I AM MAKING 2 FORMAL DRESSES!

To wear at my friend's wedding. One bridesmaid (or as we call it 'sisters') dress and an evening dress for her wedding banquet. I would rather just BUY the dresses, but nothing really fits me since I have an awkward body shape lol or fits my budget too. Dug out my old school notes for drafting. The basic bodice totally looks wierd from what the 'model' typical size looks like (small bust, not so small waist lol) Anyhow I also wanted to save paper so I used tissue paper (bad mistake), it keeps ripping and flying all around and crumpling. The weather is so hot and I need the fan, just makes things worse hahahaa. See you can even see my table texture (marbleing) under the paper! I pray everything goes well. Hopefully if it does I'll do a short overview!

I've sewn so many clothes but never for myself. I prefer wearing knits and t-shirts. This is my draft for a basic block that took ages, I'll keep it for future use.

A rough sewn sample of my basic block. Of course, some alterations to be made after trying it on.

I went to the bestest place to get fabrics in Singapore- Arab Street. Much cheaper than Spotlight stores, prettier varieties and sellers less ill-mannered than Chinatown. My fabrics - white Indian silk (bridesmaid dresses are agreed to be white) and a terracotta red 2-toned Thai silk (for the wedding dinner). I'm a fabric snob, don't really use polyester unless it's poly-cotton blend (besides these silks are CHEAPER than the polyesters in Spotlight... go figure) Also some acetate lining, invisible zips and interfacings. Till the next post! Am absolutely tired lol

BUBBLE GIRL ACEO

My latest ACEO inspired by bubbles! I usually watch crime shows or mostly CSI while doing my artwork (yes not the most appropriate mood lol) and last night was an episode of 'Born to Kill', featuring the profile of the British serial killer, Harold Shipman. He was convicted of murdering 15 patients (he was a general practitioner), there is no way of knowing how many people he has killed during his career as a doctor. After that it was an episode of 'The Practice' of a trial of a doctor who administered a lethal dose of morphine to grant a mercy killing for the family. hehe can you see the link of the aceo and the shows? Hopefully not, because there isn't a link. Anyhow I love psychedelia and irridescence so that inspired me to do a concept illustration about it.

FEATURE - SUPERHOUSE

Walking into Superhouse's shop  is like walking in a toy store! Her items are kitsch and fun, and the colours just made me click just about everything! I love the little fun things that will be a delightful gift for especially kids and the kids in us. Visit it HERE. Here are some of my favourite products:

This caught my eye immediately- Lemon Vintage Necklace!! Need I say anything more?

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11237691

Spiderman multi charm necklace

 http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12046050

Mandarin Treasure Tin 

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10624602

Test Pattern necklace 

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10629431

And I just found out she had featured my Cheshire Cat ACEO in a Alice in Wonderland themed treaury! I am always in the treasury now to check out any Buy-and-Replace BNR events going on. 

Here's the link (expires in 2 days): http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=48157

ALL THE NETWORKING WE MUST DO

I just spent more than an hour updating my Flickr account which I had left stagnant for more than a month now. Really all these social networking sites, communities and marketing are just taking a whole chunk of my time when I can produce more artworks or accessories.

How many sites are you involved in?

For me let me take a headcount...

-DeviantArt is the only art community I'm in now 

-My website has been around since 1998 (geocities to atspace to a domain)

-MySpace

-Flickr

-Etsy

-Ebay (not for the past few months)

-Blog

-Threadless

For my beading shop

-2 Blogs

-Flickr

-Singapore Yahoo auctions

-8 local directories, 2 of which I constantly update my notice board

-That Slide widget I always update too

Recreation groups:

- 2 more deviantArt club accounts for Tenchu-clan & Studio Ghibli

- 1 yahoo club now semi-defunct but I still got my password

- My Yuzu fansite (which I really have no time to update since a year ago)

I'm sure I forgot some lol!!

Some places like Myspace and deviantArt I got tired and just lumped my two ventures together. hmm 17 places to visit just to promote online sales... might as well add 2 more -- FACEBOOK! Coming soon. I probably have joined Indie-something site too but I can't remember for what. My bookmark toolbar is really full lol. 2 browsers (Safari & Firefox) are used  so I don't have to keep logging in and out of different email accounts so much, I have 7 email accounts!!

Anyhow, my new ACEO below. It is nouveau-inspired and melocholic. Have a nice day updating & uploading =P

GOOD SNACKS

So I just came back from the night bazaar or 'Pasar Malam' here. The good stuff there is always the food! 

Below are some tea eggs or 'Cha ye dan' 茶葉蛋 ... very delicious, they are boiled eggs in some herbal 5-spice brew and tea. And soy sauce. The whole soup is black and the street vendors sell the eggs straight from the huge pot. The eggs I got from the night bazaar cost 50cents (US$0.35) each. They get boiled so long the fragrance creeps into the egg and makes them savoury tasty with a tinge of bitter chinese herbs.

I like to eat mine with a drop of soy sauce (I know it's already salty but still...) and pepper sprinkled on it. Can't eat too many yolks though (high cholestrol) lol

I also bought a coconut to drink. Yea it looks a little strange because it's dehusked and sitting in a bowl lol. The seller amazingly cracked the husk without ruining the coconut flesh so the juice don't seep out while I'm bringing them home in baggies. Quite ingenious.

This strange mash of unknowns are called 'Muah Chee'. They are so nice and chewy! Like chewing gum but edible. I think made of glutinous rice flour and oil, with a very faint sweetness to it. I'm not sure how they prepare it now but in the past they used to pound it over and over till it becomes an elastic lump. Anyhow the seller will cut out a lump into bite-sized pieces and toss them about in a peanut and sugar mixture. I dislike peanuts but this one is one of the rare peanut dish I ever take!