OISHI Green Tea Launch

Some pretty and dainty dark cherry red blossoms I saw in Botanic Gardens

Finally have some time to sit down and edit the photos I took of the OISHI Green Tea Launch on 12th March.

In a way, you could say it's a pretty last minute decision on my part to take up the task of featuring this tea launch because I was debating internally whether I should take leave from my day job or not. In the end, this opportunity to be at an official product launch as a media identity won because well one, I needed the experience because truth to be told, I had never been in a position of a media identity before, at least those with proper RSVP media invites that is. And two, hey, you know I can never say no to tea.

Botanic Gardens eh, how long since I've been there? 2004 or something like that? Or did I visit here again for a friend's wedding in 2008 or 2009? Memories are pretty fuzzy but you get the drift, it's been years since I've been to Botanic Gardens.

And hence, my first time alighting at Botanic Gardens station (CC19). Which, turned out to be a very wrong move because my face almost turned blue when I realised that I am all the way at the other end of the stated venue - Botany Centre (Tanglin entrance) for the shuttle to Villa Halia. 1.2km walk to Botany Centre and I almost got lost at the Jacob Ballas Visitor Centre (it's like the mid-point of Botanic Gardens). I must really thank the counter staff at Jacob Ballas Visitor Centre for pointing out the right direction to a geographically challenged person like myself.

Thank the stars I wasn't too late for the shuttle (5 minutes late actually, but thank goodness the shuttle was 10 minutes late too) and it was only until the shuttle dropped us off at Villa Halia which I realised how awfully blur I was.

In my state of panic then, I did not notice that Halia Restaurant/Villa Halia was right in front of me when I took the left fork of the road to Botany Centre. Which meant that, I could have jolly well reached the venue without having to rush my life for the shuttle.

But well, there's always a first for everything. At least now I know which are the landmarks to take note off in Botanic Gardens should there be other media launches or events held here in the future.

Received my media tag from the very helpful staffs at the reception!

Distinguished guests and media all gathered at the dining area

The calligraphy booth at the corner of the dining area

Sample choices of colours and three Japanese basic forms

Upon being ushered into the main event area, I was given an official media tag, whose customized lanyard I like very much because of how aptly designed it was to the event theme.

Being encouraged to explore by the very friendly staffs at the reception booth, the first thing I was looking for was the calligraphy booth, as it was one of the two featured fringe items for this event.

Both calligraphers were very pretty and friendly Japanese ladies. I particularly like the lady dressed in lavender as her sharp tapered outfit decked out with trad Japanese flowers reminds me of that worn by ninjas, which is pretty cool.

Visitors get to choose to have their names written in Hiiragana, Katakana or Kanji. I wrote mine down in Katakana and the lady in lavender was pretty surprised, as most of the visitors she attended to had to have their names translated into the Japanese language. Mine was already given to me by Kubo Sensei a long time ago while I was still back in our Japanese Cultural group in poly hehe. It was only until when I met Hibi Sensei that my Hiiragana translated name was translated into Katakana (because my name is considered as a "foreign name" and anything "foreign" is traditionally translated into Katakana in the Japanese language).

We had myriad colours to choose from for our names to be written in. Wanted to pick purple but red seems more striking for calligraphy (like the 朱砂 in traditional Chinese calligraphy and watercolours). Her other colleague who wrote my name in calligraphy style did it really skilfully and she was very happy when I complimented her for it. Although it came in a dainty red envelope to match, but I felt that keeping it in seems like a pity since it was written so well. Now, it's a permanent fixture in my room as a result hehe.

Graced by many acclaimed media!

An energetic and vibrant Taiko performance!

The emcee for the day!

Speech by GOH

An trad opening ceremony with sake barrel breaking!

All media and attendees were treated to a splendidly energetic Taiko performance next - as mentioned, the 2nd fringe event highlight for the day. Personally, I like the Taiko performance very much, or maybe that's the Japanophile in me speaking haha!

The opening ceremony after was the breaking of a sake barrel with trad wooden mallets for good luck and success. It was an interesting experience for me because this is my first time seeing a sake barrel being broken open in this way and the symbolism of doing so.

The spread outside the dining area!

Dainty spoonfuls of deviled eggs with salsa mix and dressing

Mussels in tart crust

Goma rice cakes, assorted sushi and maki rolls and salmon sashimi

Chawanmushi in salsa mix and dressing

My pick of the mains!

The dessert section in the dining area

Matcha Opera

Milk Pudding with Azuki Beans

Handmade Dark Choco dusted with Cocoa Powder

Lemon Meringue Tarts

The featured drinks of the day!

