June 25 2021
Children’s environmental education Mangawhai residents Shann and Julia Whitaker and their children are passionate about caring for the environment. When Shann came up with the idea to write a children’s story about a wolf convincing a flock of sheep to buy a product that destroyed the environment, it became a family project. The recently published book, Too Much Stuff, is becoming a popular educational read for local children. After continued on page 12… living in Vietnam, the Whitakers are enjoying being back in New Zealand and creating a new life in the area.
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2 June 25 2021 THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER
THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER IS PUBLISHED WITH PRIDE BY INTEGRITY COMMUNITY MEDIA, A PRIVATELY OWNED KAIPARA COMPANY. Phone: 0800 466 793 Email: info@integrity.nz Postal Address: PO Box 474, Dargaville Physical Address: 107 River Road, Dargaville Editor: Deb Wright | 021 639 696 Journalists: 0800 466 793 | Andy Bryenton | Liz Clark | Ann van Engelen Marketing: Betty Willetts 027 525 8197 | John Pickworth 027 525 8189 | Andy Bryenton 021 439 947 Creative Director: Jessica Keesing Design Team: Sacha Freeman | Gavin Bainbridge | Kelsey Hansen Accounts: accounts@integrity.nz Printed by: NZME
Taking the plunge in tartan u by Andy Bryenton
The fourth of July is best known as the day when George Washington founded the United States alongside his revolutionary brethren, but in Waipū it’s a very different occasion.
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p Tartan challenge — it takes a lot of courage to jump into the ocean in midwinter, but crowds are expected to brave the cold at Waipū Cove this July
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This year on Independence Day, brave and hardy souls are encouraged to take the plunge into the waters of Bream Bay at Waipū Cove for a midwinter swim hosted by the Waipū Cove Surf Life Saving Club. The club is active year-round. It’s in the summertime, however, that their lifesaving efforts are most visible, keeping the waters of this popular tourist coast safe for visitors and locals alike. This past decade, more than 10,000 lifesaving rescues have been undertaken by surf heroes on Kiwi beaches. The team from Waipū Cove has done their share, receiving accolades and awards for their efforts. At the recent surf Life Saving Northern Region Awards of Excellence, no less than three of the Waipū Cove team were recognised for their commitment and dedication. Jaine Curran was awarded the title of Instructor of the Year, while Lucy Manning was awarded Rookie Lifeguard of the Year, and Kerry Baker took home Patrol Support of the Year.
There was also special recognition of the innovation involved in establishing the local Coast Watchers Initiative. While the midwinter dip is a comical and light-hearted occasion, with plenty of opportunity for hijinks, it’s also a chance for the surf lifesavers to raise money for their cause, continuing their good work on the coast for another year. The $5 a person entry fee covers a hot refreshing soup afterwards and a hot shower; both necessities after plunging into the wintry sea. There will be prizes for the best-dressed individual and the bestdressed team, with a tartan theme to match the heritage of Bream Bay’s Caledonian township. The fun begins on Sunday, July 4, at the surf lifesaving club on Cove Road, Waipū at midday. The event organisers even have a suggestion for those who are not quite brave enough to venture into the cold waves; sponsor someone else with a ‘highlander’s constitution’ to make a splash for you. ¢
There will be prizes for the best-dressed individual
THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER June 25 2021
Tip protest heads to court
3
u by Paul Campbell
‘We are infuriated with Auckland Council’s decision on Dome Valley and rest assured we will not give up.’ The CEO of Te Rūnanga Ō Ngāti Whātua, Alan Riwaka, has joined a wide cross section of the community in Kaipara and further afield in condemning the decision by four of five hearing commissioners to consent to Chineseowned Waste Management Ltd building their proposed dump for Auckland’s rubbish in the community. “This process has been a fraught journey that for Te Rūnanga Ō Ngāti Whātua uri, marae, community groups and partners has been long and ongoing,” he says. “Council has put themselves in a position to discard our tikanga, values, guidance and overwhelming dissent, in favour of a toxic landfill. “The decision clearly shows that no regard was given to the evidence put up at the hearings by iwi, hapū and marae, especially the cultural and ecological evidence. “This raises major issues for iwi. This attitude and outdated thinking should not be happening today.”
