We're on the road to nowhere

一邊斷捨離，一邊失控購買回憶，想點？

idle work is good for your health

When life turns sour, find sweetness in triviality.

That killer sulky baby

First, the face (and essentially, the blush).


















Then, the isayama hairdo.


and yes, that is the "cold face, warm heart" heichou I love so much.


come walk with me sulky levi.

Those were the good old days

Wai Che Printing Company in Wing Lee Street, Hong Kong

I felt lucky but also sad to attend the very last Word Jamming Workshop in Wai Che Printing Company. Due to the crazy rent market, Wai Che will be closed very soon (yes, we are glad about the so-called revitalization and redevelopment of Sheung Wan that many cool shops, cafes and galleries were opened there but we are unaware that all these moves will wipe the small old business out). Mr. Lee, the owner of the company and a printer for life, was zealous to share his knowledge in typography and moveable lead type printing in that tiny time slot. Of course we could hardly memorize the history, special jargon and skill as introduced by Mr. Lee. This is the cruelty and nonchalance of the passing of time, just as his grand Original Heidelberg Cylinder, lying idle and rusty in the corner of the shop. The good old days are gone.



 the grand printer


 
Mr. Lee doing his labour of love



they are space and lines




words in random, beautiful pattern


... hmm, mr. lee disapproved someone's work.

finished product

The sample shown on the package of the wool is much more cute, mine is not that cute.  It looks stressful and confused, like me.


I like needle felt as it doesn't require any skill.  My mind would just go blank in this mechanical action of needling.  Be a robot can be boring, but it can also be a relaxing spaced out, except some occasional woken up by the bloody and mindless stings.

unfinished business

got a pack of wool again, humm.... i actually do not have much spare time after work but i still love to waste time on making junks.

spending warm summer days indoor

After nearly 24 hours queuing, it's finally uploaded here, yeah!

on the other side

If Radiohead said "everyone can play guitar", then how about "everyone can be an artist"? I know the elitists must hate this statement, but for the commoners like me, it's such a great declaration to satisfy one's vanity. A few weeks ago I finally finished the Sketchbook Project just before the deadline (thanks for my usual procrastination). It's the project that everyone can take part in so long as you pay for the sketchbook, draw or make whatever you like with your sketchbook (under a certain theme that you choose) and then post it back before the deadline. The sketchbook will be exhibited and toured(!) among various US cities. Isn't it fun and wonderful just to imagine it?! Err... of course there will be millions of sketchbook in the library and it is doubtful if my sketchbook will be dug out by anyone to read. But hey, as I still haven't travelled to the other side of the world yet, and now my sketchbook is on the road on behalf of me, it's still an exciting idea!


Frankly I don't have any skill or training in painting or drawing but i think painting or drawing is an basic instinct, everyone can draw/paint (humm... but whether it's good or bad, that's another story ;p)

the joy of gifting

Still busy in my uninspiring work, but I think I've grew up a bit, I don't complain anymore. Time may change me, but I can't trace time.

Making gifts for friends are far more interesting.

I got to make one for my cat-lover friend. Each year I got headache for finding cat-related things for her birthday, as she is already an expert collector of all kinds of cute items bearing an image of cat, so making one by myself is not a bad idea, though it may not be a cute item then.

I actually forgot the proper procedures for case binding, or even for making a fabric cover, so this product is obviously flawed, but I was told by the recipient that she loved it, maybe she was being diplomatic?


That one is for my colleague, I still haven't given it to her yet (hope she will not visit this blog). I happened to find a charm with her name on it, so I thought I might just make something for her, as she will leave her post very soon for her phd study, good for her! I usually would not feel any fondness for colleagues (oh, of course with exception for those in my first job - feel fear if they will read it ;p), haha, but she is cute and she is one of those rare people who seem to understand what my weird world is, and the strange fact is, she doesn't listen to the songs nor watch the films I like, and she talks in mandarin while I can hardly speak any mandarin, so maybe our communication is based on mis-communication?

