F-F-F-Frustration!!!!!!!!!!

Frustration reigns in the Oodade studio -- or maybe I should say, the lack thereof. The Department of Sports, Reacreation, Arts & Culture haven't quite managed to be as efficient as we need them to be. I can't quite remember if I wrote about it in my last post, but when Noni and I arrived at the art cente for our appointment to view our studio (they have given it to us - in theory), we ended up having to wait for an hour in the car, with numerous calls bouncing backwards and forwards between me and Brenda who said the lady who was supposed to be meeting us was 'stuck at the municipality and will be there any minute now.' After an hour, Noni just had to get home and Layla was getting increasingly miserable and vocal about it - so we decided to give up the ghost and arrange another meeting for later in the week. More than a week and a half has slipped down the drain of the bath of my creative frustration (oh the drama, the drama!) So much so that I have had to have a serious rethink about how the business is structured. You see, Layla no longer goes to school... My dad calls her The Boundary Queen --- and the new kids were just all too boisterous and in-her-space: so after the first day, she refused point blank to return : leaving me in a terrible quandary: absolutely not a drop of time to work! Also, the very dire consequences of not having a studio to work from is that all my materials are piled up in shabby cardboard boxes in my MINIATURE home -- with the tiniest rectangle of dressingtable to work on. So...................................
With Layla Rose a perpetual but still adorable handful who leaves me not a shred of peace in which to work, and with my heart set on establishing Noni as being a supplier in her own right, I am focusing on redesigning how Oodade will function as a company. (Layla is wanting us to go back home... See what I mean re: the handfulness of my Princess?!) More news as soon as I can!
PS. This is my 'studio' at the moment:

Unik Butik!

While I wait interminably in this pressing, sticky heat for my photos to download from my BlackBerry so I can upload them here, I thought I'd update you on the latest and greatest on Oodade Butik.

1. As you can see, I have added a little more descriptive gorgeousness to our name! As mentioned in the previous post, 'butik' is the Danish word for 'boutique'. This seems much more suited to me, and us as a brand; 'boutique' somehow smells of granny's powder and dusty silk roses, whereas 'butik' is quirky, fresh and cosmopolitan! (**My typing is up to **** thanks to my lack of time writing on my laptop - and too much time on my BlackBerry which requires a digital dextrousness that took me weeks to acquire and is now impossible to shake off!)

2. Waiting to pick Noni up at the busy little roundabout in African Street, I ventured into The Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts & Culture, open to whatever opportunity lay inside. Ridiculously laid back but with plenty of laughter and a sense that things do indeed get done, I was introduced to Loyiso who promised to meet with me the very next day about potentially finding me a studio space --- exchanging my skills for rent in lieu of hard cash. A number of important-looking people attended our meeting the next day - and the excitement generated by my Oodade business concept resulted in them promising a studio space at the DAKAWA art centre, as well as a R200 000 grant! The manager of the SRAC, visibly over the moon that someone was finally prepared to give of their time to work with children, specifically in the areas of arts and crafts, just about kissed me! Busy phonecalls bounced from their court into mine all afternoon, and... and that was a whole week ago. Since then? Nada. Nothing. Niks. The general reaction others have had about this little glitch is: "Ah, African time." (With a sneer rolling rancidly off 'African'.) I, however, always rest in the patient understanding that everything happens most beautifully when we set ourselves, and what we wish for, free. You see, had the SRAC needed to meet with me last week, I would have been forced to cancel: I was very ill last week, and then Layla also ended up with the most frightening flu! And so, we will see what this week brings!

3. Layla did not AT ALL enjoy being back at school - so I have had to bring her back home with me, where we play endless games of play-dough, drawing, painting, reading (at the moment, about "Dinosaurs, please, Mommy.") etcetera etcetera. And, unlike some other children, My Little Princess requires constant attention - so my productive Oodade mornings are a thing of the past - at least for another 6 months. So... (*sigh*) work will take an even s-l-o-w-e-r  pace than it has been plodding along at (if that's possible?!) but I am FIERCELY determined to grow this dream of mine, craftwork by artwork!

4. Cindy, the most recent sister to join our team, already has her own home-industry making and selling clothes, primarily out of shwe-shwe. She is my designated seamstress: my Shwe-Shwe Queen!

Here are some photos, though grainy and wan a la BlackBerry, of some of our latest products:

I just ADORE the look of Noni's dense crochet, and the shape of her hats are wonderfully Xhosa!
The embellishments are a felted woollen ball, a crocheted motif in cotton-tape and the sweetest little metal 'chick' tag. (The Junebug is worn with the embellishments off-centre.)








Now this Junebug is one Layla keeps on trying to steal from my box of stock items! Crocheted in Noni's signature tight weave, it is adorned with roses made from the most lusciously fuschia of raw silks! (When my dear husband finds our camera he has managed to 'put in a safe place', I will upload more detailed and colour-correct pics.)

***The average size of the Junebugs is for a 6 - 12month old.

Yip - another super-grainy pic. This time, of a jewellery box (SOLD: Collect Jewellery) with images lovingly pilfered from pulp magazines, crossword puzzle clues and shunga (medieval Japanese erotic woodprints). My new enjoyment of our South African languages comes after my most recent little exile in the UK - hence, the 'Liefde' vibe.










