My Midnight Forest

4:40 PM artcher 0 Comments

As I was preparing my latest package for shipping just now, I begin to recall my intention for this particular project from the beginning. It was purely a self expression of what I wanted in an art form, as a craft artist (if I may call myself that :P). For this project, there was no fear of whether it will sell ultimately because most of the time artistic self expression is a just a messy abstract thoughts that outsider simple don't understand or illogical in appearance. The only way to bridge the concept to the outside world was to create a scenario or a project with a explanatory story in my case.

“The darkness of midnight is melting into PippiLand’s forest. All animals and plants are falling asleep calmly. There is no fear of night predators in this piece of land. It is safe for everyone. :) Sweet dreams to all.”

"For when we are asleep, we are at the most vulnerable state. Yet the fear of unforeseen happening that may disturb or hurt us put us into alertness even in our sweetest dream. Therefore, I'm creating and dreaming through this piece of project with no fear of whatsoever criticism, social feedback or commercial value it may bring."

BUT...out of many present surprise, this piece does connect itself to many individual through Pinterest and lastly I was deeply touched and happy when it was sold yesterday through my store. I'm happy and thankful now, I'm not alone with my crazy art.

Personalized Canvas Pouch for Someone Special

5:39 PM artcher 0 Comments

Ideas or inspiration could appear in different way and circumstances. It may be developed through a logical method such as drawing a Mind-mapping chart or through a brain storming session. Or in my case recently, was to make something for a specific person.

I'm making a birthday gift for my aunt. This is the first birthday gift that I've given her even since. She never want to tell us her birthday until I sort of push her into telling me her special date last year. I wanted to make something personalized for her and after much thought, the final decision fall on using the initial of her name P. E. L. As you can see I was inspired to make a few more pouches after that initial idea. The printed design was drawn and cut on freezer paper to be ironed on the canvas fabric. Screen printing ink was used to paint over the stencil for a permanent print. The final outcome was a personalised handmade pouch which I'm proud to gift to my aunt. :)

Badlands - We repeatedly clone and sacrifice for a common goal.

10:40 AM artcher 0 Comments

That's the mission of the game. To stay alive and clone as many of your kind as possible, as long as one of us survive, more survival will be a bonus because the game is really hard. The journey is full of life threatening obstacles, we survive from experience gathered from repeated death and some luck from randomness. Your only failure is when you gave up...

Believable 'Soul'

3:30 PM artcher 0 Comments

Click on image to enlarge

Have you ever notice those 'eyes' attached to the plush doll or character? They are always the key factor that determine whether there is a believable 'soul' within those lifeless, man-man creature like thingy that you may call toy? Why are children so attach to their hugging doll sometimes and talk to them as if they will understand? Is this proof that human race are born to make believe 'things' from our wonderful mind with imagination and fantasy, and are we the only living thing capable of doing so? What about dogs and cats? And why this topic suddenly? LOL...because that's exactly what I felt when I look at my finished, handmade plush rabbit! Looking into those rounded metallic eyes that have this rim of metal reflection from the lights and those hollow dark indents in the center that resembles the pupil. My plush rabbit has a believable 'soul' within it's polyester cotton filled body, truly! :)
And yes it's in my store, if you want to see more picture click here:https://www.etsy.com/listing/153512647/crossbody-sling-bag-in-sandy-brown-and?ref=shop_home_active

Life Cycle of Making A Handmade Bag

12:32 AM artcher 0 Comments

Today is HOT HOT HOT! 4 months passes by since my last blog post, I'm such a lousy blogger and yes I did tried my best to make more bags for my 'still' 1 page Etsy shop (still remember that my last new year resolution was to complete 2 pages of items (56 items) for my Etsy Store... which seem so ambitious when I look back now. But..I've decided to continue fulfilling it by this year. It just seem more official now since I'm typing it down for this article...

Actually... does an average person ever realize that handmade artisan who sell their products online are not just using the time to make what you see in the product photo only?? In fact there are many roles and split personality that people like me have to perform before and after a handmade product is done.

So if you don't mind reading further I'll like to explain the following in steps of what I did by myself:

1. Bag design - sketching bag patterns and consider the possibility of producing it
2. Material sourcing and buying - find and match available material or go shopping or internet surfing for the necessary parts or suitable fabric in term of colors and patterns 
3. Material preparation - drafting pattern on paper, measure, cut, iron the fabric ( many many parts)
4. Sewing / hammering / gluing -  joining the bits and pieces of all the pre-cut fabric, iron interface/backing, attach zipper, bring out the wood block and hammer the snap buttons etc
5. Testing - test the balance of the bag with acceptable weight items, checking all the seam and symmetrical aspect of the structure
6. Photo shoot - wait for the brightest natural light (indoor), prepare the product model, setup the tripod and camera, make multiple angle shots per product model.
7. Photo edit - load and edit the photos in computer. 
8. Copywriting - write description, specification and calculate the shipping cost of the item base on weight and packaging used, decide the price (headache)
9. Product listing online - post the products online to my shop
10. Social Media Marketing - Update my official website. Post photo to all my related social media account; FB, Twitter, Flickr, Pinterest, Blogspot, Instagram, deviantART.......*yawn
11. ...wait for responses, 'likes' and comments.....which are my only source of encouragement before the item finally get sold. :)

The fun part for me is point 1, 2, 4 & 11.

And yes... I still remember that I bought some inspirational and pretty fabric which are still waiting patiently for me to give them some life...ciao

2013 - Back to Basic

2:40 PM artcher 0 Comments

For the last 2 years plus, PippiRabbit has been through a journey of self-exploration. She wanted to be many things, to try many identity, to morph herself and adapt into the handmade community existed in the internet world. She was confused, lost and questioned of her existence and her quest for a 'handmade' dream. When she felt tried from running with thoughts of ambitions, she simply walk, rethink again and again. For this brand new year, she told herself that she'll pick up her pace again. She will go back to the basic of simplicity in design, which is actually the most difficult in expressing one's skill and vision. Happy 2013 my dear PippiRabbit, good luck and best wishes to you in this brand new year!