MOONCAKES PACKAGING - TUNG LOK

I just thought the packaging for mooncakes this year from Tung Luk (group of restaurants) is SO pretty! Even saved a clipping of their adverts for future reference =) There was a feature on mooncake packaging (for the upcoming Mid-autumn Festival/ Mooncake Festival) in the papers today as well. I collect tin boxes so if there's any chance I can get my hands on one of these (the yellow one especially) it'll be awesome. I recall in the previous years Tung Lok used old-school Shanghainese ladies painting, but this time they got a gorgeous real model!

Visit their site here: http://www.tunglok.com/

Unfortunately I don't like mooncakes so the other festival pastry option is the 'Pig in Basket' biscuit (Zhu Long/ Zhu Zai Bing) which are made from the same dough as the skin of the mooncakes. They are totally cute & yummy! Will blog about that another day =)

CANDY & MONSTER PET PINS

Here are my latest collection of button pins / badges! They are only 1" so I thought to sell them in a pack for more impact. I still have another set of 5 designs which will turn up in 2-3 weeks time, can't wait! 

Available in my Etsy shop here: Pins & Brooches

The candy set is inspired from a long time ago when my classmate had this Cutest (yes with a capital 'C'!) pencil case in dark blue back in the 1980s. I really liked it as a child and would constantly steal a peek at it. The cover was a scenery of a park with a fountain, Japanese-made no less; so now I want the same flavour to these pins.

This next set is a batch of original characters which I created in 2006, and is part of a larger artwork collab called 'Fortune Cookie Prize' with a host of many more creatures. There's a print of it on my wall even! I took the 5 cutest-hideous and re-coloured it. They are rather hilarious, my fave is the Bleeding head dog! Let me know which one you like best or you find the most hideous =)

FELT FLORAL BROOCHES

New floral motif brooches! It is handstitched with 5 layers of felt and glass beads on top, it is to complement all my floral illustrations, they have similar styles too. They aren't symetrical because each is hand-cut freestyle, which makes every brooch unique. Available in my Etsy shop, just follow the links to see the items!

Pink and Tan Flower Brooch

I wanted to make these because of a hairpin from the 60s from my aunt, made of bias ribbons into florals. I simply love those vintage stackable Japanese floral beads too! Love how kitsch and happy they look.

Pink and Teal Flower Brooch

NEW ART - MEANDERING

Finally a larger piece of art just completed. It takes me a super long time to finish anything once I lose interest, in this case about a year+ for this relatively simple pic lol. I didn't like some parts of the illustration and only continued with it again after seeing it rotting in my psd folder! The background is composed of blue daisys and echeverias I took at the Getty Museum & one stock photo. Some pictures here in this blog post: Flower Photos

YAHOO AUCTIONS SINGAPORE KAPUT =(

This is a shock, I had to blog about it! 

I feel so disappointed, was counting on Yahoo Auctions Singapore to stay up for much longer after the US one closed down but I guess nothing can last long when it's free and ad-less huh. Good bye Yahoo Auctions Singapore, you've been good, you taught me my first online transaction way back in 1998/9 when I sold an item through a friend, a used clothing probably... There was alot of buzz because it was hip and new outlet for pocket money, and I enjoyed reading the occasional mudslinging in the comments! Not to forget selling many items like cds and magazines. Back when I was still in the school computer lab because I didn't own internet or a computer... when I was supposed to be sewing my assignment and my lecturer always looked in the internet lab if he wanted to find me instead of the sewing rooms lol 

I've had tons of deals like an original Dior bag at S$150, The Sims 2 DVD for mac at S$30.00 to name a few. Though kind of expected it because the site has had this technical difficulties notice for the past few months.

Let's hope the Taiwan and Japan one stays up. Usually there are better & more listings on Yahoo Auctions Singapore than Ebay Singapore (where it never caught on with sellers unlike the US where it's the complete reverse), maybe it'll change now? With the numerous restrictions and rules, and fees (used to be entirely free), will we see a migration of sellers to Ebay Singapore? Maybe then we have less of those dead bidders and 'fast deal call me at XXXXXX' auctions and pirated wares lol.

Oh well, adieu then!

TYPOGRAPHY & ILLUSION - YEHRIN TONG

Time to time I'll come across a designer with awesome skills while surfing around. 

Yehrin Tong Illustration: http://yehrin.proteinos.com

Wonderful typography making use of lines, curls and optical designs, his repeat patterns also remind me of one of my favourite artists, M.C. Escher's, work.