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Mr Riwaka added that Auckland Council and Waste Management must engage with the community at large to identify “a more suitable site and alternative technologies.” The iwi was meeting with the Fight the Tip movement as Weekend Lifestyler went to press to plan the details of a combined case to take to the Environment Court, within a 15-working-day deadline from the hearing decision on Friday, June 11. The case could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs and associated expenditure, depending on the length of the court session. Fight the Tip’s executive member Sue Crockett says the campaign’s lawyer is currently helping prepare the application. “We have a Givealittle page up and running and we would welcome support from the whole community, many of whom have made their feelings known to the hearing commissioners, as well as the entire government via our petition to parliament.”
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p Preparing for a court date are Fight the Tip executives Sue Crockett (left) and Michelle Carmichael
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environment, both during construction and operation, are more than minor and in some cases significant, and would not be avoided or mitigated.’ The FTT Givealittle page is at givealittle.co.nz/cause/fightthetip. ¢
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A matter of trust u by Andy Bryenton
This week members of the Te Whai Trust met in Mangawhai to hold their annual general meeting and discuss their plans for the coming year. With a go-ahead new board, it’s expansion and optimism all the way. “Since our very humble beginnings in 2015, we have seen huge changes for the Te Whai Trust,” said re-elected board member Sue Poynter, addressing a large gathering of locals. “We are on a huge growth trajectory which presents both challenges and opportunities.” That growth is evidenced by the large number of volunteers now working for the trust, with 40 on board and helping out with a wide range of community programmes. Sue says that being the community trust for Mangawhai is both exciting and challenging, as the sheer population growth of the seaside town is difficult to comprehend. “We are the fastest growing town in New Zealand,” she says. “However, there is no provision for social services along with that. While other infrastructure is planned for, social services are often left out of long-term planning.” Te Whai Trust encompasses many of those vital services under its mission to provide a safe harbour for those seeking assistance or advice. Examples include the Sages programme to provide companionship and assistance to the elderly, aroha baskets for those in financial distress, budget advice, free counselling services and an anxiety support group. Identifying needs in the community and matching them with skilled, willing volunteers is a big part of the job.
p The board of Mangawhai’s Te Whai Trust face a new year with confidence, planning to secure new funding, expand the premises and offer new social programmes to enrich the area
Project manager Kiri Eriwata agrees that volunteers are the lifeblood of the trust, a point well made during New Zealand Volunteers Week. “Two years ago, we started the Sages support service; we had a great start with some incredible volunteers, and it’s grown. As we have an amazing group of volunteers, we have all kinds of skills at our disposal. We’re feeling blessed to have them with us.” Then there’s the support from the Mangawhai business community. An
example of this is the Nissan March driver training car, which was donated to Te Whai Trust by the local offices of Barfoot and Thompson real estate, allowing young drivers to upskill close to home. The coming year sees the Te Whai Trust expand the board by two members and its staff from one to six parttime, paid social service providers. Its immediate goal is to become a social services accredited organisation to access more sustainable funding and
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then to expand the premises to better cater for its many programmes. Key amongst these are youth programmes for both boys and girls, more te reo Māori language teachers, and training facilitators for parenting programmes. “It’s projected that 25 per cent of growth in the Kaipara in the near future will be here in Mangawhai,” says Sue. She also had ample praise for the volunteers who make the Te Whai Trust successful. “Your persistence and resilience are an example to us all.” ¢
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Artworks for gardens
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THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER June 25 2021
u by Ann van Engelen
