creationism in black and white

 

I feel the urge to create coming back, beyond the card I illustrated for my cousin's wedding (which she used as part of her wedding presentation!) and the Tearing Wax Candle Holders I made. This is a welcome move as I had a dry spell for an entire year apart from a few random sketches where my pen surreptitiously moved inside my notebook pages. I got reminded of the long pair of gloves I studded sometime back in Singapore in preparation for Cambridge life (yeah right, more like I was being vain), and a set of photographs that showcased them. . 

The emphasis being on the accessories here-- a faux fur collar and long black leather gloves. It's so hard to find huge dangerous-looking studs back in Singapore. Of course there was Ebay UK and US, but delivery charges were a bit insane for a tiny packet, I decided to practice extreme delay of gratification. I was so happy to find a children's Stud Your T-Shirt With Mickey Mouse set in a 7-11 store whilst waiting for my friend to pick me up from the bus interchange. Of course, I wasn't planning on having a silver Mickey silhouette on my tee, but I love buying crafting materials knowing I will use them someday* . And so when I found these gloves from m)phosis on major discount, I knew I was going to get Stud Happy with them.

Back to The Look-- bold eyes did the trick here, together with juicy coral lips (see first picture of this post for a better idea).

*Imagine when you decide to make necklaces in the middle of the night you have to source online and wait for delivery till they come?

Studding is done both at the base and then it radiates upwards from the base of your thumb towards your index finger to simulate a ring. Jewelry and accessories-- purrfect for greedy souls like myself.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Finally, I arrived in the UK. Ebay delivery fees were £2 instead of £20. So I ordered myself a large packet of mixed studs. But I had no urge to create anything in Cambridge. Actually I had little urge for many things there. So the studs sat in my Craft Boxes, together with the millions of things that needed repairs involving hot glue guns, wires and pliers. Last night I remembered how I used to create stuff whilst watching the telly. You see, I stopped watching tv back in 2007 or 2008, apart from the occasional drama when I was sitting with my family whilst having dinner. They always say that family dinners with the tv is bad for your family as it reduces the dynamics, but in my family, everybody talks, laughs, discusses and gets distracted, telly time involves a lot of interaction. Okay, why am I talking about that now. It was scary that so much time gets eaten up with television. Say, you start at 7pm and then you end at midnight. And then you watch all the US drama serials freshly broadcasted on the internet for another few hours (I've never had cable before-- people think I'm poor for that lol), you have no more time left. Plus I also started working very very hard.

Quite possibly because yesterday was Epiphany, I had my own epiphany that our Stargate Atlantis marathons** were . . tv! And that I had ordered new soft leather gloves. . and that I had so many things I wanted to create. . and that I had finished up loads of work earlier before Christmas just so I could craft. Then The Bad Unjust Apocalyptic News hit. Then there was the holiday season. Then. . The Epiphany. 

**I am going to become Fashion Blog That Mentions Stargate The Most. 

So I crept into my storage cupboards and pulled out my tools. And assembled together likely designs. Finally I decided to Be Greedy. Et voila, asymmetrical gloves! Complete with a 'ring' on the right side. Because you should Be Greedy.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

And whilst we are at it, I also created this ruffled collar|necklace back in Singapore. Made of ruched black fabric, a silver chain across its center hooks it into place. I just realised it's perfect with the many turtlenecks one can wear this winter season. The photography is terrible, but it's the middle of the night and the light upstairs leaves much to be desired. .

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Instead of sleeping last night after doing up my gloves, I starred at my many necklaces hanging in my bedroom. Many of which, were sort of nice but not really my type. Sometimes snapped up during massive sales because I loved certain elements, at other times out of impulse. But as my style evolves, loads of them no longer cut it for me. Together with bits of broken jewelry in my craft boxes, ribbons, lace and other materials classified under 'Will Come In Useful Some Day', I laid many pieces on the floor, hung some up on hangers, and started to play around.

This was a ring that I hardly wear anymore, but love the design still. And therefore decided to incorporate it, together with a lace bow and a vintage brooch from my mother's box. I remember that box since my childhood-- a small rectangular wooden box from India with beautiful carvings and shiny bits on top. In it contained some beautiful brooches, of which she gave me a few. Whenever I think of The Mother Vs. Yours Truly, I think of her as stylish, polished and classy and myself as chameleonic, sometimes a bit cheap in terms of taste (i.e. high-street ripoffs) and then I hang my head down in shame like Tom Dooley. Whilst striving to improve myself, of which I do believe (and not in a delusional sense) that considerable advancement has been attained.

