Sunday, June 29, 2008

LIVE SEAFOOD & CLOUDS

I went with my dad to a live seafood restaurant as they had half price off the menu. Dee-licious! You basically head off to the tanks and choose which marine animal you wanna eat. If not, the staff might serve you a semi-dead fish/crab to clear off stocks. Ok, I did have a tinge of guilt after I saw them being picked up but seafood tastes best frrrresh.

Marble Goby fried and served with a dose of soya sauce and spring onions. Crispy on outside, tender on inside.


Singapore's national dish - chilli crabs. This one is drowned in sweet chilli and egg, usually it's less gravy and you serve the gravy with bread or rice. It's wonderful, needless to say.

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Gotta work off those cholestrol, no more seafood for 2 weeks. I looked out of the window and the brilliant clouds caught my attention. I love evening skies.

Friday, June 27, 2008

NEW AIRPORT TERMINAL 3 VISIT

This morning I went to see my sister off at the new terminal of Changi Airport. Terminal 3 opened on Jan 9th this year, cost about $1.75 billion to build and it's beauoootiful! The lobby is vast, guess they spared no expense despite the limited land resources. It's like a giant mall with fountains. Many shops line the terminal, the viewing gallery has bars and restaurants so you can eat and drink while watching planes fly! There is a hypermart and a food court in the basement. I've always enjoyed airport visits especially when I was a child. Back then we only had Terminal 1 and I recall how my eyes were glued to this cool fibre-optics fountain that spans from basement to the top storey! During my teen years, it became common for students to head off to the airport to study on the carpeted floors (viewing gallery) because of the quiet ambience and air-con (what else lol).
 
Main lobby with lots of natural light streaming in.


A cascading waterfall and creepers on the wall.


The cascading waterfall is designed between the conveyer belts and bromeliad plants in the center with palms.


Shopping and food, just a portion of it on the ground floor.


Viewing gallery with restaurant below. You can spot the reflection of the bar on the glass! I'm on 3rd storey looking down at 2nd storey.


Wall fountain garden at basement 1, leading down to the train station below.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

ACEO PRINTS & INTERVIEW

Samrana of Grooveycrafts is gracious enough to feature me on her blog! Check it out on the link below, she spent alot of time on it! =) 

Also here are some prints I ordered to test out the quality (they are from ArtCardsWanted.com) and printed on Kodak photo paper (matt). I'm waiting for a replacement set because of an overcrop on these batch; hopefully they will come out perfect this time! The colours are nice and vivid, and has the hallmark of Kodak Paper on the back. According to the company, the Kodak Edge paper is silver-halide for better output from digital images. It will last 200 years before noticeable fading under normal home storage condition. I might go for fine art prints rather than photo prints next time but these will do for now as I cannot find a printer that will ship overseas. I'm curious to know how the rest of ACEO artists manage to produce prints!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

A WEDDING IN SINGAPORE

So it was rainy on my best friend's wedding day. It started pouring at 6am, the moment I set out to take a taxi. The groom was due to arrive at the bride's home at 7am and the 'sisters' (something like bridesmaid but not really either) are to create obstacle games for the groom and his 'brothers' before he can step into the house.

The games we arranged weren't too difficult, just a love song with the loudhailer from the ground floor to her window on the 5th floor, and some food and drink games for sabotage (chili padi biscuits and undiluted lemon juice for an unlucky brother).

After that, the sisters proceeded to barricade the main gate with a lock and to get in before the groom arrived upstairs. The groom has to bribe us until we are satisfied before we unlock the door. The money will then be split among the 6 of us.

Tsk tsk the money wasn't enough in the 1st red packet (a red small envelope containing cash) so negotiations go on till we received the 2nd red packet. We gave him a key encased in ice but too bad we didn't freeze it properly lol! They got it out in a jiffy. It wasn't the key to the main gate. The sisters decided to push for one more red packet before letting him in. That didn't work and we were pressed for time so we let him in after his brothers did 20 star-jumps on behalf of the groom. We are a very lenient bunch!

There was a short interview session with the videographer where we posed questions to the groom so we could have it recorded on DVD as evidence of his promise lol. And the ice key thing was the key to the locked bedroom and we had a password which was easy to guess lol 3-words before he could meet his bride.

