Matching His & Hers Philippine Mythology Mugs

Perfect for Valentines, birthdays or anniversaries, I give you the Maganda and Malakas mugs! They are matching His & Hers mugs with silhouettes that will face each other.

In Philippine mythology, a bird split a giant bamboo in half and out came a man and a woman. He man was named "Malakas" (Strong One) and the woman was named "Maganda" (Beautiful One) and from the marriage of these two came the human race.

In one veresion, the middle says, 

"Mahal Kita
Walang Iba"

which means, I love you, nobody else. 

In the black and white version, it says 

"Malakas at Maganda

Habambuhay"

which means "Strong One and Beautiful One, Forever."

For literal translation, the text say "Strong and Beautiful, while there is life."

Malakas - Strong 

at - and

Maganda - Beautiful

Habambuhay - a contraction of "habang may buhay" which means (habang - while, may - have/has, buhay - life) - While there is life

In this context, I chose to interpret this as "forever," when love lasts more than a lifetime. Many cultures believe in a version of afterlife or even reincarnation, and I choose to believe that "habambuhay" is life in all versions, therefore, forever. 

Perfect for lovebirds out there! This illustration is my own design and printed on the mug by a production partner. Currently available for oder in my Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/OrangeJarArt.

Cooking with a Palayok

This is something I've working on for some time now – Filipiniana themes for my Etsy shop and yes, they are now available. I have my illustrations on mugs, throw pillows, phone cases and tote bags. 

I took a video of the throw pillow and showed it on my IG, it's super fluffy and feels smooth to the touch, you can watch it here: Cooking with a Palayok Throw Pillow Video.

I drew this design reminiscing about my childhood. The first pot of rice I ever cooked was in a toy clay pot, or rather, a miniature clay pot. Miniature clay pots were popular when I was a kid and we mimicked how grown-ups would cook in my grandma's kitchen. So there we were pretending to cook using shredded leaves and water when my grandma's sister passed by. 

She said go and get the real thing so you can learn how to cook! And we did. The rice didn’t turn out  edible but I was a kid cooking with real rice with real fire for the first time, so much fun!

Throw pillows:

And Mom's the Best
My Wife's the Best Chef

Pinoy Santa

Moonies or not, my Filipino (Pinoy) Santa's finished. I like his face, quite pleased with it in fact, so I don't want to waste all that effort despite the annoying moonies.

Here he is, all painted and dressed. He is my interpretation of a Filipino Santa so he is wearing the traditional formal wear barong (or the closest I can to a barong), over a canvas undershirt (not really your typical shirt material but it was what I had on hand) paired with a red, velvety, very much Santa-like pants. I remember when we had to perform traditional Southern Tagalog dances in school, the male costume is a usually a white shirt and a pair of red pants, so I thought the barong with the red pants would look good on him. The velvety part is a nod to the season.

Collar needs to be adjusted.

Bayong is a bit small for all his toy goodies!

Of course Santa needs a bag with goodies, so I gave him a bayong. Bayongs are bags made with woven palm leaves. Nowadays, there are a lot of fashionable bags and handbags made with the same or similar materials in an updated style. 

Filipino toys

His goodies are also traditional Philippine toys. First we have taka (paper mache) horse. These are usually colored bright red with black hair and colorful line drawings. It was quite a sight to see those during Christmas or town festivals -- tons of red horses all lined up!

Next we have the slingshot or in Filipino, tirador, the top or turumpo, toy guitar or gitara, clay pots or palayok and the sungka. The clay pot is also colored red with white designs on it like the taka horse. This is also typical of toy clay pots sold during Christmas and town festivals. You can buy them as miniatures and boy, were those fun! The pot is sitting on another clay creation, which acts as the stove. You put the coal directly under the pot.

I don't know the English translation for sungka, but it is played by two players. The bigger grooves at the end of the board is assigned to a player and it acts as their "home base". They collect their "subi" here, subi is the shell each player collects when they pass their home base. Each groove, minus the home bases, has six shells or pebbles in it. Both players start playing at the same time by choosing one groove from their side of the board, putting all the shells in it in their hand and then dropping one shell or pebble in the consecutive grooves after. They will also drop one pebble in their home base but of course, skipping the competition's. When you get to the last shell in your hand, you pick up all the shells or pebbles in the groove where you were supposed to drop it. The player who drops a shell in an empty hole loses his turn. He or she can only continue to play when the other player loses his or her turn in the same way. The player with the most pebbles in his or her home base wins. Ooh, I hope that description is accurate! It's been ages since I last played the game. I do wish to have another sungka, but I want the more intricate carved ones with feet stands.

