To do with rolls and... dance?

This was another short story i wrote, the theme was observation and repetition. i had to find repetition in the making of a roll and i suppose... i wrote it in a rather interesting manner?

Rolls galore

To wake up to warmth after a long time being frozen, is a nice feeling. I can hear the sizzling of the oil that is helping to warm me, how at first the cold spatulas stroke me, but soon grow warm. I like how those hands make sure that I’m completely warmed and fully cooked.

How it’s almost like he’s listening to music and he’s using me as his dance partner, gently spinning me clockwise and pressing down on my uncooked edges as though putting me back on my feet. How almost immediately, he follows it up by picking me up and flipping me over as though he were picking me up in a real dance and placing me in the opposite direction that we were in. I love how he once more twirls me as though he’s spinning me, checking once more to see if I’m fully cooked. And how, to end this part of the dance he gently picks me up and places me on the counter.

It’s amazing, how much he cares as those hands gently pick up the most important part of the stuffing, and almost like a concertmaster, he gently places it along the center, as though giving me a spine, making me alive, truly. How after, he follows up with a fluid movement as he drapes the onions over the stuffing, how in a quick but gentle movement, he decorates me with the sauces.

I love how he treats me like a true lady, gently laying my left flap over my right and in a quick movement wrapping me tightly with a coat, a thin paper-like coat which does little to retain my warmth, but keeps me protected from falling apart, as he hands me over to the next in line for a different dance.

Well... tell me what you think about it =)

i personally think it's rather ...adorable?

A macabre themed short story!

So, this course took place some time back, but i really liked some of the stories i wrote, so i thought i'd share them with you. note that it contains some amount of gore and is macabre themed, so please don't read it if you can't handle blood =)

A snowy childhood

I remember a time, not so long back, but it feels like it has been forever since then - A time when I was carefree and perhaps even joyful.

I remember that day so distinctly. I all snuggled up and warm in the sweaters my mother had made for me, a nice feeling from the unforgiving cold outside. I still remember how curious I used to be, how the snow crunched underneath my feet, the sound still echoes in my ear as I watch how the powdery snow sticks to my boots and at the same time gives way underneath my weight.

I remember my breath frosting before my eyes, how I used to think a fairy resided in my hair that would create those puffs of smoke for my amusement. I suppose, my mother was to blame for that silly notion though, she would often tell me how pretty my hair was and that it was because a fairy resided there.

I remember as I ran out of the house and up the slope, ready to explore the beauty around me. I can almost imagine how wide my eyes were when I got to see the view from the top of the small hill that I had climbed. The suns warmth could barely be felt by my skin, but the ice seemed to feel it.

The winter wonderland that had been created by the snow, was now far more beautiful as it was being destroyed… the ice that had frozen on the trees was slowly dripping and growing smaller, while other trees seemed to rain snow every now and again as the cold wind blew by, caressing my cheeks, making them colder as it passed by, yet playing with my hair as though asking me to play.

I remember how I used to run as far away as I could… far from my parents, where I would never need to see or hear the arguments between my parents. I did not understand my father’s love for my mother… she would often tell me that father loves her differently. Why did she cry then I would ask. I stopped asking when mother simply cried more, a kind soul like hers should not cry after all… she was always smiling… or had been rather.

I remember what I encountered that day as I came back from my excursion, puddles forming around every step that I took as I shook my hair to get the water out, spraying water droplets almost everywhere in the process and surprised that mother had not come.

I remember taking off my sweaters as I grew warmer and warmer, the warmth finally touching my bones soon enough. The further into the house I went though, the more I felt scared… there was only silence, until I heard something like glass breaking and shrieks. Such horrifying shrieks, I had covered my ears, till I realized they were from my mother. As I desperately moved towards the room, screaming mother, the scene I found… was something I no longer wish to remember, yet it haunts me, demands to be told even.

I remember how I looked on confused. The screams had stopped, but something seemed to be wrong with my mother. Not looking at anything else, I stepped forward, surprised when I hear a splashing sound. Looking at the odd red liquid surrounding my feet, I still didn’t understand as I moved to my mother. She looks so tired, yet happy.

I remember asking stupidly… do you hurt mother.

I remember her smiling and shaking her head. So I run up to her, and put my arms around her neck, from where the odd red liquid seemed to be coming. I remember how the odd liquid coated my cheek, how I could almost feel my mother’s bones through her flesh.

