, a Brighton based company providing eco-friendly handmade paper products from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. They describe their paper production as:

All handmade paper is made using a fibreous material, and is boiled and beaten to make the fibre pulp. With elephant dung paper, the elephant has done the pulping for us, leaving us to collect the dung, clean it by boiling and steaming so all bacteria are killed, then putting the pulp in a shallow mould as usual. The coarseness of the paper is entirely dependent on the elephants diet, again making no two sheets identical.

I was delighted to find Paper High and they have been very helpful so are going to be the new official suppliers to Wallop for all my new poo requirements! :-)
I'm looking forward to my first batch of paper arriving so that I can crack on and create my first completely recycled Rubbish-picture-onto-Poo masterpiece. I can see the by line now: Perfect to be hung in the smallest room in the house?

And the best bit of this latest addition to my eco plan? My apprentice is now so busy rolling around on the floor laughing, I can get my desk back.