Wow, all these brought back very fond memories of childhood. I wish I could go back soon to celebrate a town fiesta or Christmas in the Philippines.

Just for fun, I also gave Pinoy Santa a fake beard with elastic band.

All dressed up and ready to go

Part II of the twins' adventure - my new dolls project (I started talking about them here).  This time they get paint, hair and clothes. I've already painted the face and spent hours putting on hair. Unfortunately, I forgot that I wanted the girl's hair in a bun so I used short strands of hair on her, which I later found was too short for a clean, sophisticated bun. Oh well. Both of their hairs were going wild after it was glued on, hubby kept saying they looked like witches (not helped by having my creepy Halloween bottles waiting to be painted in the background).

Excited to get my hair!

Hmm... I look adorable bald!

Rock and roll!

Headbangers! 

After the hair was done, I started with the girl's clothes first. I imagined it would take more time and I was right. It took a lot of tinkering and experimenting. I found a lovely gray cloth for the skirt. The design was small so it looked just right for a 13-inch doll.

Filipiana dresses can be really elaborate. A lot of them are beaded too. I started a Pinterest board to help me with Filipiana inspirations (click here to view my board). Luckily, there is a lot of photo references out there, both from modern and old sources. I love the beauty of traditional Filipino clothes. I had to make do with similar materials though since I have no access or budget for real materials like pina (pineapple) cloth or other elaborately embroidered materials.

I've collected some beads over the years, most from the Philippines and this was the perfect time to use them. I've never really beaded anything before and I only sew out of need. Luckily, sewing is pretty much like riding a bike, once I pedaled off, I found my running, back and blanket stitches coming back to me. The beading though was totally different -- it was hard and tedious. That's why I ended up with two different designs for the front and back of the skirt. If anybody asks, that's intentional.  

Experimenting with beads

Skirt first version

I found the top easy enough to make. Her white top is made from Ikea curtain scraps. Back in Dubai, the curtains I bought was too long so I cut it to size and sewed the bottoms back. The rest, I kept with my stash of fabrics that I keep for any future use. That was at a time that I did not have an inkling I will have an interest in doll making at all. Pays to be a pack rat sometimes. 

The skirt was patterned after the first easy long skirt pattern I found online. It had a short trail at the back. I snapped this picture above and was simply not happy with it. The waist was too low and the whole thing just didn't seem right. I left it for a day or two and then while reading a cosplayer's blog post about her Elsa costume, I realized I had to put another color in that skirt and it needs to have a flare! I searched for a material that will kind of match the gray cloth and found this two-toned pink striped fabric so I started cutting the original skirt to insert the pink in. Adding those pink strips, made it balloon more, which I thought suited the Filipiana look I was aiming for. 

Front of the skirt

Back of the skirt

I also found a lacy sort of fabric with tiny embroideries in pink! I remember when I was kid, they would spray water with starch in it before ironing shirts to make it nice and crisp. So I did the same with this fabric after I cut it to the size and shape I wanted. This was to be her panuelo or the scarf that goes over her shoulders. As final touches, I gave her slippers that matches her skirt and a pink rose on her hair.  

A rose on her hair

Traditional ones are embroidered I think. I made hers simpler.

I think I need a fan or an umbrella

I love her dainty panuelo!

The boy was easier. I gave him a shirt, pants and shoes. He is not as formal as the girl but this is the best I can do for now. His shirt is made from one of my Dad's old shirts, so even though his clothes were easier to make, his costume is definitely extra special. His final touch is a straw hat. I've learned a lot from this project so I'm definitely looking forward to my next. 

All dressed up

Check out my haircut

Ang Kambal

The Twins

More photos of the twins outdoors here. 

New Dolls and Yoga 2

My father passed away three months ago from lung cancer. It has been a very hard time. And it took a while before I could bring myself to work on any project. It's still hard, only last night I was dreaming he was in the hospital, diagnosed with something else and he was going to die in just a few minutes. He wanted to talk to a priest that he does not know personally, he's already spoken to his friend who's also a priest. I called my friend who knew a priest but his contact cannot be reached, I tried the priest at the hospital but he could not be disturbed because he was holding a service and I think I woke up sometime after that, running around looking for a priest before my father goes which was just a few minutes away.

When I finally found the will to open my boxed up clay, I could not find any inspiration. I did not know what I wanted to do. No spark. Nothing. At that point, I've been absent for a few months in all my social network sites as well. Since I could not find anything that interested me, I went back to Facebook and started looking at my feed to see what my family and friends have been up to.

