Pass those chips!

(skip to the shop!)

I wonder if it's just me, but I always have this insatiable craving for a bag of potato chips after a hearty meal. And that is just crazy! It means on top of the calories just consumed, my stomach is telling me to feed it another load of fat and salt. :(

Before I launch into a lengthy rant about my eating habits, let me show you some pictures from Bangkok  which I just returned from! :)

 

Ahem, so that wasn't just some photos eh? -sheepish. 

Now here's a story behind this last photo.

Me and the boy were walking along the crowded street near the train station, where many vendors had laid out blankets to display their goods on. Amongst them were usual items like clothes, toys, keychains and the usual touristy fare. And then around the corner, this gem of a stall appeared.

The man wearing the red-white cap is the maker of all these fabulous miniature leather shoes. Spot the ken modelling his shoes! Awesomely cute! :) The guy was incredibly humble, and he smiled widely when I asked if I could take some photos.

Knowing that we were from Singapore, he revealed that his shoes are also for sale there (brought over by a local Singaporean), and they are selling for SGD$12 each. If you see the handpainted sign, one shoe is selling for only Thai Baht 29, which translates to less than SGD$2! The profit margin of the Singaporean 'importer' is crazily huge! Being a fellow crafter myself, this made me feel rather sad for the Thai maker that someone else is making so much money off his creations.

But he seemed so happy-go-lucky just to be surrounded by his creations, and genuinely seemed more thankful that his shoes were seen by more people around the world, than about the vast price differences. Such is the power of passion for creating. :)

Oh, and of course I purchased a pair of shoes from him! :)

Now back to those chips.

When I was exploring on Flickr for images of real-life potato chips for inspiration, I chanced upon many photos of home-baked chips. Now that's interesting, and definitely sounds a lot healthier than manufactured, mass-fried chips. 

How unrealistic that there isn't any oil stains huh?

Each potato chip is about 0.5cm in average diameter and is too thin to be measured for thickness. :)

Available in the shop.

Now seriously, pass those chips already! :)

A dollhouse.

Do you own a dollhouse?

Or did you used to, but it's now abandoned and packed away in a dusty old box? Or given to a younger relative. Or maybe chucked away since long ago.

 When I was still in my primary school years, my parents would bring me to Toys R Us on special days, and I would always head straight for the Sylvanian family section. Such a stubborn little girl I was, as I didn't want to waste any time playing with other toys. I was in awe of the little animal families, complete with their houses, furniture and clothing. 

During one of the major school examinations, I did particularly well and my mommy promised me a present. Guess what I chose. A Sylvanian dollhouse of course! I was all smiles on the car ride home, the tiny me sitting beside the huge box.

Today, that same dollhouse (well-played with and much dustier) still sits in my room. 

The one pictured below, is not that. But it's my adult dollhouse, if I may say so. :)

I bought it from the lovely Whims for my birthday this year, and it is actually my first actual online splurge.

It is a dollhouse for a dollhouse, and fits comfortably in my palm.

and extremely pretty!

And I was so delighted when I realised that Whims included an itsy bitsy grandfather clock! 

(sorry for the slight off-focus, it is really too tiny!)

Whimsy's works are extraordinary, just like her customer service. I was throughly impressed. :) 

Thank you, Whims!

Please visit her site for more of her works - Whimsy Cottage Minis

all about the chocolate chunks.

First it was tarts, now it seems like I can't get away from them chocolate chunk cookies. :)

A few weeks ago, I baked a batch of CCC for a colleague who was leaving. And somewhere during the sifting of flour and cutting of chocolate chunks, a small (no pun intended!) voice was screaming "mini cookies!". So while the dollops of cookie dough were baking and heavenly smells were wafting from the oven, I settled down for some miniature baking.

Side-note: I keep slipping into writing 'chocolate chip cookie' instead! Darn, so much for wanting to be particular about chunks/chips.
 

When the real cookies were all baked, I grabbed them and arranged them in pretty little bags, to give away to the said colleague, the boy, and to share with the rest of my colleagues. We have a little shelf at the back of my department where anybody can drop off food from trips, self-baked, or bought, to share. And then you send out a mass email to tell everyone about the new addition. :)

It's a pretty sweet office culture.

