Great activity now leading to the festive season or the silly season according to some people. The new photos show you what we've been making. What do you think?

Waywin has three versions of the Political Voodoo Doll, basic with just doll, instruction book and pins, ($35-) a boxed version with instructions, pins and lucky charm, ($45-) and a deluxe version with lucky charm, instructions, pins, plus Big Bag of Words divination tool or writing revelation, ($55-).

We are also working with Geneva and selling her wonderful re-purposed old books. She takes those with great covers but outdated or damaged interiors, then turns them into a secret treasure trove, sometimes to amuse, sometimes with useful items and then too with things for fun or to inspire wonder. These are just $25- to $30-. The House of Whispers is shown on this site, it's been sold and it had a sewing kit inside, the interior is below the cover.

Please see us at the street fair in Grey Lynn this Friday 9 December 2011, http://www.greylynn2030.co.nz/or Kraftbomb Sunday 18th December, Grey Lynn Community Centre. http://www.kraftbomb.blogspot.com/ or order from Waywin, email raewynalexander at hotmail.com, thank-you.

Stay safe and be kind to one another this Xmas and New Year.

Newton Central School has a craft and cake fair this Saturday 3rd December, from 11am, come one and all, support education. It is near Great North Road, Newton on the way to Grey Lynn from the city, down some little back streets, in Auckland, NZ.

I will be there with the wares you see on this blog, plus new work like Inspiration Books, Political Voodoo Dolls and Tall Poppy PhDs (framed), all most reasonably priced just for this day. My daughter also has some amazing books with surprises, she makes these with such wit.

Newton Central School is a lovely place, they have planted a native forest between them and the motorway, so clever and thoughtful. http://www.newton.school.nz/

The Lyrical Brooches at the top of this page are light-weight, hand-stitched and each poem secreted in the back is different. They're $25- each and available at Crafternoon Tea soon, Kingsland, Auckland, 10am - 2pm 19th November. I also sell by mail-order and at Kraftbomb. Please email me for more info., raewynalexander at hotmail.com

http://crafternoon-tea.blogspot.com/p/flyers.html

Tiny Titles are made from clean, found paper, they contain some poetry and also, spare pages for your own verses, quotes, dreams and souvenirs. The beaded tie is a bookmark. Each has an individual collage cover and a small collage inside, they are $28- and have their own sturdy bag made of sheet music or science book illustrations and so on, so they can be carried around easily.

The other crafts on this blog are also reasonably priced, please just ask me.

Tiny Titles

Now available from the Women's Bookshop, 105 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby, Auckland.

ph (09) 376 4399

Lovely store and a fun street to explore later, too.

http://www.womensbookshop.co.nz/category/About_Us/4085.html

25 September 2011 Spring Sprung S p r o n g

The Happy Tea House is delighted to present Eye Street Poets, Genevieve McClean and Doug Poole, poetry, with music from The Rocking Roller-Coasters, and Raewyn Alexander will perform with Transistor Davis Jnr - work from their upcoming CD Family of Artists.

Art and craft most reasonably priced for this event, in the exhibition room.

Please contact us for more information and if you're in Grey Lynn, Auckland, NZ that particular Sunday, we'd love to see you. Koha entry, tea, sandwiches and cakes available, cash or cheque only and a lovely garden setting with large covered area, (a lania). raewynalexander at hotmail.com

Eye Street Poets are Jack Ross, Jacqueline Crompton Ottaway, Alice Hooton, Rosetta Allan, Ila Selwyn and Raewyn Alexander. Google our names and see our fame.

Next weekend is Crafternoon Tea in Kingsland, see you there.

http://crafternoon-tea.blogspot.com/p/flyers.html

10am - 2pm in Kingsland

Trinity Methodist Church
400 Great North Road

Waywin will be there with Lyrical Brooches, Tiny Titles, Treasure Boxes and Jaq Tweedie's fabulous Cartes Shark, so good for a laugh.

Having a soiree at my place 26 June, 2pm - 4pm, please ask me if you'd like to attend, craft available and I'll be giving people a cup of tea too. Some really good china to drink it from, I can assure you.

Lovely fire going, inside warming the lounge and dining room. Essential to let me know you're coming and when, (small house, only room for ten people at a time, *laughs*) We could go on til 5pm if there's a lot of interest. email raewynalexander @ hotmail.com (without those gaps) to RSVP

Tiny Titles, Lyrical Brooches, some of the work from my IGIJDK exhibition and other craft all most reasonably priced, (cash or cheques only please) some fine conversation and poetry read aloud, just one at a time to a few people as they please. xR

"I Guess I Just don't Know" 23 May - 4 June Exhibition
Satellite Gallery Newton Auckland
cnr St Benedict Street and Newton Road

quote used as a title is from Lou Reed

On Monday 23 May at 5.30pm I opened my exhibition at Satellite Gallery. Now the work remaining is on show at my Happy Tea House, Grey Lynn, Auckland NZ, ask me for more info.

Writing workshops ran on both the Saturdays. A performance night with open mic closes the show, guests Genevieve McClean, John Goudge, Sandra Bell, Ross Brighton, Raewyn Alexander - it was stunning, thanks everyone for a great evening.

“One exciting moment occurred when I put two punk bands on Captain Cook's ship, history rewrites feel intoxicating. The Scavengers and The Suburban Reptiles on The Endeavour, quite something. I believe it happened. Who else would Cook have as sailors?”

In the gallery, people made their own poetry, after donating to Women's Refuge, from words cut from newspapers and magazines. They kept the results, destroyed them or placed them on display. Some audio poetry also played during the exhibition. I am making a book of those poems and soon publishing the 'if walls could talk' poem which people also wrote, publishing this on my facebook.

The writing workshop, Writing with Fire, is about accessing emotions safely, then how to control and order thinking, make what we want with our language. I shall offer this again to new participants at some stage, it was really successful. Thanks to those who attended.

The other workshop is now renamed Sound Sound Sound and is about performing and reading work. This could be available again later, I want to do some retraining first with John Goudge.

Alexander teaches relaxation techniques and helps people refine their voice, people may also create poetry or prose during workshops. She's taken such workshops for over 15 years with many successes. Alexander also offers advice on publishing and any difficulties you have with your own writing, at the end of each workshop.

Her poetry, Punk Settlers, (a PS from history) written especially for this exhibition will be performed in future and was performed for the exhibition, it's included in visual art and available in hand-made books made from clean, found paper including old envelopes, atlases, brown paper bags and redundant science books.

Alexander's writing history is on the NZ Book Council website -

http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/alexanderraewyn.html

Announcing a new batch of Tiny Titles Nine.  The covers are collage, sewn and most durable.

Each with its own heavy-weight paper bag, made of recycled astronomy texts and so on, so you can carry a Tiny Title all places with you.  

Each has spaces for your own verses, keepsakes, what-not and ephemera.  They also all feature poetry by well-known NZ writer, Raewyn Alexander.  Google her name and see her fame.