Okay, to start to put things back in order is I think to clear all those backlog of entries which I intend to post. And the last course that I still haven't talked about is the Beginner's Silversmithing course.
This was probably the most expensive 2 days course as compared to the rest of the courses that I attended. Not only in monetary terms but also learning time as well. You'll understand the second bit as I wrap things up.
The entire course costs some £360. Yes, I know, that's quite a staggering amount after conversion to Ringgit and especially it's ONLY a 2 days course. The other two courses (with the same time duration) cost me £250 each.
But lucky me, I got this course as a birthday gift from Sa Kor. Heheh! A gazilion thanks to Sa Kor! XD
But what set this course apart from the other two was that this was a one-to-one teaching method. The maximum number of students that she takes in per session is only 2. Initially, it was only me signing up for the course but it ended up with Sa Kor joining me as well since it was some more than 2 hours drive from Nottingham. A bit tiring to drive me to and fro. So, that £360 is inclusive of 2 nights stay as well as 2 days meals and the best part was, dinner was a full 3 course meal! Although home cooked but the food was great!
Anyway, Shaunee tagged along too after we asked if she could. Well, not so much as a student but just tagging along.
There's a story on how I actually ended up with this short 2 days course. I was thinking of what to do during my 6 months stay there and naturally learning more about jewellery making came to mind.
So, I thought of enrolling myself with a short silversmithing course with one of the local colleges but I had some problem with my visa.
You see, a 6 months visitor visa does not allow you to study. A student visa on the other hand requires an acceptance letter from the intended place of study with a study period of 2 years (I think!). Basically, a student visa was out already because I have no intention for staying for so long. The only option was something called the visitor study visa or something like that which will allow me to study under the 6 months visitor visa.
However, I was met with another stumble block. A visitor study visa only allows for short courses no more than 6 months. My intended course will take 8 months!
So, it was not possible for me to enrol with the colleges at all, which was how I ended up with this 2 days silversmithing course and then signing up for the other two courses as well; lampworking and precious metal clay.
Of course, you can't compare what you get to learn in 2 days to what you'll probably get to learn in a 8 month course. But then, better than nothing lor.
Actually, In The Studio (the place where I attended the precious metal clay class) also offers Beginner's Silversmithing course. Although the course fee was cheaper and nearer, but I opt for this one for the one to one factor. ITS has a fixed syllabus but this one gives me freedom to learn what I wanted to learn.
Unfortunately, I didn't get the hands on experience on what I wanted to learn the most, only in principle. That was the most dissapointing part but more on that later.
The 2 days course was conducted by Yvonne Chadderton who has like 2 decades of experience in silversmithing. I found her through random searches on Google. And she wasn't too terribly far away from Nottingham. England is such a huge place, mind you. But I guess maybe the fact that Nottingham was in the middle helps too.
Anyway, the place was in Littleborough, some place in the county of Lancashire I think. But to simplify things, I'll also say that it is some place near Manchester. Aaahh, do I see heads nodding now?
It was a pleasant ride there. Very countryside, with lotsa greeneries. It's a nice place. The kind of place where you would somehow expect an artist to live in. LOL.... XD
The house was a 2 and a half (or was it 3?) stories house. Erm, sorry.... not very sure about that! But it was a comfy place.
This is kinda like my favourite part of the house! I can just imsgine it.... a nice cooling glass of juice on hand while enjoy basking in sunshine. Mind you, it's unlike the sun in Malaysia at all! :P
We were staying in a room right next to the workshop.
I couldn't quite capture it correctly with my camera but try imagining this, from the window of the workshop, we were overlooking this magnificient view of green fields and trees. It's pretty hard not to be inspired!
And, although irrelevant..... I just had to mention the toilet! Cuz I like the design of the toilet. :P
I like the use of grey tiles for toilet. I think it's great for concealing dirt very modern and cool! Hahah!
If I am lucky enough to have a pad of my own one day, I think my toilet design would somehow go along this line. Hahah! Hey, EVERYTHING starts off with a little dream, okay. :P
And how the details of the smaller iridescent square tiles gives the otherwise flat out grey tiles some life!
Ok, enough about the toilet for now. More on the class next!
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Sorry for my absence.........
Life's kinda mashed up for me since early of the year and up to this point. Things are a bit overwhelming for me that I don't even where or how to start sorting it out. But to sort it out I will and I MUST.
Now that I've got some of the distractions out of the way, will start to put The Work Room back in order again and eventually Atelier Wendy Sue as well.
I'll update soon!
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Well, not mine though. :P
It's been another crazy month thus far. Was over at Singapore last week to attend a friend's wedding.
I've got another wedding to attend in a couple of hours time AND another one next weekend in KL.
It's insane really, three weddings back to back on each weekend for this month of Nov! Can you believe that?
I'm close to say out loud to my friends.... "Csn you guys stop getting married already?" LOL......
I need a breather and so does my wallet! LOL.....
Okay, to those that may not know about the Chinese culture, we don't give wedding gifts to the couple. Instead, the custom is to give red packets containing discretionary amount of cash inside. The final ammount collected from the guests will normally be partial contribution towards the cost of the banquet and if the couple is lucky enough, there may even be some leftover cash after paying for the cost of banquet, for them to keep! :P
Well, that's Chinese weddings for you......
And I haven't even touch on the mind boggling details of a Chinese wedding ceremony yet!
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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.........
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This is kinda like my favourite part of the house! I can just imsgine it.... a nice cooling glass of juice on hand while enjoy basking in sunshine. Mind you, it's unlike the sun in Malaysia at all! :P
I couldn't quite capture it correctly with my camera but try imagining this, from the window of the workshop, we were overlooking this magnificient view of green fields and trees. It's pretty hard not to be inspired!
If I am lucky enough to have a pad of my own one day, I think my toilet design would somehow go along this line. Hahah! Hey, EVERYTHING starts off with a little dream, okay. :P 