Use your illusion

This was my little experiment, to see if I could make any simple picture on the spine of a book. I showed it to my sister and told her what it was, she said, she would need a little bit imagination. Haha, it's not bad for stimulating one's imagination.



oh what is it about? let it be whatever you want


always like the paper wrapping from amazon

Fragile with care

I made this when i heard that he was in jail again. Not a happy theme. Actually, I don't think he is the one who likes to say goodbye, he just comes and goes, like a libertine. Now, he's free, yeah! And I should make a new one with the title "we'll meet again".

Time killer

I know I'm not (and I won't be) good at parchment work as I lack the necessary patience and attention to details which is the a-must requirement. Euphemistically I call myself freestyler, haha, a pretext for clumsiness, and that's why I like decoupage and scrapbook much more. But having said that, I do want myself to be more skillful in parchment making, in the hope of training me more elegance, err... don't vomit.

alice no.2

Haven't picked up a carving knife for a long time, seems that my hands need to hibernate in winter. It's spring time now! It's time to practise again.




This is my alice no.2. She looks more normal than her ancestor, but got a big belly, haha, maybe she bears some features of her maker.

useless but not hysteria

For an autistic person like me, every social interaction always results in awkwardness. A few days ago I just carelessly showed my "staff card holder" to my colleague while accessing the office, my colleague spontaneously threw me the questions of "What (the hell is that useless thing?)" and "Why (did you waste time to make it?)" and gave me a "wtf" facial expression. I could only smile embarrassingly and explained in a rather apologetic tone (without knowing why) that although it's cheap and also of a better quality to buy a proper "staff card holder" in the market, I was such an idle person and liked to make useless things, and also there's a hidden reason (cos' to spell it out would make me even more freakish) that I really like the patterns on the reverse side of envelops.


Is it really so strange? Of course it looks very plain, I could have decorated it more but I made it in a haste at night so I just folded the paper up, in fact I like it plain.


I also like to use the reversed envelop to be a book protector, given that I always read book at the pace of a turtle, my book will end in much wear and tear when I finish it.


Actually paper "staff card holder" may not be a good idea, with no lanyard and always wetted by splashing water, so i made a more proper one by adhersive tape and then pretend to be employed by hmv (oh my teenage dream).

when she wakes up in the morning

I didn't eat or drink or even go to toilet for the whole sunday (not too good for one's health), just to stitch this word on the spine of the book. I'm glad i made it, though frankly, i hardly believe in this word anymore. I have a pocketful of its broken pieces, and i seldom touch them, they hurt.

meow

This is my first attempt to make a rubber stamp as birthday gift for a cat lover, hope she won't mind my substandard work.

late practice

This blog is becoming my journal for handicraft, haha, for my trait of sentimentality has disappeared recently, so there will be no words for music, poems or toothache. I feel like I'm pretty practical now, yeah, making useless things and feel like practical (do I make sense here?)



It's difficult for a clumsy people like me to make a rubber stamp with lace-stripe pattern. Even if i did carve it (with flaws of course), it's so difficult to stamp it together continuously and smoothly like a real lace stripe. Yeah, need to practice more.

The scent (sense) of book

I have a strange foible that whenever I'm in a bookshop, I like to breathe deeply. I love that scent of books which never fails to give me a nerve-tangling joy. Of course a primitive like me also like that solid and physical feeling of a real book - how you can count the pages which you have read, how a page creases by raindrops or teardrops, how pages are all turned yellow by the passing of time.

Book rocks! (e-book, boo...)

Sound like a book-lover. No, no, far from it. I read too slow and too little (I've only read 2 books so far this year *shhhh*). But book-making-lover? Yes, yes! I found great fun in it.





My first "proper" handmade book. (as in the past, my books are too "amateur" ;p)

sometimes i still hear it singing its wild songs

and see it collecting those worthless glittering.

Little playthings

Ha, my friends are so frenetic about rubber carving recently. It's great that they provide much motivation for me to do some, though I clearly lack the necessary patience, eyesight and steady hand. Oh the roughness, I call it my style (i'm good at euphemism). Hope my usual 3-minute enthusiasm will not die so soon.


what should i do with them?