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To rip this bag apart! LOL.... :P
Was clearing some of the boxes packed with stuffs from the old house and found this bag. I almost forgotten about it, which is not surprising since it never crossed my mind to use it. :P
This is a vintage bag, passed down to me from my aunt. When it comes to metal mesh fabric, I think it's gonna be either you love it or hate it scenario due to the glamourous but probably questionable-in-taste character associated to these mesh fabrics.
I love the metal mesh fabric on the bag! LOL.... XD .... but there's just something about the style of the bag itself that put me off from using it.
It's a sling bag and it's huge. I have never been a huge fan of sling bags and I really don't like the fact that this bag slouches frumpily when you hang them over your shoulder.
See what I mean? So NOT chic lor. -_-
It seems too big for use with eveningwear. The size would have worked for casual use but the bling and the gold is just a tad too OTT for casual wear unless you want to look like you just stepped out from a time machine departing from the 80's . Which explains why I forgotten about it because there just doesn't seem to be any practical use for it!
But the bag is still in very good condition and I feel it's such a waste to just store it away. Plus, apart from the style, I think the bag's really pretty lor!
At present, the bag looks like it's a throwback from the '80s, which you can actually consider it to be quite in trend considering the '80s fashion is making a comeback. (OMG, did you see some of the shoulder pad dresses? o_O)
Sorry lar, as much as I love how fashion always recycle the trends, and so can you do the same with your wardrobe, I'm not sure if the shoulder pads should be included in the recycling policy. I mean, c'mon.... let's face it, not every Susan, Mary and Jane is gonna look fierce in shoulder pads lor.
Even so, I think the comeback trend should be made relevant to the current trend. The current trend should look like it was inspired from the past trend and not as though you send a time capsule back to the era, load the machine with all the goodies and transport them back to the the present. The latter is just so wrong.
F.I.E.R.C.E.
N.O.T fierce.
So, I'm really thinking of ripping the bag apart to 'reconstitute' it into a more modern chic clutch, with the very least practical use of it. I'm thinking.... it might go very well with the LBD that I'm thinking of wearing to a wedding at the end of the month. Hhhmmm.....
One problem though. This bag is a vintage GLOMESH. GLOMESH is a brand name (an Australian brand, I think!) for those metal mesh fabric bags. The brand has become so successful that it has become a generic name for mesh bags. Genuine GLOMESH will command a higher price than unlabelled bags and purses made of the same glamorous fabric.
The relevancy, you wonder?
It's considered an expensive bag lor. Well, mum always says in a low-down hush hush tone, "It's very expensive. It's a GLOMESH" whenever I made a comment on these bags that I see lying around the house. Yea, there's a couple of 'em.
A silver GLOMESH coin purse. I knda like this one. Very chic! And I think the style of this bag never gets old.
Now, I quite like this cream/beige cluth too. It's very my style but the problem was the practicality.
Erm, what can you put in there wor? o_O The solution to not being able to find something in the way you wanted it is to make them yourself!
There's hardly any space for you to put anything. Now, mind you, this was before the era of cellphone and what have you. Ladies back then only bring with them probably a pack of tissue, ID card and a few notes and they're good to go.
Ladies these days uses gigantic clutches, okay! LOL..... :P
BUT the thing is, almost EVERYTHING is expensive to mum! LOL..... :P
And so I googled to find out the cost of a GLOMESH bag and it turns out that it averages around $20. Australian dollars I think!
-__-
So, it's not Gucci-or-LV-expensive but Wendy's-mum-expensive! LOL.....
Okay, maybe it was considered expensive back then in the 80's. *shrugs*
But seriously..... I think I'm just going to rip it apart.
However, problem is, I'm not sure if there's enough fabric from the bag to form the fabric base of the new bag, although I'm quite sure I'll have more than enough mesh fabric for the new bag. There might even be sufficient leftovers to use for jewelleries. Yaay! :D
Neither do I think I want to be bothered to go out looking for the right fabric. It's just like shopping. You know how when you purposely make a trip tp search for a particular specific item, more often than not you'll end up not finding it but when you're not looking for it, it miraculously appear in front of you.
Anyway, the theme is going to be R.E.C.Y.C.L.E. :P
Aaaah, don't we love to hear that word, these days. ;)
Now, if you'll just excuse me, I remember seeing a piece of cream colour cloth stashed somewhere.........
While waiting for my camera to be fixed......share share with you some of the pictures that I manage to take on the day of the course at In The Studio (pun intended! lol.... :P).
I found In The Studio through some random searches online and just decided to join their PMC course since it was so near to Nottingham. It's in Kegworth, which is about an hour's drive or so from Nottingham.
Hhhmmm, I don't exactly know how I should classify the are. The studio is both a studio and a house. Thing is, I don't quite understand how houses in England are.
Unlike Malaysia, we either have a shophouse or a house. House is where one stays and a shophouse is where you do business and stay at the same time. A shophouse is normally a 2 storey dwellings with the family staying upstairs and conducting their business downstairs.
In The Studio feels somewhat like a mansion setup but yet not as big as a mansion. Erm, does that make any sense? I don't even know what I'm blabbing about already! LOL......