So YH and LY were reunited at last, a quick kiss and lifting her veil and it was time for some phototaking sessions.
The 'brothers' were in blue and the 'sisters' in white.
Next we were transported to the groom's home for the couple pay respects to his parents. Had to be there by 9am sharp. And the clock chimed 9 just as she stepped in. Tea ceremony is the gesture of offering tea to all the elders (relatives & family) to signify acceptance into the family and respect to elders. The elders will then give red packets of cash to the couple for blessings. Also jewellery dowry is given to the bride from the groom's mother.

After the tea ceremony it was a quick buffet meal before heading back to the bride's home... with a very huge roasted pig that was used for offerings. The pig is rather creepy indeed!

Next is the tea ceremony for the bride's relatives and family. Pretty LY is dressed in the traditional chinese 'kua' for the event. 

Done for the morning! It's time for more food at the bride's home. After that we split home and come prepared for the next agenda which is the very important dinner banquet at the hotel! Oh yes there is no solemnisation for this wedding, that was done at the Registry of Marriage 2 years ago. Solemnisation and marriage vows applies on that day only if you got married in a church. 

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The reception! I was the audio video person along with another friend. The reception consists of the morning's 'sisters' and family. The pink box you see on the table is the red packet collection box where invited guests will drop their well-wishes of cash in red packets. A guestbook is on the table. Guests are allocated tables according to relations.

The dinner ballroom. No dance floor though, just eat! It was an 8-course dinner I recall. And yes shark's fin was on the menu.
The stage with champagne glasses and speeches to be made. A white screen on the left is where the DVD montages will be shown on cue!
As the banquet closes we realised that the couple got off too easy. Usually the newly weds will visit each table for phototaking sessions and a toast per table lol. However we forgot about that so we got them back for the last prank. They were to stand on the chairs and not allowed to stop kissing till our cheer ('Yum Seng') ended. Lasted a good while mwahaha...

And of course a full glass of red wine each. They got it down quick! Usually the groom will get tipsy by the time they ended their rounds but this time we seemed to have forgotten to toast so only a full glass for the whole night. Besides they hadn't eaten so not too good to drink on an empty stomach.
The end! It ended amazingly on time (not even 11pm). This was good because Singaporeans are habitual latecomers especially for wedding dinners. Lastly, below were the earrings I wore for her dinner because of my plain dress. Vintage from the 60s belonging to my aunt, she wore it on her own wedding. Mine was minus the necklace of course and the rhinestones has turned colour and dull but it was not noticeable at night hehe

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

EVENING DRESS COMPLETED

This is a rather chinese looking dress I'm gonna wear for my friend's wedding dinner banquet! Rust red Thai silk with glass beads, fully lined, the neckline is an overlap wrap and ends somewhere around mid-torso. The strap is bias-cut. It took me 5 days non-stop to sew this because I had to juggle errands too so I'm glad it's over. My lessons for the period: Invest in an invisble zipper foot for my domestic machine! The handstitching of the invisible zip took way too long - 4 hours- and it's not fun to sew when the weather has been extremely hot and humid even at night. Beading took 6 hours.

And Murphy's Law answers, just as I'm complaining the weather is too hot, it's pouring now =/ and I need the sunny weather to take photos of my vintage jewellery that just arrived... does that ever annoy you?!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

CUTE BUTTON PINS & AN INCIDENT

Yay finally here! My newly designed pins based on food =D I have more designs (original characters) still incomplete, and hopefully these will give me alittle pocket money and promote my shop abit more. 1" diameter, and available in my Etsy store in sets. I spent alot of time contemplating if a nice packaging should be included, and decided to. To save costs, I printed the attached cards on my inkjet printer to size on pretty pearlscent cards. After that I sprayed fixative because it is not waterproof. Not too shabby looking, I'm relieved! The pins are suspended on a piece of translucent fabric. Every purchase will include a little something extra!




Also, an incident happened during the afternoon yesterday (Fri 13th now I see), I  was walking on my way home with lunch and saw this frail old woman put her groceries on the ground opposite a carpark so I thought she was waiting for someone; and as I turned around to walk to my apartment block I heard a loud thud... turned around and she had fallen face down. Freaked me out, my first reaction was to make sure she didn't have a stroke or something; she fell on the ROAD from the pavement. Thankfully not a busy road with just a few cars coming out of the carpark! I dunno where she was hurt but she was bleeding alittle from her mouth and she didn't speak English and I didn't have my cellphone with me.

