Thursday, September 30, 2010

Commission turned gift

A while ago I was asked by my very special teacher to create some notepads for her to use after seeing some books I had made. The only requirements were that the paper was lined and thick enough to write on with a felt pen. It took me a little while to perfect "perfect" binding so when it actually worked well I knew this was the time to make these notepads.

Also, in light of some amazing news and the precious amount of guidance and help from this teacher, I decided to scratch the commission and make it a gift instead!

The illustrations were drawn by me, red: tomatoes and blue: blueberries.





Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Cooking while Sick

Yesterday my cold+flu took a turn for the horrible when I returned home from some grocery shopping (the weather was cold and I walked in the rain). Earlier that day and the day before I had a bit fo a runny nose but the symptoms seemed to be going away!

In retrospect, I haven't been this sick since I was 7. And I say this because that was the last time I equated my feeling sick to the feeling of being in an ice cube. I don't actually know what that feels like, but I was probably referring to the soreness.

Despite this, I was determined to try a courgette fritters with feta recipe I had found online which looked exceptionally easy and appetizing. Although, upon closer comparitive inspection, mine look a bit burnt. As for the taste, I got a few wiffs when I forced the air through my blocked nostrils and I could tell it was really flavourful! But alas, I had to eat my meal mostly without this wonderful smell (so sad).


Monday, September 27, 2010

Perfect Binding

First entirely successful perfect bound book!

Perfect Binding is a type of book-making which doesn't require any sewing. The pages of the book are bound together by either glue and string or just glue alone. In my case, I simply pressed the pages together in my makeshift book press (easy as pie) and applied a few layers of elmer's glue onto the spine. Things to keep in mind were to not press the sheets too tightly, but tightly enough so that the glue wouldn't run down between the sheets of paper as well as to let the last thick layer of glue dry overnight for maximum awesome.

This is a book my younger brother helped prepare (as it will be his) and so I was able to show him how it is made. Next Sunday, we shall be going to see The Gorillaz in concert (!!) so I (tried) to transfer an image of them onto the thick card stock paper with acetone (while wearing heavy duty protective gear!) but my paper was too textured so I went over it a bit with an ink pen. You try, you learn!

I'm infinitely pleased with the results and intend on making more!





Saturday, September 25, 2010

Flying South

On the bus ride to somewhere where I didn't want to go, I noticed a flock of birds flying in the opposite direction, towards what I presume is the South, to the warmth.

Which reminds me of a lottery commercial I saw wherein a couple are on their porch wearing warm clothes and the husband keeps commenting on the birds flying south and in the final scene (after they've won the lottery) "look honey! the birds are flying in!".

And thus I christen the warm weather over, and with its departure arrives the sneezing, sore throat, mucus and tight lungs.

le sigh.

Origami bowl

In honour of a movie night, I brought a few snacks over and thought I would rather put them in some sort of origami "bowl" (as I've been re-affirming my love and amazement for it) than to use my friend's dish ware that would take up more space in the sink. Luckily, I was able to find a super cute boxy bowl origami tutorial online which proved to be incredibly useful and I can see myself folding more on many other occasions!

For the tutorial, my suggestion is don't look at #10 because it might be a bit confusing, just look right to #11 and it'll make #10 clearer.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

CUPCAKES!

Here are my most successful cupcakes as of yet! I really have to flatter myself this time, they came out so great and delicious. The occasion that called for them was my younger brother's birthday, I wanted them to be a bit more original so I created origami cubes and paper cranes to use as toppers. I got the idea from a tutorial through whipup.net.

Also, I found a really great tutorial through craftzine.com of how to make origami boxes and I used it to create boxes to keep the cupcakes in as well as for a small gift I prepared for my brother.



I got the image from a flickr account called Amirugumi Kingdom and coloured it in with wooden pencils and ink as I don't have a colour printer.


I used the excess cardboard to make separators, makes it look nice and fance. yesitsaword.


Ahh how eclectic. love it.


If only I had better writing!

mini paper crane, movable fingers key-chain and a wrist guard for a budding guitarist.

Making these boxes was really easy and fun, I suggest you learn, it's super useful.

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