WIP

I'm a bit lazy to use my camera lately,
so I just use my handphone, because it's quicker.

Good enough. The handphone's camera can take photos this close up.

In the mood to share my current work progress. Aahhh...my handmade stamps...

Handcarved Stamps

Though it burnt a big hole in my pocket, I am so glad that my Canon S3is is finally here. It is impossible to clean the fungus so they had to replace the whole optical unit, that explains why it is costly.

Okay, my latest stamps.

Handmade stamps, waiting for their handmade mountings.

Both are FOC

1. RendaCraft stamp - This free-hand design is made especially for Mango's Game winner. A promise that I made since October last year. It had been quite some time, I have totally forgotten that I suppose to make a "sewing machine" stamp for the winner (sorry Nurain). The winner will also get a set of my mini mini mini handcarved stamps.

2. Miyyah - I made stamp for Miyyah as a token of appreciation for helping me translate this article. Just like RendaCraft's stamp, this one is designed by hand only. I really hope the butterfly will resemble Miyyah's stunning work of quilling :)

3. The topmost stamp in the above photo is for Kitty Zeera & Mom by Verbena Vista Trading. Just finished carving it last night.

4. The last three stamps are Shana's. A very supportive customer who really made me feel in debt. I failed to finish her stamps on time (too many fail attempts) but Shana is so kind she keep encouraging me in Facebook. Thank you very much Shana! I really don't know how I can repay you.

Handcarved Stamp; Eppi & Eppa

Lagi stamp orang kahwin. Saya harap Aifa dan bakal suaminya suka!

Setiap kali saya mengerjakan sesuatu design, saya amat mengambil berat tentang detail sesuatu stamp. Kalau boleh, ianya bukan setakat perlu nampak cantik, tapi signifikan kepada sesuatu yang membawa makna.

Contohnya, dalam stamp ini, saya sengaja letak 7 biji "love". Saya tak tahulah logiknya, tapi ramai orang kata 7 itu nombor yang baik kan?

:)

Stamp Bunga Sakura

Rakan-rakan Facebook saya mungkin ada yang masih ingat, suatu ketika saya pernah tulis status macam ni, "sedang mendesign stamp bunga sakura".

Pelanggan saya yang bernama Chooi Lin kata, tema wedding dia adalah cherry blossom. Rasa macam simple kan? Tapi saya mengambil masa beberapa hari juga untuk mencari idea yang terbaik bagaimana untuk membuat stamp yang menarik, dan sekaligus versatile.

Nah, inilah hasilnya!

Saya sendiri jatuh cinta.

:)

Chooi Lin, stamp kamu ini adalah antara projek yang paling manis buat saya!

Dyah & Ratahtuli Degalin's Cuppies

...the founder of Ratahtuli Degalin's Cuppies, akan tukar status beliau bulan Mei ini. Horray!

Congratulations to both of you!

Sebenarnya Dyah dah order lama sangat untuk stamp Ratahtuli Degalin's Cuppies, tapi mula-mula saya design lain. Dyah suka juga dengan design yang pertama, tapi dia kata macam ni, "Kalau Dyah request tikus Ratatouille tu dan cupcake sebijik boleh? Then nak letak blog address dan nombor talipon".

Gulp.

Ingatkan dah boleh proceed ukir tapi nampaknya kena re-design. Saya taip balik "Yes" kepada Dyah. Dalam kepala ada "Alamak...boleh ka aku buat ni?!!".

Persoalannya; macammana nak masukkan si Liguini dan sebijik cupcake dalam stamp yang kecil tu?

*Dipendekkan cerita.

Apa-apapun, sekarang saya lega. Tak perlu lagi terjaga di tengah malam dan meracau-racau tentang tikus kecil ini. Hahahahaha.

Design asal dan design yang terkemudian. :)

Surat kepada N0reh4n

Assalamualaikum D4y4ng N0reh4n, kalau-kalau kamu terjumpa page ini.

Jangan marah. Jangan kecil hati. Biar saya ceritakan hal sebenarnya. Orang yang hadiahkan stamp ini kepada kamu, SMS begini kepada saya.

O<--< : Saudari, saya mahu order stamp, dengan nama Dg. N0reh4n, dan ada tulisan "Singapore" di bawahnya. Saya ke Singapore baru-baru ini tapi tidak sempat belikan dia oleh-oleh. Saya benar-benar mahu hadiahkan sesuatu yang istimewa pada dia.

Ada dua benda dalam fikiran saya, Vanda Miss Joaquim dan juga Merlion. Idea stamp dengan tulisan Singapore itu, tidak menarik bagi saya. Lainlah kalau Dg. N0reh4n orang Singapura.

Saya pilih Vanda, Cik N0reh4n. Vanda itu, bunga kebangsaan negara Singapura. Nama kamu pasti cantik dihias bunga itu.

Kepada yang tak tahu, mungkin cuma fikir,
itu orkid.

Simple kan? Saya harap kamu suka.

Cik Noreh4n, stamp-stamp yang saya design, adalah di bawah jenama Mangosteenskin (cewah!) tapi kerana kamu begitu istimewa, stamp itu datang tanpa sebarang label atau petanda (atas permintaan orang yang menghadiahkannya kepada kamu). Dari mana stamp itu datang? Siapa pembuatnya? Boleh jadi saja dari mana-mana kaki lima atau kedai cenderahati di pulau selatan Tanah Melayu itu. Tapi percayalah, jika kamu ke Singapura, kamu tidak akan bertemu pemilik tangan yang mengukir stamp ini. Saya di sini Cik Noreh4n. Saya di sini!

