set of book mark

I worked, I worked, I worked really long hours today, and here is what I have so far - A set of book marks!
They are designed for Senior Service @ seattle, and this is my second design. I am not sure which one they would choose, but I like both of them. This one feels kind of like holiday, isn't it?

How do you like them?:)



Don't talk/think/dream, draw and work it

Yes, that is what I should do now.. I have done couple sketches for my new idea of PSP felt bag. Though it is  so much easier to just follow those patterns, but I want my own. So I will do my own pattern and work it up!

A good news comes from the other side of the earth, my sister is expecting her first baby!! I am half exciting as aunt-to-be, and half envious as mother-not-to-be. Well, it is just a matter of time, right? Still, I am happy for her and my future nephew/niece. Either a boy or girl, it would be bless to my family and I am pretty sure Mom would be very happy for her too:)

Another rainy day

I have more projects in my mind for next week. Should I start drawing or my new pajama? Should I start to make the jewelry organizer or a new pair of slippers? Should I start the make over for my lamp or should I put up the wall graphic first? aah~~~ let's calm down and make a list first for what I need to do and what I can do and what I want to do?

See, That is another way to start a new project: some list notepad design...hmm.. maybe this is a good one to start with?

Friday is the party night

Yesterday, I finially finished my three nesting bowls. They took about 10 hours to make all three, and about four days for drying. Okay, here is the tutorial first:

YOU WILL NEED
paper of your choice. (thick paper as card stock is stronger and will require less layering; thinner paper as news paper needs more layering)
tips: when using thick paper, spinkle some water on it and mix with your hand to moisturize them. Set aside for about 15 second to let them be soft. It will be easier to manipulate and stick to when it is damp (but NOT wet)
glue ( I used up a small bottle of Elmer's Glue-all White glue for three bowls. You need to make a mixture of 2 parts of glue and 1 parts of water. The good texture will kind of like liquid soap.) 
three nesting glass bowls ( I used protex nesting bowls)
scissors/shredder
kitchen clear plastic wrap
thin plastic sheet/ ruler (step 8. you will need it to get the paper bowl off the glass bowls)
a small cheap brush to brush the glue on
plastic container for glue mixture and to damp the paper strip ( I used clean empty cookie box)
A cup of tea, some music, and good mood :)

HOW
1. shred the paper into strips.



2. cut them into small pieces (1/4 in x1.5 in).
If you don't have shredder, take your time and cut them into small size. I was wondering if you have a die cutter of any shape, it would be interesting to do a bowl using that motif too.



3. cover your bowl entirely with cling paper/kitchen wrap, and I also colvered the table surface with it to catch the drip or spill!

4. place the bowl upside down



5. brush glue on the top and add strips one by one to cover the top (or the bottom of the bowl)

You don't have to cover all the area, since you will go back to add more layers, and also the holes are what make this bowl unique and fun.



6. I divided my bowl into sections (visually), and work from top to bottom one section by one section.

7. when you are done with one layer all over, go back to the top and work again.
I left my bowls to dry inbetween layers for about 12-24 hours, and go back to work on it later. But it doesn't really matter. You just give them enough time to dry before you peel them off.




...3 days later or however long it takes for your bowls to dry...



8. TAKE OFF THE BOWL!
this part is kind of scary, and the reason why is that the book I learned this technique from doesn't mention how at all. When I first attempted to peel it off, it won't move at all. I almost tore the edge off and was sooo afraid that I am going to break the entire bowl. (you will see what I mean when you are at this stage). But don't panic, I finally managed to do so with a help of my plastic ruler.

Put your bowl right side up, and Loose the edge all over.  Insert the thin plastic sheet (mines is a piece of plastic ruler. You can use any stiff plastic piece used as the display window for a lot of package. but make sure you used the one that is smooth, and be careful don't cut yourself.) slowly but firmly between the cling paper/paper bowl and the glass bowl, and push it down as far as you can. If you cannot go down any more, take it out and insert it next to where you insert it first and do the same thing. Most likely, your bowl will loose itself from the glass bowl automatically by this time.  ( whew... a big relief now) If not, then keep doing the same thing until you get it.



Now you can show off your bowls to your friends and families. They are sturdy and pretty for any home, and I used the small ones for candys, the medium ones for snacks and the large one for organes. I won't recommended use them  for direct food though. They will be available for sale in my etsy shop soon if you want to save the time and just enjoy the cool bowls:)

Tuesday is Fun with girls!

This is our second Girls day and it was A LOT of fun as last time:)

We made about 120 dumplings and bought mooncakes to celebrate mid autumn day.We also made green bean custard (sort of ) for desert. In the evening, we played Manila which is a pretty fun board game and I WON!! haha:)

The moon is bright and full, we are all happy and grateful.

