Pom Pom Tutorial – Hair Barrattes

So, you’ve made some pom-poms for your project and want to make use of it, to decorate it etc, but…. the size is too big or you want it in another shape other than round. You need to trim it, of course. Trimming needs skill and it is just like a hair dresser’s job. Lack of skill may cause over trimming and unevenness, the more you trim it and try to get to the right shape you want, the pom-pom become smaller and smaller. The worst part is, after hours spent in trimming, you still can’t get the shape you want and the original pom-pom is snipped beyond recognition, you get frustrated and give-up. What a waste!!! I have gone through this (I am not a hair dresser) so I know what you’re going to face with “the trim”. I found a good tip after some research. The following tutorial will show you how to trim your pom-pom to your desired shape and size easy and fast to me, it never failed!!!! ….

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Pom Pom Tutorial – Basic

Recently, I fell in love in making Pom Pom. At first, I bought the Pom Pom Maker just for the purpose of making a Pom Pom elastic band for the Pom Pom Faux Mink Scarf I knitted for the giveaway. But I fell in love deeply with it after making 1. It is easy to make and fun, most importantly the possibility of coming up with various adorable things is unlimited and I started to crave making all kinds of things I could possible think of. Hair barrattes, Pumpkin, Spider, Butterfly, Elmo, Cookies Monster, Shaun The Sheep, Snowman etc…. the list never ends. This would be some great gift ideas for upcoming Christmas. Before I can show all those cutie things I can make, I would like to share with you the basics of making a Pom Pom by using the Pom pom Maker from Clover. Of course, other than using this maker, you can make ….

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Tutorial – How To Make Pagoda Lantern

I came out with the idea of this Glass Jar Pagoda Lantern after being frustrated with the traditional Paper Pagoda Lanterns which I used to carry and walk around the neighborhood with my kids during Mid-Autumn Festival for many years. I dislike the paper type for 2 reasons, they get burn easily (this is dangerous especially to kids), and changing the tiny birthday candle in it isn’t fun at all as they burn and melt so fast. Before I can really enjoy this special occasion, the lanterns either got burnt or the candles are consumed. So, I designed this improvised version of my Pagoda Lanterns, which won’t burn (if handled with care), don’t have to change the candle so frequently (using tea light candle), can be hung or placed on table, and most importantly, it can be used repeatedly . You can use electronic tea light candle to replace the wax candle to vow better safety.

During Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) also know as Moon festival or Lantern Festival, we will gather together and sit outside under the moon, eating mooncake (月餅) while hanging many brightly lit lanterns around the house. We also carry our lanterns and walk around the neighborhood. During this day (15th day of Lunar 8th month), the moon is bright and round. There were a story dating back over 3,000 years about moon worship in China’s Shang Dynasty where this festival originated.

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Little Penang Street Market – Part 2

Continue from Part 1…..

I have a confession to make, that I have been peculiar about weaving since childhood, don’t know why, but the interlacing between the warp and the weft threads is so harmonious that they hold each other into places, this is what I like about it. When ever I was at Little Penang Street Market,  I would stand beside this foot-treadle floor loom and watch this lady demonstrating the weaving process. When she asked me if I wanted to have a try, I shied away, sigh! I was worried that my hand, foot and eye coordination is so bad that I made a mess…. ha ha ha…. but I regreted immediately after I turned her offer down. Next visit, I would definately have a try on it, I promised. ….

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Little Penang Street Market – Part 1

I stopped by at Little Penang Street Market last Sunday. I have not dropped in since a year ago (exactly), thanks to my new-born who has just turned 10 months old recently, it was just too inconvenient to bring him along to shop and explore around the street market, yeah…. put the blame on him, I am a good excuse-finding mummy huh~  I really missed those good times exploring beautiful crafts and handmade there as I will always be surprised by their new crafts every month!!!!

Just some background about Little Penang Street Market, it is Penang’s premier street market which take place in Upper Penang Road every last Sunday of the month, it is run by a committee of volunteers under the auspicious of the non-profit Penang Arts Council. This month, July, marks the 3rd anniversary ever since Little Penang embarked this street market in 2006. Coincidentally, it is also George Town’s 1st Anniversary being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The street market not only sell handmade, they also showcase ….

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Tatting Lace

 

Have you ever been confronted with a limited choice of patterns when choosing lace from the shop? I do, and my sister does too. This is why she started learning and doing her own tatting lace. How about me? Why I didn’t do it myself? I wish I could do it now… ah… too many new crafts to try out with so little time I have. I hope to do it one day and share with you my joys and sorrows throughout the process.
We love tatting lace, unlike those mass production machined laces, tatting laces are made from very fine cotton threads which are softly lustrous to give them a very refined appearance. Those photos shown above are the tatting laces my sister did by following the books. Her works are so fine that I couldn’t find any flaws in them. It is not easy to tat from a series of knots and loops by using the tatting shuttles, the tension must be right in order to make a nice lace. One single mistake in the process, that’s it, no way to correct it but to redo it again from the start.Share with me if you have any tatting experience!!!!