Rain By CCIllus

Illustrated by 大菠萝

Imagine that we all live in our dollhouses.

Imagine that all our houses were built under an umbrella.

Then

                  one day

                                     it rained.....

I was browsing the web to escape work for 10 minutes and ended up being here for almost 3 hours. I even ended up blogging but I just had to. You see, I fell in love with this work-in-progress animation "Rain". The illustrator  lives in China and calls himself 大菠萝 which literally translates to "Big Pineapple". I have emailed him about this post but I am too impatient to wait for his reply. Maybe you too can understand why I just can't wait to share it with you.

Singapore Iconic Lantern Design Competition 2011

Display of all participating lanterns at Central Mall

This was a competition Cindy and I contemplated participating sometime in July this year. This competition called the "Chinatown Mid Autumn Festival 2011 Singapore Iconic Lantern Design Competition" was as its name suggested, a contest for the best lantern designed to the theme of Singapore Icons.  Several discussions and one preliminary shopping trip (for materials) later, I decided I could not hack it. Too much work, too little time. I also remember feeling absolutely uninspired. 

Win's entry- Singapore Merlion

I had however coaxed my brother into submitting a design and he did with this 3D replica of the Singapore Lion Head icon. The fact that it was an exact replica caused him to lose points on creativity, I suspect, but he got top marks, in my book, for execution. This was not a cheap lantern. Just the paper and printing alone cost S$250.00. He had wanted to make it collapsible but due to the lack of time and resource for experiments, he gave the idea up. Although he did not win any prizes, his was one of the top 10 entries. 

1st prize entry- Vanda Miss Joaquim by Ivy Yeo

The 1st and 2nd prize went to MarG's mum and niece respectively. The local media dubbed them "the grandmother-granddaughter pair" .  Auntie Ivy's lantern was made entirely with recyclable material and powered with rechargeable batteries. This is what one of the judges said about the lantern: 

"There're a lot of great lanterns around but Mdm Yeo's lantern really stood out," said Mr Mitsuru Iguchi, managing director of SANYO Energy (S) Corp and one of the five judges. "Orchids are indeed very representative of Singapore. We are impressed that all the materials used are recyclable as it meets the contest criteria, given Singapore's limited resources." 

2nd prize- Kriestel's Satay 

Some of you may remember Kriestel She taught me how to make the tiniest origami crane mobile for my Maharajah's Emporium almost 2 years ago. I am really proud of her. She made the satay (skewered meat) with foam board and I thought they looked just like the real thing. 

My personal favourite

This piece stood out for me. I regarded it as a work of art for the ingenious use of material and the skill involve in its execution. The dragon was made  almost entirely from aluminium cans but I can see why it was probably more suited as an installation rather than lantern.  This piece had no bulbs and could not therefore be lighted. It also did not really fulfill the Singapore-Icon criteria. I believe however that it came in 3rd.

The orchid motif painted on the lantern in the peranakan style was down by the maker himself.

The "what-in-the-world..... ?" pieces

FaiZ liked this piece although when I asked him, he was also at a loss what Singapore icon it was supposed to represent. This piece reminded me of how Win had said I should weave a basket when I told him I did not know what to make. He laughingly assured me that my mini baskets were testament to my weaving skills. 

This piece would have made quite a funky lamp.

I believe this piece was to assimilate a burning joss coil

.

Changi Airport Control Tower, one of the icons Cindy and I thought we could explore or incorporate.

An easy way to showcase Singapore Malay Costumes.  

 A very patriotic ketupat.

 Cone-y

What in the world.....

The Could-Have-Would-Have-Never-Was Lantern by me

No matter what my views are of these entries, I applaud each and everyone of the participants for doing what I could not.  One thing I am sure, everyone of those lanterns will bring someone some really special memories.

Like the lantern Win made with my mum's granny panty when he was a young adult. 

That, I vote, is my all time No.1 lantern for the laughter and joy it brought.

HAPPY MOONCAKE & LANTERN FESTIVAL(tomorrow), EVERYONE!

Gifts, Swaps & Thrills-Flora's Mini Dollhouse Books

On the 19th of April this year, Flora organised a giveaway of a set of her adorable dollhouse books to celebrate the joy of having 400 followers , some of whom (like me) are so ardent in our following that we almost never miss a post at her blog, La Casa delle Bambole di Flora.

This is my comment on her giveaway post:

I have acquired many a dollhouse books , so many that I did not have the opportunity to even open some of them so they are still carefully wrapped in yellowing plastic, collecting a firm film of dust :). 

But can I resist if I see more ? Of course not! You have made books close to my heart, dear Flora :). Please count me as one of your faithful follower, hopeful and thankful for this chance to win your books. 

106 of her followers participated but  I must have had about 107 lucky stars revolving around me on the draw date because I won.  Lucky, lucky me. I finally have a miniature collection alongside my humble real life collection of dolls' house books which I started buying since about 3 years ago. 

Today, I took out Flora's books and took pictures of them on top of one of my favorite, DOLLS' HOUSES -Domestic life and architectural styles in miniature from the 17th century to the present day by Olivia Bristol and Leslie Geddes-Brown. And then I thought, maybe I will show Flora my real life collection.

So here they are, 

Flora and all of you who love books on dolls' houses,  

these are mine, as at 18th August 2011.

Part of the Sandra Morris collection

More of the Sandra Morris' Collection with newer how to books.

 The DVD ,"Creating With Kiva" was a gift from Kiva Atkinson.

My very 1st book on dollhouse was "Classic Dolls' Houses" by Faith Eaton, 

bought way before I fell in love with dolls' houses.

Books that I have yet to read.

And those still wrapped in yellowing plastic, bought at the Miniature Museum of Taiwan.

Last but definitely not least, my latest and most beautiful collection,

hand made immaculately by someone I regard dearly,

Flora .

The Doll Affair 2011

I attended The Doll Affair 2011 last Saturday on 18 June 2011 held at the Singapore Conference Hall. Started in 2007 by 2 enthusiasts who were collectors of  BJDs or ball jointed dolls, it was a small but well attended event. 

Most of the attendees were collectors themselves and many brought their own dolls to the show where they would spend most of their time discussing related topics with other collectors and taking pictures of their dolls.

Asuka's Doll surrounded by Asuka's creations

I attended the fair mainly because Cindy and Asuka were exhibitors and because this was a BJD event, most of their work for sale were mainly 1:3 or 1:4. 

Cindy's brownie with ice cream- 1:3 

Hardly any of the vendors sold dolls, just BJD accessories like clothes , shoes or wigs. I believe both my friends did well and I was really proud of them. Their creations were very popular. 

I took mainly pictures of the dolls 

because they were such a good looking bunch.

Isn't she beautiful? I found her sitting on the floor amongst bags and other dolls..

Drop dead gorgeous even when somber, I can now see the obsession with these dolls.

For these dolls, all their clothes were made by a lady clothier in Spain. 

The price tags were for the dresses. 

Settings where collectors displayed their dolls for photo taking. 

The show and gathering was over all too soon 

and for many of these dolls

they would be going home to be tucked away in their boxes.

They may be taken out once in a while for their owners to play with

but mainly these dolls live for the next Doll Affair or a similar event

where they will be shown off proudly again.