Erbie

Hi there! I want you all to meet Erbie, my new gardener - he loves plants, eats petals and just generally enjoys hanging around the shrubs everyday. He has those big flat fingers that helps him grab on to branches easily, big feet and toes for hanging on too, and he also has gliders to help him get from one tree to another.

Erbie is usually in a happy mood, unless Frost comes in and freezes the plants or some inconsiderate fellow stomps on his garden home. But other than that, he's as jolly as Santa's elves.

I started Erbie before the holiday but was not able to finish it just till this weekend. He was inspired from a painting I made a few years ago, a simple black and white line drawing of a sprite flying without wings around a water deity. But as I worked on him on clay, more things came out like he developed a protruding nose, awesome hair and Tarsier like fingers for grabbing branches.

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.

Weekend project: Rag Doll

To take a break from a bad case of moonies (you can see my post here), I switched to a different medium over the weekend. I made a soft doll with hypoallergenic filling, a Christmas gift for my niece. 

My theme here is still Filipiana, so Pipay the rag doll, is wearing a bluegreen halter neck dress with a pink Filipiana bolero. The dress was adorned with shabby chic pink floral patches and her bolero has a matching brooch. 

I will try to make butterfly sleeves next time - that is, if I ever find my iron. I'm not decided yet if I want her to have full face but I do like the style of rag dolls with eyes on them and no other features. Any votes? 

However she turns out, I hope my niece likes Pipay! 

Santa has the moonies

More than three years ago, while still based in Dubai, I ordered Cernit, Living Doll, Super Sculpey and Paper Clay online. A lot of those made it back to the USA when I moved here. I have not had the chance to really use them till now so it's catching up time. But that also goes to say that a lot of my polymer clay have been in stock for years! They're still good as far as I can tell and those that became a little hard is fine with a dab or two of clay conditioner.

So now that I have tried most of them, I'm still not decided on which I really like to use. I love the white Cernit for miniatures, like my mini dogs. They have a very ceramic like finish which I love. For simpler works, like my creepylicious bottles and Halloween eyes -- which by the way are also available in Spooked in Seattle Gift Shop -- I love Original Sculpey White because it's soft and easy to work with.

But for dolls, I'm not decided on which is the best. I've gone through my Living Doll and most light colored Cernit without problems. Now, I'm going through Super Sculpey beige and having a tough time. I've made two dolls with it and both came out with the dreaded whitish, half circles just beneath the surface.

At first I thought it was the tape covering my armature showing through because the first doll was an experiment in size so I did not want to use too much clay on it. However, the second doll, which is going to be Santa, had more than enough clay coverage so I am definite it was not the armature showing through. Turns out, those whitish half circles which peppered both dolls are plaques or moonies (more on plaquing or mooning here).

Ugh those new moons

Quite appropriately named come to think of it, they do look like a plethora of new moons! They are ugly, and because I'm not planning on painting over my Santa, they are super annoying!

One solution to prevent this, I read on GlassAttic.com is to add a little Premo when you condition the Super Sculpey. Another is to avoid drastic changes in temperatures. I still have to try these two solutions to know if they will work for me. For now, I'm putting Santa aside because getting the moonies was simply frustrating.

To take my mind off this unexpected block, I took a break from polymer clay and made a rag doll over the weekend. This going to be a Christmas gift for my niece. Shhh... don't tell her. ;)

Filipiana art doll: Sisa

I had other plans but as inspirations go, this little gal just wanted to be made. I found my reference easily - person to model her face on, don't ask me who, just one of my friends. My dolls do not necessarily look like my references. I read before that it's always a good idea to have a reference so that's what I aim for when I work. I finished her quite quickly and it was a great learning experience.

I'll call her Sisa. Sisa in Philippine culture is almost always equated with a crazy woman. This is because a character by that name in Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not), a book written by the Philippine national hero Jose Rizal - spoiler alert - went crazy when her sons went missing.

