Scissors Sisters Roundups

This is what I've done for weeks. Knitting & collaging. I did it between my shifts, on my days off, before I go to sleep, on my way to somewhere, while calling my bestfriends, anywhere. Recently I'm working with another yarns. Orange one!

I learned how to make a collage too and turns out that I am easily frustrated with repetitive shape. At first, I thought it was me that didn't get used to piles of papers to work on, but later on when I did it at home, I knew that it was the SCISSORS. Boo-Hoo.

Thanks to Ika Vantiani for the collaboration on her piece. (click on pictures for larger image & original post). I did the drawing part, she did the collage. I always wonder how she could cut all those pieces in exactly the same size. M-m-m-m-a-a-a-r-r-r-v-v-v-e-e-e-l-l-l-o-o-u-s-s-s-s!! You could get the art prints here

I printed out some postcards out of pictures from my last trip to Bangkok and already gave it to my cousin on her birthday.

Jeanie Jones

Yes, I love the Clash and this is the reason why I called my knick-knacks pouch: Jeanie Jones. Born in a cold morning, when her mother hardly asleep.

Materials:

* A jeans' leg (i got a pair here, but I just used one)

* Thread & needles (mine is using tobucil's rainbow crochet yarn)

* 3 pairs of stick-on Velcro

* PVC glue (emergency rescue for not-so-sticky velcro)

How-to:

1. Cut the jeans' legs with desired length, mine is 6,5 inches (around 16 cm)

2. Turn the jeans inside out. Sew the other end with backstitch.

3. Turn it inside out again. The leg now should looks like a loose pouch. Stick 2 Velcros on the front flap, 1 on the open edge (not the sewn one)

4. Add some glue or just simply sew the Velcro if it's not that sticky.

5. Tadaaaa...I could save some money for buying a sewing machine. Oh you can also spice up this pouch with embroideries or anything.

Read Along: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer)

"Yet William refused to let go of his dreams."

Having a dream and facing a reality in the other hand will always be in everyone's life. Either he's a Nelson Mandela or a high school student. So does with William Kamkwamba. He was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery (seems not-so-strange-situation in Indonesia, eh?). And also a land, where drought and hunger collide. In other words it's just simply a place where hope and opportunity are hard to find. This William had read a lot about windmills in a book called "Using Energy" and he dreamed of building one, so that he could bring electricity and water to his village. As we know, a road to good is always paved with bad intentions, William's neighbors may have mocked him and called him "misala" (or crazy, in English), but he was determined to show them what a little grit and ingenuity could do.

As a boy he's easily attracted by the workings of electricity, so he set a goal to study science in Malawi top boarding school. But in 2002, his country was stricken with a famine that left his family's farm devastated (this is how his family gain some money for a living). Unable to pay William's tuition fee, which costs them 80 dollar a year, he was forced to drop out and help his family gathering food to eat as thousands slowly starved and died. Yet William refused to let go of his dreams. With nothing more than a fistful of corn meal in his stomach, a small pile of science textbooks and extra curiosity, he embarked on a daring plan to bring his family a set of luxuries. In the meantime, only 2 percents of Malawian could afford what west world considers a necessity: running water and electricity. Using only scrap metals, tractor parts and bicycle halves, William succeed in built a crude yet operable windmill. This small miracle could powered four lights, completed with a home made switchers and a circuit breaker made from nails and wire. Then came a second machine that turned a water pump that could battle the drought and famine in every season. William called his little magic: magetsi a mphepo (electric wind, they may say).

(photos taken from http://blog.goods4good.org)

Soon, his little magic spread beyond the borders of his home and the boy who was once called misala became an inspiration.

xxx

What I like about reading a memoir, is their wits that closely related to their daily life or even a specific culture. This is what I considered (sometimes) hard to find in fictional works. Or if they existed, it may sounds a bit artificial or being pushed in, so they could go along the stories. But, here's what I found in "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind"

"One of the seasonal workers Uncle John hired to help with planting and harvesting was named Mister Phiri, a man of near-heavenly strength. Uncle John didn't even use tractors to clear the land and trees. Instead he sent Phiri, who was so powerful he'd walk from tree to tree and rip them from the earth as if they were weeds.
Everyone knew Phiri's secret was mangolomera, a form of magic that delivered superhuman strength. Mangolomera was the ultimate self-defense, a king of vaccine against weakness. Only the strongest wizards in the district could administer this potion -a kind of paste made from the burned and ground bones of leopards and lions and mixed with roots and herbs. The medicine was rubbed into small incisions made on each knuckle, usually by a magic razor. Once mangolomera was in your blood, it could never be reversed and was always gaining strength"(p.39)

The story about the windmill is now made into a full-length documentary. Can't wait to see them, hope it would turned out like Sierra Leone's Refugee Allstars and Black Gold, which I like it so much.

