Customise work

Customisation requested by my prince to have them for a special friend and himself :)  Need to practise more on my sewing skill.

New website uploaded

Beading Fantasy new website is up and running!

Check it out ~Beading Fantasy~

PURE Oct 2011

The boy in blue T-shirt is my boy, Guo Hao - a 2nd year Ngee Ann Polytechnic student.

LAPTOP SLEEVE

New Year, new project. Not beading but sewing. I started my new year with a project for my boy (which he has been bugging me since last year ....)

The first was too big, can't fit into his backpack, second was too long but the young man doesn't want mummy to fix it :)

Here's a photo of it!

The idea was from Cubeecraft - Super Mushroom. Here's the link to it : Cubeecraft

IT'S BEEN 19 YEARS .... WHOO HOO!

The clock is ticking and in less than 4 hours, it will be my 19th anniversary! Wow .... time do flies and am so happy to share my happy moments with my friends :)

Happy Anniversary to my dear and myself ^_^

CUSTOM MADE FOR X'MAS

Buying a plush and ship it to Singapore is going to cost me much more than making one for my boy. (Shipping is 2.5 times the cost of the plush) And a custom-made with love one is always much appreciated.

It started with a round little ball, with eyes, brows, beak, hair and it turn out not too bad. I do not have much confidence in making it! 

The young man is a happy boy now :) Now need to start on my 2nd project ... *sigh*

PROUD MUMMY

After much preparations, interviews, sleepless nights, worried parents. He finally got it! I am a proud mum of a 17 year old son who is at present studying Environmental & Water Technology at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Friends have mentioned that he is a brillant, intelligent boy. Thank you so much for the compliments.

I have to say that he was never a top student in school. Not too bad in his studies, managing top 25 in his 6 years of primary school, model pupil in P6 (did fairly well and get himself into St Andrew Sec), top 5 in Sec 1, not so good in Sec 2, top 25 in Sec 3 and didn't try his best for O level (as he got into the course in NP through DPA).

To all the teachers that have taught him, I would like to take this opportunity to thank them. Without the support and encouragment, he wouldn't have made it through. 

MOVE ON ....

!! BYE, BYE !!

Official announcement that I will stop all workshops as at end of December 2010. All existing students or any students planning to take my workshops at Bead Hub, please book your classes at Bead Hub by 18 Dec 2010.

Classes are not available on the first and last Sat of each month. Please do contact Bead Hub for details.

I will like to take this opportunity to thank all my students/customers for their support throughout my 8 years of teaching at various shop and venues. You have taught me to become a better teacher, always surprising me with questions which I hope I have not failed anyone ...

It's been a pleasure teaching and sharing and I just go with my heart to stop teaching and concentrate on designing and beading at my own leisure.

My online shop, Beading Fantasy will still be around till I'm not to sure when ... no worries, will post on my blog again if any decision is made.

NEW INTEREST!

Was busy on Sat making this laptop sleeve for my boy's Macbook Pro. It was my first attempt and it turned out "not too bad" - that's what the young man said to me =)

Other than being a laptop sleeve, it seems to fit comfortably as a sleeping bag ... zzz

恭喜恭喜， 虎年来了！

18th ANNIVERSARY!

18 years ago on this particular day, it was my customary wedding. A traditional wedding that we chinese will have to abide with. The groom has got to fetch the bride at a "right" time to his parent's home for the tea-ceremony.

Tea-ceremony is for the newly wed to offer tea to their elders (parents, aunites, uncles, brother, sister ....). My hubby happens to be the youngest in the family and he has 6 siblings =(

After the tea-ceremony, we will move on to have photos taken outdoor we our friends and head back to the bride's parent home. Tea-ceremony again .....

Back then, we mange to have time for a afternoon nap before heading back to Raffles Hotel for our dinner. No big event, just a cosy dinner for family members =)

'O' level Art

This post is for my son who did his 'O' level Art this year. He had already finished his project way back in November. This little black box was submitted to the examination board along with 7 big A2 board which I managed to take photos before it's gone!

This set of printed cards was in the black box along with a set of colour pencils, I forgot to snap the content inside =(

Before he managed to finish his work, my room was in a mess for couple of weeks with paper cutter, strips of rubbish, to be finished board. This 'Art' project "killed" his and my desktop. We have since learnt our lesson ... Now he has a new desktop and I have a new iMac (good excuse to buy new gadgets!)

Most of the photos he used were took by him with some from the internet and his friends. Proper credits were given. He used his Canon D50, edited them with Photoshop.

My Epson printer is a great tool, still in good condition after his awesome project. It's already more than 6 years old (^_^)

It's a bit too small to appreciate the prints but mummy was truly amazed with his work! He was already a great photographer when he was a child using mummy's camera. Want to see more of his work, check it out here.

