Archive for February, 2009

Bird Nest :-)

February 28, 2009 at 1:12 pm · Filed under Craft & Art

Yeap, that’s my ear, and yes, that’s my knitting, and yes, that’s knitted by wire and beads.

I have had some difficulties to find 32 gauge beading wire in the shops here, but one of my colleagues, who is a more advanced level craft person, bought me two spools after I accidentally mentioned my problem.

There are several interesting knitting wire + beads patterns I have got in hands. This one is from Ralvery and needs the minimum materials but yet a quite comprehensive wire & beads knitting project, which can make sure you enjoy the every aspects of wire + bead knitting.

It took me almost no time to finish, and I only used some cheap beads to try out to see the result. Actually I felt that I could have used bigger or irregular shapes of beads for this one. It would achieve more dramatic and better effect.

Anyway my attempt was pretty successful. Wire is easy to maneuver and couldn’t believe that a small knitting like this can creates such an interesting pieces. I think I will do more. The next target is Rosemary Hill’s Bijouterie. As the photo said, “it should be illegal to be so beautiful. “

Though, David called it “Bird Nest”(鸟巢).

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Green Light

February 27, 2009 at 6:06 pm · Filed under Opinions & Thoughts

Living in NSW and a fair bit distance to Victoria, I had never thought that I could offer my hands in any possible way to help with bushfire. Though my work covers right up to the southern Eastern of NSW and till the VIC border, it seems that the possibility of our region getting affected by fire is quite low.

Anyway I happened to come across a client today , who is in the force and was called away twice so far to go to VIC to fight the bushfire. Now he was asking help when he is away in a very soon future.

No doubt he will get green lights from us. There was almost no intake required to seek any approval. He will get as much as what he needs instead of what we normally can do, because to provide service in this circumstance to help people who helps others, it’s actually a great honour.

It reminded me my childhood time in the primary school. We used to go to some families’ houses to help with domestic chaos. Those families lost their sons in the war. We, a herd of 8 yo kids went in, talked loudly, tried to help but actually made a big messy while mopping and swapping the floor and dusting the furniture. It was a part of education to aim to gain us some sort of compassion and some hands-on skills, but all I can remember is the noise we made and hard dark concrete floor in those houses.

Why the memory occurred this time? I don’t know. There is no necessary relation between this VIC bushfire help and my childhood experience. Now I even don’t know why I mentioned it.

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Chili Diary Part 14: Multi-coloured Plant

February 26, 2009 at 9:59 pm · Filed under Home Sweet Home

今天注意到有一株辣椒树上的辣椒已经变红了。随着颜色的改变，这个果实其实也就越来越接近我的炒锅了。

反过来看看这几个月，恐怕现在是最有观赏价值的时节了。一棵苗上有金黄色、紫色和红色的果实，真所谓姹紫嫣红、甚是好看。

我 发现：其实每一株辣椒的长相还真是不同。比如这株就属于家里的“武大郎”型——矮、胖，而且连果实也是圆不溜球的，象西红柿和柠檬似的；另外一颗则更象我 心目中传统意义上的朝天小辣椒形象，尖细偏长些。不过等扔进锅里、吃到肚子里也就不要紧了，管它什么形状，只要味道够辣，没有污染就行了。

说 起没有污染，自家种的东西当然是绝对清洁了。我除了用了一点长效化肥和定期浇Seasow稀释过的水外，其它就什么都没有用了。杀虫剂曾在土壤上撒过一些 诱杀蜗牛的东西，但是对人体和宠物都无害的材料。而且只用过一次就再也没用过了。现在五株辣椒苗只有四株有产量，有一株是光长个儿不长肉，叶子也被吃得差 不多了，我也懒得管它了。

剩下的四株，年龄最大的两株长得最好。但一株也就结最多四个到五个辣椒，看来要是等着月月年年、不间断的辣椒供 应，就仿佛山东菜篮子基地一样，也就是妄想了。等天气冷了，所有的辣椒都结得差不多了，我就准备收摊子了。所有的辣椒苗全部都要拔去，让土地好好休息一 下，等明年开春再继续新一轮的种植。

想想我这样的农民，忙活了四五个月才收成了一打儿不到的辣椒，要是农民都象我这样当着，那这日子可就太惨了！

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Someone likes me because I knit

February 25, 2009 at 11:08 pm · Filed under Craft & Art

Before we went to the hospital tonight, I took the knitting bag with me as I knew it would be a long waiting time to get to finally see a doctor. Hence I was quite prepared.

