Mas Kahwin: Maharani, Gold & Purple

Love how the gems catches the light

When I was asked to do a Maharani themed folder for a mas kahwin (dowery), I was not sure where to begin.  Google search didn't produce anything much and my other concern was do I make the folder specific to the amount it will contain, ie follow the size of the money.

360 individual blings, yes, I counted.

Fortunately the client was able to provide images that inspired her to choose the theme when I asked, just so I know what it was that attracted her to choose the theme and that I'm on the same page. What I saw was glitter, gold, opulent and paisley.

Oh no... 'Oh no' in the sense, 'Oh my god! I have to recreate that!' And I couldn't resist a challenge. At the same time I had to work on two other engagement folders as all three were due more or less around the same time.

I was lucky. I had this gorgeous glitter design paper and fortunately it had paisley as part of its patterns which I made sure I took the area that had them.

Normally I would make a folder from the inside out. But in this case after I had covered the front, I immediately worked on laying out the gems in various sizes and shapes to determined their placement to give me that maharani look. And when I was happy I started gluing them down. 

All 360 individual pieces.

One. By. One.

And this is working on an area that is slightly bigger than an A5. 16cm by 22cm to be exact. I was so glad the folder wasn't any bigger as this size alone took me several days just to glue down the gems.

It was one of those, 'I'm not doing this again' moment.

Strangely after I was done, I kind of missed it. Go figure.

Purple ribbon detail on gold tassel

I then realised why I left the interior last, my subconscious mind was already planning ahead without me realising, the tassels.

Had to debate whether to just use the purple tassels only for the door or do I also use the gold tassels. After putting the purple tassels in place, the folder was looking a bit 'bald' in a way, and gold tassels were put in. I used gold and purple ribbon to add interest to the tassels and to tie the gold and purple theme together.

Unfortunately, this was the only shot I had that showed the interior...

For the interior I used a royal purple satin with gold ribbons corners. Lovely contrast when the folder was half opened.

The client was suitably amazed when the folder was presented to her and she went home happy. I have no idea how the folder was used, I measured using the largest denomination note we have, lots of space surrounding it, and I wondered how they managed to fix the money in.

I kind of missed this folder, but it's ok. It was a nice end to the year as it was the last order for 2011. Let's see what sort of new challenges I'll be facing for this year... I wonder whether I should be saying that... It's like asking for it...

Happy New Year 2012!

Colours: The Meaning of Combinations in Feng Shui...

I only just learned this, it was too good not to share, extracted from Lillian Too - Feng Shui Master, also a belated Christmas greetings to all my fellow readers and followers in blogland, craftsville and artisans..

Wow - I just love all the bright lights and vibrant colors at this time of year - it's so energizing and uplifting! I was thinking today that the colour combination of green and red that we see everywhere now usually suggests Christmas to most Westerners... but to the Chinese feng shui practitioner green and red is the best colour combination for generating fame luck, popularity and recognition.

Yes, green and red is a combination that means success... green strengthens red based on the productive cycle of the five elements... wood feeds fire with power and energy. So here's a tip you can use long after the Christmas season is over... to bring good fortune to the family and especially success that benefits the sons in the family use the combination of green and red in their rooms after they have passed the age of twelve years. 

Which red color is best? The most auspicious red colours to use are cinnabar red, New Year red and ox blood red. 

Now if you're after money and successful business deals then silver and purple are excellent colors to use... because the words silver and purple sound like ngan chee in Cantonese which means money. So this combination - purple with silver has very powerful connotations for wealth luck. In fact, purple alone is a powerful and very prosperous colour.

Colours are very effective irrespective of which feng shui method you use and can be used in your home according to the location of the sector being decorated or based on your individual kua number. If you don't know your kua number you can easily find it by going to www.wofs.com and you'll find the kua calculator in the upper right corner of the screen. 

So... and a Happy New Year to one and all!!

Buku Hantaran: Purple & Gold

This was order from a client, I would say she took the whole package, hantaran pertunangan, buku hantaran and menerima berian (engagement dower and dowry, engagement book and soon the receiving dower and dowry we're currently working on due in a couple of weeks time) of course all the hantaran (dower and dowry stuff) are made with my friend Heidi.

Anyway, the client, a sweet girl, requested for an A4 folder with a purple and gold theme. She also let me know other things she liked which was helpful. Purple and gold is a very royal colour combination, have to do it justice.

Fortunately I happen to have in my stash this purple with gold prints on it. Perfect! After I had it on the folder, I got stuck. It sat on my table for a couple of weeks until I decided on the fastening, and how to go about hiding it and everything else came into play.

There were almost 100 elements that needed to be stuck down individually. But it worked. It helped added some punch and a contrast to the pale gold in the background. I love how the tassels came into play. Not realising it while decorating, the print on the paper helped give a theme to the design, it had an oriental feel, the colour, the gold heart shaped gems, the tassels, the diamonds, I'm really liking this one, the print had spoken to me that was the direction it wanted to go. Good thing the inner me listened...

Buku Hantaran: Pink, Purple & Gold

These are my current favourite! I like how neat and tidy it looks. I love how considerate the client was for giving me ample time (she informed me two months prior to the event) and how nice she was when I called her up so I'm clear as to what she wanted. How easy I thought it'll be to get the colours and style...

Everything checked apart from that last line. I hunted everywhere! In the end, I had to go another route to recreate the fancy swirls that she wanted. It was pretty unconventional because I was using a material which I have not tried before and I wasn't sure how it would react with the glue but it was worth a try.

And it came out gorgeous! Because of the layering I was able to achieve that rich subtle look in and out of the folder. The roses scattered around the raised name plate ties in with the watermark rose their name was printed on in gold.

The fastening I used was much tidier and it need not be incorporated into the design, like how I'd normally would use ribbons and bows as fastening and have to figure how it would look to the overall design, so with the fastening I used on this one, you'd hardly notice it.

When the client came to pick them up and saw them, she loved them! I'm glad the folders have reached her expectations. It's always nice to chat a bit on how the wedding preparation is going, and she was a bit nervous as it was only a few days to go from when she picked up the folders. I told her everything will be well, just be positive and relax and enjoy the big day...

More pictures of the folders can be seen here.

Sneak Peak.....

Totally loving this one! Love love love! That is... until the next piece I'll construct, hehe... More pictures and story on next post when I'm free...