Project Mural

I was involved in a project last week where a local secondary school had about 200 of its students come today to make a mural that will ultimately be affixed on a wall in their school.

The theme of this project has something to do with the future... They were supposed to paint anything they like.. so long as it has something to do with the future.

I thought that most students would draw things like future transportation, equipments and technological related stuff. But to my surprise, many students drew pictures of nature - flowers, the sun, hills and beaches.

Quite surprising.. but interesting to know that many hope for a green future.

The students carved out the picture on a piece of soft clay tile, then painted 

them with various coloured oxides - here are some of their work.. 

Some students worked alone and others as a team to produce a larger painting

Wedding Corsages

In a typical Singapore Chinese wedding, the groom arrives early in the morning at the bride's place, with a group of male friends called "xiong di" (or brothers) to fetch his bride.

The bride would have a group of "jie mei" (or sisters) waiting for them and it is only after several games (more like obstacles, usually) and a fat "ang-pow" (red packet) later that the "jie mei" would consent to let the groom in and meet his bride.

Happy's wedding is tomorrow and she has lots of "jie mei". I wanted to help her with something for her wedding so upon my insistence, she allowed me to help her make corsages for her "jie mei".

Happy wanted red corsages and even though I don't really usually like red in things that are worn, I thought these corsages turned out pretty bright and cheerful.

Cheery red corsages - took me a while to make them.. but I really enjoyed it!

A vase and a bowl

Finally, these have been glazed and fired up.

These are made using the coiling method, which is essentially rolling out coils of clay by hand, then using a mechanical wheel, some simple tools and water to mould and shape the clay into the desired shapes.

This vase took me all in all.. about 7 hours to finish (I am very slow).. I am so glad the glaze work turned out the way I wanted it to..

I like how the streaks of bluish-green glaze turned out

The bowl I kind of rushed to finish.. so it has a "rushed" look as well... but it is the first piece I tried doing artwork on.. I thought the brown glaze didn't turn out as striking as I thought it would be.

Wished the glaze was a lot darker...

Handmade vase

Yesterday, I brought home a new vase.

I'm not one to own vases. I don't really get flowers often (Hint hint..), nor do I buy them very much. When I do buy flowers, I usually cut them really short, and put them in a small square glass container that I have.

But this is a vase I made. I have been attending lessons on and off at Spark Ceramic and made this vase a good few months back.

I've been learning to make things using the hand building method, which is essential rolling out pieces of clay into a coil, then using the coils to build something on a small wheel. This method is a lot slower than the "throwing method", which is what you see in the movie "Ghost", where a slab of soft clay is shaped by hand on an automatic wheel.

In total, I think it took about 2.5 lessons to make this vase, each lesson being 2.5 hours long.

In this technology world that we live in, it is nice to be able to really do something, I feel. Not like do a powerpoint or an excel, or completing a report, but really build something with your hands. Maybe that's why I like baking and gardening as well. Pottery gets a bit messy and requires loads of patience. But when the product is finished and fired, there is a deep sense of satisfaction in bringing back something you made.

My little vase

Fun beads

I found some really interesting beads and decided to get them to make some simple accessories.

Here are some pictures for a start. (I really ought to find a way to take good pictures indoors, I think it is my window film that is making all my pictures look a bit gloomy. If anyone knows of good tips for indoor photo-taking, pls kindly share them..)

I like this red apple bead because it has 2 sides to it, a "whole apple" side and a "cross-section" side. Plus it has a couple of shiny crystals on it that make it look quite cute. I made it as part of a necklace and paired it with a red Swarovski heart at the back of the chain to make it look more special. I thought the quality of the snake chain - the finishing and the weight - was really good too.


I also bought a milk bottle bead, 2 handbag beads and 2 baby pram beads from the same series.

This antique car bead is very cute too. I've always liked 3 dimensional beads. And "antique-look" beads. Since I've got quite a few of them, I used 2 and made them into a pair of dangling earrings. I paired them each with a tiny pearl bead to give a quainter look.


I bought loads of antique beads along with these. Too many to even list here. Will slowly but surely start to make more of these..

Etsy Shop - Kailo Chic

OK.. so I haven't really been blogging.. have been procrastinating for some really lame reasons.. busy with driving class, busy with baking classes... blah blah blah..

Whilst I wanted to blog on my hobbies - cooking, baking, gardening, etc.. is funny that one of my first blog should be about... my other not-so-wholesome hobby - shopping! hehe.

I was first introduced to etsy.com by a church friend of mine. "Your place to buy and sell everything handmade".. Ahh.. doesn't that sound quaint? I like handicraft and like things handmade. There are so many cool things in etsy. I always feel that you can browse endlessly inside etsy.

I stumbled upon this lady's shop today and since I always have a weakness for purses and clutch bag, it didn't take very long for me to fall in love with her etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5528925

So nice....She even has her own online shop - www.kailochic.com!

I really like this particular pouch.. it even has a polka dot lining.. :) *Sigh* So nice..