I remember how I told her she needed to eat. How I pointed out that it was precisely because she wasn’t eating that her skin and flesh was peeling off… why she couldn’t see and kept groping around me, how she ran her hands all over me, checking for injuries, when she should have been more concerned about herself.

I remember how surprised I was when mother pushed me away and screamed. How everything seemed to go in slow motion as I tried to grab my hat that had fallen off my head, how my silver-ish white hair flew into my face, how horrified I was when I saw something sticking in mother’s hand, how I pushed my hair back and saw father holding the object.

I remember my mother’s pained cries as he tried to pull it out, how I yelled at father that he was hurting mother, how he shook me off, slapped my mother and stepped menacingly towards me. Too afraid to get up, I remember how my mother held his ankle and told me to run and I did.

I remember running, hearing the comforting crunch of snow, the wind that caressed me earlier. Feeling calmer, I stopped running, unable to decide what to do. I wanted to go back to mother, but was too afraid.

I remember how I felt my cheeks sting, and found my tears had turned to ice. I don’t know how long I stood there, but soon, the cold made me seek warmth. Though all I wanted was to go back to mother, I could only think of my father’s kick.

I remember having come by the cave I had played in earlier, how I collapsed in relief as I found warmth. Only once I was warm, did I notice that a part of my dress was completely red. As I lost myself in my tears, I heard snow crunch.

I remember hiding in the bushes, surprised when not my father, but a really pretty lady with ears on her head appeared. She looked at the red stains I had left on the cave floor and tilting her head to the sky, sniffed.

I remember her offering me food, how I finally managed to relax and slept. For the first time, I was sleeping in someone’s lap had been my last sleepy thought.

I remember hearing screams when I woke… the moon was still high. How as I stepped out of the cave, I saw that same red liquid fly and stain the pretty white snow. I watched as the kind lady began clawing at my father.

I remember how I watched entranced, snapping out of my reverie only when I saw her rip flesh off of my father. His screams got louder and I watched horrified as she began to chew on his flesh. Nowhere was safe anymore I thought as I ran once more.

I remember looking back once, only seeing that the pretty lady hadn’t moved. I can still feel the branches that tried to stop me as they scratched me and tore my clothes. Too terrified to stop even though I was crying, I was surprised to have come back to the comfy looking house that mother was in.

Not caring anymore of the danger, I barged in, not bothering to close the door behind myself. I cried for my mother as I curled myself within her embrace.

I remember how I tried to feed her, desperately trying to believe that she was still alive. How I tried to convince myself that mother was just fine. How the smell made me move away from her, yet still stay there.

I remember how some odd men came for me and took me to some place safe. I never told them the truth… when they all asked me what happened. I told them… that my mother was fine… that my father ran away.

I remember having been sent off to my granny, how she tried to help, but couldn’t.

In fact, I still have that hat, that hat that is covered in stains. I never washed it… I was too afraid that I would lose whatever I had left of my mother. But the memories haunted me, so I locked it in a case that even my husband knows nothing about.

My secret will never be revealed… of how I can rarely ever sleep for fear of those red eyes… that that lady will find me. So I hide, I hide myself and my story and the whispers of a song that the wind had sung me that day in the hopes that I will replace those memories and it will be as if nothing happened.

The story was written to give this woman who is now a wife a reason for not wanting to tell her story and in my case it kind of ended up becoming a back story...

Do tell me what you think! 

Documenting something that makes me sound like a granny

Well, we had a new course, called 'entwined' (a two week course) which i got through the sign up system (you log onto the website they provide you and be fast enough to get the course of your choice by opting for it before the seats for that particular course run out). Entwined, ended up being a weaving and knitting course.

As such, i can't say that i'm interested in textiles - i mean, i do love braiding (friendship bands <3), but i wasn't exactly sure about the whole 'textile' department. This course gave me an insight into what the textile department is - not 'just' fabric, but something that can be a whole lot more, that we can take it as far as we want to and not just stop where most do - when you learn the basics.

So, textiles is a whole lot more than what i'll be touching up on, but it does give you a general gist of where we're heading if we wanted to go in for textiles.

The class had been divided in 2 and i was part of the knitting section, while the other half was part of the weaving section.

I admit that i was dreading it... you see, a few years back, my grandmom used to knit regularly and i was often curious as to what she was doing. i could never quite get the hang of it though... i used to mess up either the steps of the loops would slip out of the needles.