But the point is, they offer residential for students from outstation. Well, with the necessary B&B charges, of course!
So, it could be like a weekend break thingy as well. Instead of sightseeing or whatever, you make jewellery.
If you see from the site, they call themselves a jewellery making school and offer loads of jewellery making related courses and they have even got branches in London and Spain.
I didn't get to take too many pictures on that day cuz I was already running out of time to finish all my pieces already, so clicking on the camera was pretty much the last thing I had on my mind.
All I was thinking about throughout the two days was, 'hurry, hurry.....you need to get at least SOMETHING ready for the kiln!"
Which was how and why I ended up with so little pictures of the course. Anyway.....
This is my work station. There were in total 6 work stations at the work area. So, yeah, every session can only accomodate 6 people which I thought was a very decent amount of students. Anything more than that is probably a bit too crowded already although personally, when it comes to me teaching, I think 4 would be the ideal.
The work area. You can see evryone's concentrating on their work!
This is in another room adjacent to the work area. This is where the explanation and demonstration goes on before we return to the work area to work. All the pieces you see on the table are samples made from Art Clay.
My 'goodies pack'! =D
Work in progress......
And this.......
For some strage reason, my face looked so swollen here and my hair so flat..... -_-
Is Theresa Spears, who everyone fondly calls Terry, the instructor and owner of In The Studio. She has been making jewellery for at least the past 20 years and teaches I think almost 85% of the courses offered there.
This was the course that I had most fun! Well, apart from metal clay being a fun thing to work with, Terry was a super fun instructor! It's such a joy to be learning from her cuz she made the whole learning experience so much fun!
During lunch break, we walked over to a pub nearby for lunch and Terry was so nice to wait for me to walk with me since she knows that I have some walking disabilities. She'll always say to me 'Let's go, goldilocks!' before grabbing onto my arms and walk together.
And when I asked to take this picture with her, she went and grab her black cardigan just so to match with mine.
Ok, irrelevant info here but she's been such a warm person to be around with which makes the whole experience so heartwarming especially in the cold England weather!
Terry coincidently has been to Malaysia before. Well, Langkawi Island to be exact. Talking of which even I myself have yet to go there! But Langkawi is such a beautiful place which I've been wanting to go!
Langkawi Island
Ok, I'm going to digress a little to tell you a little more about Langkawi Island, particularly if you are non-Malaysian. As a matter of fact, I think some Malaysian may not even aware of this story.
This is a story I had already been told about since primary school. It's about the Legend of Mahsuri. I don't really remember the story in detail but it neverthless left a huge impression on me back then that I still remember it till this day.
Briefly, Mahsuri was a lady (princess?) who has been accused of adultery. She pleaded innocense but was convicted nevertheless. When she was about to be executed, she said that her blood will be white in colour to signify her innocence. True enough, the blood flowing from the wound thereafter was white and with her dying breath she cursed the island to have seven generatiions of bad luck.
Back then, white blood just sounded too fascinating to a kid! :P
But people somehow agreed that the legend might be a real story afterall because the island took a long time before it was finally developed into a tourist attraction in the 90s if I'm not mistaken.
I know Malaysia was still considered a developing country back then but as compared to other parts of Malaysia, the island was kinda slow.
Well, it's just bits and pieces of info I remembered vaguely lah.
Anyway, that was about Langkawi Island.
Back to Terry. Her words of wisdom that she gave me before I left. Roughly, this was what she said.....
'While others learn what one should do, you learn what one should not do and you'll know what mistakes to avoid in future."
LOL.......
If you've been following my posts on metal clay, you probably heard me talking about all the mistakes that I've made and how some of my pieces did not survived the kiln lor. :P
My of advice when it comes to attending courses like this is:
1. Read up on whatever it is that you intend to learn. When I said read up, I'm not talking about just briefly knowing what the media is about but if possible go into more details like the tools, technique or method of working with it would be very helpful.
2. Don't be too ambitious when working on something that you have only seen for the first time. Stick to the probably boring module projects suggested by the instructor. Bear in mind that time is limited here. You aim should be to pick up on the technique and not creating a masterpiece. I think this was my biggest mistakes in coming up with all those unsatisfactory and failed pieces.
See what I mean? So NOT chic lor. -_-
F.I.E.R.C.E.
N.O.T fierce.
Erm, what can you put in there wor? o_O The solution to not being able to find something in the way you wanted it is to make them yourself!
MYR24.50
Fuel by her strong interest in fashion and a passion in designing, she sets up Atelier Wendy Sue; an online artist studio she calls her own where she works on searching her inner creative muse and creations distinctively Wendy Sue while documenting her jewellery making journey in The Work Room
Unlike most jewellery artist, she doesn’t specialize in any particular media, a choice she consciously make with an intention to explore her versatility in creating with mixed media.
She is also a fan of the Hallyu wave and enjoys a good swim in the pool for relaxation.
She is based in Malaysia but is in the UK at present, learning more skills and techniques in her endeavour to expand her present knowledge-base in what she chooses to do.