Beijing

Just wanna share some pictures from my recent trip to Beijing. One of the highlights from this trip was the National Theatre of China in Beijing, design by French architect Paul Andreu.

(oooo, those costumes and miniature set design models!!!)
some more photos here:

19th May 2009
arrived in Beijing Terminal 2
dimsum breakfast
Tiananmen Square
Beijing Opera House
Forbidden City
Pu Er Tea outlet
check-in to Taly Plaza Hotel
dinner

20th May 2009
BIAD
Planning Exhibition Hall
Peking Duck lunch
Opposite House (hotel) by Kengo Kuma
The Village (shopping centre)
(eat McD mapo pork burger!)

21st May 2009
Temple of Heaven
SOHO Jianwai
SOHO Shangdu
CCTV
Linked Hybrid
798
Tenggili Tala dinner

22nd May 2009
Summer Palace
Hotel 61 Cote Cour
Hotel Kapok
WangFuJing
Szechuan dinner
JiuBaJie (Bar Street)

23rd May 2009
Great Wall
Commune at the Great Wall
lunch near Olympic park
jade outlet
Qianmen Jianguo Hotel/Liyuan Theatre
Qianmen Jie

24th May 2009
rickshaw ride in Hutong
Water Cube (Olympic Aquatic Centre)
Bird's Nest (Olympic Stadium)
acrobatic performance
dinner
nite scene of Water Cube & Bird's Nest
(supper near hotel)

25th May 2009
and a couple of pics from our last day there at the airport

Juice-y Couture Handbag

With all this over-rated hype over fancy schmancy over-pricey Juicy Couture accessories, I'll show you my very own ... JUICE-Y Couture Handbag Spring/Summer 2008!This is a crafting project I did back in March 2008. And since then there were requests for tutorials but I have not gotten around making another one, so I am going to illustrate and explain.

In my case, I used 4 identically sized carton boxes. For a wider bag, you can opt for 5 or more, and for a narrower bag, you can use 3 or even 2 cartons. Open up the seal at the top carefully by hand and remove the plastic cap (if any).Prepare 3 Types, as illustrated:
Type 1 : End - 3 sided with 1" flap and punched holes along one side;
Type 2 : Intermediate - 2 sided with 1" flap and punched holes along both; and
Type 3 : End - 3 sided, no extra flaps and only punched holes along one side.

Cut of the the top part, leaving about 1" from the crease line. At the side flaps, measure and mark a stretch of approximately 20mm spaced points. At the marked points, use the hole puncher and make a hole.(Tips: For evenly spaced openings and uniformity, use a separate cardboard strip and punch the holes evenly along it. Then overlay the strip on all the flaps and traced the holes onto it with marker.)

Fold the top flaps inwards.Here, we'll 'stitch' it all together. Using backstitch, I stringed up the carton boxes with 1 pair of orange and 1 pair of yellow shoelaces to string. You can choose your own color to match the graphics on the carton boxes. Start from the 2nd hole from the top.

1 ...2 ...3 ...As for the rings for the strap, they were a total of 4 aluminum can tabs. Close-up like so ...Here's another look!

Mysterious

Borneo Boy asked me to make him a mask for our PAMSC BTS Gala Dinner.

What are the chances one would get to pressed aluminum foil up on the face of the president of an architect's association at a charity auction dinner with lots of who's-who?

Sure! Why not ...

At the Habitat for Humanity charity dinner, I traced and contoured the profile of CW's face with an aluminum foil & marker pen that I brought from home. Forgot to get someone to take a photo of me doing it in the middle of the dinner. But this is the photo of the aluminum foil (after) on the the dining table; and after I applied on the strips of masking tape.To hold CW's mask in place, I tied in the transparent rubber band I used for beading, on both sides of the mask. And here's the both of us. CW sprayed finished the mask with white and added the tear himself after I handed him the mask. That's some DIY effort there!Now, either my nose is not in the middle of my face, or the mask is not centered.

Masq-uerade

[Fear not! This has nothing to do with preventing aliens from reading my mind. Although the first picture may remind you of a scene from "The Signs"]

Recently, I saw that a dinner I’ll be attending is themed as “Mysterious”, and so, I made myself a masquerade mask. I have always been fascinated with masquerade masks, but they tend to get quite pricey and also, not so available locally.

Like always, I put together a couple of crafting tutorials and improvised them for making this mask. For moulding the shape of the mask, I used 3 layers of aluminium foil (those you use in the kitchen) and pressed it up against my face. Making sure I get those brows, eye sockets, nose & cheekbones.Then, I cut into the eye sockets in flaps and folded it to the back. I tried to check in the mirror once in a while until I get the desired eye opening, for one eye first.Close-up of the opening.
To get the (close to) exact opening size, I traced the first opening, cut it out, flipped it over (mirrored) to the other side and traced it into place. And, repeat the previous process for the eye opening.
After that, looking through both openings, I sketched the outline of the mask, by pressing it up against my face and in front of the mirror. Then, I folded the extra aluminium foil along the edges, to the back. This should also make the mask have a stronger and more defined edge.
I continued to mould it for a more 3D effect. Here’s the front & the back of it.
I chose to add another base to the aluminium foil, by wrapping it up in strips of masking tape. This also holds those loose aluminium flaps in place before applying the paper mache, using toilet paper & craft glue.
Application of craft glue and layers of toilet paper strips later, I finished it off with a final coat of water with diluted craft glue, and left it to dry.
On the dried mask, I glue on a layer of black tulle (salvaged from other sewing projects). I chose to not cut openings at the eyes, since there was visibility through the tulle. Since most of the garnish I chose was already in black, I also did not paint the paper mache finish, so I could get a bit of contrast with the tulle lined on it. Then I garnished it further with black sequins, black feathers, black lace trims and an elaborate ‘diamond’ button.
... and voila!

