Fashion School

2007-11-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

Hey Family and everyone interested in our family.
Subsequent Generation Siobhan here!

I thought I'd post some stuff that I've been up to all year.

I've had my head down all year as I started my first year of a Bachelor of design (fashion)! My first year is over now and it's been really exciting!

This first image was from our middle of year elective. I chose Footwear design. There are many options in electives ranging across all areas of design but my love of shoes took over. So here is a shoe that I designed AND MADE!

Kathryn Wilson, one of New Zealand's top shoe designer (and a very nice approachable young lass) marked our projects and I got an A+ and I am very proud of my pretty red shoes!

The next photo is of a glass lamp that I made. We have a materials paper at the start of the year that you get to choose froma selection of materials to do a short five day course in. I chose metal work for one and recycled materials for the other. The metal course was great and was taught by Richard Van Dyke who made swords for Lord of the Rings! And the Recycled Materials course ended up being a glass course and the tutor was absolutely useless so I taught myself how to do things. Used my dad's techy skills and my skills of asking as many inane rediculous questions to smith and smith and the poor guy at Place Makers. It's a lovely lamp and everyone who has seen it says they want one so i think that's a successful design! I think this was an A-.

May as well skip to the end of the year now. Many projects along the way in Garment Construction and pattern making, digital pattern making and poster making "design communication" stuff.

But the end of year project was called Women's Wear Project. We were given a brief of making a a top and a bottom garment (so an outfit basically) for spring/summer. We had to use the material provided for the bottom piece which was a sand or a grey drill...which is what most guys and girls skate or casual pants are made out of. We then had to choose a year from the 20th century for inspiriation and look into "narrative" and what that meant to us.
I chose the year 1947 which is when the christian Dior "new look" was first shown, which is the 1950s curvey big skirts classic look. And also Nuclear testing started in 1946.
My chosen narrative/inspiration was the idea of a mushroom cloud and the mutation of the classic 1950s look. So here are the photos of my presentation. Just got my mark back today and I got an A!

SO there is my mushroom cloud and the panels of the skirt, when you lay it down, form the radioactive warning sign.

The big ruffley collar is detatchable and the shirt and peticoat is a full dress which can be worn on its own.

This outfit was shown in the fashion show on saturday night. It was a great night! I was doing a lot of organisation out the back so I didn't get to see much of the show but it was an awesome end to a very exciting year for me.

Bring on year 2!

As for other things, I'm supposed to be going on tour playing violin and singing back up with a guy called Lindon Puffin. Will update on that closer to the time.

Thanks for reading!

Till next time
Siobhan Moroney

Catherine and Ian's Trip to Victoria

2007-11-07T16:28:00.001-08:00

Nov. 07

Dear All

Yes, we’re back. Thanks for your phone calls, texts and emails. I must say I’m a bit surprised at the level of interest in our Aussie trip, probably more due to the fact that none of you ever thought we’d get out of our rut and spread our wings a bit. That said it was worth every minute which is entirely due to the efforts of our friends and fine hosts, Paul and Alex, who not only accommodated us, cooked, carted and cared for us, but organized all the background details that made it such a memorable experience. And not forgetting Chester the labrador, (my surrogate dog) who shared his special brand of companionship with us.

Right. Bear with me, I’ll try and make this as painless as possible.

Saturday – Checked in at Queenstown airport where Nathan’s partner Gemma, who works for Air NZ, dealt with our bags, organized the best seats for us and escorted us to the Koru lounge before take off. “Staff perks – gotta make the most of them!” Spectacular views of the lakes and mountains, the Canterbury plains on the flight to Christchurch. Then from Christchurch to Melbourne, uneventfully tedious and the best thing to do was to turn Ian into a pillow and nod off for a while. At the end of the line we were met by Paul and Alex who whisked us back to their place and got us settled in, all within the beer o’clock time frame. Excellent.

The next couple of days we did some of the Melbourne rounds. A beautiful city. The bustling CBD interspersed with gracious old buildings, parks and gardens. Flinders Railway Station, St Paul’s and St Patrick’s Cathedrals, Royal Botanic Gardens, The Shrine of Remembrance, The Arts Centre, trains, trams and horse & carriages. Tree lined streets and a general impression of being clean and cared for. Did the loopy thing and went up the Eureka Skydeck tower, 88 floors in half as many seconds in the elevator, to view the expanse of the city from above. It’s pretty big!

City view from The Shrine of Remembrance.

Tuesday we headed up to Paul and Alex’s fishing hut at Glen Valley, a good 6 – 7 hour drive north east of Melbourne. A place of tranquility with the Mitta Mitta river just down the road where many leisurely hours were spent in pursuit of a feed of trout.

Ian’s first Aussie catch – yep, that’s the size they are.

