Featured!

I am delighted to announce that 4 pieces of my work have been featured on Ontologica - A Journal of Art and Thought, in their Winter Issue 2011!! and one other piece also made it to the cover of this biannual online magazine :)

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Happy New Year to all my blogging friends and may the coming year bring to you lots of Joy, good Health, great Abundance and buckets full of Inspiration!

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old, new, borrowed, blue

first up ... wishing all my blogging friends a Very Merry Christmas!! some of you are just about starting Christmas day and some are probably doing Christmas dinner already. how amazing that technology has made it possible for people all over the globe with 12,18, 24 hours difference in time, to share Christmas day like we were neighbours :)

today's a slightly lazy Christmas day for me as i am unfortunately down with a flu, but i just couldn't bear being in bed for the rest of the day. so i thot perhaps i should write something for Inspiration Avenue's Challenge theme set by Priti Lisa ... "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue" ... what a lovely theme!

this necklace i made at the beginning of last week, tho not solely for this challenge but fits perfectly, i thought.

“Starting with Forever” combines the likely with the unlikely, the light and the dark … it amalgamates the fragile and beautiful with the lethal. All of these elements coexist to strengthen each other’s energies, so that they may stand the test of … Eternity. Not unlike the love between a mortal and an immortal.

something old ... an old salvage gear, an old watch face, an old tablecloth and an old metal spike.

something new ... let's see, the beige linen, the brass findings and the book are all new ... but knowing me, new things become old pretty quickly with the help of some coffee and paint :)

 

something borrowed ... the name of this piece "Starting with Forever" is borrowed ... a phrase from a book/movie ... do you have an idea which one? ;) bet you do ...

something blue ... the overriding color of this piece is blue, and neutral of course. tho i did wanted to make it pink in the beginning, but becos of the paradoxes that reside within this piece, i thought blue would be a better color for binding together the "thought" behind this, and the "creation". 

pink would have been too ... cliche.

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my DIY light box

today i decided that it was time to DIY a slightly more "permanent" light box :)
  
Step 1 : 
~ construct the Ikea Antonius frame that you bought today ... turn it upside down
~ cut to size this transparent board (dunno what it's called) and fit into Ikea Antonius like a tunnel

Step 2 :
~ tie light source to one Antonius tray and slip tray in upside down

Step 3 :
~ check if the light works
~ *CLICK* ... and we have Light!!

Step 4 :
~ add whatever paper you have and line the sides of the tunnel
~ also add whatever else you want as decor

Step 5 :
put your artistic creation amongst the decor and *SNAP*

Step 6 :
dump the image into GIMP and Voila!! MAGIC!!

COST :
Ikea Antonius frame : RM 35
Ikea Antonius wire basket : RM 15
transparent board : RM 14
light source : nothing, becos it was from an old disintegrated lamp

TOTAL : RM 64 (approximately USD 22)


and i am HAPPY!!!!! :)

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a Secret Garden ...

have you ever had the feeling of being thrown back in time when you catch a glimpse of something? like visions whizzing pass in your mind's eye like a movie montage? i get that all the time when i see old things. i do love the feeling of traveling back in time if only in my mind's eye ... the feeling is all at once exhilarating, filled with mystery, nostalgic and romantic ... what a combination! but a combination that makes my heart race!

an old key ... i wonder which door it opened and what stories will unlock. an old watch face ... who wore it? was it a romantic gift from a loved one? if these artifacts could talk, what would they whisper in my ear ...

a square coin! King George VI, the present Queen of England's father. i didn't realize that this coin exists in my country from way back. i wonder how life was like in 1939 ... in those days, men still courted the ladies, open doors for them, have tea on porches and steal kisses :) they would still go down on one knee to ask for a hand in marriage ... and they dressed, properly :)

music ... when i close my eyes, i see a theatre filled with musicians of old ... but whilst the music played on stage, what intrigues are happening backstage. love, lust, romance, triangle, jealousy, murder ... life is a stage.

i dunno when i fell in love with books. i just know that i've loved them all my life. and now, i'm making them. old books with stained pages ... what stories and adventures lie within, what worlds are described, what secrets could be uncovered.

an assemblage of sorts, some inspired, some real. whilst making this, i traveled back in time to worlds unknown. tho i am glad it's all only in my head and whatever happened there was exactly how i wanted it to happen :) 

i can tell you the ending ... i  didn't get stabbed for one ((O_O)), and i even got the man ")

 

 and tis ... is my little Garden of Secrets ...

i wonder if my little Secret Garden would qualify for the Projects with Depth in Simon Says Stamp and Show ...

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to the Women of (English) Literature

over the week, i suddenly remembered my mom had a very old piece of crocheted table cloth with a huge gash in it, that i feared she most probably would have already thrown it away. but i asked her anyway, and told her if she still had it, i wanted it. she gave me her signature frown (mom will never understand why she has a junk collector for a daughter) and the next day turned up with not one, but 3 pieces of beautiful old crocheted table cloth for me to repurpose!! YAY!!

as Christmas commissions are tailing off, i manage to once again play :) took out all the stash i have plus my mom's tablecloth, now coffee stained ;) ... i made a necklace.

originally,  the chain on the necklace was slightly different. i had initially used a 5 piece rutilated rondelle instead of the copper plate and the phrase. 

but when i looked at it as a whole, it felt 'weight-less'. yes, it was feminine as i meant it to be, but there was no strength in this lady. she looked as if she could disintegrate anytime! and i think women are one of the strongest creatures on this planet, so this feeling just didn't sit well with me. the energy was wrong. could we retain our ability to be feminine and also be strong? definitely.

during the 19th century women were supposed to grow up, get married to a rich man and try to live happily ever after. one woman defied this social norm, and it was her strength within that allowed her to defy all odds and achieve her dream as a novelist. and altho Jane Austen never married ... she's made a mark in the history of literature and paved the way for many future female novelists.

coming back to the necklace, i needed to find its 'strength'. at this point, Barry's half rounded copper plate literally jumped out at me (onto my lap). i looked at it, and nothing can be more perfect for the crowning glory of this piece! i have not had the opportunity to use any of Barry's metals. perhaps unconsciously, i was hoarding on to them. but this time, there was no doubt ... this was it! isn't it amazing how one little change to the necklace can make such a great difference to the energy of the piece? now it has femininity AND strength.

so here's to all the Women of (English) Literature who defied all odds to become what the are. CHEERS!!

before i go, here's to another female writer ... can you guess who? she hails from Gloucestershire, England ...

i bet this could have been the first ever handbook on Quidditch that Hogwarts had, and it should now be sitting in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library ;)

for more English Literature inspired creations please visit Inspiration Avenue :)

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