George Buchanan has been tinkering for as long as she can remember.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Bardwell Park resident has turned her love of craft into a career, running the Pink Cactus store in Rockdale, making all things wacky and wonderful for corporate clients and the arts and entertainment industry.
Now, Ms Buchanan has a chance to show off her skills to an even wider audience on Ten's new reality competition program Making It.
"You could describe it kind of like crafting Survivor," she joked.
"It's a really cool mix of people, with varying degree of crafting background, completing to be the 'master maker'.
"There's timed craft challenges and each round someone gets eliminated."
Ms Buchanan said the makers' first task challenged them to create a 'heritage shrine' which explained the things which shaped them as people, followed by a challenge to craft their 'inner beast'.
The 41-year-old said participating in Making It was one of the best decisions she'd ever made.
"I was totally enthralled with watching the cogs of reality TV turn, I found it really fascinating," she said.
"We were so swept up in creating our creations and getting through to the next round. Once you're in it, it just goes so fast - I loved it.
"I've had children and travelled the world and done crazy things, but this was one of the most challenging and exciting things I've ever done and I'm really proud of it.
"I've made 12 amazing friends along the way."
Ms Buchanan started creating things at home from her youngest years, painting, drawing and making things from cardboard.
After finishing her schooling she tried her hand at cooking, before moving into stage management.
Loving her time with the theatre, Ms Buchanan then signed up for a prop making degree at NIDA, where she learned to do carpentry and welding, sculpture, scenic art and more.
"I'd like to encourage girls to pick up tools that might not always be considered 'girly' and just go for it," she said.
"I do welding on the show, I'm holding a nail gun - sometimes people see that as a blokey thing to do, but anyone can do anything and more girls should be encouraged to step into those 'blokey' roles."
Ms Buchanan will soon talk about her love of the arts and crafts, and its potential to grow in the Bayside area, in a webinar and chat with Peaceful Bayside founder Heidi Lee Douglas on October 5.
"An area with a lot of art activity has more community engagement, more art things to see and if we can think of ways to encourage more arts festival and more arts-based endeavours in Bayside, it would fill a bit of a void," she said.
Ms Buchanan encouraged everyone to watch Making It - "it's a really wholesome show you can watch with the whole family" - airing 7.30pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays on Ten.