What i learnt then was that we would be working on a 'round loom'. These are some examples:




This was the second loom we made - from an embroidery ring into which we drilled holes and fitted screws. after we covered the screws with tape, we could use it, however, it was extremely uncomfortable to use since the screws did not have a flat surface - making it hard to make the 'stitches' (i will explain it below).







This was the third loom i made. the increase in the number of 'pegs' (the ice-cream sticks) was to make a 'finished product. the increase in the number of pegs helps decrease the number of gaps between your stitches, meaning that you can make a product that looks like a hand made product at stores. this loom has 64 pegs, which i used to make a hat.

This was the first loom i made and the loom i'm most comfortable with. I realized then that some thing you should keep in mind while making a hand made loom is that
1: It fits comfortably in your hand and lap.
2: The 'pegs' should be a smooth flat surface to aid the removal or manipulation of thread.
3: The top of the pegs should preferably be smooth so that the thread does not get caught
4: the loom 'frame' should not bend or break when you apply slight pressure during manipulation of thread.











These are some of the more commonly used stitches in most products (from shawls to shrugs and even gloves) :

This one is called the  E- stitch:

Note that when you begin, you start clockwise unless the tutorial your following asks you to do otherwise.


First, you take your 'working thread' (the thread connected to your ball of yarn or wool) and loop it around the first peg starting from the back as in the image.

The most important thing to remember is that when making you 'new' loop using the working thread, the loop should  always be above the old loop or the existing loop.

When you complete this loop, you continue by winding it around the second peg.

You continue to loop your working thread around your pegs until you return to your starting peg (make sure you loop around your starting peg as well and that each peg has only two loops).

After this, you use a 'crochet' needle or a yarn needle (it'll be your best friend if you work a lot) and pick up the 'old' loop or the existing loop and pull it over the new loop you made.

Note that after you have placed you old loop over your new loop (the old loop will now be disconnected from the peg) you will need to finish the whole round and repeat the process from the beginning.



This is a product i made solely using the E-stitch:

The tassels at the end are not something that i made by 'fraying the edges' they're made by taking cut up pieces of thread and tying them or knotting them at the end of the shawl.















Photo credit: Mini Shibu



This one is called the U-stitch:

This stitch is really simple and one of my favorites, since it makes the entire product 'compact' (very little spaces between the lines of stitches and the stitches themselves).

You take your working thread and place it above your old loop. Using your yarn/crochet needle, you pick up the old loop and pull it above the thread (so that the old loop had no more association with the peg), you will then notice that because of how the old loop was pulled off the peg, over the working thread that was placed, a loop had formed by itself. To make it neat and compact, you simply need to tug/pull on the working thread lightly.

This is a product i'm currently making using the U-stitch:

Photo credit: Mini Shibu

The stitch as you can see, is a bit more compact than the E stitch.


This next stitch is called the Purl stitch:

 This stitch is a little complicated, in terms of execution, but otherwise very simple.

Take your working thread under your old loop and make sure to hold it there. Then take your yarn/crochet needle and put it under the old loop and reach for the working thread below. Once you have your working thread, you simply pull it up and out of the old loop.

Once you do so, you will have 2 loops - one of the peg and one in the loop. you pick up both the loops over the peg (so that it has no association with the peg anymore) and once done make sure to place the new loop (the loop that was withing the old loop) onto the peg.

To make the stitch neat, you simply tug/pull on your working thread.




This stitch is called the Half-stitch:

This stitch is used only when you require to 'backtrack' or continue anti clockwise on your loom.

You take your working thread behind and in front of the peg where you need to start going anti clockwise.

Make sure that this remains above your old loop. Once your working thread is in place, you pull the old loop over the working thread and the peg (so it no longer has any relation to the peg) and pull you working string so that the stitch is neat. You will notice that upon completion your working thread will now face the anticlockwise direction, in which case you've done it correctly.


This hat is a product i made using the E-stitch, Purl-stitch, U-stitch and 'Rib stitch' on the 64 peg loom:

Photo credit: Mini Shibu

Note: The rib stitch I've used has a pattern: 2 pegs E-stitch followed by 2 pegs purl-stitch for six rows.

This and more was all done during the first week. The following week we began basketry, after a bit of weaving, after which we prepared for the exhibition.

This is the basics of how to weave (note that you can use just about ANY material):

For these steps i used chart paper cut to 1.5 cm strips.

