lengthy personal stuff, skip for the usual boring polymer clay flashbacks....:P
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soo pretty, eh??? Dale of dalesdreams came down to Singapore last week! today will be her last day here, and i've been spending some time with her, re-discovering Singapore and wearing out the soles of my slippers XD had a great week, am so glad you came to visit, Dale! i hope it wasn't too boring....:X :X :X and of course i wouldn't forget you, i don't even need a cup to remind me :) it took a visit from a friend so far away to bring together a group of us Singaporean miniaturists! managed to FINALLY meet Sans and Peili....Asuka too (even though we meet all the time ha ha)! i was so excited to meet all of them i am surprised i didn't talk myself hoarse the first two days....XD

anyway, Dale, very thoughtfully picked out a beautiful teaset, Yotsuba doesn't drink that much tea! Yotsuba is more of 1:8-1:10 scale, but she does look somewhat bigger, eh? that's because my camera is always on macro mode :E this teaset will be used over and over again, i will try to be careful with it! there is a box of chocolates waiting for me too, and i totally did not pay heed to my diet, i had reeses' pieces, tanty cakes (sp?), twinkies (which tastes like our version of little teatime cakes available at most neighbourhood confectioneries, except with a lot of cream) and omg, the carbonara. i doggy-bagged some, it was that good....DALE I WANT THE RECIPE!!!! ^ ^

the camera battery ran out, but as with all my fun jaunts, i forget to take pictures. i find the picture-taking very intrusive, but i did take some with my handphone that i can't seem to get OUT of the handphone cos....it's really my brother's handphone and i donno where the data cable is :P i'll figure something out. i hope.

anyhow, you can see more pics over at Sans' and Dale's blogs, they are at:


http://sansdollhousediaries.blogspot.com/
http://dalesdreams.blogspot.com/

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had a great week! but i'm all pooped out from all the activity, and have some orders to catch up on...meanwhile pics from the previous project.....anyway the personal mushy post style makes me all uncomfortable and blushing and stuff...gaahhh *blush* MOVING ALONG!

mostly 1:3 stuff, the mochi are 1:4 though. 

had to make a cane to get the effect. now i have lots of 'cut from the side' strawberry slices XD should be making some strawberry shortcake cakes soon...i think......

the 1:4 mochi icecream. i can't seem to tell the difference 'tween the two, really. 

and the snowskin mooncakes, different than the ones previously blogged about....



made some cases to go with the truffles too...i super duper like these. i moaned and groaned to Asuka about how difficult it was to simulate the drizzle :(

so anyway. that was the stuff i'd been busy with before Dale arrived....here's the 1:12 stuff i fiddled around with too before i started on the above project...didn't have time to take good pics gah....

toyed around with some design ideas and elements. i think i'll make a range of cakes called "my bloody valentine". *snort*

part of some stuff i gave Dale....with some new strawberry canes i made. i didn't know what to make for her, i don't ordinarily do pink much for my personal stuff! forgot to take pics of the other stuff, but meh, you see 1 cupcake, you've seen 'em all......... XD

ok. back to catching up with requests! i think imma take a break soon..i am still sneezing a lot from the trip to the bird park yesterday. i think i'm allergic to something there......*blows nose* that's it for updates!

1:3 mini mooncakes, and a kinda-sorta lizard-frog.....

a new commission calls for some mini mooncakes in 1:3. i decided to make a mold since i will be making a cut version, and thought i might also offer it on my etsy once i get some time to make stock and list items. i didn't have a mooncake mold, and so had to make it from scratch. the base was first made, baked, then the petals individulally put into place, and finally squished a ball of clay into the centre. the snowskin mooncake required translucent clay, and i opted to use FIMO translucent white since it bakes whiter than KATO does, and also will result in a fine matte finish. i dusted the mold with cornstarch before pressing in the ball of clay. since it was a test mooncake, i pressed in the 'cherry' colour and filling to see if it would show through the skin layer, i guess it does ^ ^ am so pleased with it, it really does look edible :O oh yeah, mooncake festival is nearing, right???

and here is my contest entry for the alien competition over on http://teammidscompetitions.blogspot.com/! thank you to those who voted for me, whether you knew it was mine or not ;) i voted for the aliens at the zoo because it made me chuckle real hard, i have been rather a softy lately for pets, probably cos i recently took Eva to the vet XD anyway.....here's the other 2 pics i submitted to show the detail.

i originally wanted to put more scales on her legs, but given that i only had time to make her during the extended deadline period of 2 days, i couldn't complete her as i ran out of clay :( her scales were made using a mix of leftover clay from my sushi and cucumber canes XD and since my oven was too small, i kept burning her feet, it was awkward placing her in position and i guess her toes must have touched the top heating element :(

see :( sadness.

 bf said he preferred the bulbous toes, and i guess they were more appropriate since i made the bulbous fingers first....i just liked the idea of clawed toes.........

T_T le sigh. had to snip off her feet ahhhh~~~!!! headless and footless!!!! XD

anyway. i also gave her chest a bit of detail to resemble something like...actually i donno. i -think- it looks 'cracked-shell-like'.

been a busy week, and i'll be even busier for the next month or so. am working on some 1:3/1:4 commissions, Dale is coming down to Singapore, have to plan out the lesson plans and tools/materials for when i start giving classes (prob July-Aug) etc...and i'm sure i'm forgetting many more items on the to-do list. dangit i really should use my whiteboard now that i have one....oh and i cut my hair, took about 8 inches off :O :O :O wanted to start swimming again, and decided after bf's observation that i was going bald (the final straw really) that the long hair was really, REALLY such a nuisance. see, the thing is, it's never about having the short, or the long hair, but the IN BETWEEN LENGTH hair..

i'll try and make the next post a more technical one regadring challenges of working in various scales from 1:3 down to 1:48. i don't care if nobody's interested, i am, and i do so enjoy thinking to myself........*taps chin*.......

TeamMIDS Feature: Jody Raines of PeachBlossomHill

i am so in love with this chaise longue. first came across this fainting couch over at cdhm forums and...man oh man. i keep going back to 'visit' it XD

naturally, there are other things to be drawn to. like the layout of the room, which i'm sure you can see for yourself, can be easily mistaken for a life-sized room.

i must admit, i don't own much shabby chic (actually i don't think this qualifies as 'shabby', maybe just 'chic'?) stuff as the style is not something i'm usually drawn to, but such beautiful works suit almost any tastes i'd think ;) not only does she make these beautiful couches, much of the accompanying accessories like the peaches, the swan, even PAINTINGs are done by Jody herself :O multi-talented, what!

anyhow, please visit her blog and say hi, and as much as i'd hate to see that chaise longue go to anyone else but me, i've gotta say it deserves a better home than my grubby one. XD you can find her works at the following links:


http://peachblossomhill.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19713618@N00/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/peachblossomhill



i'm happy to make Jody my first 'official' TeamMIDS feature! regular readers (hi COUSIN ASUKA AND NYANN LOL) will probably know  that i LOVE my teamMIDS team on Etsy, and have been procrastinating on the features ._. apologies!  i hope to do this more regularly ^ ^