So crazy long hair, Spanish era clothes, and I hereby dub thee Sisa. Sisa is different and a definite experiment. Firstly, she is smaller, about 9-10 inches tall. She is only semi posable, you can make her stand and sit but her arms do not bend. I'm also still experimenting with the fabric I find here for costuming.

Filipina hair usually flow straight and with the style back then when women wore panetas or combs, the middle part usually lies flat, so that's one thing I have to watch out for when putting hair on my dolls. Right now, with the way her hair is glued on, she has a very modern bounce at the top of her head.

The one thing I'm proud of here is her costume - it can be removed! I was able to make removable clothes and not all glued on like with most art dolls. So if I ever get the urge to make her new clothes, she will be like a regular doll you can dress up. And I do need to give her a new panuelo (the scarf on her shoulders), those polka dots are too big for her.

The biggest lesson for me here is if I want to be able to dress them up, I need to learn how to make clothes. I was barely able to figure out the relationship between the sleeves and the main part of the top for this doll. So I'm trying to learn as fast as I can.

In case you're interested, I have posted links to costume tutorials I found very helpful on my Pinterest board. I have tons of pins on sculpting too.

Alright, with Sisa all done - or almost done, I am craving to make a bigger doll. I might try 16 inches next. I'm like Goldilocks right now, trying to find which size fits me best. 

Make your own ghoulish Halloween centerpiece

Simple, easy to assemble and will make a real creepy centerpiece

Planning your Halloween dinner? Here's a macabre centerpiece for your dining table that will fit the mood - a dead tree with low hanging Halloween decor. It's pretty simple to make with found materials. All you need are: Halloween decor that you can hang (your local dollar store is always a good bet for affordable, creepy fun, or you can get unique and hand made Halloween decor, or use any Halloween decor that you already have). Next you need a dark green wine bottle, cleaned and dried.  If you don't drink wine or have any old wine bottles handy, look in your kitchen. Those brown steak sauce bottles or even soy sauce bottles would make great vases.  Last, you need fallen twigs/branches and some of those glorious autumn leaves. And with trees shedding their golden foliage this time of year, the last two are available almost anywhere.

Materials: wine bottle, twigs, leaves and Halloween decor

1. If you want a black bottle, you have to first spray paint your bottle and let it dry. As an alternative, you can use your cleaned dark green or brown wine/sauce bottle as is. The color adds interest and color that's in keeping with the season.

2. Position your twigs and make sure they fit in the bottle's mouth securely. Arrange the twigs to point in different directions, away from your bottle. This will make it look like a tree with its branches spreading out. Try to choose twigs with several branches or curves on them. These lines will give your centerpiece more interest.

3. And here's the best step, hang your decorative Halloween decor! Oh so fun!

4. As a last touch, spread autumn leaves at the foot of the bottle. You can also hang some up on your twigs for color.

If you want to make a bigger centerpiece, use three bottles and stand them together with the sides touching. Tie all three bottles together with a black ribbon or loosely drape a gray or black muslin over it after you have inserted the twigs. Cheesecloth also works great for this, you can dye them with fabric dye or just let it steep in really strong coffee, then dry, to get a darker, dirtier look. Use bigger twigs and insert one in each bottle and then hang up your Halloween decor. This simple piece would work great as a corner accent too.

There you go, a creepylicious centerpiece for Halloween! Hope you have fun creating your own centerpieces!

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If you are interested in the hand made, one of a kind Halloween decor in the pictures (they can sit on a vase or hang upside down) and creepy Halloween bottles, they are available in my Etsy Shop or at the Spooked in Seattle Gift Shop.

How to arrange a lovely bouquet of creepiness

With Halloween fast approaching, many must be picking their creepiest, scariest decor ever! And I must say, there's nothing creepier than a centerpiece of eyes on stems looking at your dinner guests as they take each gruesome bite.