One of my cousins regularly posts pictures of her fraternal twins, a boy and girl, and their antics, and that stirred up some creative interest. Those two are adorable. After a few days, the muses started humming, setting me on an ambitious note: two dolls at the same time, The Twins or in Filipino, Ang Kambal. 

Kinda funny how the start of dolls are always scary looking. Creating heads, hands and feet and curing them separately looks like a twisted factory but the end is so much fun and full of beauty. So here's the first look at The Twins:

Boy or girl?

Originally I wanted to make shoe-shaped feet but I changed my mind 

Hands waiting to be cured

Cured and "mummified" 

Adding feet and hands

These two are going to be a little older than my cousin's twins but they are, finally, going to be dressed in Filipiña. I've long wanted to create Filipiña dolls, and these two are going to be the start. More updates definitely coming soon. 

Which reminds me, I have not posted about my weekend at the Faerie Character Workshop taught by Wendy and Toby Froud yet. Now, that was super exciting. The doll I made during that workshop was a product of the vision quest by Wendy and my tribute to my Dad. I'm glad he was able to see that, he's always been very supportive of my art. These two dolls are based on what I learned on that workshop so I'll definitely be posting about that too.

Part two of finishing the twins: hair, painting and costuming are here.
Part three: outdoor photos are here.

Yoga Day 2

I am loving Adrienne! I just finished her Day two, 40-minute Yoga session (Day 1 is here) and I feel great. Even the strain on my right shoulder, which has been my constant companion for the last two weeks and has been slowly taking over my right side, seems to be responding well.

Yey to D2!

Crafters of 10a Alabama

In my 10 days in Manila, I had the wonderful opportunity to check out the 10a Alabama Arts & Crafts Fair. 

My friend Betsy is a regular, she sells their hand made items labeled Orig Kami Handmade Novelties by Alejo-Aytin such as handpainted eggs, bottles and wooden spoons together with handpainted jute bags and other hand painted wooden mediums made by her dad and sister. He husband also offers a great collection of origami earrings. 

Orig Kami Handmade Novelties by Alejo-Aytin

I'm a great admirer of Betsy's work since we were in college. I have commissioned her before for a painting of daisies which I gave to my godmother who collects daisy designs, and more recently, I have commissioned painted bottles which were supposed to be given away as wedding favors (long story why it's "supposed to be" but that order is on hold for now). Also in my possession is a lovely reproduction of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss lovingly done on an antique canvas, which she also painted. 

Whenever I go home in Manila, we make it a point to meet at least once, so it was nice being able to surprise her by turning up at the fair. As usual, she wowed me with her creations and her long list of "to dos". Evidently, she doesn't have the time to finish up the orders that are still in queue - way to go Bets!

It's always great meeting up with her, I always end up inspired and motivated to explore my own art. Christine, another college friend, was also there hanging out. She's into make-up now, both teaching and make-up service, and she can easily talk her way around brushes, concealers and more. It's been so long since I last saw her we just gabbed as if to fill in the years in between.

But enough of that for now, here are lovely finds in 10a Alabama, enjoy!

  

*Note: The watermarks on the photos are only there to indicate that these photos are mine. The products and brands featured in each photo are of the respective artist. 

Divisoria shopping

Flew back here to Dubai early this morning, been in the Philippines for the last 10 days. What a trip! Tiring is a kind word to describe it. From the first day of arrival, I was already on local time which is four hours earlier than Dubai. So I was awake at 4am Dubai time, almost every day. Totally not me but it was well worth it.

One of my first stops was Divisoria, a Pinoy haven for shopping dirt cheap. It's the place to be if you're into fashion (we found a pretty cocktail dress with an overlay of lace at PHP250, a similar one in MegaMall was PHP600), toy collections, or shopping for special occasions. You will find a lot of fake items there specially in the bags area, true, but search hard and you will also get really good finds. My reason for being there is to shop for unbranded props and costumes for the Say Cheese UAE photobooth, a product of The Kitsch Company, that is launching this month.

Divisoria Mall

Though the whole area is filled with shops and street vendors, our main destination was Divisoria Mall.  Coming from Mandaluyong, we took the jeepney to Gabbys, then another jeepney to Taft and another to Divisoria (if you want to go to Divisoria and don't know how, check this page out). With all of the best intentions to arrive early, we got there around 10 in the morning and pleasantly found it manageable. If you really want to avoid the crowd, come earlier.