 

I watched this videos on Mr. Kamkwamba's blog, he showed us how he built the windmill and I watched it over and over and over again. I don't know why I feel the same, as if we shared the passions of struggle to get something we really wanted.

He said "maybe someday you watched this on the internet. I said to you: TRUST YOURSELF AND BELIEVE, WHATEVER HAPPENED DON'T GIVE UP."

Read Along: The Science of A Really Bad Day

Every morning I bumped to this book at the "Gift Ideas" section in my workplace, then one morning I decided to take a quick preview. It's interesting though, to explain something bitter in our life in a scientific terms. I thought it would be that hard (imagining those quantum leaps thingy and so on), but as I leafed through the page, I found this book more a self-help book, than a scientific explanation. Maybe you should try to look at the quotes below:

"Why do things have to fall?
Wouldn't be great if when you dropped things they just hung in midair where you'd just left them?
Falling is a real pain in the butt, especially if that's where we land. But if nothing ever fell, if there were no up and no down, we would not exist. Nor would any of the planets and stars in the heavens above us."

-"Why Sh*t Happens: The Science of a Really Bad Day", Peter J. Bentley, Ph.D., page 185

*Dang!*

Sounds so familiar. I stopped reading at that point and couldn't stop thinking how's Mr. Bentley could read my mind. Ha ha.

Woody Woodcutter

The loved one gave me this set of woodcut knife on my last birthday and not to forget to mention the hardboard (that already cutted in smaller pieces). With his tutorial and his mouthwatering woodcutting equipments (yeah, he's got those super cool Japanese set with rubber grip. I envy you, boy), I tried to make my own woodcut. Different from knitting, that sometimes took days to finished a single project, I can finished it within hours. He took my woodcut to his place and stayed for months there.

Few months later, he sent me these...the woodcut prints! He said he gave away my prints to an Australian artist, who's going to go back to her country and make some Indonesian woodcut prints exhibition. A bit cheerful I am. I think his town is the most supportive art scene I've ever known, really good for art piece exchange to and from all over the world.

this is mine

his print

Von Fr.Vantiani

schönes Bandmaß

Diesem Nachmittag kam Fr. Vantiani nach dem Laden, Ich war in der Schicht. Überraschung! Sie brachte viele interessante Knöpfe, Filzeblumen und Geschenke...für mich. La la la la.

Hier (und oben), was sie brachte:
Unbewußtlich (sagte sie) sind alle gelb.

wunderschönes Oil-cloth

Wide Open Space

Helloooooo wide, spacey desk!

After two years (or more) have a narrow, stuffed desk, this morning I succeed cleaning up those clutters! I moved my PC to its proper place (since I'm using the laptop more often), stored some two knick knack boxes in the drawer under the desk and tadaaaa...all I got is wide open space for crafting, drawing, writing or even day dreaming.

Ffffflluuuffffyyyyyyy

My first knitted plush toy, finally! I got the patterns from Mochi-mochi land and finished the back and front sides 6 months ago...and just stuffed it a month ago! 
*dang!* 
what a procrastinator I am.

Nothingman

Once divided, nothing left to subtract
Some words when spoken, can't be taken back
Walks on his own, with thoughts he can't help thinking
Future's above, but in the past he's slow and sinking
Caught a bolt 'a lightnin', cursed the day he let it go

Nothingman...
Isn't it something?

-Pearl Jam

***

Bulan purnama semalam mengirimkan pelukan hangatku untuk sahabat dan kakak perempuanku yang jauh. Ini idenya untuk jatuh di pelukan Eddie Vedder dan Vedder sukses menggantikan Cobain yang bertahan selama seminggu :)

"Peluk dia dari jauh, dia mungkin bisa merasakan kehangatannya"

Tetap di sini ya...

New Journal on the Block

He's my co-worker at the store, ermm..actually he's the assistant store manager. Last week he got a new journal, that bought together with the store manager (inspired by my lime green journal, they said). Yesterday, he showed me that he got a new crafty, semi-new-hobby according to his recent job and it is collecting labels from cd samplers. He begun from the last page of his journal, since the actual first page was for the official thingy. My, my...

I found out it's kinda great too! I remembered as I was a kid, I collected fuzzy stickers and bursted into tears if my friend stole it at lunch break *shit*.

And luckily he let me took some pictures of 'em and of course craving for my cd labels too.