I believe everyone is pretty curious of the buffet spread prepared for the guests, so let's have a look shall we?

The mains are mostly laid outside - dainty spoonfuls of deviled eggs in salsa mix and dressing, which are pretty delish. The mussels in tart crust is something pretty new for me and I like it because well, mussels lover here hehe! The crispy Goma Ricecakes goes down surprisingly well with one of the two featured drinks - the Genmaicha version of the Jasmine Green Tea. Probably because of the Genmaicha that's why, that brown rice and rice combination.

For the chawanmushi, the presentation was interesting but I think could use more salt to bring out the taste better.

Being a person with a sweet tooth, the desserts were a delight. Amongst everything listed above, my personal faves includes the Matcha Opera, Milk Pudding with Azuki Beans (seriously can't get enough of those haha!) and the Lemon Meringue Tart (anything with lemon or yuzu, that sourish tang is addictive haha!).

The handmade dark choco has an interesting texture with the cocoa powder sprinkled on it and that slight bitterness offset with the light-tasting Jasmine Green Tea perfectly hehe!

Like her outfit!

The ladies attending to us for this event was decked out in matching emerald and forest green yukatas with subtle green tea leaves print. I found this lady here particularly striking and photogenic, which was why I requested for a photo of her (I was quite embarassed myself actually because I was wondering if my photo request would sound weird or something).

Thank you so much for being so sporting!

Goodie bags lined by the door!

Guess what's in this customized wooden box???

Which I cracked the side lid by accident, oh dear

Yummy tea and a ceramic fortune kitty!!! SO CUTE!!!

And a pop-up card too hehe

Free chopsticks set anyone???

The goodie bag I brought away from the event was a surprisingly heavy customized wooden box (probably of MDF wood make). Which, I had the misfortune of splitting the side lid because it flopped off the chair of my usual bread fix shop, where I went to for some tea and warm bread after the event.

Asked Hubs if it can be fix (because honestly I was quite sad of the box's predicament). He took a close look at it and told me that it should be as good as new once we patch it up with some white glue, and well, probably a good idea too to give it a wood colour makeover with some lacquer.

And thank goodness the cute ceramic Maneki Neko (aka "Fortune Cat or Fortune Kitty") didn't get smashed into smithreens because the outer layer of the box absorbed most of the impact (hence the split side lid ugh).

There's two bottles of the featured drinks inside the box! Good things must share so I'll probably drop them off in our office fridge hehe.

To add on to the box of goodies, there's a box of customized chopsticks too with the trad Japanese symbols the sakura, the crane, the iris (?), the dragonfly and the flounder imprinted on them.

I remembered seeing cups of neatly and delicately folded cranes on each table in the dining area. And of course, they are for the guests to bring away for good luck. I took one too and I look forward to the next launch haha!

The March Shipment

March has come and gone. And now, even April too. I mean hey, next week and woot! Labour Day long weekend!

"名前無いの花" and "Random: Test Subject Number 001"

'Tis been awhile since I made anything. Work had been hectic (as always) and the only thing which I want to do after work is sleep (not a good habit in my opinion).

And it didn't help when Hubs went on 2 weeks of re-service (he's back by the way, thank God). There are still some stuffs at work which I am not very good at (am trying my best, but doesn't help when I am not that much of a technical person by nature) and sometimes, that becomes quite a frustration that the only thing I want to do is sleep it off (again, I mentioned, not a good habit).

So when the man went off on a full day mobilisation exercise on Saturday two weeks back, I told myself that this can't go on and sat down to work.

2 pieces (by the way "名前無いの花" basically translates into "A Flower With No Name"), not much. But I am pleased because, new materials from my recent March shipment haha!

まるで宝箱見たいなハハ。

To an artist, perhaps paints, paintbrushes, fountain pens and paper are his greatest treasures. And to a surgeon, perhaps his well-trained hands, nimble and steady fingers, trusty scalpel and meticulously sterilised surgical tools. To a crafter, any new materials is like a miracle waiting to happen, a myriad of possibilities of creations yet unformed.

At least to me, everytime I receive a parcel of new materials, I'll be squeeing like some young highschool girl. No I'm serious, that's what happened when I receive the above - what I have so affectionately dubbed as "the crafter's treasure box".

Long ago, before I met my very good friend doubled over as an equally reliable and capable agent, I spent most of my days holed up in the material shops at Textile Centre, Arab Street, People's Park Centre (Mui Huay and Brighton) and those at North Bridge Road - namely KME and Lai Nguang. Granted there were numerous rare finds and hidden gems found in these shops, but most of the time, I don't dare to buy much because they are actually quite costly even for small purchases. Every material run always ends up in me blowing $50 and above.

