Batman shoes

 Zane found a batman pattern on a box of his toy and told me that he had an idea. I cut out the batman mask for him and using glue, he pasted them on his shoes. Of course this came off very soon after but this is his first craft that he created.

Elephant wind chime from Phattalung

Phattalung is a very beautiful small town and we had a boat ride on the Thale Noi lotus lake.  After the boat ride,  we peeped at shops along the lake that sold crafts especally woven bags. However, the two wind chimes that were hung in one of the shops caught my attention.

One of the wind chimes is made of wood, beauticully coloured and with a tulip hanging down as a weight. Jenny and I wondered why a Thai craft used a Holland flower in its design! She bought it anyway because it was so colourful.

The other one is a black elephant wind chime and it cost only BHT150. The chime is made from coconut shell with some tiny fibers (coir) still attached to it. There is no colouring and it is this rustic unpolished natural look that made me fall in love with it. The elephants are almost black with some brown streaks coming through which i believe are coming from the original husk. The feathers at the tail are also brownish black and they act as a propeller. When I looked at it, I told myself that I would colour a mat on the back of each elephant. It is a challenge becuase the coconut shell with coir is very rough and it has some deep carvings on the surface, coluring it is difficult. In the end, I did it, with a little help from my little Zane.

Mask Blanket

I bought a bundle of patchwork fabrics  to make masks for Zane during the Covid period. Since there are still many pieces left behind, I decide to make a blanket for him. Since he already has a blanket which he calls the "animal blanket", he calls this new one a "mask blanket ". Such a cute name!

Dragon Boat

My birthday present from Hey. Oop. A present for me and Zane! I would try to assemble it when Zane was asleep. However, if he woke up and I had to rush to his room, he would find out that I was doing modelling and he would said that he wanted to help me. Hence we had spent a few nights assembling the boat together. Most of the time, he was unable to do it, but he would still sit there watching me doing it. All in all, it took us about 10 days to complete. Lot of fun, and the boat looks really regal.

 

Ugears Clock for Zane

A mother-and-son creation.

 

PVC Pipe Table

 

New Tiles for the Balcony

 

Patched sofa seat cover

 

Pumpkins

 

Book-Box for Hin

My son reads a lot. When I visited his apartment three weeks ago, it was a mess. His books were lying on the floor, with a few on the table.

For this Christmas, I made him a book-box to hold books that he is currently reading. There is also a place where he can put bookmarks, a pen and a notebook. After all, he reads a lot of non-fictions and a notebook is imperative for him to jot down notes as well as his own thoughts.

This present doesn't cost me a cent as I used whatever material that I found at home. The fabric was actually from a skirt of Hui.

Claypot Drawing - A Birthday Present for my Daughter

Hui wanted to give me this claypot which was used to hold some kind of Arabic food. I tried hard to think of a use of it beside using it just as a decorative item.

I decided to draw dalmatian dogs on them. Each of them is wearing an Emirates hair band and Emirates signature red pillbox hat.

Inside was a chocolate mousse cake for her birthday.

The shape of the claypot is quite special though it is a bit similar to the Moroccan tagine. However this claypot has a deeper pot. I think it would be useful to store onions and garlics, since the pot can keep its content cool.

Blankets for the elephants

This pair of wooden elephants was bought by my dad when he visited Thailand in 1980. He brought back the whole family, mum, dad and 3 baby elephants. I am so fortunate to be able to keep the parents.

I gave them a layer of lacquer some time ago. Then I decided they needed a blanket in the true Thai style.

I did this when I was in Dubai. The star was designed by Hui, and she also gave me ideas on the arrangement of the beads. A mother-daughter creation, continuing the legacy of my dad.

The fabric was from an old Thai handbag I bought for Hui when she went to Perth to study.

The star was so beautiful when viewed from the top.

The pair of elephants is guarding my door to the garden.

A fan-like palm frond

There is a palm tree across the road outside my house, and it has beautiful fan-like fluted leaves which are big, about 2 feet across. I used it as a background.

An easel

I made an easel using a few pieces of old wood found at home. I dug out a very old blackboard used by my children when they were small. My second son drew a picture of the three siblings when they were all less than 10 years old. They have all left home. I miss them every day.

Little mat for my little cushions

I picked up a large palm frond from the roadside.

I cut out the leaflets, washed then ironed them flat. When I ironed them, it gave a fragrant palm smell, a the surface became glossy because of the palm oil that permeated out.

 I weaved the leaftlets into a mat. I used white glue to glue the edges.

The final product.

Frosted Plastic Sheet

My weekend home has a bathroom with a piece of clear glass. It can see through and it is unsightly when one can see the water closet. Everyone saw it suggested me to put a blind there. If I were to put a blind there, I may as well have it bricked up. I want to be able to see the scenery outside when I am in the toilet, but at the same time, to cover enough so it looks good when viewed from the bathroom.

I tried to paint some pictures using acrylic paint but it was hard to cover most of the glass. I came across frosted glass spray paint on the Internet but I could only get it at KL, and it was very costly.

I stumbled upon frosted plastic adhesive sheet at Jusco and it cost much less.

Following instructions, I managed to put it up without anyone's help. (Not that I wanted to do it on my own, and my arm sored for days afterwards.) The sheet was in place, together with unwanted bubbles.

Rather boring. Cut out some parts to let the light inside shines through, or to allow me to see a little bit of outside when I am inside.

I used acrylic paint to paint the flowers.