With an ageing Indian dancing bell, a 1963 Burda skirt pattern and a page from a vintage woman's weekly, this is a photojournal I am seriously ( ! ) considering keeping for myself! The pages inside are deep blue card, interleaved with translucent paper reminiscent of the patterned wax paper that rested above the chocolates in the chocolate boxes of my chocoholic childhood!

Here is my own (private,private, private --- teenage-girl private!!) journal: more like this coming!

I shan't promise any huge additions to our store, but this keeps us oh-so-fabulously exclusive! (Always grab hopefulness by the cojones!)

Caged Creative Courage

Eish... where has the time gone? Gobbled up by the manic festivities of 2010, I suppose? Oodade took a proverbial chill-pill over December/January, gathering inspired ideas, sequins and 1940s magazines. MORE treasures to conjure space for in the little studio Oodade occupies at the moment. The world's littlest tijsnijwerhijdt*, the tiniest butik**!  Our new little house is, a trifle frustratingly, just that: little. VERY little, indeed. And so, the hunt is on for a studio to rent in Grahamstown! Though, historically, Grahamstown is supposed to be South Africa's first city, it is hardly even a fully-fledged town --- more like a glorified village! (What qualifies it as a city is its lovely old stone cathedral --- the heart of the town (I mean, city) from which the main arteries of the High Street and Hill Street radiate.) Dry and dusty, there is very little to do in Grahamstown, so there is going to plench time to work! There is the potential site for a studio in the industrial area - and Noni and I will go to view it this week. Our wireless internet connection will also be ready within the next couple of weeks --- something that is like oxygen for me : research and staying in touch.
*tijsnijwerhijdt: Dutch for 'home industry'
**butik: Danish for 'boutique"
While the studio-hunt continues, Oodade will continue its creative hibernation, snuggled happily under the leaves of knowing the magnificence of 2011 lies ahead! In the meantime, here are some pics taken with my Blackberry in the last week (*wink*)
Noni and Layla reunited in our new house after our month-long Christmassy jaunt in Cape Town/Port Elizabeth.

Went on an impromptu shopping spree at Second Time Around in PE today --- and EVERY SINGLE THING I wanted to buy wasn 't for sale... The fragile beauty of this bra (can't seem to place its time of origin) made my heart ache with wanting it... so instead I shall settle for painting or drawing it! Here is another not-for-sale piece of gorgeousness: a crochet-encaged heart.

Anyway, until I have internet: adios, ciao and totsiens!

A Serendipitous Sisterhood of Collaborative Craftwork!

One day, an interminably long time ago, a little girl watched her mother in awe as she conjured magnificence with silks, thread, a needle and passion! That little girl, supposedly all grown up now, lives in constant pursuit of creative playfulness: dolling up her youngest muse, Layla Rose, with deliberately mismatched prints and the quirkiest of accessories: silk-covered buttons adorned with miniature crochet rosettes, encrusted with glass beads and seed pearls!

A dream I've cherished for a long, long time found it's seed planted in a question someone once asked me over our third ruby glass of pinotage: "If you won R2 million, what would you do with it?"
With no hesitation at all, I sketched out my vision like this: "I'd buy a house. Turn it into a beautiful sort-of craft-factory with a constantly brewing pot of coffee, a bottomless chocolate biscuit-tin and lots of inspiring nooks of trestle-tables, constantly evolving scrapbook-walls and lovingly dilapidated sofas to nestle in for hours with one's crochet, beading and needlework. Employ a tiny circle of like-minded, talented craftswomen to collaboratively design/create inspired craftworks. Final step: Teach more South African women and outsource work to them, until we can buy another house to convert into a factory - extending the love and employment further and further across the country. We will capture the world's imagination -- and their neverending desire to buy more of our craftwork."

So. That is the plan. Step #1 of 'The Dream' has been completed: Noni and I found each other by serendipitous chance when my landlady sent her to come polish the ancient yellowood floors in the 1820 Settler's cottage we're renting. Noni's actual Xhosa name is Nokwayiyo Antoni (my landlady says Nokwayiyo is of royal lineage!) but because Layla's Xhosa is still somewhat rudimentary, Noni shortened her name to 'Noni' for Layla's sake. And then there is Nosiphiwo Bill - who arrived one day to pick up a parcel left for her by my landlady when they worked in a ceramics studio together. Both Noni and Nosiphiwo are brilliant stars of women - and as we sat together, enjoying an impromptu tea-party in the lounge, we came up with the idea of forming a collective where we pooled our resources, time and talents to populate the world with deliciousness and - earn a living for ourselves! The sense of connection and sisterhood we felt is the root of our company's name: "oodade" which means 'sisters'. (Pronounced : 'oh - duh - deh' .)

Our first range is a collection of crocheted beanies for babies and toddlers, we've christened 'Junebug'. (After I saw my one sister, Mandy, call my aunt that on Facebook. It just seemed so appropriately, gorgeously cute!)
My mom's mom, my Nanna, is an obsessive and deeply talented knitter - and the big bag of random balls of wool she gave me as a donation to Oodade was split between Noni and Nosiphiwo with the creative guidelines of: crocheted hats for babies and toddlers: any shape, as lacy or not as they choose, crocheted in one solid colour or striped in any configuration of stripes. Two weeks later,and VOILA! Noni's10 hats are ready for my part of the game: embellishment!

When the Junebug collection is ready, I'll be posting photographs here for you to indulge in/buy! (Probably a very good idea to subscribe to our blog to beat the rush!)