Showing posts with label handmade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label handmade. Show all posts

Friday, 23 December 2011

Kalo's Recipe Tote

This is my latest design - Kalo's Recipe Totes! 

The idea sparkled while I was cooking one night.  I was thinking of things to make as a present for a good friend, who once asked me for the recipe of Chicken Chow Mein. (I cooked this for her once,  she loved it and after the meal, she took down detailed notes of the recipe!) So that was how the RECIPE TOTE IDEA came out!

They will soon be available in my SHOP, with more recipe designs.

If you are interested to get one, please email me at info@kalomakeart.com
They are HKD$150 each (OR GBP15)


 



Thursday, 18 August 2011

New Sew ... Holiday Tote

Here is my new sewing machine ! I was planning to get it after I settle down in Singapore but I just can't wait. After four hours of making, I made my holiday tote! Now thinking of making the next one ...



// Holiday tote has a side pocket //


Friday, 27 May 2011

15 hours of Surface Pattern Design Course, London

Do you know that there are four types of repeats ? Block; Half drop; Brick and Mirror !
If you are not sure what I am talking about but interested to find out more, I would highly recommend the Surface Pattern Design course at the City Lit, London.


Please (!!!) make sure the course is taught by Rachel Gornall. Besides a well structured course outline, Rachel is inspiring, passionate, super helpful, dedicated and always full of energy! One of those great teachers who would stay behind class to help and discuss with students if we have any queries. 


Fortunately, I met a bunch of creative friends in the class too! They all have interesting careers, from art tour guide at the Courtauld Gallery, art restorer, Thomas the tank engine licensing lady, editor at ELLE deco, a girl who owns her own ceramics cafe  ...


I am amazed that in 15 hours (3 hrs per class, 5 classes in total), we all learnt how to design, create, form and PRINT our first pattern design, all from scratch!


Here are some snapshots of my work and my classmates' work:


// mood board - circus theme full of acrobats! //

// sketches //
// polystyrene stencils on cardboard //
// colouring stencils with fabric paint //
// printing on paper //  
 // printing on paper //  
 // printing on fabric //  
// Fran in action //   
 // Fran's printed work //  
 // Fran's handpainted pattern //  
 // Charmin in action //  
 // student's pattern //  
 // student's pattern // 
 // student's pattern // 

Thursday, 31 March 2011

A Little Bit About My Life in Hong Kong ...

I guess I never really talk about my private life here but this time, I will make an exception.


I have been visiting Hong Kong, my home town for nearly 5 weeks now and I am heading back to London next week, time flies! I had so much fun here with family and friends. I guess one of the most important day was my 30th birthday and it is really rare that I could celebrate this BIG day with my twin!


I really want to thank my lovely parents for giving birth to us! I am so fortunate to have Kalam, who is always my soulmate, best friend and my lil sister!


I didn't buy any birthday presents for my sister but I have made her a small present - my first hand sew tote bag (I love totes!)






Sunday, 27 March 2011

Custom made Baby Body Suits and Pillow for lil Jayden !

My very very close friend Lucia just gave birth to this cute little boy Jayden!
For a special boy like him, I must give him something really personal ...


So I spent nearly the whole day, handprinting some baby body suits and sewing a pillow for little Jayden. I hope he likes them!







Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Kalo's New Cards

My dad found a lovely sewing machine from the cupboard a few days ago. It is a vintage as it is more than 30 years old! He taught me how to use it and here are some cards I created with this sewing machine ...





Wednesday, 9 March 2011

Kalo Make Stitches DAY 2 / Tutorial

Today is the second day I continue to stitch. I started a new project, instead of stitching my doodles, I stitched pieces of fabrics together to create one big pattern.


The technique is really simple, but the tricky part is it is very very time consuming !
I spent nearly 10 hours completing the shape (believe it or not) ... I know I should get faster once I get better at stitching. Luckily the pattern is rather successful !


Here are the steps :
Step 1
Cut out x 19 SAME SIZED hexagon shape PAPER templates - A4 printing paper 80gsm works AND
Cut out x 19 SAME SIZED hexagon shape FABRICS - remember to leave a border of approximately 0.7 cm bigger than the paper templates.




 Any sizes of hexagon should work, but my suggestion is not to make them too small, it is more difficult to hold smaller shapes while stitching.

I cut out hexagon shapes of 2.5 cm (E-D) and 4 cm (F-G)



Step 2
Wrap the slighly bigger fabric around the paper template, then stitch over (both the fabric and paper template) to form/ secure the hexagon shape.

Don't need to stitch perfectly here as the stitch would be taken out later. The key is to create a sharp hexagon shape. 

Step 3
Hold two pieces of hexagon fabrics together, with the ugly backs facing out.
Stitched them together along the top and side edges. Slowly stitching each fabric one by one, you will gradually create a bigger pattern. The key here is ... P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E !



After more than ten hours of patience ...


STEP 4
Use a hot but not super hot iron to iron over the whole piece, make sure you are aiming to flatten and sharpen the edges. Once this is done, carefully pull out all the paper templates and cut out all the stitches you did on each individual fabric in STEP 2.

    And after all the hard work, I finally had one piece of beautiful fabric !


You can stitch it on tote bags, cushion covers, skirts !!!

Kalo Make Stitches DAY 1

While in Hong Kong, I have also been looking for art groups and short courses to meet some like-minded friends and learn some new skills. I am so excited when I found these leaflets about arts + craft short courses at a workshop in Causeway Bay. It is great to know there are some handmake artists hidden in various corners in this tiny city.



There are a few courses caught my eyes, but the courses I like does not fit my schedule!
(I can't complain as I am going to Bali for a week!) So insead of taking classes, I am going to start self-learning something new - stitching and sewing !


First day, I stitched out what I doodled in my sketchbook and made it into a mini tote bag ...

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