Talking about optical illusions, I simply love them! I can't find an image of my favourite counter-rotating spirals so here's another famous spinnng spirals illusion:

GREMLINS STOLE MY EARRINGS

The story goes like this:

I placed a pair of earrings to be reworked later in a lacquer bowl. The next night Stephen King's 'Rose Red' was on tv, just as the show was getting exciting I wanted to work on the earrings to make use of time on the sofa and went to grab them from my room. So I looked into the bowl and they were gone! There were other beads and a few junk jewellery too, and I was sure I placed the earrings into it so it wouldn't get lost... but it apparently walked off on its own.

These things always seem to happen so I dumped the contents out and extra-carefully searched them one by one several times including behind this small jewellery box just in case it got stuck in between (I know it sounds so stupid lol). Earrings were either invisible or I was blind lol I couldn't find it at all in that small bowl... and not to mention I've already missed a whole chunk of the show so gave up in frustration and just had this gut feeling that I'd find it in the same spot as if it didn't go anywhere the next day. Guess what? I was right!! The next afternoon it magically reappeared in the lacquer bowl!! Nobody touched it for sure so... it's the gremlins! Why they need a pair of pink earrings for anyway?! To make me miss an exciting part of Rose Red?? 

The top artwork is another preview of my new pins set! ;) 

REUSE FLYERS INTO ENVELOPES

Unwanted spam flyers are so prevalent here in Singapore, I receive about 15-20 pieces of flyers a day mostly property ads or handwritten notes looking for apartments. They annoy me, I don't think anybody here ever looks at them.

In addition, today I received coupon flyers from Burger King, Pizza Hut & a supermarket. Because 80% of Singaporeans live in high-rise apartments, and we share a common letter box area in the void decks (ground floor), so it is very easy for people to choke 100+ mailboxes in a few minutes. Our post office is not helping either, I believe they are culprits of unwanted mail too; you can pay them to distribute flyers on your behalf. The post office itself stuff their corporate flyers telling us to buy computers or cellphones from them =/   

With all that paper trash around, here is a way to make use of the nicer ones... as envelopes! 

****

Step 1: Fold the paper into 2, leaving an excess which will later be your flap.

 

Step 2: Fold the 2 side edges, about 1.5cm

Step 3: Fold the top flap down.

Step 4: Open the folds, and on the lower part of the paper, trim off the 1.5cm sides, pivoting at the first crease.

Step 5: Do the same for the other side and you should have this

Step 6: Trim off  the sides at a diagonal. At the crease where the flap is, cut it perpendicular to the crease line.

Step 7: Add glue or double-sided tape to the sides.

Step 8: Glue them down and you should have this.

Step 9: The flap you can have a few ways to neaten them; here I decided to cut a rounded corner.

Done!  This is the front. It's some ad for jade fengshui thing.

Use them for anything like packing supplies for orders! I hand-make all my envelopes using wrapping paper too.

WACKY PRODUCTS - ATYPYK

ATYPYK (http://www.atypyk.com)

I can't even pronounce their company's name or remember how to spell it but their site left an impression on me.

Welcome to the quirky, unorthodox, things-that-people-don't-need products known as ATYPYK from France. No matter how ridiculous or useless your merchandise may be, take it from these guys: packaging does help to sell. To see their list of items, go to the 'Products' tab on their bottom menu and click on the small grey arrows to see each item or use their drop menu. Makes fun gifts or to kill time!

NATIONAL DAY & NEW PINS

I've managed to strike off another 3 points off my to-do list. Maybe you guys should draw up a list too and get your projects completed! This is a preview of my new pins design; am launching 3 new sets in addition to my current fruit set & desserts set. They are: Animal Kids (above is an example), Candy and Killer Pets (old art). Stay tuned while I send them off for pressing.

MY TO-DO LIST:
- Finish my paper dolls book
- Finish my zines
- Finish my fashion illustration spread
- Set up categories for my jewellery shop
- Make more jewellery with the tons of supplies I have
- Finish my set of greeting cards & stationery
- Update lemonshortbread.com
- Get working on bookmarked accounts for exposure
- Learn painting
- Finish my paintings
- Tidy my table
- Buy more storage boxes
- Finish my new set of stickers and pins
- Stop getting distracted on the internet (TRYING!)

And Singapore's National Day Parade on 9 August was superb! Except it was raining almost the whole day lol. Oh well tropical weather but wasn't as bad as the other years where there were downpours and people got soaked. From my apartment I could catch the fighter jets doing their air stunts. I get excited everytime I catch a glimpse (albeit miniscule) of anything that is simultcast on tv and seeing it in real life, but too bad me don't live high enough to catch the fireworks =(

Watching the parade is a yearly tradition, I've been watching it on tv every year since a wee toddler, always an extravaganza and mushy patriotic songs; except for the 3 parades in person (1994 was one). Twice I was a participant, and once my brother had 2 free tickets for being in the army packing the goodie bags lol. Maybe next year I'll try to submit my name for a ticket (it is very limited and drawn by ballots). Anyhow see the lousy shots I managed to take of the 5 jets:

LOVE!

