Hunter or Hunted?

OMG!!! I realized it's been 2 months since I wrote my last post! Where did the time go? But to be fair, I have been up to my neck with work ... and kids ... and dance classes ... and Channing Tatum ;)

Seriously though, I have been really busy recording and editing my Artful Gathering workshop!! So much FUN, but very nerve wrecking as well, being a firstimer at this. Had a couple of meltdowns but definitely keeping it together. What a lot of things I have learned in just these 2 months! I feel like I have learned stuff worth a year! I even learned film editing from scratch ... how's that for achievement ;)

So ... the "Event" is getting nearer. My workshop - "Beyond Time" is already in the Artful Gathering catalogue ... and Zinnia our super-woman-admin-mentor-sisterinart has done such a great job with the catalogue, and everything else! You need to go see the Catalogue to believe it! I will be teaching one workshop this year which will run from Jun 6 thru July 17. Registration will open in full swing from May 1st ...  I really hope to see you @Artful Gathering this summer!

So ... in view of the 2 months leading to the summer workshops, we @Artful Gathering have organized a fun treasure hunt! Each week, a few instructors will open their blogs for the hunt and all you need to do is to search for a little RED square button with a CROWN in it. On the square button, you will find a SECRET WORD. Collect all those words and stand a chance to win a free workshop of your choice this summer! Besides that, there are also loads of other prizes given by the instructors up for grabs. For more information and to have a peek at the prizes on the Hunt, just go to Treasure Hunt Game 2014 @ Artful Gathering

This week is in fact Week 3 of the Hunt, and yours truly is one of the participating blogs. So ... I invite you guys to go into my blog, scroll thru and go find that RED square button with the SECRET WORD! After you've found mine, go visit the rest of the participating blogs and find their buttons too!! You will find the other participating blogs in the Treasure Hunt link above :)

Now, before I go plant my secret word, see that gorgeous little babe in the photo? That's what I'll be teaching this summer :) A "romantic relic" in the form of a miniature mixed media book. For those of you who have been interested to learn how to sew a book ... this is your chance! Besides sewing the book, I'll also be sharing many other stuff, like how to create these ornate and aged covers, how to create a ravaged leather spine, coffee stained pages with accents and much much more. You'll be treated to approximately 6 hours of my craziness ((O_O)) ... and if by the time you finish the workshop, you're still standing ... then you would have in your hand, a one-of-a-kind romantic relic that you'll be super proud off :)

WOOKIEEEE ... HAPPY HUNTING!!!

Finally!

This weekend has been wonderful beyond words :) We have been celebrating the Lunar New Year since Thursday and it's finally settling down a bit now. Time to rest the bloated tummy too, from all the yummy food that we only really get to relentlessly devour once a year!

Another wonderful thing that has happened over this weekend is that I am finally able to share this video with the world. We were on a secret mission since the beginning of 2014, but now the cat is finally allowed out of the bag! You must be thinking WHAT??? ...  Huge huge conspiracy I can tell ya ... so, are you ready? It is ...

The project that I will be teaching at the Artful Gathering Online Art Retreat this summer!! YAY!!!

LOL ... Gotcha!!!

Jokes aside, I am genuinely excited to be presenting this video about myself and my chosen workshop for the Artful Gathering 2014 Art Retreat :) Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it :)

For more information on this and the other projects for the 2014 summer art retreat, please go to

Artful Gathering Online Art Retreat. 

Hope to see you all there and let's have some fun together!

D for Dragon, D for Dracula ...

and D for December!

My goodness! Is it the last month of the year already? NOOOOOO!!! I'm going to be a year older AGAIN!!??

Enough Drama, but D is a wonderful alphabet ... if only to represents some of my favourite things like Dragons, Dracula and even December. December means Christmas eve is near, which means we'll be doing our yearly gathering at our friend's place where he'll cook the most sumptuous Christmas eve Dinner for us. But it's not only the Dinner, it's the Conversations and the Company. Looks like C sounds as good as D ;)

Ahhh ... got carried away. I actually wanted to show you my first D for December ...

Dragon! Yes!! My first time sculpting a dragon with clay.

Greatly anticipating The Hobbit 2 next week, I couldn't help myself but to have a version of my very own Smaug. This is Tales of a Dragon.

Smaug wuz smug. Smaug wuz coy. Smaug wuz 'ere.

Unfortunately, someone else wuz 'ere too …

This piece is meant to be playful, with a little macabre undertone. I'd imagine this being hung outside an old Medieval drink house. But yet, who in those days would even understand the acronym “wuz 'ere”? Tsk tsk tsk ...

Now, my second D for December is Dracula!!!