Monday is the beginning!

I have been wanting to do this three nesting paper bowls ever since I read it in "home, paper, scissors" by Patricia Zapata. Finally, I got the paper I wanted and started today! It is very easy to make, but needs some time and some patience. The best thing I found you could do at the same time is to listen to an audio book. The one I just finished is the famous "eat, pray, love". The book is written with wits and even better read by the author " Elizabeth Gilbert" {I like the way she read it better than the professional readers!}. I enjoyed her voice and her mimicing Indian english and romantic Italy which I don't understand a word but could still laugh at it. It is an inspiring book and I even draw a picture for one of the theme. [post it!]"Now I cannot wait to see the movie! The book I started today is "A happy marriage". The language is a little harder than "eat pray love", (by harder i mean more words that I don't know the meaning)and the style is a little different. I was thinking I should read it with a dictionary by my side, but was too lazy to pause, or not willing to pause. It will break the flow, that is my excuse. It is a good book nonetheless. The past and present, the life and death, the beginning and the ending made my heart throb even when I was listening to a happy part. I am not very good at taking it when I know there is more sorrow waiting...

Anyway, I started my paper bowls project, and was hoping that I could finish it today. Well, it needs more time than I thought. I don't want to speed myself coz will lead me from happy doing it to eagely getting over it. So I decided I will give it 2-3 days. It needs time to dry anyway.

I pasted one layer for big and medium ones todays and will update with tutorial when I am finish with the whole project.

Deadline

Have a deadline is not a bad thing at all! I slept about 3/4 hours yesterday and here I am, done with the project and have plenty of free time in this quiet morning. It was stressful. But what is the feeling like? The feeling of have something done with had-12-can-of-mountain-dew high efficiency? YES, AWESOME, WOW!  (I haven't had it for quite a while and I missed it.)

So, what I am going to do now?

RECOMMENDATION!
I just found this wonderful online music station: www. last.fm. It is a music station without any ads or people calling in to tell their life story! Even better, try typy in (taiwan) in the tag, and you WILL find some good chinese music..haha, I don't know how an English music website can do it, but it is wonderful. Now this station is nominated as my official working music partner!! :]

Long day, and still not the end of it yet...

I have been working with Alex for his history book design for a while now. Today I started to finalize the design and did some editing and adjustment through the whole book. It was a lot of tedious work, almost drove me nuts. I don't like to do repetitive work, but it is part of the design life, right? Okay, the bomb came about an hour ago. While we were checking for the last time, he asked me the size of each page. THEN, we realized that with current size, we cannot fold the book as we expected!!! WTF! I set up the wrong size :"( from the very beginning orz. And you all know that the size does matter..

Well, I feel sooo guilty, so I decided to stay up all night to fix this problem for him. I don't think we figured it out right at the very beginning, but some one has to take the burn. And I will learn my lesson better when it hurts hard.

Beside that, I also did something little but fun again today during the break! I am going to post it tomorrow though, since I need to work on the book now and haven't got the picture of my little project yet.

I am glad tomorrow is the weekend. Though it only has been a week, I am proud of what I complished so far. Way to go, Pumpkin!!:)

It is not a habit yet : [

Yes, I forgot to blog yesterday. But I didn't break my promise. I finally started the sketches and research for food jar design. There are some good ones I found on Dieline, but none in Asian super market. Hmmm, I guess chinese people care more about the taste than its packaging. The packages on market are similar: red, yellow, gold. NO one stand out and most of them are really $#*&%! I believe that which product the customers are going to buy and stick to will eventually depends on the quality of the product (here the taste of the beef paste). What factors will encourage them to make the initial action, initial purchase? What will attract their eyes and make them grab THIS bottle among all the similar ones?

To me, it is the look and the feel the product give me. I would rather try something that looks nice and the package design shout out" yes, I am made with a lot of love and care" instead of "hey, buy me or whatever" greasy cheap looking ones. I don't want to say those product with lousy packaging are necessarily bad. Only there are choices, and a lot of them, for people who walk down the aisle without any preference. I will  try one with higher quality looking. It shows the manufactuer cares about their products, right?  However, what will get me back to the same product will be the quality of the food, which is beyond my control.

So, I will make my effort for this very good tasting beef paste. I have to say that it is the BEST one I have ever tried. It is recommended by my father in law, and I sure won't notice it if it is just sit one the shelf among all other similar ones.

My aim is a clean, fresh looking design that may or may not reflect chinese elements. I kind of want to include some, but also want to break it from the tradition. Well, we will see. I will post my work in progress later.

POPOVER!