 The vertical strips is called the 'warp' while the horizontal strips are called the weft.

In order to weave, one must use the weft in an alternative up down pattern. You can begin with either up down or down up, however, one must note that when beginning the second strip, it must be the opposite of what was done with the previous strip.

Note that one can make several patterns, it's just that you sequence will change.








And, as i said before you can use different materials, so i used leather, from which i am planning to make a clutch.

These are the 2 pieces (in basketry) that i made:

This was the exhibition piece i had made...

And these are some things some of my class mates had done:

Documenting the beginnings of a stop motion!

In the beginning, there was a confused and un-expecting me. i prefer not to expect anything from a course so that i can fully appreciate the course for it's difference, after all, every facilitator has a different way of going about things. it's only once you figure out how to work in their course that you can truly enjoy the course rather than compare it to another and crib the entire time.

i have to admit that this course was not 'my kind' of course. i prefer planning and perfecting... i'm not fond of group work at all - mostly because i'm sort of a workaholic and i don't appreciate it when people don't take the work as seriously as i do. yet for all the projects we did in the course as a group, i didn't feel extremely irritable... for once, i worked at my team mates pace. i didn't plan... just went with the flow.


So, the first task I was a part of as a group was this - a wall mural made from fabric and clay.

The amount of fabric we had at first was very less... i then remembered that my mom who has a design studio often commented that she had a lot of waste cloth and was unsure what to do with it, since there are certain standards and measures one must take to dispose of fabric.

As soon as i realized that we needed a whole lot of fabric, i requested that she give it to us to use.







So... we had a LOT of fabric... it was fun rolling around in it i have to admit, comfy... soft...

More to the point... we put this fabric to the best use we could and i'll show you step by step what we did with it.






Obviously, our wall mural was going to be big, so we had sorted the fabric by color, though later on it didn't seem to make much of a difference and separated into smaller groups so that we could work on certain parts of the wall mural.

This was what my group did:

As a whole it looked like this:

This was when we first started and were a bit unsure as to what exactly we were trying to achieve...

However, once we got the flow, it was quite simple - prepare the glue mixture (industrial glue with a little bit of water so it didn't dry as fast), prepare the cloth necessary, stick the cloth on and trim as necessary for the shape, repeat.

Though i make it sound simple, i have to admit, we faced a few hurdles - color selection mostly and then how it looked as a whole.

Since we had divided ourselves into small groups and were working that way, we soon realized that we were making our parts complete pieces separate from the whole.

With a bit of guidance from our facilitator however, we managed to fix that and gave it a back ground too... it took us a duration of 5 days (just about) to complete it.


It's pretty spectacular for that amount of time i believe, though if i were to go by what our facilitator told us - that professionals would be able to complete this in a day... we were well... quite slow.


Despite all that however, i believe that we made good time considering we were a total of 10 - 12 people and just students.


Ah, i forgot to mention, the class had divided into 2 groups - one to work on the wall mural and the other to work with some bottles. This is the other groups' work:

So, one might ask the 'point' of this exercise. An excellent question i'll admit and i answer with a "I have no clue, even now".

I mean, yes, i get that we're up-cycling (difference between up-cycling and recycling is that in up-cycling you're reusing those materials for a different purpose than their original use while recycling if where you're taking the same materials and expending energy to bring them back to their original shape or a different shape from the original, but with a similar use. Plus, up-cycling uses lesser amount of energy) and that up-cycling is this amazing thing, but what else are we doing with it?

Sure, we made show pieces, and they look pretty good, but then i have to ask, then what? After some time, the wall mural will be taken down and painted over, the bottles will be brought down and thrown out, so what was the point of that?

I mean i'm not saying that i didn't have fun while doing it and i'm not saying that i didn't like the finished piece, but i do wonder if we made a difference. a difference in the whole question of energy use for recycling and so on and so forth and i guess that the only answer i can give and be satisfied from would be quoting this man from a film called 'Wasteland' (a definite must watch) who said "99 is not a 100" in reference to the amount of 'garbage' they receive, out of which they said that about 50% was reusable.


Moving on from heavy topics, let's get back on track. On the 4th or 5th day while we were working on the wall mural, we were also set to work on making one big piece as a group - a sculpture sort of thing i guess, using waste pipes (i meant reusable... these pipes had been used by one of our seniors to create a musical instrument sort of thing... it was really cool) and whatever else we needed.