Hubs was always commenting that some of my works looked kinda "cheap" because of the materials used. Although I firmly believe that it's not the cost of the materials which dictates a crafter's work quality, but the level of skills the crafter personally possess, but to a certain extent, I can't help but feel that in my attempt to scrimp on material costs, some of my works does look and feel a little under-whelming as a result.

I am not abashed to say that my excessive stinginess on material expenditure stemmed from the fact that my previous job, though enjoyable, had quite a low wage (owing to the fact that I only worked 2 days per week) and Hubs's previous job was, though tough, paid according to the wages of a temp. I'd rather spend the majority of my wages on food (doesn't help that I'm a foodie) and daily necessities and expenses than on materials which, though would look perfect on some of the works I've had in mind for a while, comes with a hefty price tag half the time.

Not to mention, some of the materials I require weren't readily available in Singapore, especially those Gothic and Victorian headdresses I had so often referenced and drew inspiration from.

Until I got on to my current job, though not a walk in the park (as it is for all other jobs out there I'm sure), is relatively better paid. And after some well guided tips from my agent, I started to get the hang of Taobao and gained access to the materials which I had been wanting to get my hands on for so long. The hats (the one which you see I used in my creation above) were quite a commodity on our local soils, where Sin Hin Chuan Kee (the HQ near Textile Centre and another branch within Textile Centre itself) sells them for $2 apiece. Not only colours were limited, half the time I can never find the colours I want - namely black, white, red, blue and maroon. Not to mention, once they get sold out, they will never bring them in again.

I saved alot more money through Taobao too (of course, you got to know your way through the shipping costs), especially through batch orders done together with Jade Sis and my agent.

I do get questions on how do I find time to craft while I am holding on to a day job. Yes, I admit I slowed down alot on crafting since starting on my current job just four months back, but I started to understand why it wasn't exactly possible to survive on my jewelry production alone. At least in my opinion, there must be at least a part-time job for sustenance while maintaining craft work. It's like, money has to be pumped in in order for a self-made production to work no, like a start-up fund or something.

Or to put it in a more conventional sense, at least something for one to fall back on as a safety net. Well, perhaps that it the more cautious and paranoid part of me speaking haha.

This batch is more of a hairband headdress materials batch (whose quantity of materials can easily cost more than $100 - $200 if bought locally, but no, whatever you see here are pretty much lower than that). I happened to chance upon those shiny aluminium hairbands and was totally sold at first sight. These hairbands are rare! Even more so are their black aluminium versions. The most common ones I can find locally are black acrylic ones.

Of course, the same shop which I found the aluminium hairbands in offer wrapped type of hairbands too. These are extremely expensive here, like $8 for 10 pieces of standard 4mm thickness in assorted colours? And as mentioned, "assorted colours" - which meant that you will end up buying colours which you don't want.

Those beautiful and delectable midnight blue, ebony and blood red satin and chiffon roses of 4cm size are a perfect fit for my hat and hairband headdresses. I used to be able to get similar roses (in a pack of 12 for $6, where the brooch backing could be easily pried off because it's adhered to the rose with a glue gun) until someone came up with the smart idea of sprinkling them with glitter in outrageous mis-matched colours and selling them separately as tacky-looking brooches for $2 apiece.

What pleases me most here are the clear rhinestones and plated old gold wreathed pearl and acrylic centrepieces. The affordability of these material parts expands the creative possibility and scope of my creations. Some of those oval pieces could be found on local soils in similar versions, but often come with a hefty price tag which makes me hesitate to even use them.

The skeleton lady cameos are the direct opposite of the commonly found Victorian lady bust cameos. An interesting twist, which is why I got them for my more macabre-themed creations hehe.

And I am pleasantly surprised by the extra (but equally as pretty-looking) piece mixed amongst the silver heart-filigreed pieces. Perhaps meant for a special bespoke piece? Haha!

As you can guess, the two headdresses you see featured here are made with my current batch of materials too! That exquisite-looking lace on the hairband headdress is from Hong Kong, bought by Jade Sis on her HK trip a few years back. And that bird-nest charm? It's from my very first Taobao batch and I believe some of you have seen some of the charms from that batch used on my ICDS headdress collection last year - Surgeon's Sirens: The Healer, The Dancer, The Scientist and The Seamstress.

Looking forward to my next batch of materials as always haha!