Buku Hantaran: As long there's green in it...

I'm not sure if the camera was able to pick up the true colour since I took the shot at night... the background was a beautiful shade of olive green. I used up the last bit of the textured paper for this that I had saved for over a year. It worked well for this particular piece with the floaty gauzy bow.

I don't really like doing last minute order but this was my first order from the guy side, usually previous clients had always been the girls that does the ordering so I obliged letting him know he'll be picking it up only the day before he needed it. He said he wanted it to match what he'll be wearing, which was olive green. And I promised him it'll be pretty and it is truly in real life.

I contrasted the olive green on the outside with pink, beautiful isn't it, makes the colours stand out against each other.

When he came to pick it up, it was very strange, because I wrapped it up to protect it from getting dirty, he thought that would be what he'll be giving at his function. Uh, no, dude. Then after he realised it was a wrapping and took it off, he tried opening the folder without untying the bow and wondered how was he suppose to open it! By then I was in a stunned-shocked-silence type of mode and after a minute I just pulled the end of the ribbon to release the bow. I explained where he's suppose to put the list, closed the folder and he attempted to tie up the bow. He failed. Told him he got all night to practice making the bow as his function was the next day. I wondered how it went...

Side note, I made a little book for his sister as a thank you for she was the one who recommended him to contact me. I hope she liked it... I hope he gave it to her in the first place...

My Studio: The Books

I figured I'd take a shot of my references... These are the books I refer to for most things made in the studio and also for work for the curriculum I'm writing up, isn't that great, they get to do double duty!
The big grey ones on the left are all my Keith Smith books, I managed to get them in with the help of a good friend. It took me a while to really appreciate them because they're very dry and technical, but once I got the hang of reading them, there are bookmarks all over the pages. The rest are my design books and other 'interesting' books I picked up.

My stack of origami books! There are more, but these are the big ones. I used the 'Angelfish to Zen' as my main reference book when I was writing my dissertation for my undergrad, I borrowed it from the college library and renewed it three times when I figured it'll be easier to get my own copy. Some of these books are half my age or older and I still refer to them. Others I picked up throughout the years. One of them is totally japanese, once you know how to read origami diagrams it doesn't matter what language the book is written in, but you miss out on the interesting snippets included in the book. I like the geometric side of origami hence you don't really see any 'how to make animals'.

These are just some of my paper and books books, handmade books with pretty images in them, pop up books and my paper engineering books, and more design and reference books.

And it's ever growing, there are some books from my last trip out of the country that I still have yet to read through and find space on the shelves. I'm out of shelf space...

Work In Progress: The Sandwich

Just a sneak peak behind production, most of the time I'm trying to make everything flat...

The Dreaming

I dreamt I broke my awl and I was very upset as the awl in the dream looked like the metal broke like a twig into two, and I needed the awl to complete a book I was making. I can't remember why I was very upset about it, it wasn't my favourite awl and it's bent at the very tip of the point. Very strange...

Would You Like To See Where I Create?

Right, am biting the bullet, I look at all the other artsy craftsy blogs out there and when they feature their studios it looks like a dream. I'm like, no way I can compete with these lot! Lovely curtains, soft furnishings, beautiful arrangements here and there... But hey, each studio got their own personality right? Mine is still in the process of being shaped, right now it just needs to function.

These pictures, was the studio's current state few weeks back, now it looked like a hurricane went through it, need more shelves so I can organise the stuff more effectively. One day I'll have purpose built storage for all around the room... one day...

These are my two work table, the higher is actually a kitchen island that used to be in my mother-in-law's kitchen, she had hers replaced and so we took this one, I like the height as it allows me to work standing up, which I tend to for easier movement. The lower table was some generic six seater dining table which came with the house. That's Shazam! being her cat like self...

So we know this space used to be a verandah, check out the late 80s floor tiles, and glass sliding doors leading to it from the family room. So if I don't want the cats to make a nuisance while I'm trying to work (for some reason as soon as I'm busy with a project on the tables they decided to keep me company by being ON the table and knocking things and messing about) I'll just close the doors and you can see them waiting to be let in and still allows me to see what everybody is up to on the other side.

The shelves are all packed, the ones on the right are all my reference books and continually growing. On the left are the 'stuff'...

Ta da! The easel in the painting corner like I said it was going to be! Painting on the easel was done by my niece, it was one of her I'm-bored-give-me-something-to-do project. The painting behind the easel on the floor is mine, which I have yet to finish... I hung up my butterflies using magnets all along the metal pipe behind it that's holding up the roof. It looked real pretty against the nature background.

This is the whole 'bit' on the right side of the door when you enter, the 'stuff'. The table far left holds all the canvases waiting to be used. Next to it in the purple bins are my rolls of decorative papers. In front of it in the brown fisherman's basket contains my remnants of materials. The three tiered baskets are all my pretty patterned ribbons. The shelving racks are the rest of the tools, items, equipments, bits, supplies and more... Still have yet to make a dent in anything. Maybe I should just pack a box of random crafty stuff and do a give away eh, that might help with the overload, what do you think?

There you have it, an overall tour of the studio just to give you guys out there an idea of the space I work in. Hopefully it'll look different in a couple of months time, but with baby on the way, who knows...

Meet Chi

We have two cats in the house, this is one of them. Sweet as honey and keeps me company in the studio. He'll be 5 years old this year in July, and right now having the time of his life.

"Wachu lookin' at?"

"Sigh... nothin' on tv... again"

Yes, he really sits like that. I forgot to mention he's also a very talkative cat and he loves being cuddled. Pictures are too cute not to share!

My Wedding: The Dais

Being king and queen for a day, you also get to have your throne. Here, it's a big business when it comes to weddings and one of the expenses is the dais. You can choose to make your own or rent. When my sister got married ten years ago she had hers specifically made. Nowadays there are lots to choose from to rent.

I had two, I had some of the functions at home and I had the main event at a hotel. Initially we thought of just renting one and disassemble and assemble at the other. Logistically it'll be a rush job and the stage at the hotel is pretty huge and I didn't want the dias to be dwarfed by all the empty space around it.

This was the one we had at home, we positioned it to be centered to the chandelier of the living room. I wanted something which was all white and with more swags, I wasn't too keen with the box like shapes at the back, but it was already 1 AM and I just didn't want to argue anymore. Turns out, it was the same wedding dais my cousin used for her wedding the year before, with a change of seats, hers were two single chairs and I wanted a double seater.

This was the dais we had at the hotel. I was told I was the second person to use it and it filled up the whole stage. I had the colour of the flowers changed to reds, pinks, and whites, original colours were champagne. I'd like it to be all red roses but they didn't have enough.

I never saw the set up nor when it was completed. I only saw it when we officially came into the hall with the guests already seated, and the first thing that went through my mind was, "Wow, it's big, wasn't expecting that."

Only thing was to move the seat from the dais at home to the hotel. We had our fan bearers, my significant other's nephew and my niece (traditionally they would be two golden aged women who would guard the newly weds from the start of the wedding ceremony up til the end of the ceremony) and flower boys and girls made up of my nephews and nieces.

It was fun :-)