Screenshot from http://www.metromaniladirections.com/

It was fortunate that we got there before the rest of Manila, so we were able to enjoy browsing relaxedly during the first two hours. But with lunch time came more people and it became a mad jostling scene just to get through some alleys. Didn't help that as the hours zoomed by, the bags we were carrying were also multiplying or in the case of our big bags, ballooning like the Marshallow man on more marshmallows. We had to do a lot of calisthenics, swerving, moving our arms up and down, bending, just to avoid hitting other people with our haul.

Plenty of knick knacks!

Since we did not have sukis (vendors that you go to regularly and give you a good price without haggling for it), we decided to scour the entire building. Our strategy was to start from one side and snake through each alley to see each and every shop. At some point, we got disoriented, and saw several alleys twice.

We found wonderful props for both kiddie parties and adult parties on the second floor - butterfly wings, cowboy hats, pirate gear, wigs and a lot more. My sis was on the lookout for gifts, and she found unbranded waterproof backpacks and cute night lights to give away for Christmas.

On the third floor near the food court, we found toy stores with a wide selection. I picked up a couple of props while my sis picked several lovely gifts for the little ones - toy electric guitar, toy synthesizer, race cars and more.

This is by no means my first time shopping in Divisoria, but admittedly, it has been a long time. After a late lunch and a last minute check that we got everything we needed, we faced the crowd again with our extra large bags and started jostling back. My arms were stiff and involuntarily shaking with the effort the next day. But yes, I will gladly do it again.

In case you're in Manila and thinking of Divi shopping, consider my little words of wisdom:

1. Keep your belongings close. Expect a crowd, jostling and restless fingers will probably be in the mix too, so keep your wallet/money close to your body. Use body bags instead of regular handbags. Don't wear jewelry or expensive watches. Bring smaller bills, harder to haggle if all you have are huge bills.
2. Bring your own collapsible bag or tote. It's difficult to handle several plastic bags from different vendors. Also, it's nice to be enviro-friendly, right? If you think you'll be buying heavy items, consider bringing a collapsible bag with a stroller but remember, managing this might be challenging once the place fills up specially during Christmas season. 
3. List down what you need. It's easy to get distracted with so many eye candies. So be sure you have a list. 
4. Be decisive. Haggling? Buying? Decide and move on. The first store you see with the product you like will not be the only one who has that item in stock. So, if you think the price is higher than what you have budgeted for, move on. If the sellers are also not friendly, same case, they're not the only ones selling those items. I particularly don't like dealing with unfriendly vendors, so I tend to move on and I do find those items in other stores. More often than not, with a cheaper price tag too. It also helps if you have a price guide - before I went, I asked another friend about the price ranges of the items I need, so I had them pegged at a price and never went beyond it.



Toy stores at the third floor

5. If you're all set to haggle, try to identify the owner of the shop and haggle directly with him/her. For example, I got some really nice leather cowboy hats down to PHP90 wholesale price when I asked the owner directly, as opposed to PHP120 (last price) his lady seller was giving me. If you buy a lot of items from them, ask for a further discount by rounding off the total price lower. 

In case you're more into fashion, then you should check out the nearby mall 168.

Lapis, Papel Atbp - donate school materials for poor schoolchildren

The University of the Philippines Alumni Association in the UAE (UPAA-UAE) is relaunching the Lapis, Papel Atbp (Pencil, Paper and More) project to help schoolchildren in the Philippines get the basic requirements to study.

If you have books, paper, pens, pencil, notebooks slippers, shoes or even old computer equipment that you would like to donate, please contact +971 50 426 7879 or email help.scholar@gmail.com. 
 

Help needed for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

A little but much important break from art-related stuff:

The Philippines has been rocked by a natural calamity - Typhoon Ondoy, international name Ketsana. Many places are flooded, houses destroyed and still, many people are in need of rescue.

Relief and rescue operations have been launched since the day the typhoon started wreaking havoc but more help is needed, either monetary or in kind.

You can send money directly to the Philippine Red Cross or if you're in the UAE and you want to give donations in kind, you can coordinate with the University of the Philippines Alumni Chapter (UPAA-UAE).

UPAA-UAE
Cash pledges and donations in Dubai please call Abet Alba, 050-136 7265.
For Abu Dhabi, contact Earl Palacios - 050-8223516.
All other emirates, kindly coordinate Emily - 050-9533459.

If you want to donate goods - blankets, clothes (esp. for children), slippers, canned goods, rice, cooking oil, sugar, coffee, sleeping mats, medicine and first aid kits, etc. - please contact Arn Cerneo from LBC 050-9250662 and he can give you a free box.

Here are some video posts from the Philippines:

Don't know where the click video to donate leads to, but it's always safer to donate to the Red Cross or institutions you know.





Please spread the word.