But getting it to this nice arrangement can mean a little craftiness on your part - they are on thick metal stems after all that will not stand on its own. So I made this little infographics which I hope will help you with your centerpiece, be it a bouquet of eyes or something similar. Enjoy! 

OrangeJar Art now available at SPOOKED IN SEATTLE

Super excited! My Halloween products found the perfect gateway to the world beyond - the center of everything that goes bump in the night of this evergreen state -- Spooked in Seattle! 

All of my works are hand sculpted and are one of a kind (OOAK). If you're in the area, I do hope you can check it out!

Bouquet of eyes, also available as singles

Creepy eye keychains and skull fridge magnets

An eye for you

So excited about this new item I'm coming out with - eye on a stick. This is the first batch, my studies, but I'll have more pictures up soon and more designs of eye on a stick available on my Etsy Shop.

30 days of Yoga: D1

For a couch potato like myself, easing back into exercise is not easy. I know. My history is pot marked with good intentions. In the past, the one thing that was able to push me to be consistent was doing it with a group, like meet-ups with my good friends from my backpacking/hiking days. We had training exercises three to four times a week, which made it regular and fun.

The second was attending classes. Being there with other people and with a teacher or leader that guided you was the best solution for me. However, classes mean money, and I have given up classes before because of budget concerns. But now, with Youtube and the tons of generous, talented people out there willing to share their talents, that's not an excuse anymore. One of those is Adriene. I do not know her personally, I only recently found her Youtube videos but I am enjoying it immensely - just don't ask my aching muscles. 

I've written about a couple of her Yoga vids on easing into the practice. And today, I started Day 1 of her 30 Days of Yoga challenge. It feels good! BUT. I will not push myself to do this daily - I need to be able to forgive myself if there are days that I can't sit still for 30 minutes of introspection (and torture) but I do aim to follow the challenge at least 2-3 days in a week. Hope you can try and enjoy it too. Here's the link to her vids. 

Filipiana Twins: Daylight pictorial

Did a quick shoot of the twins this morning to show their clothes and features better. Too bad I did not have any hair styling products with me to keep their stubborn hair strands in place. Let me know what you think of them. 

Part I: how the dolls started is here.
Part II: Hair, painting and costuming is here.

Of Yoga and Lemons

Once upon a time, I was doing Yoga regularly. I would head to the studio religiously after work and there were even a couple of times when it was only the Yoga teacher and me. That was super fab, with just me to focus on, I got a real workout! But these last few years, I've been getting lazier and lazier, age not helping, so this morning, with the second day of school and a new routine to get used to, I decided to reconnect with my inner self and long forgotten muscles. I found this Yoga for Beginners by Adrienne on Youtube and it was a real treat, just perfect to ease me in. So I'm really hoping I will stick with Adrienne for the week. Like she said, the hardest part of this routine is showing up.

So here's to a week of Yoga with Adrienne!

Making Lemons

After getting my compost bin all set up (which I talked about here), I started preparing for plants that will eventually need the natural fertilizer I'm making. I love fruit trees and I've wanted bonsai fruit trees since forever. And like my yoga, once upon a time, I had a collection of bonsai trees - which I left to my brother. So for my new collection, I wanted a lemon tree from scratch. I got a couple of organic lemons from the local grocery and I carefully cut one on the lower bottom so I don't accidentally damage the seeds. From what I've read, lemon seeds are better to plant fresh than dried. Trying to germinate from seeds that have dried seems to be harder and is generally a hit and miss affair. After I got the seeds out, I saved the lemon juice for cooking.

Got more than a dozen good seeds from that one lemon. I discarded the small, scrimpy looking ones and gave the rest a quick wash and placed them on a tissue paper. The seeds have a slimy outer coating that needs to be removed to help them germinate. To do this, it helps to hold the lower part with tissue paper so it doesn't slide off, then grab the tip with a tweezer and pull down. 

Tadaaaaa!

