Mt Magnet - Day 1 of Workshops

After seeing what the ladies in Yalgoo loved creating, I questioned if I should go into this workshop with a similar plan or should I show them something completely different.  I decided to work on a few different projects, with the thought in the back of my mind that if they got together to create as a group, they could then teach the others what they had learned.   Hmmm now you can have the best plans in place and think you're on the right track but I decided to listen to the group and work on something I had no intention of showing them whatsoever.  Anyway, whatever the project - they fell in love with polymer clay - who wouldn't!!!!

Here are some of the gorgeous girls - oh and Brendan of course.  Check out the incredible space we're in too.  What an awesome spot to run a workshop.

And Trekking Further into the Outback...

Day 3 of our Outback trip is an exciting one.  Weather is awesome, countryside even better.  Can't wait to get to Mt Magnet.  Let's check out some of the pics.

Lots of gorgeous, open skies in the outback and lots and lots of land.

and the biggest road-trains you'll ever see on the road...I'm frightened of passing these ones but luckily the roads are pretty straight.

The famous Swagman Roadhouse.

Amazing outback plants.

This is the main street of Mt Magnet.  

and the Wirnda Barna Art Gallery where the workshops will take place.  Oh and this is Brendan by the way - he's the Gallery Manager and Co-Ordinator of Community Arts and Culture.

Yalgoo Nightlife!!!

Now Yalgoo is a pretty small town but we figured we could give it a run for it's money!!!  Dinner at the pub then a game of pool and darts with some of the outback "truckies".   FUN FUN FUN

This is the Yalgoo Hotel complete with resident goat and baby.  Bright pink county pub!!

Why don't we let the rest of the pictures tell the story.........

Yalgoo Creations

Some incredible pieces were created over the day and a half workshops.  I was so impressed with the skill level - especially considering they were all newbies.  My favourite pieces were the natural, earthy looking beads but they just loved working with all the bright colours. Let's have a look at some of the pieces created in the end.

Charmaine's piece - absolutely loved this one.

Margaret just loved her swirls.

Margaret created these pieces.  Those beads in the top left corner had red ochre included and they turned out incredible in real life.  So beautiful.

Pieces created by Charmaine - she was a complete natural.

Pieces created by Di.  I love the necklace.

Sondra created these amazing beads and just check out the necklace she made with those square beads.

The finished necklace - it turned out quite incredible.

Let's Meet The Yalgoo Ladies

So it's the first day of workshops and we ended up with 7 local ladies - pretty awesome for a little town of 200.  These ladies had never heard of polymer clay before so it was basically starting from scratch.  I came out here with a bit of a plan but decided to wing it mostly.  I started with a really basic jellyroll bead because that's always a favourite for newbies, then we got into some mokume gane.  I showed them all sorts of small spacer beads and lots of other bits and pieces.  The next day we worked on the "grungy stuff" which of course is my favourite but nope - they loved the pink and purple swirls!!!  Let's continue the story in pics.

This is the gorgeous group.  Thanks to Raina for taking this pic.

Margaret creating some gorgeous swirl beads.

Hard at work creating mokume gane discs.

Charmaine with her stunning mokume gane sheet.  Wait til you see the finished piece.

Sondra proudly wearing her "swirly" beads.

Vicki also looking really happy with her creations.

Valarie with her finished necklace.

Di working on a creating a gorgeous pink colour.

Art in the Outback - The Adventure Begins!!

After lots of preparation, planning and packing, I was finally ready to pick up Raina and head out into the Outback.  Raina is the Manager of the Arts and Cultural Development Council in the City of Greater Geraldton and was keen to get out into these communities to make some connections, so it made perfect sense for us to road-trip it together.  

Let's tell the story in pics shall we?

Entering the outback - about 50km's from Yalgoo.

Oops forgot to take a pic of the sign heading into Yalgoo from the West so took one on the way back but you get the idea.

This is the main street of Yalgoo.

This is the view from out little room at the caravan park - love that red dirt.

and this is our little room.  Beautiful rammed earth building.

Behind out room - lots of empty land that goes on forever.

The beautiful Railway Station where the workshops were held.

This is the front of the building.  Can you imagine what this would have been like in its hey-day.

The race track.

A Final Play Before We Hit The Outback

Well when I say the outback, it's really only 3 hours inland from us.  You can drive alot further into the outback but this is as far as we're going this time.

First stop is Yalgoo.  They say Yalgoo is where the outback begins - just 6 hours North of Perth and 2 hours East of Geraldton.  It's home to many kangaroos, emus and giant bungarra lizards - blimey..let's hope we don't encounter any of those.  Total population - 406.

We have a day and a half of workshops in Yalgoo and then on to Mt Magnet - another hours drive inland.  Mt Magnet is Western Australia's longest continuous goldmining centre since 1891 and is home to the famous Hill 50 Gold Mine (Australia's deepest and for a time, richest underground gold mine).  Hmmm do I take my metal detector??  Population of Mt Magnet - 750.

Both Yalgoo and Mt Magnet are rich in history and I'm really looking forward to learning a little more about these towns.

Today was a final play to create samples for the workshops.  Hope you like them.

These have been coated with a layer of pure liquid clay and I must say they look pretty special in real life.  

Textured disc beads.

One side of the carved disc bead.

The other side of the carved disc bead.  I like this side the best.

I'm calling these "Cheezel Beads" because my kids tell me they look just like cheezels!!!