When I arrive at work in the mornings, I usually look like I am packed to camp out in my clocktower office for a month or two... food included. I have my ENORMOUS Shelley bag for all my personal effects and camera, my bulging computer bag crammed with paperwork I hardly ever look at, and my giant kraftwerk chinabag, with all and sundry craft projects that are bubbling under.
I don't manage to hang on to my chinabags for very very long, because they invariably they get "borrowed" by one of our crafters who has more to carry home than she had planned on... which is great news, because it's an excuse to go and hunt out some new beauties. I must just remember to take pics before they go walkies.
Here are some of my current favourites:
Slightly worse for wear, this bubbles bag holds my felting equipment.
This one has local charm - Three Cats is a well known brand of African print fabric. The brown and blue blocks show some traditional South African Shweshwe prints.
The classic chinabag with a colour twist. I converted this one into a camera equipment bag by lining the inside with foam. It contains my tripod, Lightcube, studio light and camera. Photography is a new adventure for me - I'll dedicate a blog entry to what I've recently learnt some time.
A delightful spring blossom bag, with Sandy, our golden retriever, adding some action.
And last, but not least, my money bags! Guess which bags I'll use if I decide on a career change and become a bank robber?
* Howzit, my china? is South African-speak = how's it (going), Dude?
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Thursdays at Mielie is a very busy day. It's the day that our crafters bring in their work, which means that there is always a lot of chatting and laughing and sometimes some raising of voices. Our weavers take great pride in their work and there is a lot of healthy competition going on. Manyawuza, Nomthunzi and Phumeza vie for the weekly title of The Queen of Heart Bags. And no-one even tries to compete with Zanele when it comes to the Bubbles design.
One of our newer designs is a skull and crossbones on a black background. I thought this would be tricky to implement, and that the weavers might be resistant to the design. When I gingerly showed them the sketch and asked whether it was do-able, the response was unanimous: "Orlando Pirates!" This is one of our local soccer team who have a fabulous skull and crossbones logo.
The skull and crossbones bags that have been trickling in weekly have been delightful.To be honest, I love the really ugly ones best.
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I just realised that I haven't got any images of our Mielie products on the blog. These bags, carpets, ottomans, ball seats & wall hangings are made of recycled strips of t-shirt fabric using the hooked rugging technique.
This is the biggest project we've ever undertaken - a 3.5 x 5.7m wall hanging for the foyer of the new BP headquarters in the waterfront. Standing in front are (me), Manyawuza, Zanele, Nomthunzi, Phumla, Lindiwe and Vuyelwa
Heart & Protea Mielie Bags, Concentric Squares Shelley Bag
Sea Life ottoman
Lucky Star mat
Niki and Ingrid hold a giant snake, called Inyoka
This was the first prototype for a 55cm diam ball seat that just went into production. It makes a fantastic computer seat, foot rest or gym ball.
We like to say that no two Mielie bags are ever identical, and nowhere is that more true than with our giraffe bags. Every giraffe is a character!
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Is that Jamie-Lee Curtis... wearing a special edition Be Sweet Mielie bag... on her head? Yup, as seen is in the July 08 edition of More magazine!
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