The Hut

Solar powered lighting, gas cooking and water heating, and a wood burner to keep everyone cosy on a cold night. 800m above sea level, the night time temperatures can be on a par with here at home but we cranked up the outside fire and sat around it in the evenings in reasonable comfort. Ian crying into his beer over the fact that the fish weren’t leaping onto his plate, Chester doing his utmost to provide solace and making his after dinner rounds, sitting beside each of us in turn. Frogs chirrupping down by the little creek below the hut. The louder “donk, donk” frogs were a source of irritation to Ian to which Paul suggested he could rig up some sort of alarm clock with a ‘donk, donk’ recording. I’ll leave Ian’s response to your imagination. Both of us though were very taken with the bird life. Gradually making a comeback after the 2003 fires which ravaged the area, the birdsong in the mornings was one of my favourite things. Wattlebirds, whitefaced honeyeaters, kookaburras, rosellas, wrens and robins, and yes, even the magpies, to name a few. I’d get up around 5 – 5.30 in the mornings, make a cuppa, head outside with Chester because I’d become the ‘bone lady’ by that stage (he has a veal rib portion every morning), light the outside fire and make some toast, then sit there in the peace of the sunrise listening to the birds. Magic. Then Chester would decide it was nuts to be up that early so he’d go back to bed and leave me to it.

My favourite spot.

The grand old pear tree, reckoned to be about 90 years old, with the mirror that Paul installed for the birds that like to challenge their reflections. For some reason this mirror doesn’t hold the same appeal as the wing mirrors on the truck which are flapped at and crapped on with ardent vigour.

Lots of walks and pretty places in the area : Shannonvale

Alex and Chester – keen walkers.

Panoramic views from Mt Wills. 1700 & a bit meters.

The Blue Duck Hotel at Anglers Rest

The Blue Duck, named after one of the old mines in the area. Recently resurrected and reopened, a homely bar where people bring their dogs, full of interesting memorabilia, some colourful locals and an array of people lolling about on the lawns and verandahs. Nice atmosphere for a couple of quiet beers.

All through these places, Mt Wills, Glen Valley, Anglers Rest, is evidence of recent years bushfires. The previously mentioned 2003 fires and also the fires of last summer. As we left Glen Valley a few days later and headed out over the high plains road it was apparent that some of this stunning bushland had copped the blow from both fires and looked like it was past any hope of regeneration. It had become a familiar sight to us to see stark burnt out areas on the roads we travelled but now and again we’d drive through a spot that had been left unscathed and Alex would point out the abundance of tree ferns and bush scattered beneath the canopy of a variety of eucalypts.

Mountain Ash – the remnants of.

Making our way towards Wangaratta. Bogong Village, an attractive little place with eyecatching gardens of rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias and other specimens unknown to me. A surreal exotica amongst the expanse of indigenous forest. Further on we pass through Bright. What a picture. Not unlike Arrowtown in some respects. Alex tells us it’s very popular in autumn for the colourful trees. We only drove through it but it’s one of those places that stays in your minds eye, well mine anyway, the springtime aspect was a vision on its own. Still toddling along, into Ned Kelly country we’re informed, a stop off at a local winery, sample a few, purchase a couple then beat our way back into Melbourne town. Stop a night there then pack up the wagon for Sorrento the next day.

Sorrento, on the Mornington Peninsula, a 2 hour drive south of Melbourne. We spent our last few days there at our good buddies’ beach home, being escorted around the bays, the township and out on the water fishing for whiting, which is a bait for snapper, and then fishing for snapper. In no way was it from lack of trying that we didn’t catch either, with Paul doing everything possible for a successful outcome, plotting, strategizing, fully loaded with local information, the moon correctly positioned. A stargazer, flatheads, Australian salmon (Kahawai) and gurnard were what did take the bait and Ian hooked something really, really big – no idea what it was but it had the rod (and him) bent nearly in half before it sheared off the line and got away.

Paul the Anchorman – in more respects than just nautical.

Kahawai. One that didn’t get away.

Big boys’ toys.

Beautiful bays and beach walks on the Port Phillip side of Sorrento, then ten minutes drive to the other side for wide ocean views and more well maintained walkways. The township itself has a laid back atmosphere, cafes, buskers, a place we’re told where people drive down from Melbourne at the weekends in their flash new cars to cruise around and show them off. Most notable are the proud old limestone buildings and stately turn of the century homes, all standing the test of time and easily outshining their more modern counterparts.

St Paul’s beach on the ocean side - named after ‘himself’ he tells us. And who are we to argue?

And while we were suffering through all of this, the kids were doing a great job of holding the fort here at home, particulary Kerry, and we can’t thank them enough. The animals are a real tie and it’s a big ask to get someone to take over for a fornight, especially when they (the kids) are all working long hours in their own jobs. But they managed and from all acounts we missed out on two weeks of foul weather and a number of hefty earthquakes. So with 400 photos, various video footage and many happy memories we checked in for our return flight at Melbourne airport, received a nice welcome note at check in from our dearest Gemma who had once again sorted out our seats and had one to spare to give us more room. A good flight home and now it’s back to life in our little corner. Lawns to be mowed, lambs to tail, we’re happily back in our rut. I don’t compare what we have here with what we’ve seen on our trip. Each has it’s own natural beauty and both places are shared between friends. Doesn’t matter where you are, if you don’t have good people to share it with (over a nice bottle of Muskat) it’s just going to be another ‘been there, done that’ and I have to say how much we appreciate being so well looked after by everyone. We were given the chance to totally drop out and get away from it all and had such a good time doing it.

The lovely Chester – and Alex of course, who actually asked us to come back sometime!

Love to you all

Catherine and Ian

Moroney Family Blog

Fashion School

Catherine and Ian's Trip to Victoria