About these miniature cookies, if anybody noticed, it's quite different from the last batch. While munching on my what, hundredth cookie, it dawned on me that the chocolate chips did not sit bare on cookies like the way I made them previously. Instead, they are often hidden partially or fully under the biscuit. And so I tweaked the way I sculpted these. Hopefully you'll find them more realistic! :)

Cookie accessories have been sitting on my to-do list forever, and finally I've gotten down to having some in my shop!

I really need a ear/hand/neck model for AiClay's accessories. I remember in the past, when I was at my wits' end, I actually used a magazine page with a model's head on it, and displayed my earrings on them.

:( That was one desperate attempt.  

Grab your pair (bitten) over here!

If you're wondering why don't I just use my own ears, well simply put, it's just too damn hard! It's an extremely awkward angle when I try photographing my own ears since they're on either sides of my eyes (i hope yours is too) which makes it tough to look at the viewfinder/screen and press the shutter at the same time.

I hope you will like the new photo layouts, I've been wanting to show bigger photos for a long time now! :)

OMY Singapore Blog Awards 2010

I hardly ever write such straight forward titles, except on nights early mornings (2am) like these when I'm all bleary-eyed and dying to crawl into bed, and the turning wheels in my brain are significantly slowing down. -chug chug chuggggg.

Let's go straight to the pictures, shall we? 

So the blog award ceremony which I was pulling votes for, happened earlier this evening at St James Powerstation, a huge night entertainment hub. The finalists of each category were invited, and what an eye-opener it was for me!

I didn't really know what to expect, but was definitely blown away by some of the oscar-deserving outfits dorned. I almost felt underdressed in a simple LBD (little black dress) but was comforted by the boyfriend who was wearing jeans. Heh heh.

So there was the customary red carpet and interviewing of the handpicked finalists by the media..
 

Spot AiClay! :)

This is the boyfriend at the buffet tables. Is this his first appearance? I haven't kept count, hmm.

This was my view for most of the time, behind the official videographer and his bulky video-camera and tripod. The throng of people made it hard to find a good standing spot (seats were all taken really quickly, sigh), and certainly didn't help that I'm all of 150cm! :(

 Blogo is played pretty much like Bingo, except that blogs' names are called out instead. And look at who was in the middle (most crucial position if you know how Bingo's played!) spot for some of the cards! :)

In case you're wondering, no I didn't win at Blogo. Hardly filled any of the squares in fact! 

Smart-aleck me decided to slap the yellow myblogis sticker on my arm. Now my arm has a star-shaped cleanly-waxed patch of skin.

 

All thanks to the misty fog produced at almost all nighttime avenues, most of my photos came out smoky, like the one below. I will choose clarity over mystery anytime, thank you very much.

 Don't whoop for joy yet! I didn't win the award, this was just the host going through the top ten finalists of each category. :)

 

This is turning out to be one narcissistic post, ain't it! I promise, less of me, more of miniature food in the next few entries! :)

Also, I want to thank everyone that has voted for me, and those who had wanted to but couldn't because you weren't Singaporean. It meant a lot, and even though I didn't win, I now honestly understand it isn't just well-concealed sour-grapes when the non-winners (i refuse to call them/us losers) say "It doesn't matter if I got the award, to be nominated is to already have won".

Okay, the wheels in my head have officially stopped turning. I'm off to bed y'all, good night! :)

The 3 sacred alphabets - P, B and J.

One of the things I enjoy most in the entire process of crafting miniatures - is when I get to create molten, liquid items. It's utmostly satisfying to beat the crap out of both solid clay and liquid clay, and watch the ugly lumps miraculously form beautiful swirls in the end. They often resemble the real-life items so much, I just want to lick them off my work-slab. (But PLEASE don't!) Such items include liquid egg white, cream soup, cupcake frostings and of course, sandwich spreads.

And what spread would be more notorious than the almight duo - Peanut Butter & Jelly.You can almost smell the delectable fusion of nutty and fruity, can't you!

I was mad hungry while slathering on the spreads on the miniature toasts, and I worked late into the night. Oh, how I craved for a PB&J at that time!

Food manufacturing giants have long latched on to this delicious concoction, and came up with the convenient bottle of peanut butter and jam, readily mixed. I too, have a bottle in my house, having succumbed to the fast-food world we have now become. But as most good things are, the old-fashioned method usually produces the best results. That's why I made mine (minature ones) with a thick slap of peanut butter, and an equally generous spread of jelly.

 Measurements: 3.2cm (longest side of halved sandwich), 0.7cm in height.