Read Along: "Uncertainty Certainty" in Kurt Cobain: Journal

I've never really into Nirvana, let alone Kurt Cobain. Their only album I had was Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York (1994), but last week I bought Kurt Cobain: Journal on my trip to Bangkok. Previously I read the review on Ika Vantiani's blog and really intrigued with Cobain's letter to Courtney ("I wear you on my sleeves", awww). This morning I leafed through the pages and I found few good writings.

xxx

"I wish there was someone I could ask for advice. Someone who wouldn't make me feel like a creep for spilling my guts and trying to explain all the insecurities that have plagued me for oh about 25 years now. Wish someone could explain to me why exactly I have no desire to learn anymore. Why I used to have so much energy and the need to search for miles and weeks for anything new and different, excitement. I was once a magnet for attracting new off beat personalities who would introduce me to music and books of the obscure and I would soak it into my system like a rabid sex crazed junkie hyperactive mentally retarded toddler who's just had her first taste of sugar. This weeks obsession, vagina medical books, the meat puppets and"

xxx

Cobain just left the note above unfinished. I looked over his handwriting, not that fancy type, but readable and make the journal so intense. Later on, I found a how to read a Kurt Cobain's Journal.

"Heart-shaped Box"

She eyes me like a pisces-when I am weak

I've been buried in your heart-shaped box for weeks

I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap

I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black

Hey wait-I've got a new complaint

for ever in debt to your priceless advice

Hate-wait-

She fries me like cold ice cream-headaches & chills.

I'll cook my own meals.

(taken from Kurt Cobain: Journal)

Artificial Intelligence

Setahun yang lalu, aku memutuskan untuk mengikuti sebuah kompetisi (sebetulnya hanya pameran biasa, tapi ada proses seleksinya) kartun internasional di Jiaxing, China. Banyak sekali halangannya, ketika pulang sehabis mengantarkan karya aku harus jalan berputar kompleks kantor pos Lapangan Banteng, sekolah Santa Ursula dan seluruh blok itu sampai 2 kali. Aku sok tahu hihihi, harusnya aku menyeberang ke arah Pertamina. Kemudian deg-degan menunggu resultnya yang seharusnya keluar sekitar bulan Oktober 2008, tetapi tidak kunjung tiba. "ini gilaaaaa!" begitu pikirku. Jadi, aku kirim e-mail ke panitianya dengan nada sedikit marah-marah, apa ini hoax ya, katanya ada acara penyerahan award di bulan itu, tapi manaaaaa janji palsu. E-mail itupun tak berbalas. Aku dan temanku yang sama-sama mengikuti ajang ini pun memutuskan untuk melupakan mimpi jalan-jalan ke China.

Selang setahun kemudian, di suatu pagi tahun 2009, temanku mengirimkan pesan singkat "mbak, aku dapet paket dari Jiaxing. pasti kamu juga dapet deh..." Waaaaaaa aku jadi deg-degan...aku nunggu seharian itu sambil mikir, lho kok temenku yang di Yogya dapat lebih dulu, sedangkan aku yang di Jakarta belum. Ternyata paket itu datang keesokan harinya...

Persis waktu dibuka ada sertifikat yang membuatku sedikit mengerti mengapa e-mail-ku waktu itu tidak dibalas...ALL CAME IN CHINESE...and probably they don't even speak english as well...

Mereka mengembalikan karya-karyaku yang lain yang tidak masuk katalog dalam kondisi baik

Aku menerima sebuah katalog yang luar biasa bagus, sekaligus BANGGA MENJADI WARGA NEGARA INDONESIA karena peserta dari Indonesia hanya 3 orang! Peserta lainnya mayoritas dari China dan Timur Tengah.

Inilah karya-karya kami yang berjaya di kontes internasional

Artificial Intelligence (lihat di sini untuk postingan tentang kontingen Jiaxing tahun 2008)

Meskipun nama karyaku salah total, tapi aku senang sekali...aku bisa membanggakan prestasi ini kepada kedua orang tuaku dan meyakinkan mereka bahwa apa yang aku tekuni sekarang ini bukanlah hal yang main-main. Setelah Februari lalu aku berpameran di Yogya, kurasa masuknya karyaku dalam pameran kartun di Jiaxing ini hadiah terbesar yang pernah aku terima sepanjang tahun 2009. Piala yang aku peroleh dari Jiaxing langsung kupajang di meja di ruang tengah, biar semua orang dapat melihatnya.

My Crafty Class

Here's some pictures of my previous craft class for kids at ak.sa.ra Kemang. For the next project, I'm looking for elder age group, like teenage, for more challenging projects (i.e. journal making, knitting, etc.)

and feel free to sneak around the picture sets here

Schreib Mir, Ja?

Setelah lama tidak memiliki dan menulis sebuah jurnal akhirnya aku memutuskan untuk membuat satu jurnal percobaan. Semua bahan-bahannya bekas, kertas dapat dari sisa kelas craft kemarin, covernya dapat dari kantor bekas flyer dan kertas kado sisa, benang untuk menjahit kertasnya sisa dari topi rajutku kemarin. Dengan mengikuti sebuah tutorial di internet yang menurutku cukup mudah, aku mulai membuatnya sebelum aku berangkat kerja. Gunting-gunting kertas, siapkan empat bolongan di tengah dan proses menambahkan covernya dilakukan di kantor saja. Gambar gagaknya digambar dengan spidol permanen dua hari setelah jurnal ini jadi. tadaaaa...ini gambarnya

Sekarang tinggal satu PR-ku...mengisinya! hahaha. karena aku bukan tipe yang bisa bawel bercerita atau menulis indah.

