Bags of Fun

I can't stop! It's like the gears in a perpetual motion machine always working,whirring and engaging. Always searching for a new way to attach a pocket or a handle. Sketching out in my mind, kinda like a butcher, how best to cut a coat. Which pieces to become what part. For instance, could the lapel really be the edge of the cover flap of a bag? Wouldn't it be too asymmetrical? Too rad? Apparently not. Little Emma, The Recycled Suits Tall Messenger bag was snapped up hours after it was listed on Etsy. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

Ok... I'm getting ahead of myself. Last weekend after the frenzied making of suited iPod cozies, I had some time to start cutting lovely coat I got at the Sally Ann. It took some intimate getting-to-know, during this process to find out how the coat was made in the first place before I could deconstruct it. And it was fun! It was like learning to read in another language. Someone else had written her design and her work in this coat and the story was spelt out in the stitching.

Well, it looked like these 2 designs won out when it came to making my bags.

The first was Emily, a messenger bag and then came Emma, her sister and a vertical messenger.

Both their outer pockets were reworked from the coat's pockets and their straps were made from the coat's front button holes. This was so that I could make both bags adjustable for different body sizes and purposes.

The buttons also came from the old coat and I felt it gave a sense of integrity to the bags. As did reusing the inner dusky rose lining.

Since I have no talent for painting pictures, I guess making bags will just have to do.

It Suites Me Just Fine.

Have you noticed how really well made men's suits are? Good suits have the best fabric and the stitching is sturdy & for the most part hidden. Ergo, this new line of cozies & bags I've affectionately dubbed
The Recycled Suits.










In the total other extreme of my pendulum swing from femminine, lush, shiny & silky taffetas, I've fallen for rough, muted, understated and stiff woolens & linens with the drama of a avalanche falling into a still lake.



What I love about this range is that it reinvents & reuses 2nd hand but thoroughly cleaned jackets that might have otherwise have gone to a landfill where it'll take up space to degrade over tens of years.
So not only will they be well made, but the bags & cozies will also be eco-friendly.
The thought of which always warms the cockles of my heart.





And, for my first offering - cool & dapper iPod cozies. The first three have just been listed on Etsy and have names befitting the type of jacket they were made from. There's urbane Mortimer, outdoorsy Fitzwillie and hunky Ken. The guys started out life as part of dishy double breasted suits. The left cuff of which morphed into the snug little cozies. In the spirit of reusing, I try to keep their original buttons and lining. They've been made tight and will snuggle most generations of iPods and many mobile phones, but was made specifically for the classic video iPod.

There are so many ideas fighting for attention in my brain right now for bag designs, I cannot begin to tell you. All are exciting and I cannot wait to get them out of my mind and into my hands...... Stay tuned to see which ones win.

What's a Girl to Do?

Shopping is a woman's prerogative. Shopping and shoes. And hats too. And these days, interestingly enough also cars, the fuel cell or electric cars, especially the new and utterly delicious Tesla Roadster.....Have I left anything out? My point, perhaps. But I can get so easily distracted nowadays.

Okay, back to shopping. In these western cities, an amazing and indubitably exhilarating ritual exists. The day after Christmas, most of the stock in stores goes on sale. The wonderous and exciting event called the Boxing Day Sale. And they are real sales, not like the ones we have in Singapore, where items usually go for 50% -75% off the retail price. A concept that warms the cockles of my value-for-money Asian heart.

Anyway, I took time off and wandered the fabric stores to hunt for fabric, beads and tassels for the new 2008 range. $800 plus later, I have the pleasure to showing off the treasures plucked from the hands of other boxing day warriors.

There's the gorgeous tassel beads in a dozen dazzling colours.

Also found some brilliantly tactile flocked fabrics. The thinner ones are gonna be great for summer scarves and the nice thick ones for the flap covers of the new bags that'll be probably starting next week.

Then there's the sturdy, earthy upholstery grade fabrics, which are destined for lumbar pillows and the inside of bags that I can't wait to make.

And of course interspersed with all the goodies are the beautifully smooth and shimmery taffetas. The mainstay of Rumah Kampung's range of scarves. In soothing blue, cool titanium and juicy black plum.

Fab as these fabrics are, I'm sure that I'll not be able to restrain myself as I see other designs in the shops throughout the year. So I guess this cannot be said to be the all encompassing variety for this enterprising year of the Earth Rat. Which is the first sign of the Chinese zodiac and is said to be an industrious bringer of prosperity, luck and new beginnings.

Making Your Own Paper

The Materials

* Deckle (or any square frame with a wire/plastic mesh stretched across it)
*Mould ( another square frame of the same size of the sieve)
* A pair of stiff boards slightly larger than the sieve
* Smooth drying cloths slightly larger than the sieve
* A sponge
* A blender
* A tub or basin large enough to fit the sieve
* 50g or so of waste paper

The Method
1. Shred the waste paper and soak for at least 4 hours. Soak overnight if you plan to make paper the next morning.

2. Place a handful of shredded paper into the blender and fill with water to make up 1 litre.




3. Blend for about 15 seconds or until the pulp looks like wet cotton wool. Pour the pulp into the tub. Repeat until all the paper is used up. Add 2 more litres of water into the tub.



4. Place the mould over the deckle with the netting in between them. Dip the furthest end of the frame into the pulp mix. Level into a horizontal position. Make sure the frames are deep enough for the mould to be just covered with pulp.