Definitely loving this creation of mine :)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

 

Technically, this is not a creation, but rather some inspiration that struck me like a bolt of lightning. These two necklaces would be awesome layered together.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

And my final piece of the past 24 hours-- an asymmetrical layered necklace. The curved silver bits came from a multiple tiered piece that was a little too delicate for my liking, so I decided to make it a little chunkier. As I assembled together chain links, pearls, silver cords and the large black mirrored gem (of which I modified the border from gold to silver), I started grinning to myself. This piece evokes the ornaments and embellishments that early humans in ancient settlements would wear to demarcate the social class they belonged to-- markers of differentiation that are deep within one's primal origins. Also, that today's symbols for vanity in accessorising has got much deeper roots. And hence I christened it Upper Echelons.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Hope you've enjoyed this post. . Thank you for the New Year wishes . . and I definitely hope to meet at least some of you this year! xxx

wax lyrical and muse sentimental

 

Remember the wax-dripped bottles at the pub that I was drooling over? It got added onto my To Do list, even if D said it would take years to achieve. I went to the Cargo sale and got a pack of six long red dinner candles (amongst many other delightful things for the flat) and decided to attempt a hand at recreating them. Artificially, of course. Since I do not wish to wait years. Spread some newspapers on the kitchen worktop and proceeded to light candles, dripping wax in various different patterns. . and voila!

roll on your red socks & rock your mini

The thing about women is that we invariably tend to link outfits with occasions in our memory-- e.g. "Oh! THAT event, I remember now, you were wearing (insert shoes) and (insert dress)"-- or worse still, have an extremely acute recollection of the last time we wore some item. This condition is particularly accentuated when you have enough pieces to last you at least three years if you wore a different look every day without buying anything new. I know how I tell my mother or D that I have worn something before "three times!" triumphantly, and they'd go "Oh, great achievement huh?". Well, there are people with loads of clothes sitting in their wardrobes still with the tag on from five years ago-- clothes they bought but do not dare to wear out because they have some mental lookbook in their head following the diktats of Latest Trends Everybody Wears, which really defeats the purpose of even buying anything. I maintain that my ethos is still much healthier. Hey, at least the clothes get worn! And as long as I remain the same size (fingers crossed!) it should all be alright. One danger of having too many clothes, though, is that if you suddenly pluck something out and wear it, you'd get questioned "Is that new? I have never seen it before" and a big smile lights up your face whilst you recall how happy you were to discover that piece in some boutique or jumble sale or the oohing and ahhing your best friend and you did over that, whilst doing mental sums and jumping up in semi-fright at how time has passed by.

"No! It was six years ago! I got it for Christmas during the Mango sales, and I picked it up from this branch in__ and. . ." was my latest retort. I was telling the truth. Well, I'll be honest, sometimes I still wear clothes I bought at 12 (err. . they look good still!), which was a bone-chilling twelve years ago. I figured that if Wear History all the time with vintage clothes and pieces from my grandmother and mother, why not old pieces by me. I have a confession to make. Half the time I walk around with no idea what the latest trends are (not that I really care), it is only when I see enough people in a certain Look that it starts to dawn upon me. By which I am even less bothered after being visually desensitised. After all, Latest Faux-En-Vogue (let's face it, loads of them are really ugly and a dime a dozen and often quite boring) always has prices jacked up ridiculously and everybody wears the same thing, the last time I remember wearing uniforms was when I did my ALevels in junior college. Plus I also am attracted to odd stuff-- shiny things, ostentatious decadent looks, curtain prints (yay for wearing curtains!), and humongous jewelry-- way before anyone will start telling me "How are you gonna wear that? It's too __" a.k.a. nobodywearsthem. Well sometimes I am too glad I don't have this StyleDiktatGhoul whispering into my ears as auto-reflex and thus putting the brake on me buying odd stuff. After all, another amazing thing about odd stuff is that if nobody buys them, you'll be guaranteed great bargains during the sales! Well I could write an entire treatise on that.  I also have no idea what goes on during the various Fashion Weeks save for the blogs I surf around-- hail blogosphere education!-- and, well, enough confessions for now. Inspired by the lovely stylish Collette of Statements in Fashion's upcoming RE-Style section where she discusses re-wearing clothes bought eons ago and even charmingly labels their ages in a photograph, I thought, why not!  I trawled up old photographs of the other times I wore certain pieces-- a way to examine how you've evolved or revisit ways of styling something. My first attempt-- a colourful printed mini I wore recently; and then back in July 2008. Well, actually the only two times I've worn it.

derelict markets

There are some things that seem to last forever; and no, they don't have to be diamonds of which their alleged perpetuity really is part of a clever DeBeers marketing campaign back in the day. I remember this bangle which I had at 2-- set in Indian stones which I used to play dress-up with. It remains near and dear to me. The Mother's collection of belts, too, which probably are older than I am-- gorgeous vintage exquisite leather belts that I know I should purchase rather than my nonsensical knockoffs. I remember wearing pom-pom or anklet socks as a child too-- something that could be found at every shop in some housing estate in Singapore, but now only to be found in sex stores online. Or the choker I made from fabric roses in pots at home whilst studying for my A-Levels, thereby rendering all the fake flower pots bald during that period. Slightly less far back in memories would be this dress. One morning in Brisbane my cousin and I hopped onto a train to the factory outlet complex. A few hours and kebabs later I left satiated whilst wondering how I would fit everything to bring to Melbourne. This dress was one of the hauls. I even remember that it was only AUD$10. That's how happy I was with it.