At this moment, the mask kind of grabs my face at the forehead and the sides. I may add ribbons to tie it to the back of my head, or a stick to the side at a later stage.

Lunar New Year : Obi-belt

Every Lunar new year, since I was very small, there is a tradition of wearing new outfits for the celebration. This year, I decided to make something to spruce up my new dress, since it was black color, which is kind of an inauspicious color to wear for the celebration. I decided to make an improvised version of an Obi-belt ... on the eve of the Lunar new year!

I used the leftover orange colored fabric from Irene's wrap pants, and the teal colored fabric for my wrap pants. For the feature, I used fabric 'I' from my Fabrics Galore entry. I sewed the orange-colored fabric into 3-layer 88cm(L) x 15cm(W) base. The ends were tucked in ...
... and sewn across the end-side. Across the 15cm width, I marked every 1cm.Then, I sewed the sides of the base piece, long-side, spaced at 1cm apart as marked earlier. After that, I took out the patterned fabric and measured it against the base piece.I cut the patterned fabric, to be sewn into a smaller 2-layer 72cm(L) x 13cm(W) feature piece. Later, the feature piece was pinned in place, right in the center of the base piece, and sewed both long-sides, onto the base piece.
Then it was the teal colored fabric, sewn into yet another smaller 3-layer 79cm(L) x 5cm(W) belt loop. Repeated the 1cm spacing straight stitch long-side. After that, I placed it on top, in the center, of the feature piece and pinned in place. At this point, the obi-sash is taking shape.
Repeated the 1cm spacing straight stitch long-side, again, but all throughout the width of the whole obi-sash. I used only the orange colored thread, so it would add to the detailing as the different types of fabric piled on. An overall view of the 1cm spaced straight stitch. When I reached the teal colored belt loop that was held in place with pins, I just stitched right across on both sides.
After finishing the straight stitches, I made a 2-layer 187cm long ribbon-belt from some more teal colored fabric, and stringed it through the belt loop with a big paper clip.Inching the paper clip with the end of the ribbon-belt all the way through and then, centered it to exposed almost equal length of the ribbon-belt at both ends.Here we are, on the first day of the Lunar calendar. I wore it with the ribbon at the back. Against my all black ensemble, the obi-belt stood out like an alarm.As the day progresses and a lot of foody goodies later, I swung the ribbon in front. *wink*Gong Xi Fatt Chai to everyone!!!

Capt Cyke : Tweed Vest with Brass Details

This is a vest I made for last Halloween, when I went as Capt Cyke. I have been meaning to write about it during Halloween last year, and obviously it didn't happen until now.

It was hacked from a long dress I bought from the Salvation Army thrift store. It was some kind of tweed/wool material. Since I need the overlap at the front of my vest, I decided to use the bottom of the dress which was wider. I drew a line across, allowing the length of it to suit my torso.
After I cut along the line, I picked the bottom seam and the seam at the back split of the dress apart, to reveal it as a long strip. With the whole length of it, and roughly sketched the pattern right on top of it, and cut. I decided that the back should have a different kind of fabric. I tried to line up the other existing seams to my bustline (top to bottom). It was a flat front panel, which I later added darting for contouring it into the perfect fit.
For the back panel, I took out the leftover satin fabric that I saved from my Roman costume.
Again, without an existing pattern, I took out one of my jacket, and traced the back pattern off of it, and right onto the satin fabric. It was about 4 pieces, all luckily within the size of the leftover fabric.Then, I joined the front panels and the back piece together. From my side seams, this is the kind of fabric effect I intended for, in the same color, yet in different texture.At this point, I tried it on, inside out, and pinned up the side seams until I got my desired fitting, which include darting at the bust. After that, I sewed it all together and finished hemming all the ends.
The end result, after I added a bit more details at the front and at the back. And of course, the collar in tweed material.
For the front, I used brass buckles, D-rings and fabric straps, which were made from leftover fabrics from my wrap pants project. Again, same color, different texture. For the position and setting out of the straps and buckles, I had to put on the vest and sketch it on in front of a mirror, until I was satisfied. (note the white chalk markings behind the buckles)And for the back, I found some really interesting brass chain (I am not quite sure what it is exactly used for), and attached it to the back with the same kind of straps I used for the buckles in front. Due to the weight of brass chain, I lightly sewed it onto the middle seam so it would hold its place.On Halloween 2008, I wore it over my blouse which had a cravet-like detail. Spunked it up with my mecha-monocle, badge-of-office, pin-stripe pants and my old boots. (Since I only had time to make one side of a spats, so I didn't end up wearing it)

This is C J Morta & Capt Cyke.