Wednesday Weavers is a group of four who meet at the Guild Rooms on the first Wednesday of each month (hence our name).
This year the theme for entries in Section 40 - "Five Different Articles made by a Team" was Flora and Fauna.
Accordingly, on the first Wednesday in August, our little group met as usual and commenced the tossing around of ideas to come up with, firstly, a genre of flora and fauna, secondly, the type of habitat required for our chosen class and finally, rudimentary ideas for presentation.
Everyone has input and the pros and cons of every idea are considered, no matter how "out there" the suggestion may seem - in actual fact these are often the very ideas we run with (after we get over the first shock waves of laughter). On this occasion, it was decided to go with an underwater theme based on the flora and fauna around the Portsea pier.
This then required some research - just what lives and grows in the Portsea pier precinct? Information was found in photos taken during a couple of "field trips", an underwater video from the Mornington Peninsula Library, books, and, perhaps most useful of all, a calendar which showed beautiful colour photos of life under the sea in the area.
  
Details from "Portsea Pier"
   
We also sought advice regarding algae, sea grass, corals, sponges etc. from the Environment and Natural Resources Committee for the Victorian Government.
From there, it was all go, which is not to be confused with plain sailing - we soon realised perspective would play a major part in the success or otherwise of our 2008 entry - clearly accurate measurements were going to be essential. It would be impossible to say how many times the tape measures were taken out and measurements taken and retaken and adjustments made until the "I don't think we can get it any better" stage was reached.
What else did we learn along the way? That Leafy Sea Dragons live in South Australian waters and Weedy Sea Dragons live in Victorian waters. We also learned that, when making fish from hand woven fabric it's nigh impossible to stuff the tail!
2008 is the fourth year we have entered this competition and this is our fourth consecutive win. You can see our 2007 entry here.
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Kaye Cooper
Robin Friday
Margaret Martin
Irene Schiffer
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