Have you seen the new Dracula miniseries? Isn't Jonathan Rhys Meyers just mesmerizing and super gorgeous! *swoon*

This is D for Dance of Darkness.

Inspired by the latest reimagining of Dracula, this mixed media piece seeks to incorporate all the elements I loved in this mini-series. The meeting of old world opulence with industrial steampunk create a universe of wonderment, where business dealings, lust, power, world domination and secret societies all stewed into a cauldron of vampiric soup. Yet all of that would pale in comparison to 4 centuries of undying love. Imagine loving someone for 400 years only to discover she's now at arm's reach … yet … unattainable, for she has already promised her heart to someone else.

Or has she?

Aye ... my month of December put to good use :) Besides these 2 babies, here are some Dangles I made as well ...

Athbhreith

Sail Away

Collector

Pieces of Time

This Damsel is indeed pleased :)

Before I go ... I just wanted to share another photo with you. I was going thru some old pictures this afternoon and saw this bunch. They put a smile on my face. These were my first 5 pieces of jewelry. Checked and they were dated August 2009. 4 years on ... how different visually my work looks now, yet deep within it is still exactly the same. I am still inspired by exactly the same things I was 4 years ago.

I know ... I've been lazy *hangs head*

I know it's been a loooooooong while since I blogged. I hope you all haven't ran away yet :) I've been particularly lazy these few months. No other excuses, sheer laziness! Even so, I have managed at least a couple of makings and here they are ....

Speak Friend ... and Enter!

the Last Song of Autumn

This ... is me fangirling over the Mortal Instruments :)

Angelic Power

These 4 pairs of earrings were inspired by the photos my dad took of his latest trip to Tibet

Dhyana

Rana

Sattva

Atman

And this little baby, now lives in a dollhouse somewhere in Germany :)

Romantika

Before I go ... there is something in the workings which I am very excited about. In a couple of days, I shall come back with some news about it *fingers crossed* ... see you soon :)

of journals and imaginary worlds

HAH!! didn't expect me to be back so soon eh? I surprised myself too! When I blog it means I have been sort of productive ... oh YEA!! Within a week I made 2 journals. Sometimes it take me weeks to come up with one, but when the juice is flowing ... there's no stopping me. Of course the downside to that is I become zombified cos I don't sleep. But sleep deprivation is but a small price to pay when you get to visit the worlds I do when I'm in my ON mode :) Here are the 2 babes I made ...

the Book of Making

For a thousand years she sleeps, in a vessel made of crystallized Amber. The Lady of Llewryad clutches in her breast her people's most priced inheritance … the Book of Making.

For thousands of years, the Dryad Queen and her children lived deep within the Woods of Llewryad. The world on the outside was so filled with greed and deceit, that it pained her to see her innocent children slaughtered without mercy by the Mortals for pleasure and profit. And so she decided to create for her children a safe haven where they could live free and without fear. But in order for her to do that, she must summon the ancient magic which lies within the Book of Making. Though ... this does not come without a price. 

The Queen begins to weave into existence a world free of fear for her children. As she dances and chants the ancient magic verses from the Book, the Woods of Llewryad began to fade from the Mortal world. After many moons of dance and chant, the Woods of Llewryad have altogether disappeared from our knowledge. The fabric which hides the Fae world from the Mortal world has been created at last. Weary from toil, the Lady of Llewryad falls onto the ground into a deep sleep. Her children cased her in a vessel of crystallized Amber so that she may rest in light and peace until the day when their Queen rises again to rule over them.

For many years, the Children of Llewryad lived a peaceful and care free existence. Or so they thought. As the centuries passed, and with no Queen to guide them, a darkness has sprung amongst the saplings. Its power grows and grows, and it yearns to reunite the world of Mortals and the world of Fae once again. But in order to do that, it must get its hands on the Book of Making. For you see, hidden within the verses of the Book, exists a spell so foul, that no one ever speaks of it. It is ... the Spell of Unmaking.

the Navigator

The Navigator bows deeply to his King, and solemnly pledges his life to the secret mission. He is the Empire's only hope, and his ailing King's only chance of survival.

The ancient Tree of Life is believed to inhabit the deepest, darkest jungles of the realm of Pha Thoar. For thousands of years many brave men have crossed the Emerald Sea in search of this legend, in hope that once found, the ancient Tree would grant them every man's wish ... the Fruit of Eternal Life. But none of them have ever returned to tell their tale. It is said that none has ever made it to the realm of Pha Thoar, for guarding the only path to this realm is a creature that not many dare mention its name. The demon Kraken has been the guardian to the Tree of Life from the beginning of its creation.

