23 Sep Experimentation

Enterprise Report : September  2020

It has been a busy month in Urapunga with the biggest mob of visitors in town for sorry business, school holidays, and the heat is rising with 40 degree days most of the month. However, we have kept moving forward with preparation for the market stall in Katherine on Saturday 17th of October, where we are holding a pop-up stall at the Katherine Hot Springs as part of the Remote Laundries launch!

Those directly involved in the Ignite Program have continued to develop their products for sale, and are learning foundation enterprise skills that can be applied to future ideas. 

Overall, confidence is building within the community and people are coming forward to share more about their interests, previous experience and training, and to discuss ideas they have for a business.

Below is a preview of what has been happening over the past four weeks. Enjoy.

Ngukurr Art Centre Exposure Tour 

Annie, Rhonda, Annamarie, and Dora visited Ngukurr Art Centre to learn about screen-printing from master printer Tim Growcott and experienced Nugukurr Artist Karen Rogers. While there we began drafting designs for textiles and learned how to coat the screens with photographic emulsion in preparation for exposing our artwork ready for printing. 

Karen Rogers shared her experiences with using online platforms for printing fabric and one-off designs for textiles and clothing. 

Back home in Urapunga we were inspired to start printing some of our designs, everyone worked together to do test prints on paper and fabric, slowly building up our skills and confidence. Later that month Dora screen-printed a series of T-shirt that will be available for sale at the October Market.

Annie’s Vision

Annie Daniels Collins shared her vision for a clothing store and café in Ngukurr and we visited the potential building site, as approved by the Traditional Owners. Initial scoping and planning are taking place to see if this is a viable opportunity for Annie to explore further.

Pandanus Creations

Dora Collins and Jessie Daniels began experimenting with techniques for creating jewellery and started production of a run of hand-painted earrings that will be sold at the market. Dora and Jessie did some online research on existing brands, and purchased earring findings, hooks and clasps, to finalise their product.  

Dora and Jessie named their emerging enterprise ‘Pandanus Creations’ and began designing a logo, hand drawing it on paper and then converting to a digital file in Photoshop. The logo has been printed onto display cards that will be used to showcase the earrings and share a little more about their personal story.

The earring has been developed as an MVP and Dora and Jessie will begin testing with customers at the October Market.

Bush Soap Making

Dora, Jessie, Annie and Kirstin began production on a range of bush soaps, infused with traditional healing plants and locally sourced ocher. The group made a range of sizes and various formulas to test and packaged the soap using a shrink-wrapping machine to seal and secure them for later sale. Plus, experiment with photographing products for online sales and promotion on social media.

Later Dora and Annamarie worked out the cost of goods and cost of labour and determined the sale price to ensure we cover costs and make a profit. 

Numburrindi Arts Exposure Tour

We visited Numbulwar to meet with members of Numburrindi Arts, to take a look at their art centre space and speak with the women about their journey and their work. 

The Urapunga women were inspired by the work of the Numburrindi weavers and were keen to get back to Urapunga and begin production on some woven baskets. The young girls supported the Olgamen to collect pandanus and were interested to learn the techniques from the Elders.

Hazel Ponto and Margaret Duncan began the production of baskets for the Market stall.