CLEARED 2.5 OF MY CHECKLIST

Yup, continuing from my last post, I bought 7 storage boxes, wrong kinds but it'll do for now...

And canvas to practise painting! Now just to paint on it...

And I finally got successful with wireworking to secure a cab without glue, and made jewellery. It's available at my 2 blog shops: Pretty Conversation & Lemon Kitscharms.

Oh and tomorrows the Beijing Olympics! And the day after is our National Day, but no breaks for me. I'm sourcing for a decent digital print shop in Singapore and no luck so far. The photo labs that are excellent are too far away from my home, though there are many around my home. Those don't seem to be run by anyone knowledgeable or experienced in proper file handling. The printers here aren't familiar with 'archival' or ever heard of 'giclee' or 'acid-free'. The ones online based in US don't ship overseas, or shipping is too expensive by FedEx. So, I'm going to try out the different labs till I get someone who has a suitable colour calibration.

TO DO LIST & PROCRASTINATION

I have alot of things to do on my checklist but it never seems to materialise because of too many ideas done at once and dropping a project before I'm even done! Check out the super brilliant Procrastination stop-motion animation by Johnny Kelly. Love it, reminds me of those Sesame Street animations I talked about a few posts back. I think me need to tidy my table though, that isn't procrastination instead I procrastinate cleaning it lol

Meet Gus the Bear who likes to procrastinate his essay.

MY TO-DO LIST: 
- Finish my paper dolls book
- Finish my zines
- Finish my fashion illustration spread
- Set up categories for my jewellery shop
- Make more jewellery with the tons of supplies I have
- Finish my set of greeting cards & stationery
- Update lemonshortbread.com
- Get working on bookmarked accounts for exposure
- Learn painting
- Finish my paintings
- Tidy my table
- Buy more storage boxes

- Finish my new set of stickers and pins

- Stop getting distracted on the internet

ABANDONED RUINS FLASH GAMES

Heard of time wasters? I mean flash games, it's so easy to get distracted with all these wonderful (and free) games packed with enough entertainment to make me miss a few days of work! 

Anyhow I have an interest in looking at abandoned places and ruins. Decayed buildings have a sense of texture, forlorn atmosphere, objectification (is this even a word?), creepiness, nature and surrealism all rolled into one. Yum. I've got a couple of blogs and sites bookmarked just for reference and to oogle at, maybe I'll share them another day. Most of the time I'm content with just looking at photographs, you'll never know a place in ruins might have roofs crashing on your head or you have to dodge security people, snakes and such... Here I'd like to share with you 3 of the abandoned places flash art which stand out in my mind, yes I classify them as art because they are so well made. They aren't exactly games but interactive scenes.


99 Rooms
This is a interactive flash sequence made with photos of abandoned warehouses in East Berlin, animated with some grafitti-like horror sequences. To progress each room, you will need to click or fulfill an action. Needless to say there are 99 rooms so this may be an entertaining way to kill some time. It's one of the first flash games I've ever played back in 2005, and I'm glad the site's still up.
http://99rooms.com/

The Hospital
The hospital is more of an artistic approach of various scenes taken of an abandoned hospital, spliced and added with animation and surrealism. This game has no end, and you navigate by clicking on areas of the map and exiting by clicking 'back' to the menu. For a bonus you can find hotspots and a little camera icon will appear on the top right where they show the original photos compared to the screen version. Nothing scary about this game so relax!
http://hospital.apoka.com/

NFH Propaganda
This one is a slick, horror interactive animation of an abandoned car factory of sorts. I really like how creepy it is. When you have successfully performed a series of actions by finding the hotspots, a right arrow will appear below the screen so you can proceed to the next area. Nevertheless there's a map included so you can move on easily if you're stuck. The scenes are loaded separately so it may take some time to complete this game. This one has shock & gore so enter with caution.
http://www.nfhpropaganda.com/

THE 120 BUCK FISH...

... is this!



Sorry for the ugly cuisine shot but we were too eager to tuck in & I forgot to snap a pic! Not sure what fish this is (not the red garoupa). Live seafood again and it cost $124.20 to be exact for the steamed fish at the restaurant and the only reason why my dad and I went is because of the 50% discount on all live seafood, so we paid about $60! That and a plate of garlic vege ($8) and a bowl of white rice. Exorbitant yes. I've said before I may not like fish but this one was tender, sweet and yummy!

Singapore's National Day is coming up on 9th August so I managed to whip out my camera in time to catch the fighter jets rehearsing a few days back... or whatever's left of it!