A Different Place & Time

After many years of blissful togetherness, the man and the woman decided that it was time to gather the sweet memories of their union and place them in a special place. The man took bits of his clothes and a rusted key from their favorite clock and assembled them into a book. This book, he called Time. 

The woman in turn, took bits of her own lace, some old love letters that he had sent her and a keyhole from the door of the home they shared together, and made it into another book. And this, she called Place.

After a time, the man and the woman passed on from this world. In their hands, they cradled a book close to their hearts. He cradled her book, and she his. For it was a promise that they made to each other … that one day, in a different place and time … the books would come together, and their hearts would once again unite …

this was what i've been up to over the weekend and the beginning of this week. i have been itching to play with polymer clay after putting it away for a while. my pasta machine wasn't rolling too good and baking the clay actually caused my electricity bill to skyrocket ... so i thought, hmmm, not a good idea to polymer clay too often. but once in a while, the desire returns :)

some time back i managed to acquire this beautiful trinket box from etsy. dun mind the white stuff tho, it's just some residual from the baby powder i used as releasing agent.. isn't the etching on the box cover just so beautiful!? you can see what lovely book covers this trinket box created simply by 'stamping' it on a piece of polymer clay and then aging it with acrylics. (of course ... it's never as easy as it sounds. took many attempts to get 2 close-to-perfect covers)  

another piece that i really wanted to share is this cuff which i made last week. this is the Cuff of Eryn Laer. in elven, Eryn Laer means the Forest of Song.

this time of the year brings much nostalgia, magic and romance ... it's Autumn afterall. Happy Autumn all ... and to my frens in the southern hemisphere ... Happy Spring!!

an array of stuff

my brains have been rather fuzzy for some time now. dun really know what it wants. haven't been working a lot on my art too, well ... not as much as i wish i would. maybe it's just plain old laziness or perhaps too much working out. i guess too much workout can make your brains go fuzzy.

i did manage a couple of pieces this week ... the first was a pair of mini copper house earrings. i was contemplating on how small i can actually make my no-solder birdhouses when i came across another artist's jewelry collection which consists of little houses. the artist is Kat Cole and her house collection is so adorable!! that sealed it then ... and so i made these.

have you heard of a song called 'Home'? ... when i think of home, i think of a place where there's, love overflowing ... i wish i was home, i wish, i was back there... with the, things i've been knowing ... 

well, when i was making the House of Love, i was singing this song ...

the second piece i made was somewhat self inspired or perhaps, self indulgent. ye know i've been working out hard to shed some pounds and get my cholesterol back down as much as i can. well, i guess i managed ... to finally reach my first goal of shedding 10 kgs. and this piece is like, a milestone. 

 
This piece is called Transcend ... becoz, if you Believe and you Transcend, you Make it Happen. 

yesterday afternoon i was clearing up my crafting space to get ready for a book commission when i came across bits of lace and some pieces of wires that i have hammered but not used. i toyed with them a bit and started putting them together ... and before i knew it, it was midnight and i had this necklace in my hands! it reminded me so much of Autumn, my favourite season of the year. 

Autumn for me, has always been 'back to school' time. During my tertiary years in the UK, autumn would be the time that I would return after a long summer break back home. I remember having long walks in the park and feeling the cool crisp air on my face. I would listen to the whispers of the falling leaves and be intoxicated by the damp woodsy scent of the trees. All around me lovers would snuggle a little closer to each other, sometimes exchanging soft kisses. Autumn is the season of romance, of reflections and of sweet melancholy. 

Rhapsody to Autumn ... my heart yearns to return to the time and place where i loved so much ...
 

now, back to reality! when i take commissions, i don't ask for payment in advance. i feel that this is sincerity on my part. i will make the piece, take photos and then show them to the customer, and only when the customer is totally satisfied, will i send them an invoice via paypal. well, sometimes, just sometimes, it's not such a great idea becoz after sending the photos, there's no reply.  and this piece was such a case ... 

it does not happen very often, perhaps only 3 times. most of my customers are ever SO lovely!! anyhow, the piece can always be listed in my etsy if it's not claimed.

**Just got a convo from the lady who commissioned the necklace :) so i'm a happy girl now!**

just before i go ... i'll leave you with this self explanatory photo collage ;)

creative block & some PEACE

Ahhh greetings! I'm back from the land of creative block. Not much of a vacation since all the tourist attractions consist of giant lego blocks of all shapes and sizes, which dun even fit together. Until one fine morning I woke up to this!

And then ... I AM HOME!!! My angel of metal stash in the form of Mr Barry Smith (yes you! kind sir :) has struck again! Isn't it great to have a creative guardian angel especially when one is wandering aimlessly in legoland? And this time, the stash even came along with a metal cutter!!! OMG!!! Aren't I blessed! Thank you so much once again B :)

I know this may seem veering off path, but please hear me out. On the 21st of this month, we once again celebrate World Peace Day. I have promised myself and a lovely friend, MaryJane that I would participate in this PROJECT championed by her (please click on link). Well, Barry's stash came just in time to get me out of legoland and straight into some rather contemplative thoughts on Peace.

The concept of Peace is never as simple as it sounds. For before any sort of communion or peace is achieved, most of the time sacrifices of some sort would have already been made. In Honor Of was created to remind us of such sacrifices, and to remember those who have fallen so that others/we may live in Peace.

When I first began making this piece, I knew I wanted a sort of shrine so that I may immortalize “Peace”. I proceeded to search for an old Treaty of Peace on the net and found one which dated back to 1783. Then somehow I had to find a way to highlight the word ‘Peace’ on the treaty. I chose to frame it through an old key mounted on a clay tablet. The heart symbol has always called out to me, but in this case, it screamed to be included.

The elements came together quite naturally and the piece was finally completed. But what I did not expect was the overwhelming poignancy that hit me when I looked at it as a completed piece. What begin as a shrine to immortalize “Peace”, suddenly looks to me, more and more like a memorial. Even the shape of the key reminded me of a cross. 

 
On a lighter note, it never fails to amaze me how the artwork can take a life of its own in the midst of the process, turning the artist into a mere doer of its fancy.

When In Honor of was created to remember those who have made that sacrifice so that others may live in peace, Declaration of Peace was a natural extension of the aftermath of this sacrifice.

The repurpose copper fashioned into a time capsule holding a rusted pen nib symbolizes “written peace” (like in Peace Treaties). A pair of wing findings, old gears and a heart make the other part of the piece. They represent an environment that I frequently associate with Peace … Freedom.