Garden sculpture maker Michelle Thomas discovered her love of making garden art while creating sculptures to enhance her garden. “I work part-time as a relief teacher, and the rest of my time, I am creative. I wanted to make garden sculptures that will last forever and found that concrete and cedar work well,” says Michelle. “My father and sister are artists and very good at painting and drawing. As a child, I was always crafty and enjoyed recycling stuff that I found lying around the house. “My partner Richard and I moved to our proper t y bet ween Kaiwaka and Mangawhai five years ago for a lifestyle change. We have a few acres of bush, and I wanted things that were not always plants but still natural-looking in the garden and started to have a play using concrete. “Then my friends wanted some artworks for their garden, and I thought if they wanted some others may too.” Michelle then turned her hobby into a business. “It has been an interesting journey. My very first sculptures are called Serenity and Wave. I make the border to hold the concrete myself, so I can change the design as I want. I pour the concrete in the morning, so it has time
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to get hard enough to stay together but soft enough to work with. It takes a few days to dry solid. I constantly redesign the shapes that I like and am a big fan of the koru as to me, it is not a generic shape, and it means different things to different people. “I have also created headstones and find that a real honour. They can be any shape, and I incorporate special items to personalise the piece for the family. I also do small headstones for pets, or people use my Aroha piece or a wooden piece to place where their pet is buried at home. I am confident they will last forever, and they are very easy to care for. “People worry about them changing colour and getting slimy, but a simple clean with spray and wipe cleans them up well.” Michelle also makes wooden art using recycled cedar. “I still like the idea of upcycling things that would be wasted and came up with the wooden art to use cedar that companies don’t use. Richard collects it for me, and I make designs according to whatever size wood I have. The final
It has been an interesting journey
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p Michelle Thomas creates concrete garden sculptures and pieces of cedar art for gardens and green spaces on large or small properties
shape dictates what I tend to call the design. Some have glass balls, paua or round pebbles. “There is always an airflow piece that I cut out so you can look through the sculpture. “This gives more interest to the shape. In a garden, it is nice to see the
plants through the wee gap behind your artwork. I absolutely love what I do, and I like the fact that there is no pressure on me to mass produce things, and I can individualise all my work. “I sell on my Forever Gardens Facebook page. Sculptures definitely bring life to a garden.” ¢
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6 June 25 2021 THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER
Never a dull affair u by Liz Clark
Years ago, I bought my first cymbidium orchid from some friends who grew them for the export flower market, for collectors; it’s a botanical love affair. Orchids encompass more than 28,000 described species found in all habitats spanning the globe. It’s also one of the most prolifically grown and exported flowering plants in the world. An orchid’s value can range from a few dollars to many thousands being paid for a single specimen, depending on its rarity. However, there are more obtainable and affordable options grown in New Zealand by specialist nurseries for the home gardener. Orchids grow in various ways; terrestrial growing on the ground, epiphytic, growing on trees or cliffs, and lithophytic growing on rocks and cliffs. New Zealand alone boasts 160 different types of native orchids found throughout the country. Orchids generally range in size from minute to quite large, requiring a substantially sized container to grow in. Whatever the preference, there’s an orchid to suit everyone’s taste. With so many to choose from, we’ll take a brief look at some of the available varieties. Currently, I have a few Dendrobium orchids growing indoors. Each year, they put out a delicate miniature flower spike. The genus has more than 2,000 named species worldwide. These plants are found growing in trees as epiphytes; however, they’re easily grown in a pot sitting on the table. Dendrobium orchids can take several years to grow before they flower. On my watch list are some stunning cultivars that are within easy reach of most budgets. Take a look at Comet King ‘Akasuki’, Hagoromo Spring Fuji, Red Emperor ‘Prince’ and Stardust ‘Chyomi’. Cymbidiums need no introduction. They are the most commonly grown and sold orchid variety throughout New Zealand. The genus is also the oldest known grown for horticultural purposes, with records going back to 200BC in China. Available cultivars include Ann Devlin ‘Waikanae Apricot’, Christmas Passion ‘Pink Fairy’, Citrus Delight ‘Yellow Opal’, High Plateau and Khan Flame ‘Mocha’. There are hundreds of other orchid species available; check online for other cultivars — the range is endless. Orchid specialists recommend a few care tips to help keep your plants healthy and flowering year after year. Use a good quality orchid mix available from your local nursery. Avoid potting mix if possible. Orchids need the roots to have air circulation. Water regularly during the growing season and feed with a liquid fertiliser following the directions on the container. Provide a good light source and repot plants every second year. More tips are available online or from your local grower.
THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER June 25 2021
Swapping and shopping
7
u by Ann van Engelen
The Bream Bay Community Support Trust is hosting Life Point Church and Margo Henry’s annual Swap n Shop on Saturday, July 10, in conjunction with the upcoming school holidays. “We are a community agency that has been providing family services in the Bream Bay area for more than 25 years,” says interim manager Wendy Isaia. “The trust is like a mini-hub where people can access a variety of support services such as social workers, counsellors, family violence intervention, Community Connector, drug and alcohol support and youth services. “We also have a driver mentoring programme that is supported by volunteers. We work in collaboration with the Incredible Years parenting programme, local schools and the Ministry of Education.” There are also a number of external services that use the facility for easy community access, including free health clinics, retinal screening, WINZ, Plunket and Corrections, to name a few. “We support, mentor, listen and guide people to make lifestyle changes to reach their full potential. The Bream Bay Community Support Trust tries to help the community in any way we can. This year, we are hosting Margo Henry and
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her annual Swap n Shop initiative. Margo has helped run the event at Life Point Church in One Tree Point for many years. “She recently approached us to hold it at our premises as the location means people in the immediate area without vehicles can attend, and it is more central for people to get to.” The Swap n Shop idea means no money changes hands. Rather, people donate a bag of clothes, linen or bedding and choose a bag of items in return. “We are asking people if they don’t have items to donate that they bring a nonperishable food item to go toward our local Pātaka. The Pātaka benefits the whole community. People donate excess food such as fresh fruit or vegetables non-perishable goods for others to be able to have for free. “Ideally, people take what they need and leave the rest in the pantry for other community members who may be in need. Every little bit helps. At times, people don’t realise someone is struggling, and what you leave may be just what another whānau needs.
We support, mentor, listen and guide people
”
p Margo Henry is currently preparing the annual Bream Bay Swap n Shop
“Margo and her team have done a wonderful job over the years. She is wellknown and respected in the area as she also organises working bees to keep the garden and pathway by the beach clean. She is known as everybody’s aunty. It is nice to see her vision for helping whānau in the area appreciated. We will have tea, coffee and cakes at the Swap n Shop
so people can sit and chat. Clothing or bedding items in good, clean condition can be dropped into The Bream Bay Community Trust, 9 Takutai Place, Ruakaka, or Life Point Church in One Tree Point until July 8.” The Swap n Shop runs from 9am– noon on July 10, the first weekend of the school holidays. ¢
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HOME & GARDEN Your vision, their expertise u by Andy Bryenton
To obtain the best possible renovation outcome, you’ll need to end up with both a personalised aesthetic vision, and a fully compliant home under Code Compliance Certificate rules. That means ensuring that every step of the process is in line with best practice in the building industry while not compromising your decor and design choices. A true professional will help you find a way to tackle problems and make your grand design live within the framework of what will last the test of time. A large part of this is ensuring that every professional who takes care of each individual job is the right one to hire. Sometimes a Licensed Building Practitioner can act as a project manager, bringing in trusted fellow tradespeople from their network of contacts. In other cases, the home or landowner may decide to supervise the hiring of different tradies for different tasks. Either way, communication is crucial. Be clear from the start, and use sketches, plans and visual art to ensure that you’re all on the same page. If the route you take is to manage things personally, it might be because you have some skill and ability on the tools yourself, or know others who can
ably assist with certain aspects of the build. The thing to know, if you’re going to take this approach, is that certain building tasks are considered restricted, in that only a qualified and credentialcarrying professional is allowed to undertake them. That’s not to say that you can’t have what you’ve envisioned; just that input from experts can avoid putting form over function. The government takes this seriously following the leaky buildings crisis and the spate of unqualified pretenders who preyed on families in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes. It’s an offence to knowingly hire someone to undertake a restricted building task when they aren’t qualified to do it, and the fine is $20,000. There’s an even heftier penalty for masquerading as a qualified tradesperson when you’re not. If you’re hiring people in to take care of work like flooring, foundations, roofing, damp-proofing, erecting load-bearing columns or bracing, putting up external walls, electrical, plumbing or gasfitting
work or installing fire safety systems, it’s best to check their credentials thoroughly to ensure both a job well done, and the paperwork at the end of the day to fulfil those Code Compliance
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THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER June 25 2021
Lemon chicken and roast veg couscous salad u by Jessica Keesing