So, we set to work - we had bamboo, pipes, cloth, a new kind of pa pier ma she that was made with clay as a substitute for glue.

This was how we had begun our piece - we decided on a dragon...

We began by first shaping the pipe, though as we soon found later, we had to keep reshaping it because we kept bending it out of the shape we desired and so, it didn't retain the original bends we wanted.

For the wings of course, we decided to use bamboo, though i was unsure how it would go since the bamboo was quite thin. to insert the bamboo sticks we used a chisel to make holes where we desired the wings.

We were unsure how to make the head, so i kind of decided to 'wing it'. the end result i have to admit was pretty cool.

i used 2 pieces of bamboo around which i wrapped newspaper and then taped it up for the desired shape.

The bamboo sticks in the mouth were basically for support, so that it would hold the 'mouth' open.

Then i attached the 2 other small bamboo sticks as 'horns' or 'ears' as commonly seen in pictures people draw of dragons.

Ahem... i meant to say a 'cloth' dragon

The wings we made from canvas since we didn't have a cloth piece that was big enough to use for the wings. It caused the wings to sag quite a bit because of the weight, and the wings weren't really able to hold themselves up because of it, but i think considering the limits in terms of material, we did a pretty good job. it at least somewhat resembles a dragon.









This was the process for the pa pier ma she:

First, you rip paper to shreds.

The shreds should not be 'too big' or 'too small'

Then you add a bit of water.

Then... you add clay. and this picture looks really odd i agree, but we decided to get into the basket in which we were making it to 'squish' the clay.

this part was the hardest, since we didn't want any lumps in the mix. we then had to mash it up with our hands and so on... it was a pretty long process.


By the time we finished with this, we were then asked to buy wire (GI, about 2 mm think if i remember right) and make small sculptures using exactly 3 metres of wire.




This was individual. the first individual piece we got to do. i have to admit, she came out pretty well. let me introduce to you 'Princess No Face'

Not a very innovative name i agree, but i couldn't come up with anything more suitable under the short period that i had to name her.

But considering that i made her by just stuffing the empty gaps with newspaper and then taping it up and covering her with cloth, skipping over the clay mash, i guess i had no choice since i couldn't give her a face and hence the name stuck.







After this small project, we were told that we would be creating a space in which we would make a stop motion video. the stars could be our sculptures or someone else's sculpture, but we had to create that space and use the previous big sculptures that we made.

So, we began:

We first made some scaffolding onto which we would put up pipes to hang wires from, so that we could suspend stuff - like birds or something.

We also began placing our sculptures in:

On of the other groups had made this and they called it 'the magical bull'

We hung it up by the entrance as though signifying our space i guess.

Our cloth dragon finally got a face, and was placed as the opening of the entrance... he was breathing fire (cloth again) and i guess 'watched over' the entrance

This was a sculpture another group made - a bronze sculpture of a lady

The first big bug that appeared. It's supposed to be a mix of a spider, a caterpillar and a crocodile...

The second big bug... i... i have no idea what it was a mix of. (To be more precise, i don't remember)








Of course, for the backgrounds, we decided to use layers of newspaper stuck together and paint on it.

We made this by using cheap glue that we made - a mixture of hot water with flour. after we had about 3 layers, we put on 2 coats of distemper and painted on it using paints that we found in the 'restore room' (a room where people place excess things that they don't need so that someone else can use it) along with some of our paints.

This was one of the backgrounds we made, but was later used as a 'decoration' for a staff room.

We then made waves using bricks, covered with flex banner and then dumped clay over it, which we shaped.

It got a bit harder when the clay began hardening.

To get the blue, we used 'Robin' washing powder and some plaster as white paint.

Using a similar method, we made this volcano along with the path.

This is the background i was talking about earlier. the side was open and a lot of wind tends to blow. so in order to prevent the background from tearing apart, we made a support for it to lean on.

Mushrooms made from pipe and painted baskets, tied together with wire and held in place by the bricks at the bottom, decorated with bottles.

Well.... we couldn't just cover the floor with sand, so we started with clay paint over paper that we found in the restore room and then when it dried, covered it with sand.

Then of course... we made the stop motion!












Here's the video:

All in all, i learnt a lot from this course... for one, that team work isn't always bad, that i shouldn't always plan since winging it isn't necessarily bad... and so on and so forth.