MY NEW OTT-LITE

Now that Ott-Lite has a rechargable battery powered lamp, I was eager to try it out as it so convenitent! I can bring my lamp round the house without searching for a power socket point. I can even bring it for my workshops at Bead Hub. No more trying to see the needle eye under those spotlight....
It's much heavier than the original lamp, just need to charge it and it can be used up to 3 hours. And the price is much more, too..... =(

This shoot was taken in the evening when I'm beading in my studio, my favourite spot of the house =)

I have been happily been using my ott-lite lamp for the past 8 years (I think... ) It's has been my most good friend when I'm beading in the night and even day time when the light is not so good. I've even used it as artifical light for shooting some of my photos and it's daylight!

MOLE TO TELL

This "finger-shape" thing swimming in the water was a mole from my back ... I decided to have it removed 2 weeks ago as it was getting in the way. It was on my back for at least 20 years, have been piggy-backing it.

It looks like a super BIG blackhead from my face!

I have the procedure done at National Skin Centre which took the doctor less than 30 minutes to have it punched out and closed it up with 4 stitches.

During the first night, sleeping on my back was awaken with pain in the middle of the night. Luckily the pain slowly goes away. For 2 weeks, I was not able to bend, carry heavy things and washing my hair was terrible!

I have to lived with the 4 stitches for the past 2 weeks. As my skin is SUPER sensitive and have a plaster over the wounds is terrible for me. Rashes was developed over time and I was trying to scratch it... made it worst!

Yah! The stitches was removed yesterday and wound is healing nicely except rashes all round it due to the long hours of covered plaster... It's going to take couple of weeks before my back will be back to normal (^___^)

HOW MESSY CAN MY WORK ROOM BE ....

I am one of those lucky lady to have her own room for beading. Book shelves packed with books, magazines, kits and instructions. Trays and boxes of beads, thread, findings .... but then how messy can my workroom be ?? I had to work in this messy room for the last 10 days as my boy was rushing to finish his O level Art and prep work to be submitted on 22 Sept.

Camera stand, paper cutter, printed photos, A2 board, files .....  So messy (*_*")

This was just behind my work table.

My work desk, with my half done instructions, beads lying around, checking emails..... A messy sight when new design is under construction =) Love it cos it shows that I'm really working ! I have a very little space to move about the last few days.

This little black box is the completed O level Art work ready to be submitted tomorrow. I'm not supposed to show what's inside this little black box as it will be sent to the Ministry for marking. Good luck to my boy!

I will load the content of the black box and his prep work later the year, come back and check with he has done, thank you for dropping my!

GIFTS AGAIN (^_____^)v

A belated birthday gifts from Lynda. Met her for tea last Sat and she gave me presents! I am always delighted to get gifts! So Pretty =)

These lovely coasters (done in my favourite colors) was a gift from Lis (saplanet). The tiny note pad in blue on the left is so cute! I'm going to keep them ... don't think I want to use them. Lis does great wedding favors, amigurumi and baby booties. Drop by her website and you will love it!

DECORATIVE WATCH STRAP TEA PARTY

I was engaged by Jaeger-LeCoultre to coach a group of ladies to stitch beads on the watch strap. A fun and excited afternoon for the ladies as they will trying to get the needle onto the watch strap (some needles will bent ...)

The finished watch strap were beautifully done and we have our top 3 winners! (not shown here) These ladies are definitely creative =)

BEADY STUFF NEEDED BEFORE HITTING THE PROJECT

What do you need before embarking on beadweaving?
I'm not a very organised beader, my design all started from a vision in my brain. I'll just make changes as I start beading, the needle is my pen. It's always good to have a table with the right lighting. A comfortable chair as you will most properly be spending hours there!

Do not bead in dim area as it's bad for the eyes. I used my Ott-Lite whenever I'm beading, it's a great lamp for beaders and even reading !

LIGHT

BEADING MAT
Many surfaces have been chosen to be used, my favourite is the beading mat as the beads doesn't roll about when I'm beading. Beads are easily being picked up.



NEEDLES
There are many choices of beading needles. From size 10 to 15 for most beading projects. I usually uses size 12 for most of my beading projects. For size 10 and 11, for bead embroidery and size 15 for the really tiny 15 beads and charlotte beads.



SCISSORS
Choose a pair of sharp scissors, as we do not want the thread to fray before we even start on beading. I have 2 photos below, the one on tChe left I used it to cut my beading thread. The one on the right, I used it to cut FireLine.




Having problem cutting the thread in tight places, I used my home-made thread burner to "cut" off my finished thread ends. Here's how it look like =D It's battery-operated and produced a tiny melted blob thus preventing the thread from fraying.



BEADING WAX
What do you do when your thread start fraying ? Do you noticed that thread usually fray when you undone your piece of work ? Fred not, just run your thread throught the wax and the thread can be used to finish your whole piece of work. Or you want a tighter tension but can't seem to pull tight, use your wax. My favourite wax is the micro-crystalline wax shown below. It's good, doesn't dry up and can be used for a pretty long time! It was recommened to me by Cynthia Rutledge and Laura McCabe.



Kindly note that the details written in this blog is based on my beading experience. You may have a different preference. Thank you for reading through.
The next round I will be discussing seed beads. Browse back soon!