A simple weeknight dinner well, at least in my opinion, others may beg to differ. This chicken is to die for tender, and the roast vegetable couscous salad is a favourite of mine. I use a lot of lemon wherever I can, and this dish has it in spades, through the chicken as well as the salad. Roasted lemon is just divine. With my savoury dishes, a lot of the time, it’s measured with the heart, so take the measurements with a grain of salt and do what feels right to you. INGREDIENTS Lemon, thyme and garlic chicken 8 chicken drumsticks 3 lemons Good glug of olive oil 1 bunch thyme 2 cloves garlic peeled COUSCOUS SALAD 1 cup couscous 1 and a bit cups chicken stock (hot, I use the continental stock concentrate with boiling water) 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp dried thyme 1 tsp garlic powder Knob of butter
Good glug of olive oil Salt Pepper 2 lemons 3 potatoes 1 kumara 2 carrots 2 capsicums 3–6 shallots ½ Butternut pumpkin peeled 1 beetroot 1 bulb garlic (cloves separated) Rocket or any other lettuce 1 block feta cheese 1 punnet cherry tomatoes
METHOD Preheat the oven to 180°C. In a roasting pan, put the chicken drumsticks, squeeze over one–two lemons, crush garlic, throw in sprigs of thyme and drizzle over olive oil and season with salt and combine. Cut the third lemon in half or quarters and pop in the roasting dish as well. The juices will help with the tenderness of the chicken drumsticks. In a separate roasting pan, cut all vegetables to the same size, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and squeeze over lemon and toss together. Halve a lemon and roast with vegetables. Roast in the oven until all vegetables are soft enough to put a knife through. In a bowl, add couscous, dried thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, a knob of butter and a drizzle of olive oil; in another bowl, combine 1 and bit cups of boiling water and stock and pour over couscous, cover and let steam for five minutes. Combine couscous and roasted vegetables in a bowl, add rocket and cut tomatoes and feta. I like to then add the juice from the roasted lemon over the salad for extra tang.
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12 June 25 2021 THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER
p Shann and Julia Whitaker recently returned to New Zealand and settled in Mangawhai with their three children after living for nine years in Vietnam
Children’s environmental education u by Ann van Engelen
Author of the newly published children’s book, Too Much Stuff, Shann Whitaker and his wife Julia moved to Mangawhai nine weeks ago with their three children after living in Vietnam for nine years. “Julia and I were both from Auckland. I have a bachelor of graphic design and ran a business called Tantrum Design creating art and gifts for the New Zealand market,” says Shann. “One day, we put our backpacks on and travelled to Vietnam on a working adventure. Julia had a teaching job, and we were meant to be away for one year, but we loved it, got married and had our children. “We lived in Da Nang, the largest city in central Vietnam, and it was a really progressive city. We opened an art gallery, and I created artwork for hotels, and nine years passed by fast. “We watched the city grow from 800,000 people with a river and one bridge to becoming a skyscraper city with multiple bridges and cars everywhere. “Being an illustrator, I had always wanted to write and illustrate a children’s book on caring for the environment. The first Covid lockdown happened, and my
book, Too Much Stuff, was born. The story idea came about because we moved to a small apartment. With five of us, we realised we had too much stuff, and it became the angle for my book.
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One day, we put our backpacks on and travelled
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The city’s growth was another inspiration because of the pollution and other environmental issues. “At the same time, I had been reading The Lorax by Dr Seuss, and The Hole by Oyvind Torseter to our children, and the environment and sustainability was firmly on my mind. “Vietnamese products are very cheap but last all of five minutes, so you go out
and buy a replacement. This seems to be the way of the world right now, and it was bugging me. “Vietnam also doesn’t have a good environmental plan. The rubbish accumulates in the streams, and during lockdown, a big storm came through. The whole country sits on thousands of kilometres of beach, and we were kneedeep in rubbish for 30 kilometres on our beach alone.” The experience of seeing the pollution devastated beach added to Shann’s vision for children and families to read Too Much Stuff and discuss their consumption and spending habits and learn to recycle. “When writing Too Much Stuff, I decided we are like sheep and buy all the new trends that are offered to us. The book characters are the sheep and a wolf. The illustrating took me three months. A wolf comes to town in a beautiful area with hills of sheep
THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER June 25 2021
p Too Much Stuff is a children’s book that Shann has written and illustrated to help educate people on the topics of waste and caring for the environment
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p The Whitaker family is passionate about caring for the environment and ensuring they make good decisions on what they purchase and recycling when they can
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We came to visit and were excited about the growth of the town and how it will advance in years to come
peddling a new product, which is a red ball of stuff. Wolf tells the sheep they need to buy it, and they did. The stuff kept breaking, and the sheep would purchase more, not caring about the mess it made. “Bit by bit, the streams and countryside get covered in the red stuff. One lamb gets upset and gathers it up, and creates new things that are better for you and lasts longer. He convinces the others that you don’t have to keep buying what everyone else buys. The moral of the story is to reduce, and the lamb teaches the others not to buy cheap junk that clogs the world but to buy quality and recycle or upcycle. “Covid devastated the economy, but they have done very well at keeping the virus at bay. Economically money comes from tourism, and the hotels closed down, so the expatriates left the country. We returned to New Zealand a year sooner than planned, which was sad.
