Chai, Saffron tea, and doilies. an odd combo?

ok these are finally up on my etsy.

finally, something other than cupcake liners, eh? XD

well, since the shipment isn't here yet, i mean i still have some oddly coloured leftover clay from various projects, so i might as well use it up right?


(oh crud my box of threads just fell XD )

k back. uh.

yeah i'll be making some stuff for swaps, and keeping my fingers crossed about the shipment and sales on Etsy. me needs more monehs! checkups and meds are costly! :( the doc appt today was good, my blood sugar is under control although the doc did mention there's not much i can do about it since it's clearly genetic, so all i can do is learn how to deal with it. i s'pose i could seek consolation in that, i.e. it's not my fault :P Sans has received her package! yay!!~ she's my 'secret' giveaway, i'd been a lurker/fan of her blog for a while, and since i was also a recipient of -her- secret giveaway (not-so-secret for those in the know ;) ) i decided to make something for her. i'd realised her palace had lots of foods, flowers, people, pets....but NO DRINKS.

so here's what i made :) the pics aren't good, sorry~





i used endcaps/beadcaps. they're jewellery findings, and pretty hard to find (often out of stock?) i found them at some store in peoples' park centre, i forget which. they have little holes at the bottom, so don't look too closely, esp for the saffron teas, k? XP i stuck them onto bluetack (there are remnants i couldn't remove, Sans probably has realised that already) and filled them with epoxy resin. i coloured the 'chai' with acrylics, and for translucency, the saffron tea with oil paints. for the 'saffron' i cut little itty bits of thread. those were the hardest part of making it since it's all soooo tiny and fiddly, but i think the end results were worth it.

here's something else i'd like to add. as a craftsperson/artisan, it is not that i do not wish to share my work process, or fear that my 'trade secrets' would be leaked. however, for the uninitiated, please keep in mind that the process is not as easy as it seems. for me, i am an auto-didact, i read up, research the properties of materials i work with, experiment ALOT, fail ALOT, waste ALOT of materials. it is all part of the learning process. and sometimes the results can be very good and satisfying, but of course who wants to see the mucky icky ins and outs all the time? moreover, i don't wish to constantly remind myself of how terrible my work process was. that's why my experiments always leave me in a foul mood XD

i guess my 'point' is (yes, i do have one) it takes alot of hard work to make tutorials and to document the WIP. it's not that i do not wish to share, on the contrary i think i do share a little more than most. however it is a laborious and sometimes unrewarding process so unless i'm feeling particularly magnanimous, or BORED (keyword) i don't really care to document everything i try/make/do. especially when i'm super frustrated at the process XD also, since much of my work is a hodgepodge of techniques and random ideas, i don't have any 'fixed' way of making stuff.

so there you have it. my dirty little secret on why i am too 'lazy' to reply to everyone's queries. the best teacher is yourself. i know for sure i'm not a good teacher at all. too impatient :P

(p.s. this post isn't pointed at you Sans! don't worry! it's just something i'd been thinking about for a while after receiving quite a few queries and my sidestepping them :P )