In the waiting room, opposite to where we were sitting, there was a family of 3… a grandmom aged lady, her husband and their son. The family looked very friendly and we reckon the lady and her husband were around 80s, apparently a different generation from mine.

But guess what? Since I took out my gears and started knitting, I began to get the most friendly smiles and warmest look from this nanny. She was extremely nice to me, trying to say something from the across. She smiled at me all the time, showing obvious preference. My god, she must be fond of me for some reason.

Then several hours later before this family finally walker out the hospital after having seen a doctor, this lady came over and kissed me on one of my cheeks, called me “darling” and gently said “good night”. I was extremely thrilled and flattered….had to sit there thinking what was going on to gain some total stranger such a favour.

Then I had to ask the question, “Do I look like a grandma killer just because I knit?”

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“The Plate”

February 24, 2009 at 10:35 am · Filed under Craft & Art

Here is the plate that I was talking about yesterday. You think it’s okay?

I finished the painting last night and quickly did some photo this morning in the kitchen, as this is the best lighting I would get for the day. It looks not bad but a bit of overdone, I would say. If I follow the original design which has much smaller decorating pieces around the whole plate, and used a bigger plate mould, I would have bigger room for accommodating more content in this plate. So far, it can only hold 3 pears :-) Anyway I am thinking to use it to hold dry nuts, like peanuts, cashews or something dry, has shells and no need to clean the plate after the use, as this is made of salty dough, you can imagine it really can’t be put back to water.

Another thought is I think I made the plate too thick. I could have made it thinner like less than 5mm. And the salty dough I made wasn’t very smooth. I think the water was not plenty which cause difficulty to knead the dough on the pastry board. The dough was a little too hard. It really took my strength to do it. So I finally gave up. Next time, I will add more water and use finer salt or grind the salt first, or dissolve salt first in the water then add to flour.

But believe it or not, it’s hard like a rock and I think this one is going to last. So far I don’t have any problem with cracking, but did have a couple of items burnt due to using higher power of heat. It needs extra care when using microwave oven for baking. Next time I would only use power heat level less than 4.

Will try another one next time and work more on painting details. Have fun!

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Salty Dough Craft

February 23, 2009 at 8:57 pm · Filed under Craft & Art

I have been being very creative over this past weekend . I have finished a couple of projects on knitting and cooking. Now I am in the progress of getting this salty dough plate done.

Yes, can you believe it? A plate made of flour, salt and water, and bake with a microwave oven!…It’s not going to be edible, but it’s going to a lasting, crispy, beautiful, decorative and interesting piece. Also, it probably costs more time than money, and I like the idea of its chemical free material. So you don’t have to worry about the environment.

I initially heard the idea from a website a years ago. I couldn’t even remember what the web was. I liked it but couldn’t go any further until last week I happened to see a book Microwave dough craft : more than 50 original salt dough projects in the library by Alison Jenkins. It is a very inspiring book. What I like about this book is the projects are adult-oriented instead of children-focused. And it has step-by step instruction to teach you how to make beautiful things that you can actually use in your daily life, not just for a nice display without purpose.

I have done many small pieces yesterday such as starfish, seashells, some vegetable figures like spring onion, carrot and chili (see photo), but I actually have a bigger idea of making a oceanic scene in a plate with all the sea creatures for decoration. Now I am half way through, with the baking process all finished. Just need to give some painting work and gluing job to make it all come together. Really looking forward to it! :-)

Now sure how it’s going to turned out, but the fun that the project has offered is huge. Just need to take extra care with using microwave oven. I found it more likely to achieve success with using low power level for a longer period of time than using high power for a short time.

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