I just received the above purse in the mail, my first purchase from handmade and vintage goods site Etsy made by Perth artist Osier. I’ve been prowling Etsy for weeks looking for something to buy, but for some reason hadn’t found anything that was right. This purse is just big enough to fit in my essentials (I’m so glad I have such a tiny, if low tech, phone) and is totally adorable, so I’m really happy with my purchase! There’s quite a few Perth artists, designers and crafters on Etsy, which is pretty cool to see!

I’ve been looking more into handmade lately, partly because I’d like to support other local designers and artists in their work, and partly out of a desire to be different. Because different is fun.

Anyway, I subscribe to a bunch of mailing lists and people tell me about things, so here’s a few events that are coming up in Perth that you might be interested in if you’re like me!

Whitegoods Opening
Okay it’s not really handmade, but this new shop is supposed to have lots of ‘alternative canvasses’ which sound very fun to make things from!
Wednesday 27th August, from 6pm, Whitegoods store

Perth Upmarket
Handcrafted goods market
Sunday 14th September, 12-5pm, Perth Town Hall

Made On The Left
Handcrafted goods market
Saturday 15th November, 10am - 4pm, Hyde Park Hotel

It’s about time I posted something about this exhibition that I’ve been invited to participate in - the Candy Cult Character Art Exhibition!

It’s being organised by Karen (who I met through Flickr) and Lisa (who I just met today), and will also be featuring work from artists from all over the world. If you’re thinking ‘I don’t want to see a bunch of art by noobs like Chisa…’ fret not! I am by far the newbiest of the lot - there’s a great mix of professional and semi-professional artists, many of whom have had successful solo exhibitions and whos work I have admired online for ages. I’m so excited that I’ve been allowed to exhibit alongside them! You can see the list of artists on the MySpace page.

I just met with Karen and Lisa to discuss the website I’ll be making for the event, and more details and news will appear there once I have it up and running.

The Candy Cult Character Art Exhibition will start on the 18th of October, 2008 at the Breadbox Gallery in Perth as part of the 25th Anniversary Artrage Festival.

Today the big craze seems to be Face Your Manga (I wonder if that was an intentional attempt at Japanglish?) avatars. Thinking I’d be cool and original, I thought I’d draw myself and use it instead - alas, it doesn’t resize particularly nicely to Twitter’s avatar size of 48×48 pixels.