And if anyone's missing this bright-eyed cutie, here's a bunch of photos showing Ai, munching on her teatime treat.

That's it. I'm digging into that pre-mixed bottle of PB & J now, ciao! :)

The one where I plead and beg.

Update:

It turns out that non-Singaporeans can't vote, because registration requires a NRIC number. :( Thank you to all of you who tried though, it's really sweet. :) To the Singaporean readers, I need your support even more now! -kowtows.

========================================================

I really am beating myself up for taking the longest time ever to write this post.

This humble 18-months blog of mine, has been nominated as a finalist in the Singapore Blog Awards.

Honestly, I have no clear idea of how it all happened.

One day, out of the blue, my cousin texted me, "Hey, do you know your AiClay website is in some blog awards?" Which I didn't.

And so immediately, I pounced on a computer and conducted a Google search, which easily pulled up the fact that AiClay has indeed been nominated as a finalist in the E-commerce category in the Singapore Blog Awards.

After reading through the selection process, I was feeling extremely flattered that a panel of judges had actually chosen my blog, together with 9 other finalists, amongst many others who had registered or been nominated.

Until now, I still do not know who had registered for AiClay, but I thank you, whoever you are. :)

So now, here comes the pleading and begging.

Here onwards, besides the 70% weightage given to judges, a heavy THIRTY PERCENT rests on votes by the public, namely you!

If you're one of the lovely 172 people following the blog, or if you've just popped by and enjoyed my writings and photos, it would mean a lot to me if you could cast a vote of support for me.

========================================================

STEP BY STEP 

Register here as an OMY user. (this takes about 1 minute.)

After activating your account through your email, log in.

Head to the Categories & Nominees page, click on the E-commerce category at the side.

Search for my banner picture, I've circled the portion you need to look at!

Place your cursor on the vote banner, it will turn from pink to green! Now just click!
Note that if you click on the picture outside of the vote banner, it would lead you back to this blog instead.

A pop-up window will ask to confirm if you want to vote for AiClay, just click Yes.

Voila, you're done! :)

========================================================

Even if you're not the least bit interested in showing your support, the website is a treasure trove of carefully hand-picked blogs, even separated into categories like 'Best laugh-out-loud', 'Best Modeling' etc. What more can a bored Internet user want! :)

To sum up my emotions for this post.

Pretty please, vote for me? :)

P.S Every OMY member gets a fresh vote everyday, and voting ends 31st June 2010!

it's where you keep your bread.

It's really a bummer, that I haven't had more time to blog, or to create, due to my full-time job. 

Nowadays, I keep getting reminded of a time not long ago, when I was as free as a bird, and could sculpt as and when I felt like it.

And then I'll beat myself up over the times I chose playing games on the computer, or watching telly over making miniatures.

The last few weeks, I tried sneaking in any free moments I have, to work with wood. Granted, I was still sitting in front of the telly, catching up on my favourite shows. But at least my hands were kept busy! Hah! I was blown away by this awesome tutorial created by the kind Lauretta of CDHM, and had to have a go at it. Besides, with all the miniature bread I had made, it was high time for a miniature breadbox.

 I had no other wood except for ice-cream sticks/craft sticks, which were all pre-cut into long, thin strips. This made it hell difficult as the breadbox definitely required wood which were wider than that of a craft stick, and so I had to tackle this problem before even starting on the project.

So for the rest of you who also can't get nice, big wood pieces to work with, here's a tip. Never mind that you're combining different widths of wood to form the size you need, you just have to etch out lines along the entire piece, and nobody would be the wiser! 

Okay, I don't know if that made sense at all. But if you look at the photos below, just note how the pieces of wood appear to have etched lines all over. That's to disguise the ugly line due to combining wood pieces of different sizes. :)

Oh, over here I should probably bring up the fact that the lid, actually rolls up and down like a proper roll-top bread box! It is a frikking awesome technique, and you just have to hop over to Lauretta's tutorial to see how it's done! :)

 

This is how it probably looks like after breakfast at my house. EMPTY. :)

 

Hoho, the breads are sneaking a peek to say hello!

I could roll this lid up and down forever. Haha, it is THAT smooth. I almost wanted to take a video just to showcase how amazing that lid is!

 

The bread box measures 3cm or 1 3/8 inches in width and 1.9cm or 3/4 inches in height. 

 

And yes, that's my fat finger.