Eversince the last visit to the restaurant in Neiman's, I fell in love with Popover. The  crispy /soft/buttery /warm popover~~ I found the recipe on internet and the last sentence: "Just like the popovers at Neiman's!" made me chose it without second doubt.

It turned out to be really really good. It is amazing how little effort you put into each pan, and how big each popover grows. It is not exactly like the Neiman's ones which is sweeter. So maybe I can add some honey or date to the original one to please my  sweet teeth. The plain one is good with chocolate paste or jam though.

I tested both cupcake pan and popover pan at the same time. It turned out to be good both way. The popover pan ones grows larger (about three times) and looks better. The taste is the same. 

 









 

Just Out of Oven





Ingredients

• 
  
   1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus 1 teaspoon room temperature for pan
• 
  
   4 3/4 ounces (135g) all-purpose flour, approximately 1 cup
• 
  
   1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (reduce to half for regular salt)
• 
  
   2 large eggs, room temperature
• 
  
   1 cup whole milk , room temperature

Directions

• 
  
  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• 
  
   Grease a 6-cup popover pan with the 1 teaspoon of butter.
• 
  
   Place all of the ingredients into a food processor or blender and process for 30 seconds.
• 
  
   Divide the batter evenly between the cups of the popover pan, each should be about 1/3 to 1/2 full.
• 
  
   Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 40 minutes.
• 
  
   Remove the popovers to a cooling rack and pierce each in the top with a knife to allow steam to escape. Serve warm. 

TIP

Heat the milk up 1 minute in microwave, warm the eggs in hot water, only use a pinch of salt. Just like the popovers at Neiman's!

I am not going to miss my second day!

Okay! I have done A LOT today! I did the laundry, made dinner, organized the garage, clean the house,  and read two awesome books (besides seeing my therapist and car technician)!

I originally planned to start the logo design for beef source, but I was occupied by all these errands (which are necessary too). Well, a promise is a promise. I cannot miss my second day, can I?  I started late but with something fun from How-Tuesday. It is a cute little gift bag made from plain envelope and deco tape. A simple and fun little thing. People are just soooo talented and creative!

I don't have any deco tape, so I just used the left over blue masking tape. It turned out to be cool.  Now I need make a gift that goes into this bag!

Please forgive me for the crease. I need practice to make it more crisp the next time.

Here is the link for tutorial. Enjoy:)

Work in Progress

It is unbelievable that how much self content you can get from a simple easy project. Yes, it is the feeling of working, focusing and do something. I think I "think" too much comparing to what I actually done, and I "think" too little that I cut before I measured twice. Well, anyway, I am exciting that I have transferred a ugly file holder into a lovely inpiring "reminder". It all started when I spend twice the time looking for the right beads than I actually spend on making the key chain last friday afternoon. So I decided that I am going to organize all my beads and make my desk a clean working environment. That's what I did today. I sorted all my beads out by color and size, put them into little clear containers (no more plastic zip bags, though they are helpful in many ways.) Then i noticed this folded I got couple days ago that I want to use to organize the sketches and ideas for different projects, so they are not loose sheets all over the place! This is not a very pretty holder. So I decided to transform it. Here is the before one:

And here is the after one:

I used paper gift wrap I had for a long time to wrap it . I found it is easier to wrap it than cut it to the shape and paste over. It is also stronger since the paper gets really easy to be torn once it is cut. I only cut the front side. Then I used letter stencil to paste/write the lettering. Hopefully, it will work as a reminder too:) I also reinforce the edge using decorative tape. I was thinking about a red ribbon, but couldn't find one. So I just used whatever I have. One thing about me, I am really flexible and just use whatever I have that works (as long as it is THAT ugly)!

This is nothing fancy, but I really enjoyed making it this afternoon. I was thinking how I always like to wrap stuff, folding papers, making boxes, and solving problems (literally, I just like to solve problems. That's why I like puzzle games and Ace Attorney! ). That's the biggest thing of me and that is what makes me a designer and artist. This afternoon, I was thinking maybe I could be an engineer or industrial designer, too. Whoever I might be, it is the pleasure to do stuff, make things prettier and more functional that makes me exciting and content.

After watching Julia and Juliet, I was thinking maybe I can do something similar. I will challenge myself to make a little progress everyday. Whatever that progress will be, maybe I run faster than last time, make a little craft project, draw a picture, design something, learn a new japanese word, try a new dish... Whatever that is, really. I just want to be better everyday, and it cannot be done by just saying it everyday. So Please, whoever is reading this blog, or just GOD (if no one is reading), encourage me, watch me, urge me to keep going/running/blogging towards the other me who I really want to be.

Thank you and good night!