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“When making the decision where to live, our main concern was our children being happy at school. Julia’s parents live in Matakana while mine live in Coromandel. We both holidayed in Mangawhai when we were children and have friends here. “We came to visit and were excited about the growth of the town and how it will advance in years to come, so decided to settle our family here. Everyone has been very welcoming, and the children are loving Mangawhai Beach School. We also love being close to places like Waipū, Langs Beach and Te Ārai. “There are so many beautiful places here, and I have met some great artists through the Mangawhai Community Art Gallery and enjoy going down and seeing the new exhibitions every two weeks. “Julia is a relief teacher at Mangawhai Beach School. Our plan is to create a programme with the book with show and tell lessons that teachers can do with
the children. We want to start talking to children about not wanting so much stuff and being happy with what they do have and giving away what they don’t need. We want them to think long and hard about what they really need when asking for something new. We need to learn not to have so much rubbish to begin with and stop the cycle. “Julia is enjoying teaching, and once our youngest child is in kindy, she is looking forward to getting more involved with creating teaching programmes. She is also passionate about the environment and enjoys using the book in her lessons. It opens up the topic of looking after the environment with children. “I still create art and used to exhibit my art at the Helena Bay gallery and am slowly getting around to see the new places that now exist. I feel Northland is going to expand a lot in the next 10–20 years, and that means more houses and more people to collect art.
“It is great to see the art trails that have been established in Northland and people practising from home. A big change I have noticed since our return is the merging of Māori culture and art. The language has certainly exploded in nine years and with that comes more acceptance of the art and culture and more respect. “I feel New Zealand is picking up its identity and moving away from the English heritage and embracing the Māori culture more. I am certainly looking forward to getting to know about that as well. “Ultimately, it is important through all the changes that people remember to be aware of recycling and taking care of the environment. Having too much stuff is an easy place to get to, but through education and thoughtfulness, we can help teach our children to be more thoughtful for the future of the environment. ¢
14 June 25 2021 THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER
Colours by design u by Ann van Engelen
Stacey and Joseph Dodd live in Wellsford with Stacey’s hobby of hand-making artisanal watercolour paints becoming her passion. “Our son Thomas has special needs and when he started school I began exploring art as something therapeutic for myself,” says Stacey. “I started painting with acrylic and moved into watercolours. I saw shimmery watercolours and they looked fun but you couldn’t get them in New Zealand. I sourced some through an international handmaker, which took two months and they weren’t cheap.” Stacey then researched the process of making shimmery watercolour paints herself. “I was able to source the ingredients in New Zealand and I got hooked on making them. I then had a surplus and decided to see if people would buy them online. My first colours sold out within weeks and I found helping others really rewarding. “I moved into neon pigments and found them a good challenge and eventually started making matt pigments. “They were much harder work and you have to understand the science of making paints and how they cure. “Matt can be made out of bugs, gemstones or families like cobalt for blues. The carmine colour comes from the white bugs that live on the prickly pear cactus. The liquid of the bug turns into a beautiful vibrant red. “It can take eight layers of blending and working the pigments together over the weeks and it can be challenging with rain and humidity. “To paint with watercolours you need the right tools, quality watercolour paper and paintbrushes. “Most people buy student pigment but they fade sooner as they have fillers and brighteners added. Handmade paint is stripped to just pigment and blended with the gum that enables the paint to
