alternate reality

i've often wondered about parallel universes. if they exist. i believe that they do, well ... at least they do in my imagination. this week was particularly exciting ... becos the imagination was exceptionally active and the visuals vivid. i love days like these! its an escape. i travel to places where no one's been, and i travel without being out of the house. yea ... i'm a weirdo.  

my adventure began when i saw myself on a ship. a ship from a bygone era. i saw myself in a gown, with an old leather suitcase, a map of the New World (the 'then' New World) and an old fashion telescope. i felt wind in my face and i felt my heart pound with anticipation. it was SO real, and i wanted to remember this feeling in an artwork. so i grabbed one of my little book pendants.

the New World ... this piece is called. Faint gold writings on the back of the motif, just like an excerpt from my diary detailing my travels to the New World.

and the Key ... symbolizes the key to discovery, the key to freedom.

my next piece started with an experiment. i often view experiments as a journey of discovery. courtesy of Barry i have quite a few pieces of recycle mixed metals in my possession which i guard fiercely. today i picked out a piece of copper which was not too thin. i dun own plenty of professional tools so i use what i have. and what i had was a garden shear which surprisingly cut thru the copper sheet like butter!! and then it went on the kitchen stove to anneal, becos i knew i wanted to fold it.

what came out of it was this little house, origami-style-no-soldering house. 

i twiddled with it for a day, marveling at its cuteness (^.^) i knew i wanted to do something unique with it tho i didn't have a concept in mind.

i wanted to house a book. and maybe call this piece the House of Knowledge. i quite liked that. unfortunately it didn't work out. and then i made another little house, becos i wanted a House of Science and a House of Arts. those didn't work out either. but i still wanted my little book snugged cozily in there. then, as always imagination took over. 

my mind again traveled into a different realm ... this time it looked like a laboratory, old world laboratory. lots of instruments in brass, weird artifacts and loads of books on the shelves. it looked like one of those scenes in a hidden object game, or the movie the Golden Compass.

and as i placed the book into the house ...

like a time capsule, i was propelled into that alternate world. secret codes written in the book, if unraveled, would perhaps take you to a different place and time. wires twisted and knotted, like brainstorms, like conduits for the mind to travel into this alternate reality.

my heart that hangs off the little house, give it that goth-steampunkish look that i so love. and to remind me that every time i follow my heart, magic happens.
 

the miniature book is releasable from its catch, but attached to the house with a chain so you may not loose your secrets at any time. and so ... finally, it happened. the House of Alternate Reality.

asymmetry

it's nice to be able to blog again so soon, tho i suspect after this post i'll probably disappear for another 2 weeks or so since i've started taking orders again and intend to begin the frenzy tomorrow. took 4 days off since Thursday ... mostly off exercising actually, cos yours truly here, snapped something in her shoulder Thursday morning getting off bed and could not move her head for the past 4 days. couldn't look down ... not upward pass the thighs anyway. could only see as far as my thunder thighs and the head wouldn't bow any lower UGH! today is better, i could see my tummy :)

but that didn't deter me from making stuff now did it? of course not!! i just have to bring my materials up to eye level! over the weekend i made 3 pairs of asymmetric earrings. relentless! i realized that my last 6 items on etsy were earrings!! i remember there was a time when i just couldn't make earrings and now ... Maire was right she said once you start making them, you can't stop.  

it began with Lost & Found

i love how pretty but simple this pair came out ... sometimes its just freeing not to overthink things and let the energy flow where it wants to go. i didn't even realized that i had made this pair when i finished. that's how zoned out i was ...

and then of course, the smart-alec Otak (Brain in Malay Language) have to stick her nose right back in and i thought ... hmmm ... i wanna make another 2-word-jargon-inspired (whatever you call these idioms) piece.

the next 2 words that popped right in was Torn & Tattered

i could make 'Torn' with torn paper (i thought) but wanted to add something more to just, well ... torn paper. so out came my ever cute miniature music notes, torn and resin-ed into a bundle. and a 'Tattered' linen and lace bundle was the match.

i often find myself pretty unpredictable ... and that's how my creative energy flows too. Perhaps an attribute of my Piscean nature? 2 fishes swimming in different directions simultaneously. and so after all the old-world-oh-so-sweet-and-romantic-lalala, Otak decides to start a rebellion.

and the result is this dark and goth Angel & Demon!

would anyone even want to wear something like this!? 

'Angel' was easy-peasy to assemble, but 'Demon' ... hrmph!! true to his nature ... it took me treble the time to assemble him, dismantling and assembling at least three times before i was satisfied! little troublemaker!

anyhow, i am quite pleased with how this pair turned out ... 'art'-wise ... but wearability-wise ... hmmm ... i guess they are for very special, especially rebellious occasions :p 

ok ok ... i'll stop now ... a bit chatty today aren't we ...

of epochs, excaliburs and editorials

after giving myself a break from taking orders, i am slowly getting back into it. it was break i should have taken earlier! this week i completed a new journal and an old old commission that i've been putting off becos i just couldn't do it. i hope she still wants it! i realized that if i ever get into this seriously, like having a studio and doing this full time, i need to find a way to get myself out of this kinda 'rut' situation where my mind's telling me to be responsible and go finish the commission, but my heart is acting like one of those spoiled Hollywood brats whose only vocab is 'NO'.

anyhow that brat's gone, and here's something new i made ... it began as an experiment but turned out pretty convincing. sometime ago i did an online class with Mr Supremely-Awemazing Michael deMeng (one of my 3 favorite artists of all time) and he taught us how to use something called caulk ... yea, the kind for home repairs. this could be a cheaper alternative to texture paste. so when i had this design in mind, i wanted to try his 'caulk' tip.

The Coming ... this is called. "it is said that on the 21st day of the 12th month of the year 2012, the World as we know it shall end and a New Epoch shall begin ..."

the base of this cover was covered with the caulk substance and the raised areas is epoxy clay. you can see that after painting and aging, you actually couldn't tell between the 2 mediums! so that was pretty cool.

next, is the commission that i was finally able to complete. it's a revisited version of my Nimloth of Eressea journal, but with a twist. 

the client wanted it to have a sword and a crest of some sort and wanted the base to be forest-y green. something that a horseman of Rohan would carry. and altho the sword comes from another fantasy game call Warcraft, i thought it looked pretty lethal when put together in this assemblage.

them books was what kept moi busy last week, amidst the treadmill-ing, and the extra cardio running after baby Maia. oh YAY!! Maia is finally walking!! at 17 months! and now she's running ... *pant pant pant* ... better exercise than my treadmill actually (O_O)


there's one last thing i wanted to share. last month i made a couple of earrings and listed them on etsy. one night i received an email from a sweet lady named Debbie Blair who turned out to be the Managing Editor for a magazine called Handcrafted Jewelry. and it turns out, they wanted me to do a tutorial on one of my earrings, to be featured in their Fall's 2012 magazine! YAY!! 

i accepted and a tutorial on how to make "Ephemeral" will be coming out around September in the Fall 2012 issue of Handcrafted Jewelry :) 


before i go, for those of you who are interested in caulk, this is how it looks like and one of the surfaces you can create with it. you need to buy the acrylic or paintable caulk. don't get the silicone base ones, cos you can't paint on them. comes in a huge tube and you'll have to get a 'gun' to use it ;)

epic!