5. Lift the frames from the mix keeping it level. The remove the mould and let the excess water drain.



6. Place a drying cloth over the pulp. Flip the deckle onto one of the stiff boards with the cloth beneath the pulp.





7. Use the sponge to draw out the excess water from the pulp. Gently knock the deckle netting to dislodge the pulp as you slowly lift up the sieve.


8. Repeat steps 4-7. Pile each finished sheet, separated by a drying cloth,on top of each other until you've used up all the pulp.



9. Place the second board on top of the finished pile. Place any heavy object on the top board to squeeze the excess water out. You could try standing on the pile if you want to feel more involved in the process :)





Paper Pointers

Some ideas to help make your new found skill more colourful, varied and fun

* Before you throw away the bottle with that last bit of perfume, add some water into the bottle and then pour the solution into your pulp. This nicely scents your paper.

* Stale potpourri, shredded and pulped with the paper will not only add scent but colour and texture to your papers.

* Should you want to be able to use markers or fountain pens on your paper remember that you first have to size the dried paper. This is easily done by lightly painting or spraying each sheet with gelatin or starch and then letting the sheet dry. Ballpoint pens, however, are fine on unsized paper.

Goin Green bananas

As part of my new year resolution to consolidate my blogs, for the first post of 2008, I present here a little story of how a crazy kid went green bananas... enjoy!

Funny how life moves in cycles. About 15 years ago I started a little eco company in Singapore called Green Bananas that made a paper making kit for people to recycle their own paper at home. Green because I wanted people to know it's environmental bent but more likely because I was totally green to the cutthroat world of business and Bananas because everyone thought I was crazy to give up a good and stable job for what? An unlikely little paper making kit that may not even have a market.

We did sell about 1,000 kits during the 2 or so years the little Green Bananas was out there doing paper making demos; giving magazine, TV & paper interviews encouraging people to start recycling paper in their own homes (in those days, Singapore had no recycling system for anything.


Things have changed now though) and even holding a handmade paper art exhibition called, you guess it, Paper * People * Planet.
Back then I had quit my well-paying
job as a writer for a Interior design magazine and put all my meagre savings into designing, manufacturing and marketing a simple paper making kit that made A4 paper.


It had everything you needed to make paper (apart from the blender) and packaged, quite charmingly in a jute bag.

How I managed to wrangle my friends & family to help out in it's publicity and sales I have no idea. I just stand in grateful awe that they did. We had quite a ride with it. I am willing to bet that at least 50 friends and family still remember how to make their own paper today. And if they've forgotten and would like to teach their children, the next post will help them along their way.

And this is was the purposely unintimadating instruction leaflet that came with the kit.

And now, here I sit years later, writing a blog on the beautiful diversity of handmade & recycled paper. On how people can use this humble medium of paper to help make this planet a bit better, by art & by recycling, for those who live in it now. And also for the children who will come after.

Greening the earth seemed so possible then.

And so it still is. It must be.

Because if not now, then WHEN?

And if not me, then WHO?

This CHRISTMAS

Oh so many years ago, a good friend sent me this for Christmas.
In the intervening years, life pulled us down separate and diverging paths.
Into different countries, vocations and beliefs. Still, this anonymous poem stayed with me. Accompanying me through the dark anguish and the giddying highs.
I guess maybe the meaning that Christmas held for us when we were young still holds as we move into the second half of our lives.

This one's for Adrian and for all who look for a little meaning beneath the glitter, the commercialisation and those ghastly repeating pop carols.

A Very Merry Christmas One and All.

The Road Traveled

I had wanted to do this last year. Filled out the application forms and all. But knowing how way leads onto way, I purposely got distracted with all the other happenings in life and did not apply to participate. I decided not only not to take the road less traveled. I decided not to travel down any road at all.

But this year, this year was different. A path seemed to be leading down toward the building (rather than playing at) of an actual business revolving around making things with gorgeous fabrics. For the time being , the gorgeousness covers mostly scarves & bags.

So I applied to take part in a Christmas Craft Market. The Creative Finds Market to be exact. I had been so impressed by the organisation and marketing zip of a fab crafter called Nicci Battilana who's in charge of the Craft Market that when she asked if I'd wanted in, I said "Yes" before I had time to consult with my doubts. A good thing too. Because I sold stuff and, more importantly, I followed my sister's advice and actually had fun. And for the first time since I'd come to Vancouver, I felt more in touch with the person I'd left in Singapore. And that's a wonderful thing.

It also helps to have friends. Especially girl friends. They support you through your craziness and your joy. They let you rant your frustrations and roar your successes. And, they also accompany you when you have to man a stall for 8 hours at a Christmas Craft Fair (how else would you take a loo break?) . Thank god for girl friends. Thank god for Olian. Who not only helped bring the extension cords I forgot, but also flaunted the fact that she was one of my first happy scarf customers to my new scarf customers. That endorsement really helped sell. Besides, she knows how to dress. Which only made the scarves look better.

And I guess it's true then. This belief that the spirit or the intent behind which something is done communicates, somehow, unseen to people, strangers. And they react to it. Which is probably why, the scarves got sold, women, and some men left smiling and chuffed, and we won the stall holders prize for best display, packaging & product. Which was all the more satisfying because it was never expected.

A Little Note: I have to apologise for the incredibly blurry pics at the Craft Market. It was cold that day, snow up to your ankle (and for a girl from the tropics, that's alot especially when you have to drive in it), and I had only 4 hours of sleep the night before, worrying, preparing, worrying, planning,worrying, packing and did I mention worrying?