Thankfully a stranger driving a company van stopped and offered help to call ambulance. Then thank God again, as I was going to get some help from the clinic nearby when this girl from across the street suddenly shouted  that she knew that old woman. We were going to call the ambulance but the old lady didn't want to (she was conscious) because she couldn't afford to. Through translation, we learnt that the weather was too hot and she fainted because she was dehydrated. The blood was probably because she fell face down on her cheek from the pavement. So I ran to the nearby bakery to buy a bottle of water and the girl called her dad (who was the pastor of that old lady) to take her home. 

How about that, it was just the right timing for all of us that I was there when the old lady fell because no one else was there and dangerous to be alone lying on the road; and the kind stranger who was just turning into the carpark arrived just as I needed to find a phone without leaving the old lady out of sight. And most imptly, someone who was a friend of and could speak to the old lady so we knew that she was ok. Thank God!!

Friday, June 13, 2008

SAKUMA SHIKI DROPS COMMEMORATIVE TIN

I blogged about the Sakuma Shiki Drops in March and look what I saw in my neighbourhood store! The commemorative tie-in with Studio Ghibli's 'Grave of the Fireflies' (Hotaru no Haka) design! More expensive but the movie is one of my faves, I just gotta collect it... I still have a tin of candy from my last purchase so not opening this for now.

If you haven't watched the movie, and am in the mood for a poignant historical film, check this one out. Produced in 1988, it is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka about 2 siblings who struggles to survive near the end WWII in Japan.


Thursday, June 12, 2008

NEW BUSINESS CARDS!

For my beading & vintage costume jewellery blog shop! Previously I had cheap self-printed kinds on cardstock because of a last minute bazaar to make do, but finally! I thought customers will be more likely to keep a nicely printed card rather than toss them = less wasteful =)


It's dual use where the back is plain so I can either write a thank-you note, or use it as a necklace card. Matt laminated, stiff card and unlimited colours for offset printing(!!), 300 pieces for only S$30 (abt US$23)! What a deal. I printed it locally and the printer was near my home (I printed my Lemon Shortbread biz cards there too and was very satisfied tho they are a very new company - at that time their studio seemed halfway renovated).

I wish my designing skills could be better & cuter, looking at the Etsy Packaging pool on Flickr, those packagings really make me drool! I would love to know what you guys think, and if there are any spots I can improve on? There is a cropping problem on the back tho (my image was placed too low digitally and overcropped =P)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

YELLOW CROC FRIEND ACEO

New ACEO that I had left uncoloured for a few days while I was busy sewing. Finished this while watching 'COPS' (lol yes the one that goes 'bad boys bad boys whatcha gonna do') and 'The Practice' again. It is available at my Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12468825

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

MAKING FORMAL DRESS PART 3

SEWING LINING TO FABRIC... CONT'D:
So here I have attached the lining to the fabric on the inner sides. There is only one method to do this because there is no way you can join all seams on one side: you have to sew halfway while joining the seams, then flip it around and finish the other half from the other side. If you are worried about the seams not matching up when fixing the 2-halves, you can take the less stressful method of leaving a gap like what I did in the photo.


The gaps can be easily concealed with handstitching! Just hide your knots well. 


ATTACHING INVISIBLE ZIP:
I don't have an invisible zipper foot for my domestic sewing machine (which is really essential) so what I did was to sew as close to the zipper tooth as possible. Then I handstitch it by holding the zipper teeth outwards with my thumb and do secure stitching to my center back (with the specialised zipper foot it is designed in a way that the zipper teeth are flipped out when you are sewing, making zippers an easy task). Very time consuming with handstitches but no choice for me!

*Tip 5* Make sure your seams align when the zipper is closed!  I have a waist seam so that was important to make sure they are not uneven when zipped. It looks unprofessional if the lines don't match. Also the top seam you might just get one up and down if you're not careful. Just be patient and use pins or tacking and test it out before sewing it.


