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!