Pulpen

Pernahkah kalian berpikir, berapa lamakah daur hidup sebuah pulpen?

Jangan beri aku jawaban "tergantung bagaimana kamu memakainya, sering atau tidak". Aku cuma mencoba berpikir apa yang dipikirkan oleh para pembuat pulpen itu ketika mengisi tinta di dalamnya. Apa yang mereka harapkan dari konsumennya? Apakah mereka berharap agar konsumennya terus mengunakan pulpen itu hingga tintanya habis (misalnya saja mereka mampu menciptakan pulpen dengan tinta super awet)? Apakah mereka mengisinya dengan tinta yang lebih sedikit sehingga orang terus menerus membelinya? Namun yang aku berani jamin adalah para produsen ini berusaha menyempurnakan mata pena agar tintanya tetap lancar dan memperbaiki bodi pulpennya agar tetap menjadi eye candy. Hmmm...aku lagi-lagi berpikir masih banyakkah orang yang menggunakan pulpen untuk menulis, sementara di sekolah sekarang segalanya sudah serba terkomputerisasi? Di perkantoran, orang-orang sudah mulai menerapkan paperless environment dari kurang lebih lima tahun yang lalu. Di rumah, orang-orang sudah menggunakan email untuk menggantikan kegiatan menulis kartu ucapan atau berkirim surat. Padahal sekarang aku lagi semangat-semangatnya membuat stationery untuk menulis surat dan mengirimkan paket. Tidak ada yang bisa menggantikan perasaan senang ketika menerima fisik sebuah barang, yang membuat kita berpikir "ya ampun, dia sebegitu perhatiannya denganku", karena kalau dipikir-pikir, mengirimkan barang lewat pos adalah kegiatan yang cukup menyita waktu dan tenaga. Namun aku suka, ketika harus menulis surat, memilih kertasnya, menghias dan membuat sendiri amplopnya.

Kembali kepada pulpen tadi, ketika kita sudah merasa amat suka dengan merek dan desain pulpen tertentu, maka kita akan mencari refill atau membelinya dalam jumlah banyak? Karena aku perhatikan, jarang sekali orang yang masih mau mengisi ulang pulpen. Harga refill-nya pun hampir sama dengan harga pulpen barunya, tapi...
pengalaman dengan pulpen itu kan tak tergantikan ya?

Weak Tea

After browsing through crafters', strangers' blog, BMX racing and so on, I kept viewing this video on youtube.

I'm reading Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange", then I found this quote:

"Weak tea are we, new brewed. But stirring make all strong"

Probably stirring is all I need, to get all my stupid questions away.

Does anyone know how big our heart is to keep all those feelings or it's just our brain who keep it all the way?

Arts & Crafts Weekender for Kids is BACK!

Yes, it is. 

I did it in June, now I'm back on the store with my purple toolbox. Every weekends on various ak.sa.ra stores (Pacific Place, Kemang & Plaza Indonesia). Still at the same time 1-4 PM. I'll keep up with the schedule later on. 

The first class has begun last weekend. Oh ADULTS ARE VERY WELCOME TOO.

So see you around

Bisakah Ku Miliki Jendelamu?

ku ingin punya jendela
yang kata temanku

di setiap rumah pasti ada

jendela untuk melihat surga

tapi jika tak yakin surga itu ada

apakah jendela itu akan tetap bisa kumiliki?

(re-post dari blogku yang lain)

Kring Krooonngg

Bicycling, is one of the most fun activities I've ever known. After 2 years of waiting, I finally own a BMX, not a Haro one, but really good for me. Never mind the bollocks! Then I got a chance last week to give it a try on a car-free day. It took me not only inside the car free day area, but from my home-workplace at Kemang-Blok M-Senayan-Semanggi-Sudirman-Bunderan HI-Monas-Harmoni and back. I wished I could go further, but I got up an half hour late from the appointed time with my friend. tsk. Sorry matey for being up sooo late a night before. 

Today, I took a different route and shorter time. Only 30-45 minutes around the block. I'm alone with my new helmet and an analog MP3 player (which is exactly my mouth shuffling songs I remembered). 

I really enjoy my ride three times a week, two short-time at workdays and longer on weekends. Hope we could see each other on the road soon. 

And by the way, I seriously named my bike "CORO", a javanese for cockroach, after mockery for my friend's bike name (that he named it after his ex-beloved one, tsk.). I promised him that someday if I got my own bike I'll take Coro as its name. And I've done it. Ha ha.

after the long ride

mine is the on the front