From pottery, pyrography and macramé, to carving, crocheting and even a Chris Hemsworth lampshade, Making It Australia is currently hitting Aussie screens on 10 and 10 Play.
The program showcases the connoisseurs of craft – exceptional people who possess the knack for creating something totally resourceful and mind-blowing out of a few pieces of string and a bandsaw.
After every episode, Chattr will be speaking to the Maker who was eliminated the night before. Today we spoke to Sculptor, Denise.
Why did you apply for Making It?
“I’m a person who really loves to have different challenges and different opportunities – I’m a yes person. I always say yes to most things, I’m trying to teach myself to say no [laughs]. If something comes up I go ‘now let’s have a go at this.’ So I think life’s about having a really good, colourful, tapestry journey.”
Tell us about your time on Making It?
“It was so exhausting, I have never been so tired in my life! It’s physically exhausting because you’re on your feet a lot in a barn space. Mentally, you’ve got to be snap, snap, snap, ready, ready, ready, and be organised. I’m a very organised person anyway, but you need to be super organised because you’re now in an unknown environment. We became so close as contestants because we’re all in an environment together, so there became this super strong love towards each other.”
There are some very personal creations on the show, what was it like showing some of those more personal crafts on TV?
“I was really fearful. I promised myself two things if I’m going on to this reality TV show – one was to be completely and totally myself, do not be a performer and be Denise Pepper. The other one was do not cry on set. I did one out of two!
“I was a little bit surprised that I became so emotional. I believe a lot of things played into that. one is that I’m from Perth, I’m a long way from home we had Covid and I had fear of that. I hadn’t seen my husband, I hadn’t seen my grandchildren, I hadn’t seen my family. And like you saw, I don’t think I’ve ever been 100% comfortable with myself. I’ve done the opposite of what I would normally do – I’m centre stage and that’s not a comfortable place for me!”
What would you say to people who don’t believe they’re crafty enough to try something like this?
“How could you say that if you haven’t tried it? I probably thought I couldn’t do it! Fear stops you from doing things, I think that’s the problem. I don’t allow fear to come in if I can control it, I just go ‘you know what, we’re human beings and if it doesn’t work, it’s okay’. Because that’s human nature. I think people try to be perfect all the time, and when someone says ‘I’m a perfectionist’, I go well, I’m so sorry for you. You’re going to have such a hard life because there’s no such thing as perfection. So don’t fear it and just go for it.”
What’s next for you?
“I’m making this really wonderful sculpture at the moment. And I’m so enjoying myself. I’ve got an exhibition down on the beach here in WA, and I’m making a 2.4 metre high handheld mirror that you walk up to, and there are all these small stainless steel cut discs that shimmer and move in the wind. So when you look into it, you have all these different reflections and pixelations of yourself. So it’s all about self identity, which is perfect for me at the moment! It’s fairly cathartic that I’m getting this out into this sculpture and I’m loving it. I’m having a really good time and I’m really looking forward to it being on show at Castaways.”