Next I understitch the facing piece, note it doesn't go all the way around the straps because the machine can't do it. It's better than nothing though, and after that I steam everything nice and flat.


ATTACHING ZIP TO LINING:
The quick way is to use a machine, but I prefer handstitching with invisible stitches to save me the stress of trying to align the seams. 

*Tip 6* I iron out the seam first then use a single white thread and stitched it on the zip a little to the side so the zipper won't catch the lining and rip it. The bottom of the lining piece is sewn first with machine then I just steam the seams open.


*Tip 7* Optional: I use a 'little worm' (not sure what it's called in English) as a buffer for the zipper so the stitches don't wear out when you pull down the zip.


HEMMING:
I use invisible stitches to hem. Double fold, iron then handstitch. My slits were originally on the side (it was an A-line skirt then I altered it into a straight skirt to make it look more stylish) but I shifted it into the center back so I didn't manage to leave a seam to fold in, but I stitched it anyhow. Won't fray because I'm using the selvedge for the center back. And I added another 'little worm' at the top of the slit too. 

I used machine for the lining's hem.


RIBBON:
Made with 3 pieces of  scrap cloth, the bow is made with a rectangular piece, the tail with 2 pieces and the 'knot' is from a small rectangular piece. Not hard to assemble, after that it's sewn onto the waist band of the dress!

Done! I just need to iron this and it's ready =D Now I'm gonna make my 2nd dress. Hope I didn't bore you to death!!

Monday, June 9, 2008

MAKING FORMAL DRESS PART 2

So I'm almost done with my white tea-dress, the fitting is not perfect but I'm still gonna wear it anyway after spending  2 full days sewing it! Here's a very brief outline of what I did:

PAPER PATTERNS:
Drafting and cutting out of paper patterns. Very important to make sure all your seams align before cutting the cloth, so you don't have to handle the excess cloth when sewing. It is the darnest occurance when somehow the measurements don't match after minusing here and adding there. The most impt part of the draft to me is the hip line. Because you can't walk if you don't leave extra ease around your hips.

I draw out my facings, linings and original fabric pieces separately. I don't use a tracing wheel because it becomes inaccurate when the paper shifts around while tracing (esp on my flimsy tissue paper!). I do it in pencil. After doublechecking that the total circumferences of bust, waist, hip and side seams tally in measurements, then do I cut it out.
FABRIC CUTTING: 
Cut fabric time! This photo below shows the lining pieces. Steam your fabric & lining fabric before cutting them to make way for shrinkage. I'm using silk so not supposed to have water contact but it was crumpled from folding so I just let out a wee bit of steam. 

*Tip 1* To mark the dart points, I use a pin, poke thru fabric and use a tailors chalk to dot the dart point instead of using tracing wheel. It's very accurate that way. Snip the edges to indicate your allowances and you can use a ruler and chalk to draw your darts on the fabric. 

*Tip 2* You may notice the lining becomes very tight when worn although you use the same measurements as your original fabric patterns. To avoid that problem I include a pleat in my lining (this time I used 2 pleats since there are 2 back pieces because my zipper is at the center back). Yea! That way your dress will be all comfy.

INTERFACINGS:
I also cut interfacing which is the same paper pattern as the facings, and iron them onto the facings immediately so the fabric won't stretch so much from my rough handling lol

SEWING:
Ok so I assemble the pieces: darts and seams that are easily sewn. Then you come to the part of...

SEWING LINING TO FABRIC:
Here the dress is in shape, I want to attach the armholes of the lining to the silk fabric from the outside first. Of course if you have other sequences, it's perfectly fine too!

*Tip 3* For sewing curves, the more curvy the seam, the more snips you have to make on the inner seams so the cloth will stay flat when you flip it out. Else there will be a tension of the thread and cloth and your fabric will pucker badly. Don't want that, so I snip really generously like 8 snips per curve lol. See? My armholes don't pucker any more. 

*Tip 4* After steaming seams flat I sew an understitch (that is, securing the seams towards the facing-lining piece) to make the seams fold backwards better. It really makes a difference and your seams will be as neat as... origami =P ! I'm hooked on that method, or usually a topstitch to flatten stuff but this dress I don't want stitches seen on the front so understitch it is.


To be continued.. need to sleep now it's like 4am =P