Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The process...

Its been a dream of mine to paint something on ceramics for a while now (a few years actually) although I must admit I haven't tried too hard to find a place that has the raw ceramics, paint and kiln in one place. So I was super excited when I accidentally found a place like that here in Korea. 
A friend (the other native English speaker at my school) and I, went to go and give it a try yesterday. 

I'll talk you through the  planning process of my first attempt.

1. I wanted to make a teacup for my mom because I miss her and would love to sit on a couch with her and drink some tea.
2. I wanted it to be special, so I made a small list of things I wanted the cup to portray: she is the most loving, giving person I know, she is known for riding her bicycle around the small town she stays in, she loves tea and she loves people.
3. I had to take into account that my drawing capabilities are limited (I think I took art for a month when I was 15)
4. I looked around on the web to find some inspiration(I like to search on Google images). here is what I found that inspired me: 
Drawing of a watering can pouring water over children with sprouts coming out their heads photo

I strongly believe that you should NOT steal other people's art/craft ideas, but you can use it to inspire you and then give credit where credit is due.
Keep reading to see how I used it in my own way.

5.So the rest of the thought process went like this: I wanted to write something on the inside of the cup. The Afrikaans (my mom is Afrikaans) that I found gives good descriptions of general moms but I want it to apply specifically to mine. So I had to write something myself (move to shot of me with fear in my eyes). 

So I drew my own pictures (trying to depict friends in my mom's life) and wrote my sentence and off I went to the pottery shop.
The shop :)

 1. Choose your ceramics.
The lady on the left was our instructor - she spoke about 2 words of English and although she was very nice she looked VERY doubtful about what we were trying to do in our first attempt. 
The other person is Jefa my co-cup creator.

2. Scrub and rinse your pottery and get an explanation in charades that you shouldn't hold on to the handle because you will break it off.
3. Draw on the cups in pencil


Here are mine

4. Pretend to sip from the cup (oh no, I'm holding on to the handle...)

5. Paint the cup - NOTE: there is no more handle. YES, I did break it off during the drawing process...(but thankfully if you are too lazy to redraw, it can be stuck back on)

Top view.

So to come back to what I did.
The sentence I wrote on the inside of the cup was:

"my ma ry haar fiets deur Ceres se strate, sy het 'n teepot in haar hand."

which translates to: 
"my Mom rides her bicycle through the streets of Ceres, she has a teapot in her hand."

Then note the hand pouring the "tea" (love) from the teapot. 
The "tea" is poured out to the people in the saucer - and every person (who are supposed to symbolize some of her close friends) have cups on their heads to receive the "tea".
OK its corny I realize that - BUT  I like it :)

The last step is to put the cup and saucer in the kiln and bake it. 
This is currently happening so you will have to check in again next week for the TA-DA moment and the glossy finished product.

Oh and if you are wondering why I haven't shown you any good sewing in a while - I have been busy with a sewing project as a gift and I PROMISE I will show you the moment I have given it to the person :)

^.^


Monday, June 27, 2011

Monday Inspirations

YAY it's Monday!!!
Sewing: I didn't know Burdastyle had free patterns, BUT THEY DO!! so here is the link - all I had to do was register (and they don't flood my inbox with random updates and messages)
Handskizze6_large

Tanktop-main-bs285_large
and about 333 more...
You can thank me later :)

I haven't done a cooking post in a while.  
I accidentally found this gem last week (I was overjoyed.)
My husband loves pulled pork, Dr Pepper and cilantro - put them together and what do you get....extreme joy!! 
We all love the Pioneer Woman, but here is just one more reason why she is amazing:
TPW_0195

Happy Monday
^.^

Monday, June 20, 2011

Monday Inspirations

A few weeks ago my school had a holiday but my husband had to go to work. Today he gets to stay at home and I have to be at work - I'm not liking this side of the fence so much. Maybe if I hadn't rubbed it in as much it wouldn't have come around and bitten me in the bum...
So I need some extra inspiration today.

For sewing/crafting: here are some easy, beautiful tutorials:

Lace flower hair clip from Aly & Ash 

Petticoat Tutorial by Alisa Burke
I think this is pretty enough to just be a skirt . If you click on the link you have to scroll down past the eggs and also the BEAUTIFUL butterfly wreath.

giftwrap
DIY gift wrap by Grey Likes Weddings (found on style me pretty)
The tutorial is for the box middle left :)


On the baking side: Bake at 350 recently did a tutorial for these INCREDIBLE looking cookies:
(also note I've given up apologizing for my obsession with cookies - you will just have to deal with it ^.^)

 Fried Chicken Cookies


Enjoy and HAPPY MONDAY!!
^.^

Monday, June 13, 2011

Monday inspirations

You have probably heard of Donna Hay before. My aunt gave me one of her cookbooks - I think I like looking at the pictures just as much as I enjoy using the recipes. If you haven't found her website yet, here it is: Donna Hay.
She has some recipes & menus and style ideas  that you should take a look at.
Here are just some randoms...

basic pizza dough

spicy lamb and caramelised onion baguette
(I miss South African Lamb)

eat me
I'm reminded again that I need to learn to take good photos...

On the sewing front - Korean summer is almost here in its full, scorching glory, so on that note here are some skirt tutorials that howaboutorange found:

Happy Monday!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Monday inspirations

(Yesterday I had a public holiday so my week only starts today ^-^)
This weeks inspiration isn't directed at sewing or baking. Its about someone that combines photos in the most incredible way that you can't help but be SUPER inspired. Her blog is called 'a bit of pilli pilli' and she does many things that have inspired me, but today - I specifically want to steer your attention to her photo mosaics. You can find all of them on flickr at Monday Mosaics.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE all of them, but here are a few of my extra special favourites: 
any day now...

that vintage green feel...

love - vintage

summer pretties

pretty pink

some sweetness, some memories, and a touch of red
Okay - I confess, I want to copy and paste ALL of them. Go take a look :)

Happy Tuesday!
^-^

Friday, June 3, 2011

Earring embroidery ring tutorial

I honestly don't have a ton of earrings here in Korea, but recently I purchased a few pairs and they have been very unhappily clumped in a teeny weeny zipper bag. They don't like me very much for this - so I have decided to give them a place where they can dangle freely.
My mom has been hanging her earrings on an embroidery ring  since I can remember. And I've seen quite a few people do some really pretty applique work on embroidery rings. So I decided that I should combine pretty and functional.