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bind to the paper. Custom-made paint is very bright and vibrant and people get a shock at first. “To create a colour, I use the muller to crush the pigment and blend it to the binder. “Each colour can take 15 minutes or up to three hours depending on what pigment you are working with. “You have to get the right hue as you may paint it out wet and it may dry different. “The great thing about handmade is we are making colours you can’t buy anywhere in the world. “My mother and Poppa painted in oils and my cousin Evan at Soju Shots does his artwork. Evan and I created a Tui palette together. We deconstructed the bird’s feathers to find the true colours and used shimmer and matt pigments. “Over the last three years, I have swapped a lot of artisan paints with other makers around the world. Over time we have built up a good reputation internationally and have quite a community on Instagram. “I also went to Hawaii and met another maker. We created the AlohaKiwi together and now host paint challenges. “It is all about the community working together. “People can join my subscription at stakiwicolours.com and get my updates every month. “Chrome paints for watercolours are the new pigments I am working on. My passion is the pigments, it gets me out of bed every day, and this year I moved into gemstone pigments such as malachite, pyrite and lapis lazuli. “Working with the genuine gemstone colours is a real honour and makes my experience that much more special.” ¢
It can take eight layers of blending and working the pigments
p Stacey Dodd’s interest in handcrafting unique watercolour palettes for artists opened up a world of vibrancy and challenge that turned into her passion for pigments
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THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER June 25 2021
PUZZLE TIME Jumbo crossword ACROSS 1 Oust (5) 4 Remain cheerful in adversity (4,4,4,2) 11 Openings in skin (5) 14 Representative (5) 15 Capable and full of initiative (11) 16 Witness (8) 19 Corridor (7) 20 Competitor (5) 21 Bed end (9) 24 Development over time (9) 26 Candle fat (6) 27 Gun kick (6) 31 Turning machine (5) 32 Freewheeling (8) 34 Pigeonhole (10) 38 Tutored (7) 39 Furrow (6) 40 Schedule (6) 41 Delight (4) 42 Patella (7) 45 Facts and figures (10) 50 Repeats from memory (7) 54 Prison on ship (4) 55 Heaviness (6) 56 Feels (6) 57 Enchant (7) 60 Of living organisms (10) 61 Guitar pick (8) 62 Daily record (5) 65 Reward paid for killing or capturing (6) 66 Marzipan flavour (6) 67 Astronaut’s outing (5,4) 72 Motherhood (9)
73 Rot (5) 74 Vie (7) 79 Spanish ranch house (8) 80 Fellowship (11) 81 Last (5) 82 Evade (5) 83 Colourful bed cover (9,5) 84 Back of boat (5) DOWN 2 Multi-pieced puzzle (6) 3 Waterway (5) 5 Large jug (4) 6 Contract condition (7) 7 Scandinavian country (6) 8 Cast off (4) 9 Common insect (8) 10 Restrain by binding the arms (6) 11 Owner (10) 12 Garden tool (4) 13 Wither (7) 17 Golf score of two strokes under par (5) 18 Skill and dexterity (10) 22 Old razor sharpener (5) 23 Person able to speak many languages (8) 25 Conveyance (7) 26 Big cat (7) 28 Brownish-crimson (6) 29 Become extinct (3,3) 30 Merchant (6)
W10 33 35 36 37 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 51 52 53 58 59 63 64 65 68 69 70 71 75 76 77 78
Swagger (5) Makes level (5) Greek B (4) Cab (4) Meat etc cooked on a skewer (5) Short passage added at the end of a literary work (8) Lyrical (6) Using semaphore (10) Play divisions (4) Flavourless, bland (7) Underground passageway (6) Defraud (5) Fencer’s sword (4) First (7) Accompany (6) Go against, as of rules and laws (10) Fruit liquid (5) Pedestrian way (8) Pounce (5) Went red in the face (7) Level high ground (7) Satirise (4,2) Comment (6) Biased (6) Pollute (5) Corrosive liquid (4) Starchy pudding ingredient (4) Window shelf (4)
Sudoku
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16 June 25 2021 THE WEEKEND LIFESTYLER
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