Flag Book Farewell

This is my version of a 'Happy Retirement' card. Criteria was classy and can fit about 70 signatures. I've used the flag book concept. You're looking at a 12 by 6 inches blue silver vietnamese silk bound book with light blue satin ribbon tie. I put in a floating label so it could be personalised to the recipient.

Flip the pages like a regular book with ample space to write the greetings in. Added in a bit of detailing at the corners to tie the insides and covers, isn't it pretty?

And you can stretch the whole thing out to 3 feet long and the pages stand to attention like flags!

More pictures of the flag book can be found here.

Work In Progress

Looks cool ain't it... Wait til you see how it turns out...

7 Flowers Pop Up Thank You Card

A pop up thank you card with a difference I was asked to do. Thanks to a blog site that taught me how to make the flowers (I blog hop a lot) I decided to give it a go.

I don't know if it classify as 'card' or 'book' because the base of the flower is a hardback book cover style and the 'pages' are the flowers...

The end result is the best I could make considering the trouble I encountered while making it. What's important at the end of the day, the client is satisfied and happy. Came with matching envelope too, used up all that green embossed paper...

And the 'Thank You' on the tag, all hand cut. Will not do that again :-s

More pictures of the 'card' here.

If you like to know how to make the flowers, type in '7 flowers pop up' in the serch engine and it'll take you to links and videos that teaches how. Neat huh, tutorials everywhere!

Buku Hantaran: Purple, Heart & Ribbons

I really have to figure out what's the English equivalent of 'Buku Permintaan' without it sounding corny.

Anyway, Alin contacted me and by the time she confirmed I only had a few days to come up with a concept, gather the materials and make it in time for her engagement that weekend. Pressure pressure pressure.

In the end... read more about it here and more pictures here.

Barbados...?!

Now I know why the mail from my Book Arts Forum swap partner came months after it was sent!

I'm quite lucky it came to me at all...

I Met Jim Lee!!!

I read and collect comic books and graphic novels, brilliant art and story lines, I prefer the latter cos the story is complete and it's all in one and I don't have to worry about missing issues. My other half reads what I call main stream where as I tend to go for the independents or stories that comes out from DC Vertigo line, eg Sandman.

A while back, ie last year, I had the opportunity to meet one of comic book royalty Jim Lee! He's one of the most prolific high profiled comic book illustrator. And just to prove it, here's the picture. The room was dim so the shot's not that fantastic but that's besides the point.


Not everyday you get to meet someone like him. And I got an autograph and a Batman sketch too! Woo hooo!! Made my day.

Last weekend, my significant other and I spent quite a bit of time at this book store in Jerudong called Reader's Haven and was talking with the owner, Edwin, about books, comics, how we met Jim Lee, hehe. We walked out with four graphic novels for him and four Pratchett books for me, yay!

Wonder if I get to meet Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett one of these days, my favourite writers...

The Story of Lin's Birthday Book

It was Lin's birthday last month, and the brain scratching routine of what to get for her... Well, her brother came up with the present and I'll do the card. So I figured the card will be my present only it has to be more special than just a card. And knowing me, would it be anything less?

When I was designing and experimenting with the ideas, it was while in front of her, hehe. Good thing she was too occupied with her drawings. I only started making the card on her birthday itself after work and knowing there's her birthday dinner to attend to that night as well, time was very tight. Fortunately I already picked a colour scheme and bought the papers already. If any of you guys are stuck for a present, there is nothing more personalised than this... here comes the tutorial!

Total work time, 2 hours give or take...

1. Take 2 A4 sheet of card and concertina fold evenly.
   
   
2. Count out the spacing, you need a single spacing for the front and back, and every letter will take up two spacing. (I needed to use 1.5 sheets.)
   
   
3. Line up where the letters are going to go, (in my case it was a straight line). mark the centre of each already cut out letter and line it up with the middle line of the two spacing per letter allocated.
   
   
4. Glue letters down.
   
   
5. Cut the outline of the letters that are on the right side of the two spacing to create a pop up of the letter.
   
   
6. Make covers for the front and back. (I used a hard board, covered in the same paper used for the letters of her name, and overlay a chiffon material with silver dots over it)
   
   
7. Attach any embellishments like ribbons onto the cover before sticking the ends of the concertina down.
   
   
8. Decorate the inside pages. (I used a flower shaped punch outs and glued down).
   
   
9. Write birthday messages in 'book' with matching pen, (I used white).
   
   
10. Bring book and pen to said dinner and pass book around for everybody to sign.
    
    
11. Present book to birthday recipient as a memento for her birthday.

Happy Birthday Lin! Have a great year ahead of you! More pictures of the book here

What people say...

This week I was told by a career consultant...

You can't draw. You will never make it as an artist.

Gee, thanks.

But you will be great at teaching it. You don't draw on demand, you just have to be in the mood to draw.

Teaching....? Second statement true.

When you draw, what do you draw? Landscapes? Portraits?

Currently painting a series on close ups of roses.

Detailed work, you're more into analysing, you will be good in that one.

An analyst? That's a new one on me.

Later on that same day, I got a text message asking if I'm interested in applying for a job as a hostage negotiator.

Wonder how much the pay is....

Fillers...

Just some pictures I found knocking around my drive. Have fun...


Aaah, a little corner of my studio. The red and gold painting is mine, you have to see it in real life, it sparkles. The maroony gold one was done by my niece, below that are models of a financing bank pop up invitation I designed, behind the peonies are canvases still in its wrappings, and next to it is my baby guillotine. underneath it is rolls of paper. The pink lotus painting was a work in progress, the completed one is now hanging on the wall of a yoga studio, above it are some drawings my nieces did (big manga fan) the gold and white dancing figure is a paper embossing I picked up from Cambodia, and below it is an oil pastel drawing I did of oranges against blue which I never finished from art school, so that makes it about ten years old... In front of it is a pop up alphabet designed by Ron King of Circle Press, he was throwing them away because it had extra creases or dirtied and I had permission that I could take them. So I cleaned up what I can and I had the intention of framing it up but I haven't gotten around to it yet. In front of it in the wooden frame is the only baby picture of me. The blue green screaming guy was also from back in art school, it was an exercise, got given a black and white picture and we are only to use two colours to recreate the picture. I should've picked two primary colours instead of a primary and a secondary...

Studio does not look like that now.


Like my money ball? This was when I had to arrange my cousin's wedding 'belanja hangus' as part of the dowry to the bride. 5K in hand... in hundred notes... so I turned it into a ball, and I had to redo it twice cos the first gluing I did fell apart on me. It was real solid and heavy by the time I was done with it. Then my aunt decided to turn it into a topiary... complete with a bird!


And look, found a picture of some christmas cards I made from years past...


Just a simple wrapping I did in a jiffy... It looked pretty at the time...