Nice and clear of the outer coatings, you can now see the golden yellowish color of the upper part of the seed and the brown bottoms. 

And this is purely because I like seeing if seeds germinated or not, I sandwiched the seeds in a couple of thin tissue paper, put it inside a zip lock bag and sprayed water on it, just enough to keep the paper moist but not dripping wet. That was back in August 3. The seeds needed to be in warm place so I kept mine near the computer's tower CPU which emitted some warmth. After seven days, I came back and saw those welcome sprouts trying to force the tissue open. 

All seeds is a go! Repeat, all seeds is a go!

All of the seeds germinated -- I was so excited! But I decided to wait a few more days till the sprouts were bigger before I planted them. 

This is the Root. Root goes in the soil.

Now, here's how NOT to plant them. Silly me, I planted the sprouts root side up.  This is actually the root I left exposed! Good thing they still grew. I watered it once and kept the pots in DIY greenhouses - which is a fancy way of saying I put a clear plastic bag (from reused grocery packagings) over the pot and kept 'em indoors a few inches under a lamp.

It's so gratifying to see them grow. They look so green and healthy and from what I read, they emit a very fresh lemony (naturally!) scent which I'm really looking forward to.

I do want them to grow bigger because I am planning on turning them into bonsai trees so I replanted two in a bigger pot and placed it outdoors with a bigger sheet of plastic to act as a greenhouse and protect it from the turning weather. So far it's been doing well even with the rain these last few days. So psyched!

Go Hawks!

Football mania is afoot! Everywhere I go I see fans in their favorite jersey sporting their favorite numbers. And it has reached my little space I call my studio, so clad in my own Seahawks shirt, I went to work on two commissions from Seahawks fans. Turns out they bring these to the games and get is autographed. So cool!

Doug Baldwin

Russell Wilson

Go Hawks!

Halloween decor

I love Halloween decor. I'd love to go crazy with jute sacks and black lace, ghoulish props and witches' brews. But of course, budget and space is always a problem. So I keep my Halloween party ideas on Pinterest instead. I collect inspirations from classic to the macabre on my board called Booooo... oooo... ooooooooooo.... 

So while collecting those, I have also dreamt up of making my own props and decor and finally this year -- enter unabashed self-promotion -- I have finally come out with my first Halloween inspired decorations: ghoulish bottles that will look back at you; black, aged, vessels to keep the spirits of the night. These, I am very proud to say, would look at home in your apothecary cupboard or witches' kitchen. These are available for sale in my Etsy shop. To view the full collection, just click here. 

Booooo.... oooooo... ooooo to you all.....

Seedling

I am obsessed: I want to garden again. In what used to be my bachelorette's pad, I had a compost bin under my kitchen sink (and friends can testify that there was no stink usually associated with composting) and a window garden. I grew tomatoes, basil, sweet bell peppers, ficus bonsai, holly bonsai and some other plants. But it's been two years in this new apartment and I have not yet tried my hand at growing stuff.

Okay, to be totally honest, I did impulse buy a couple of herbs during last winter season but they quickly died from exposure. But that urge to plant plus this growing, nagging guilt about throwing biodegradable items in with general garbage has really made the itch to practice my green thumb so bad!

Like a seed trying to sprout, this urge grew out of dirt or thrash to be exact. Without any conscious plans to start a garden yet, I started segregating biodegradables again. And because I did not have any gardening materials at hand, save for a set of garden tools which my uncle gave me, the segregated wastes quickly turned into a stinky mess. So I had to get a sack of soil to cover it up. Luckily, my mom gave me a shredder a few months back, so I also had shredded paper that I could toss in to control the smell. More brown materials in the compost like dried leaves, paper and dirt helps avoid stink. If you're interested to get more information about it, here's a very nice infographics about what you can or cannot put in the pile. You can view the full version here.

