Tarryn Eleese McGregor

To say I have been slack at maintaining my Internet presence would be an exaggerated understatement. Even my personal Facebook page has remained deactivated for almost 6 months, which is a monumental achievement these days, not just for me but for most of my generation.

That isn't to say I have been slack at maintaining my creative presence in the universe, because by all accounts you could say that I have been distracting myself from it by means of creative production.
With the amount of projects I am currently in the middle of completing I should theoretically be a successful millionaire by now, but no that isn't how I or this world works, I'm too selfish for that, and most of what I have been making and doing is for my own fulfillment.

Before I descend into an anonymous online rant I will summarise for my own clarity, the projects which I must present to the Interspace.

Soon to be documented :

- More hand-carved, 'talismatic', soapstone, fiddle bits; such as the one in the images posted to this update.

- A re-furbished electric guitar with Fender telecaster pickups, a de-fretted neck and a brass embellished custom carved body.

- More hand-made, recycled, french-polished wooden boxes. Generally for gifts so that they aren't damaged in the postal journey back home.

- Larger hand carved and polished soap stone sculptures. The parentals gifted me some beautiful turquoise and dappled forest green soap stone the Christmas before last, and I have begun the laborious process of carving back a lovely candle holder in the shape of a mans hand.

-More apartment garden related projects that will most likely be posted to Instagram. Most Singaporeans and expats seem to love throwing out perfectly usable objects without any regard to its potential use outside of its original purpose. So I have scrounged up a beautiful, sturdy, wicker basket that I will re-purpose into a planter box.

- I am currently in the process of hand etching a copper plate in order to make some prints in future. I intend to electrically etch a pattern into the copper so that I can layer and vary the depth. Once I have completed a set of prints I will then anneal, blue, pickle and chemically corrode the copper in order to discolour it in specific ways and places on the piece creating varying textures and depths to the image.

- Drew and I recently went on a holiday to Jogjakarta in early December last year. While we were there we went and visited KotaGede, the silversmithing centre of Jogjakarta, to undertake a lovely silversmithing workshop. This charming day introduced me to much more simplistic, elegant and attainable silversmithing techniques that I could achieve at home without the use of large oxy acetylene torches. So I am hoping to re-work a few old pieces of jewellery I made in University with the ideas I got from this experience.
http://www.artstudio76.com/

- While in Jogjakarta we visited the Batik Winotosastro and made ourselves some lovely little batik bandannas. Once we finished our afternoon there I purchased a set of Canting tools, as I have a fair amount of beeswax from my obsession with beeswax candles I plan to make and sew a few t-shirts and patches using the wax-resist dying technique.
http://www.winotosastro.com/batik/workshop.html

- I also purchased two vintage bolts of Batik from one of the many little antique stores. They are absolutely beautiful and I plan to make some long skirts with them, with pockets of course. However I am in the market for a sewing machine, as I cant expect my over locker can do everything I want it to do, so my magical skirts will have to wait.

- Another mission of mine whilst I was in Jogja was to attain some reasonably priced leather from Manding. I don't use much leather as it is expensive and I prefer to recycle it from old jackets and bags, but I had to supplement my supplies for a couple of the projects and glove leather is hard to come by. I have used the leather for a couple of filler projects, such as some buttons for a second hand dirndl dress I found on Etsy, and a leather choker I will be making with an Arabic pendant I purchased in Jogja; the pendant was made by an Afgani artisan who recently visited the city. I will be posting photos of the choker once I have completed it, I'm waiting on a sewing machine in order to properly edge the choker as the glove leather is very supple. Lastly, I made a prototype torso harness a few months ago out of some relatively rigid narrow leather strap, I will be posting the harness soon as I am quite fond of the construction and the fit. However I may use the glove leather to re-make the garment with wider straps and large, brass rivets, but this is a maybe.
Jennic Kerajinan Kulit Jl. Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo,
Manding Sabdodadi, Bantul, Yogyakarta.
http://www.kerajinankulitmanding.com/

-Last week while perusing the little stalls in Outram I found some little die-cast brass animals that I am going to turn into pendants, and I also found some little brass bells which I will turn into very irritating bangles.

- The final thing that my brain thinks I should mention is the computer fiasco. My Macbook is failing me, as anticipated, and I have a nice big Wacom waiting in the wings for me to finally use it. So once I have a nice big shiny new computer I will be embarking on some digital landscape painting, because...apparently I have to go digital.

I think that may be the last of my little projects I need to complete and document, however this will all be delayed while I complete my next big set of drawings. I hope to have another show very,very soon and I have an ever growing album of photos that I have taken to use as references for my next body of work. All updates will be posted to my Facebook page 'www tarryneleese net', that said, not currently using Facebook proves to be an issue in that regard, so once things are a little less chaotic in the mental realm I will re-engage with the digital domain.

Edit: The shellac coats I have been applying to one of my projects has been clouding up with every attempt, which has meant lots of re-sanding. I have just learned that it is caused by 'moisture in the air' aka humidity; fuck you Singapore and your rain forest climate.

Recycled 5mm ply, brass clasp, leather trimmings.