metamorphosis ;)

pimp & paint is now
Altered Alchemy by Luthien Thye
on your blogger dashboard :)

WOOHOO!!

sorry for being cheeky steph ... but i had to do this!!! check out inspiration avenue for this week's challenge "metamorphosis" :)

anyone interested in a makeup tutorial?

our little 5 year old has been obsessed with 2 ladies on youtube lately ... lady gaga O_O yes ... and from the lady gaga videos she chanced upon a makeup artist named michelle phan who does tutorials on lady gaga's numerous personas and other sorts of character makeup.

yesterday, as always, the little one was surfing youtube in my craft room and suddenly she decides to burst out into this rendition of michelle phan's makeup tutorial ...



the things that these little 5 year olds can do these days!!

numerology ... three muses challenge

it's been a long time since i played at the three muses challenge. i didn't think i could make something this week either ... and i still don't think i could have made it if i kept thinking about it :)

well ... the theme is "numbers" ... as you all know, i am on my curiosity jewelry roll :) so i just let my mind continue to roam into the realms of the curious and this was one of the creations that i came up with, which i named ... you guessed it!

numerology

initially these were just a couple of leathers, aged ... then for some reason, i said to myself, i needed some words there, but then again, i've been using a lot of words already, why not numbers? i looked at my very cheap stamping set and thought ... these worked on metal ... i bet they work on leather too! and wallah!!

i didn't stamp them too hard, cos firstly i didn't want the number to go thru to the back and make a hole, but mainly i wanted some sort of faded effect ... just like it's gone thru quite a bit of wear and tear. i really like the effect ... tho i hope you can see it thru the photograph! LOL!!

and then ... i remembered the numbers challenge at three muses and was totally delighted that i could actually submit this piece!!


well ... since i was making them earrings anyway, of course proceeded to make another pair ... this pair has nothing to do with the challenge, but everything to do with asymmetry :) hmm... doesn't asymmetry sound "math" to you? ;)

this is scholarly ...
a cousin to the scholar choker i made earlier :)

aren't the "eyes" on the black agates amazing looking ... it's like the earrings are staring back at you!! and i'm so proud of the the silver plated curve wire (14 gauge!!) i bent and hammered into shape, and oxidized organically!

well ... i sure hope i haven't bored you with all my curiosities ... but if you are not bored yet ... these are at my etsy shop AlteredAlchemy :)

more curiosities ...

i've been on a roll this week ... and i'm so totally delighted that my mixed media art journals and jewelry pieces at Altered Alchemy are getting so much love!

it's a holiday over here ... we're celebrating the HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI ... it's the new year for our muslim frens. everyone has left town and gone home, so the city is like a vacation resort! no cars, no traffic jams, no pollution ... HAH!!

some frens came over to our condo to swim today, but it rained ... oops sorry! but i was making chainmaille (well ... a very simple one) for the new necklace so i didn't get wet ;) *snicker*

sorry, i'm just idling away and muttering to myself again, watching adam lambert's year of american idol (a rerun) whilst taking product pictures and listing my new piece on etsy ... oh btw ... it's 4am.

here it is ... the new piece which is called SCHOLAR

over the week i also made and sold these 2 pieces ... WOOHOO!!

SCRIBE & SCRIBES

i made the tiniest books i've ever made with pages measuring 1x2cm altho they become 2x2.5cm with the covers on :) for some reason, i've been making stuff along the lines of books and the written word ... ancient knowledge and curiosities ... this is FUN :)

curiously yours ...

curious is as it says … curious. i have been in a curious mood and for some reason, “hair” was at the utmost of my thoughts. i do not always make earrings, i do not always have the inspiration to make them, but today is different. now that is … curious …


i continue to be in a curious mood and i’m still thinking of “hair”. i do not always make earrings, i do not always have the inspiration to make them, but today is different… and I also realized, it’s autumn already … where did all the time go? so i close my eyes and wish i was back in manchester unpacking in my new accommodation getting ready for a new uni year... and i continue to close my eyes and imagine myself in windermere, looking into the lakes that mirror the trees with leaves of amber, red, sienna, green and gold ... falling ...

i continue to be in a curious mood and i’m still thinking of “hair”. i do not always make earrings, i do not always have the inspiration to make them, but today is definitely different … this is my third pair. now that is … very very curious … also, i’ve always wanted to make a pair of asymmetric earrings, and since today is not like other days, i reckon it’s the best time to make a pair.

curiously yours,
luthien ...

time for change ... would you change your blog's URL?

it seems like ages now that i've been blogging. but in fact i'm less than 2 years old. tho in a month's time i would be. i have been contemplating change for many months now ... it all started when i bought my own domain name pimpandpaint.com. now i know that wasn't even the first step ... that was a preliminary.

after going back and forth with the thought of change, today i decided that is was time to change the look of my page to accompany the metamorphosis my art is going through. i started with twitter, and the day ended with changing my blog look too. in the midst of that, i decided also to change the name on my blog banner.

pimp and paint has brought me lots of joy during these two years, and now it's time to grow up a little ... i feel. altered alchemy may not last forever ... but i am hoping that luthien thye would. so my first step is to put my name on the banner.

when i started blogging i was really shy and didn't really feel like telling people that i hardly knew, my name or my family name. but now i feel that it is essential to put my name out there. i feel more confident with the work i do and perhaps it can and should be something that i would do for a long time to come ... (tho i have this funny feeling that when the baby comes, i'll probably have to spend a little less time on my work ... we'll see :) ...thus, perhaps it's a good idea to put my name to my work.

the next step to this change would probably come in the form of changing my blogname officially in blogger. now "pimp and paint" is still showing on your dashboards. one of these days you might find that it's "altered alchemy" or just my name showing on your dashboards instead. i hope i won't scare away too many followers!

of course the last step is actually to purchase a domain name in my name and transfer all of pimp and paint's links and followings to this new domain. just like what i did when i changed from pimpandpaint.blogspot.com to pimpandpaint.com 5 months ago. this last step would be crucial ... i dunno if it's a normal practice to change one's blog URL ... but if i didn't do it, i know the gnawing feeling would bug me to no end. it had to be done period. i expect a drop in viewing, page ranks and followings ... i only hope that it won't be too drastic. that is why i am making this change slowly.

i'm not too old in this area or have such fantastic page ranks that i cannot afford this change. if i want to do it, it'll better be now than later. but i'ld like to hear what you think ... would you change your blog's URL?

finders keepers

what a wonderfully fun theme this week from inspiration avenue :) i suspect angie must have been spying on me picking up stuff from the streets ... yea, the habit just kicked in like a couple of months ago and i've found stuff like rusty screws, a rusty buckle and a rusty hinge. but i ain't gonna use these today. instead i'm gonna be featuring my latest find ... something that i found outside of llara's kindie ...

i was contemplating whether to give it back, but i guess not ;) the kids would just chew on it further ...

so ... it ended up here :) 'course i had to embellish it a little, just to make it look more presentable ...

hope you've enjoyed that :) now just before i leave you ... let me just shamelessly show you another piece of mixed media jewelry i made ... eventho it has got nothing to do with this week's theme.

both of these are in my new shop altered alchemy