Since I lived in an apartment complex, I was very concerned about the compost bin becoming smelly. I took extra precautions, specially since I did not (and still do not) use any special bins designed for this purpose. I placed my compost in a garbage bag inside a garbage bag, inside a plastic bin. This makes it possible for me to tie up the first bag to contain the smell, tie up the second bag over it for a second layer of protection and then close the plastic bin cover over the whole set-up. I'd go in, check moisture, add water if needed and try to rotate everything at least once a week. Though mostly anaerobic, the compost turned into dark, moist, rich soil.

This time though, I am using a standard bin composting design because we have a balcony where I can store the compost. I used a cheap plastic bin from the hardware store, punched in some holes for air circulation and filled it up with browns and greens.

If I have the space, I would love to make this DIY rotating composter. This would give my compost that much-needed aeration. A quick Google search led me to this simpler bucket project: DIY on using Home Depot buckets.

Some composters would have a pretty tub that they'd leave by the sink where they can deposit their biodegradable materials before dumping it in the compost pile, but if you're not finicky, then any tub would work. If you don't leave it too long, even a small open top dipper would do. I use an old coffee tin can with a plastic cover.

This waste segregation reduced our garbage immensely! In the first week, we only threw out a couple of small bags of thrash, mostly product wrappers. It was a huge difference to see how much less garbage there is.

Unfortunately, I don't have that much space. I've already started storing some biodegradables in the freezer. I read that freezing them first then thawing and placing in the compost bin helps degrade them faster. However, I would need to stop collecting compostable materials soon.

There's a vast difference between the amount of brown (carbon-rich materials) versus green materials (nitrogen-rich) you can throw in. The Compost Guy says the ratio range of Carbon to Nitrogen (called C:N ratio) is 20:1 to 40:1, so that's a lot of browns (which are my paper, soil and errant dried leaves that drop in the balcony) versus greens (my kitchen scraps). That math just means one thing to me: everything adds up to a full bin and I have no more space. A backyard would be lovely, fairy godmother.

It will definitely not be quick. Composting guides say compost can be ready in three to four weeks (I wish!) because normally compost is ready to use in six months to a year. And I do like to err in the side of caution. I left my first apartment compost in the previous residence for a year before I started using it.  I'm also considering vermicomposting to get it done quicker.  In the meantime, I can start germinating seeds and arranging the space for our burgeoning garden, which right now is just a compost bin and some seeds.

I do wish my apartment community has vegetable gardens or pea patches. Found out recently that Liv Apartments, one of the newer apartment communities in Redmond offers pea patches and for me, that's a stroke of genius! I've often mentioned it to hubby, that with all these landscape grounds around apartments, offering residents vegetable gardens and composting space should be a staple. I hope it works out for Liv Apartments so that hopefully, the trend will catch on.

Recycling, composting, gardening -- ahhh... it feels good to be back in touch with earth.

Raw Artists

Attended a very cool exhibition in Seattle last night promoting up and coming artists: RAW Artists. Showcasing inside a club, the event was a frenzy of performing artists, body art, photography, painters, fashion designers and more. 

RAW Artists is an organization by artists promoting and helping fellow artists. They have over 60 locations worldwide and their local directors would scour for potential exhibitors for a night's explosive and definitely creative festivities. 

Packed within those dark walls - Seattle's event was held at Neumos on E Pike St - was a wide range of works from thought provoking photography, beautiful pet portraits to chic accessories. All the while, the stage was busy with your singers and performing artists. 

RAW Seattle, 082014

RAW Seattle, 082014

RAW Seattle, 082014

RAW Seattle at Neumos 

How'd I know about it? The Seattle director contacted me as a potential exhibitor through my OrangeJar Etsy Shop - *tickled pink, blush, blush. Though I'm not decided yet on how to go about my first venture in the US outside my online shops, I have definitely enjoyed crawling out of my quiet rock and heading into busy Seattle to see a sample of RAW Artists at their best.

Just hop on to the RAW website for more info.