Illustration Friday: Old-fashioned

I made this five years ago. Recently I was archiving an old website I had, and came across this....

Blind harpist card

I went back to an "old-fashioned" way of making art (don't hit me, craftmakers) when I was inspired by a craftmaking magazine I came across in the library. Since then, I've been collecting stamps, knick-knacks, papers and stickers. It was a good way of getting rid of old junk in my room too...

What best to take the precious things you can't bear to throw, make them into something beautiful and give them to someone you treasure equally?

In the bottom left corner, I had used the fairy pendant from an old chain I had. It was time to let it go. They were from my crystal-collecting days... The black frame is from an old piece of cardboard, made to look even older with gold ink and flower stamping around the border.

Paper cranes made from SBS bus tickets

These were paper cranes I used to make in my secondary school days, out of half of tiny bus tickets (I think they were 2cm x 2cm) while bored on the long trip home. They bring back memories of school friends chatting happily with me, school bags, shopping at Orchard Road after volleyball practice, school uniforms, old crushes, textbooks, smelly shoes, smelly armpits... Ok, maybe not all old memories are nice...

The cranes were lacquered. I thought maybe I'd have them for the rest of my life. I had placed them in a small transparent plastic round box and hung them up on threads to make them seem they are flying inside the box. A homemade version of the flying snow in a ball ornament. 

Both box and bird became yellow after more than ten years... but I couldn't bear to throw them away still. So I used them for my best friend in secondary school...who remains my best friend till today.

Initials

Those are her initials. I call her Kerjie for short :)

Dug up some old-fashioned lace from my secondary school Home Economics classes too, and used them there. Selected some purple wrapping from a bouquet I received before, Thai-made string, my mum's old fashioned cloth (ugly on the body, but beautiful on cards). The colours fit in perfect.

Inside of Blind Harpist card

The backing of this card is made from two pieces of cardboard held together by an old piece of red felt from school days. I used my mummy's red flower cloth on the outside, and glued them on the inside with two square pieces of black paper. I made a pocket on the right side too.

My best friend is a musician, a talented pianist, so it's more or less musically themed... I bought some new (then) rubber stamps that had music notes on them, and happily stamped away with my new (then, again) gold/bronze/silver inkpad. 

Alas, my crafty things were left behind in Singapore... I don't have them in Norway anymore. I do miss them.

Buttons and heart

My mum must have found it strange that her old buttons were suddenly very popular overnight. I stuck a great deal of them here. She had some really quirky buttons - blue with gold trim, silver(??), big gold ones, and one big maroon one. I claimed possession of them immediately; my mum shouldn't be seen with them on her body. Really.

The wonder of modern 3-in-1 printers! I could photocopy old photos I had, and stuck them in the card, without using my precious originals. I made them look tattered and torn by smudging the inkpads I had over the edges. I love creating texture with ink.

I think I also used an old choir score sheet in the background... the only musical looking paper I have, I think...or was it that guitar ensemble song sheet? Anyways, I have forgotten how to play the guitar now (did I ever perform in school? I did?). It amazes me what I've done with my lifetime...

Maroon button & Kerjie and I in UK

I forgot where this was taken exactly, I know it was on a bridge in either Manchester or London. We looked really happy there. I was wearing my father's jacket (I didn't have proper winter clothing) and Kerjie was looking elegant with a scarf. She was there for a music audition into music colleges, and she got into the RNCM. Cool, huh?

Definition of music in Chinese and English

I wanted something to reflect her love for music and have some Chinese characters to make it artistic - so I dug into my father's old Chinese-English dictionary and it had some nice description of music. Cut it out and smudged it with brown ink. Pasted it into a new (then) gold heart I bought at an art shop in Bras Basah. 

I actually used cotton gauze for bandaging too. My mum must have thought I was nuts that night. That's a very old red ribbon too, from my childhood. I think I kept it because I didn't know where to buy them before.

Pity I don't have more pictures. I think my father has reformatted his computer and my files long time ago. I only have these small photos left. Well....good for memories' sake.

Hope you've enjoyed this trip down my memory lane :)

pixy