of fantasy voyages and seafarers

since i dug out my LOTR dvds i haven't been able to stop watching them. i think i must have gone thru them at least 3 times now in extended version. well, maybe i should tell you the truth .. i have this habit of just letting the dvds play on the laptop whilst i create. some people like music as company ... i like visuals and the sound of dialogue ... weird right? i can actually recite many excerpts of movie dialogues becos of this habit, sometimes i even secretly pretend i am one of the characters! humans think i am weird but my elven friends love me for that ^,^

what do you like as companion when you create? just curious ... is anyone out there like me?

this week, it was all about Earendil the Seafarer. Earendil was the father to Elros the first King of Men (in Middle Earth of course) and Elrond the last Elf to leave Middle Earth. yup, Elros and Elrond are brothers. only, one chose to be human (blessed with longevity) and the other chose to be elven ('cursed' with immortality). their father Earendil was a great seafarer and the first man to sail to Valinor to seek the help of the Valar to save Middle Earth from the first attacks of Sauron, who was called Morgoth at that time ... as you can see, i was rather absorbed by this story and thus, 2 elven-inspired-seafaring creations were born ...

first, a necklace called Star of Earendil

i admit my creations are not normally rich and ornately complicated like this, but this time, it fitted. i also tried combining copper and brass, which i don't normally do as well. and truly, it didn't feel "glaring?" in this case ... as i thought combining strong yellow and strong orange would be.

i wanted to give the piece an ornate compass feel so i inserted a "needle" thru the stone. this was handformed out of copper wire and i used epoxy clay as its arrowhead. this piece turned out rather huge, but would look great as a piece for cosplay or costumery.


i further explored the seafaring and ornate compass concept in a journal aptly named, Book of Earendil
as you can see ... the compass motif is here too, this time with a brass needle. i am really quite stoked with this compass thingy :)

i am also able to use the copper washers that Renate gifted me :) i've been dying to use them but have been afraid to try copper. now ... i think they look perfect here ^.^


whoot!!! i just LOVE what i do :) and i don't care if people think i'm weird :p

there and back again ... a hobbit's tale ...

i'm sorry if you clicked into this post becos of the title ... cos this post had got nothing at all to do with the title except that the person writing this post has been doing a LOTRs marathon so the line stuck :) but you know what ... she was punished for being cheeky becos as she was writing this, she visualized your faces as you read this, she laughed and choked on her isotonic drink, and spat a whole lot of it out onto her keyboard and laptop screen :(

sorry ... me BAD!!

all i wanted to do was to share some happenings in the past week ... well for one, the family has recovered from the bout of Cosackie virus attack. my poor little girls had ulcers in their throats and couldn't eat, thank goodness it's GONE!!! GONE!!! and i'm fattening them up again :)

received a package that i was looking forward to ... a litter of leaves that i won from a giveaway on Barry's blog ' Rustnstuff ' ... sooooooooooo happy that they arrived and my goodness!! the leaves are amazing! handbeaten from old anodised aluminium canisters and trays, the details and folds on them are as close to the real thing as metal can be! thank you Barry!!!

they are now sitting in my cabinet of crystal cluster collection and looks perfect there! please click on Barry's link and visit this wonderful sculptor ... his works are truly amazing!

this week my brains have gone a bit mushy, and i finally ran out of jewelry ideas ... fortunately i have my LOTRs DVD set and i have my books to fall back on. by books i mean my handmade journals ... so i decided to revisit a journal design that i personally love very much and made a second copy.

Book of Celts (revisited)

the celtic heart is my own design made into a rubber stamp. amazing how easy it is now to make art ... i mean, years ago, the artist would have to paint or at least transfer the image onto each piece of art he makes. now ... you just have to come out with the artwork, go to the rubber stampers' and get him to make it into a rubber stamp for you! technology has become the artist!

Journal 1969

i just love the distress look! someone asked me what technique (in art) i simply cannot do without ... my immediate answer was "aging". this is the second book i made ... i bought the Apoxie Sculpt some time ago, but haven't had a chance to make something out of it, so i thought ... hmmm ... a gothic heart ... YES! :) the wings are actually raw brass ... i put them on the stove and turned them real dark! what beauties!! complements the vintage key so very well! i love this book ... tho i had a real hard time photographing it. some things are just harder to photograph well!

hope you had a real nice weekend and oh!! Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there!! :) you are loved!!

mommy look!

Llara : (very excited) i made a necklace for you! ... it's a ScreamMunk necklace!

Mommy : wow!!! it's very pretty!! what is it called again?

Llara : ScreamMunk ... you know ... ScreamMunk!

Mommy : (trying to be civilized and not to laugh) ScreamMunk? why such a funny name for a pretty necklace?

Llara : (indignantly) it's not funny!! you told me about it ... remember?

Mommy : (puzzled) me? told you about ScreamMunk? when?

Llara : last night!! you showed me the photo of the hat and the book ... you said this artist makes ScreamMunk!! remember??!!

Mommy : (light bulbs) hahaha!!! OH!! you mean Steampunk!

Llara : (blushes and says in a little voice) ... yea ... Steampunk.

the night before, i caught my little 6 year old hovering around my messy craft table and picking up little bits and pieces and putting them into her plastic tub of collections :) she came to me when she couldn't make a loop or attach a "junk-ring" (she means "jumpring") so i helped her, wondering what she was up to combining funny elements together! AHHH ... now we know that she was making a ScreamMunk necklace for her mommy :) what a sweeeet child!!!

well ... i dunno what you think, but honestly, i think it's quite pretty!! lopsided ... yes, but surprisingly unique! i would proudly wear her ScreamMunk necklace out anytime!

junk talk ...