The Navigator sets sail towards the direction of the Emerald Sea. In his hand, he holds an ornate looking journal that his King has given him in their private audience together. He gently brushes his finger tips across the cover of the journal, marveling at strange mechanism that sits in the center of the book. Enthralled, he began to open the book, only to be dismayed at what he saw … or didn't see. There was nothing in the journal. And then he remembered that the King has told him not to open the journal until he has passed the line of division between the blue and emerald waters. For the book would only reveal its true self when it feels the energies of the Emerald crystals that lies at the bottom of the sea. The King also told him to keep the journal close to him at all times, for within those pages is the way to deceive the demon Kraken, but more importantly, the path to the legendary Tree of Life.

Three months to the date, the Navigator finally sees the line of division between the blue and the emerald waters. He nervously took out the journal and waited as the ship sails across the line of division. But before he could open the book, the mechanisms began to move on its own, revealing to him all the secrets hidden within the pages of the book. Excited, the Navigator began to read what is written in the book. So engrossed in its content, the Navigator never noticed the peculiarly large waves coming nearer and nearer towards his ship ...

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

I totally forgot to show you this in the last post ... This one was made a couple of weeks ago as a commission piece for a customer who loved fairytales when she was a kid, and she wanted to rekindle that memory. Only ... she wanted it Grimm's style :)

So I gave her my interpretation of Snow White, Grimm style ...

Turned out I was really in love with it ... nearly couldn't part with this one :)

of many makings

Ay ... over a month again I have not written on here. Blame it on the bad back, school holidays and Hari Raya celebration. But having said that, I have not been totally unproductive. Though I wish I was more prolific like some of my friends over at Pinterest ... Janet aka AnvilArtifacts and Marie aka SkyeJewels ... yea you super gals, I'm telling on you!! Gosh ... even the names of their shops sound super cool isn't it?!

Anyhow, here's my month's worth of stuff ...

First up, EARRINGS!!!!!

A Nomad's Tale

Love Story

and these 3 below ... which I must specially mention the artisan who made those beautiful huge rondelle ceramic beads for me. Ingrid aka PotteryGirl

Dusk

Serenade

Painted Petals

Might I also add that the last pair of earrings, Painted Petals was the result of my mad idea of combining some one-stroke painting into my jewelry. Once upon a while ago ... I was quite addicted to folk art. Tell you a secret ... I haven't been a jewelry artist for a long time you know. I began this blog as dabbler in folk art. Nothing spectacular, but you can see some of my folk art here and here ... and here is a tutorial on how to paint a sunflower using the one-stroke technique, if anyone's interested ;)

Besides earrings, I made 2 more book necklaces. This one was a continuity from my Women who Made a Difference collection from last post. I just HAD to add Frida, the Artist in!

And then there's this impromptu wearable book called I Chose Love ... inspired by a quote I chanced upon over the internet.

And then there's this.  A Tree of Life nestled within a house.

“Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes ~

I came across this quote by accident as well, and it affected me in so many different ways. My first thought went to my girls. Inevitably one day, they would leave home to seek their own fortunes. And though it would be so, would it be as the words suggest, their hearts would always return home? Perhaps. Or at least until they build their own homes whence their hearts would follow. Yet part of their hearts would always have a safe place with me and their father. As mine have with my parents. And so the cycle of love is never-ending ...

Finally, the final piece of the month ...

When the House of Raven was all but annihilated by the Darklord, the only surviving heir was a little Princess, not more than a few days old. She was ferried away into the dark woods beyond the kingdom by the Bowman, one of the Guardians of the woods. As Raven was growing up, she knows nothing of her history except that she must at all times stay within the shadows of the woods, and wear an amulet so queer, that she often wondered what it was. She lived a happy, carefree life … until the day when she turned 16. On that day, Raven was told who she really was and what the amulet really meant.

When the King of the House of Raven knew what was to be the fate of his House, he had summoned the Elder Druids to counsel. They are to cast a spell on the magical book of the House of Raven, so that no one would find it except its rightful owner. The Elder Druids then thought of the most brilliant plan. They turned the book so small, that is would be unrecognizable even in plain sight! Satisfied by the plan, the King did the unthinkable. He cut off one of his arms, and asked the Elder Druids to turned it into a tiny wing so that a part of him may travel with his beloved daughter through her difficult journey ahead. Together, the book and the wing would accompany and protect Raven through her childhood years, and when she comes of age, they will help her return to power and claim her rightful place as heir to the Kingdom.

Raven must now embark on a quest with the Bowman to find the blind Seeress … who is the only one that could unmake the spell and turn the book back to its original form.

* Cross Stitching inspired by the lovely work of Bibliographica