JUNK TALK 1 : chainsaw massacre

Luthien swerves (safely) into a sliproad when she spots some men trimming down some overgrown trees by the road. her heart is racing ... faster than her truck.

Luthien : hey sir :) ... you know those logs that you have in the back of your truck ... do you have them in smaller pieces?
Man : nope ... they are what you see ... why?
Luthien : (disappointed) oh ...
Man : but i can cut these up into smaller pieces for you.
Luthien : (ecstatic) REALLY??!!

sound of chainsaw fills the air ...

Man : how thick you want them?
Luthien : erm ... YA YA ... there will do

sound of chainsaw on wood ...

Man : (shouts) how many pieces do you need?
Luthien : (shouts back) erm ... 3?
Man : (continues to chainsaw logs) why do you want them for? as chopping boards?
Luthien : (still shouting) no no ... i dunno yet, maybe for display (jewelry display :)

chainsaw stops

Man : where's your car?
Luthien : over there ... OMG ... thank you so much!!
Man : no problem :)

this is what i got from that nice guy :)

JUNK TALK 2 : what rubbish!

Husband and wife taking a stroll. wife stops dead and stares at something on the ground.

Marcus : what are you staring at?
Mellie : (bends down)
Marcus : are you picking up rubbish?
Mellie : yup
Marcus : (staring disbelief at bits of rusty stuff) are you taking that home?
Mellie : (says nothing)

after a second

Marcus : is it for Luthien?
Mellie : yup
Marcus : oh ... alright then ...

this is an example of what Mellie brings for me :)

JUNK TALK 3 : rust or shine

Luthien walks into her favourite hardware shop to snoop around ... again. from the corner of her eye, she spies some rusty chains holding together some battery packs.

Luthien : my fren!! that rusty chain you have there, can i buy it off you?
Owner : huh? that's old and rusty, i can cut you some new ones
Luthien : no no ... i want that rusty one
Owner : (stares at me in disbelief) how am i going to charge you for rusty chain?
Luthien : not too much i hope

Owner shakes his head and proceeds to remove the rusty chain holding the battery packs

Owner : (handing chain to his assistant) let me just get my boy to measure this and cut some new chains for my battery packs
Luthien: ok (grins) ... thanks!!

rusty chain comes back

Owner : (puts them in a bag) there ... take it
Luthien : so how much?
Owner : free ...
Luthien : oh WOW!! thank you!!!

Owner VO : (take it and go ...)

this is it!! the original rusty chain :)

JUNK TALK 4 : coveted hardware

Luthien was walking to the washroom in someone's office when she spotted some discarded keyboards piled at a corner. she looks around (for anyone) ...

Luthien : excuse me ... are these keyboards going to be thrown away
Guy : yup ...
Luthien : (eyes light up) ... oooo ... than can i have a couple of these?
Guy : (not sure how to respond) erm ... ok ...

Guy : (guy picks up the newest of the lot) well ... you can have this one and there is a usbdrive too but it's got virus in it
Luthien : doesn't matter ... thank you!!

Luthien still eyeing at the old one at the bottom of the pile, slightly embarassed to ask for more ... but heck! then her scavanger alter ego takes over

Luthien : oh! if you don't mind, can i have another ... that old white one at the bottom of the pile?
Guy : that's really old ...
Luthien : ya ya ya ... that's what i want ... old :)

Guy proceeds to dig up the old white one

Guy : erm ... i'll have to ask my boss about this one ... well ... i guess it's ok ... there ...
Luthien : you sure? cos if you ask me back for them later, they'll be in pieces ... (grabbing the keyboard) thank you very much!!!

Jason (the hubby) walks in ...

Jason : gosh ... even in here you can find junk to take home!?
Luthien : (:D)

YAY!!!

some things are worth it ...

another week has passed so quickly! i cannot believe how time goes into turbo when we're having fun :) well, fun includes sleeping only 4 hours a day and having a splitting headache after ... but it all comes in a package, and some things are just worth it!

i've been wanting to do a video on my stuff for some time now, but the prospect of "video editing" was a little daunting. well it turns out that if you put your mind to it ... it can be done :) and at the end of the day, it's not that hard afterall!

this is what i put together using Microsoft Photo Story 3

took me 3 days, in between dirty diapers, milky time and a chattering 6 year old! not to mention some amount of migraine becos i was staring at the screen for too long. this is the 2nd version, cos my expert hubby took a look at the earlier version and mentioned :

* your words should have some drop shadow ... it makes it easier for people to read them
* your transitions should be kept simple ... the more you put in, the messier and "cheaper" your video looks

and so i redid all of that ... ok, i think he's right. he should be since he's a film director! also, i spent MORE hours editing 2 pieces of music and sync-ing the change of shots to the timing of the music. and i do think it's more composed now. the one thing i don't like to watch is when a slideshow has no connection with it's background music at all. like the music was just plonked there so that there was some sound ... but the music timing and the video shots are all out of sync??!! perhaps it's becos i'm a dancer ... i like my moves to sync with my music :)

i think there's still room for improvement ... i do think it's too long. hubby mentioned that a slideshow should be like a movie trailer ... short, and leave the audience wanting more. he's right! i'll improve on that in the next one :) for now ... i am quite amused by this effort :) hehehe ...