Cintailah stamp ini Cik Noreh4n, itu permintaan saya.

p/s: Lelaki itu? Itu pandai-pandai kamulah. :)

Yang benar,

Mangosteenskin.

Berkacang-kacang dahulu...

Bersusah-susah kemudian.

During my closed-for-commission period, I actually manage to catch up with office work but not my stamp projects. My plan has failed :( Mengikut rancangan, masa itu sepatutnya digunakan untuk mengerjakan projek stamp habis-habisan. Tahu tak, saya rasa macam tercekik tongkol jagung setiap kali teringat ada customer yang sudah berbulan menunggu order mereka siap.

I tried as much as possible, juggling tasks between stamp and office works, and not to forget, membuat kerja-kerja kebajikan di rumah. April also seemed to be a month di mana saya telah makan dengan sangat baaaaaaaanyak sehingga perut saya buncit dan baju-baju saya sendat (eh terkeluar tajuk pulak).

Ada sebijik stamp ni, sudah 3 biji pemadam besar saya korbankan, sudah banyak "tarikan nafas" yang saya skipped kerana terlalu berhati-hati, sampai mungkin ada sel-sel dalam badan saya ni yang mogok kekurangan oksigen... tapi stamp itu tetap gagal mencapai piawaian saya sendiri. Saya rasa stamp itu adalah stamp jahat, kerana ia telah membunuh keghairahan saya dalam arena ukiran stamp dan selepas 3 kali "turned off", keyakinan saya tercalar. Sedikit-sebanyak, itulah juga punca disaster yang menyebabkan saya gagal mencapai target. Hilang motivasi maa...

Sementara mengumpul kekuatan untuk bertarung semula dengan stamp jahat itu, saya mengalihkan tumpuan kepada stamp-stamp yang lebih kacang. Jangan risau, saya bukannya sedih-sedih. Saya sedang gembira sakan nih.

Tuan2 dan Puan2 sekalian... mempersembahkan, dua design stamp terkini... siri Koleksi Raja Sehari Kulitmanggis!!! *drum roll ~ Tush!!*

Kek ini tiada dijual di mana-mana, kerana bahan-bahannya adalah daripada jus perahan otak saya sendiri.

Marzukie. Asal sebut Marzukie saja mesti teringat bekas Cegu Bahasa Inggeris saya dulu, made in Machang Kelate. Bila sebut manggis, adakah anda teringat saya? Ini soalan umum bukan khusus buat Cegu Marzukie sa-orang hahahahahahahaha.

P/S: Janganlah nafsu anda tercalar pulak untuk terus bertandang dek kerana entri saya yang tiba-tiba sewel. Sebelum blog ini jadi blog arts & crafts, blog ini lebih kurang beginilah. Sebagaimana telah saya beritakan kepada kawan rapat saya, saya rasa mungkin saya sudah tua. Jadi saya malas mahu berfikir banyak, buat sajalah ikut rasa.

Safe View (U)

Aching heels and fatigue. I hate my bulging tummy. >:( Hahahaha...opening yang tiada kena mengena dengan tajuk.

It's a busy and quite stressful week for me and I haven't been sleeping for a couple of nights already. Been wanting to show you my working space, but I afraid the view might cost you a faint :D So just enjoy the photos of my handcarved stamps ya. Pretty harmless to naked eyes.

Thank you very much for visiting!

It's Christmas

...and it surely marks the approaching end of the year.

Here's few works done during my absence.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Handle

An old work I just completed recently. I used the mini mini mini stamp set to decorate the top side of the mounting with extra wooden handle. Nurain, pinjam kejap k! Hehe.

The handle is my husband's brilliant suggestion. So proud of you, darling!

Stamped Stuffs

Fridge magnet.

Made of shell and some buttons from last year's Christmas gift from my brother. The letters are made using this alphabet stamp set.

Bought it at RM12 something at Popular bookstore.

My mini stamp artwork! Made into a small plaque. The rooster stamp is one of my mom's favourite.

It suppose to be a keychain, but I never use it as keychain. I used it once as pincushion.


This is my current notebook where I jot down my to-do-list. I stamped my husband's name on it(hm...perhaps should add R and S behind the M, so it would become Mrs. Khairuldin kan? Hihi). He suggest that I color the background of a mounting, so I experiment using a stamp I made for him recently.

Sweet

Two new stamps carved on Friday night.

Trisya's!

And Nadia's!

A new experience with "khat" design (it writes Nadia & Azree).

November 8th Saturday palm reading.

Succesfully carved stamps just make my day..

Just a little mishap while cutting the wood :)

Handmade Paper Box

Apart from carving the tricolor stamp yesterday, I manage to mount a couple of my recent works. Actually I got my wood supply on Friday and went back to my hometown on Saturday. The cutting job was done on the deck by the river. So what I did yesterday was just glueing the stamps to their mountings.

The stamps are now ready, but I have always thought that my stamps should meet their owners in a nice, pleasant packaging. Before this I wrap, or make paper packet to put them in and sometimes I just don't have enough time to wrap them nicely (hehe, sorry to those who received their stamps in "nasi lemak" kinda wrapping before). I think the best is to put them in boxes, that fit each of them nicely. Problem is, sometimes my schedule is so packed, I don't have excess time to make boxes.

Anyway, I made a box this morning, to figure out how much time needed to make a custom one for a stamp.

It takes about 45mins-1hour. Argh.. got to find a more productive solutions.

From Tri-color to Monotonous

If somebody ask you to carve a stamp for a logo like this, how would you do it? This logo might look simple and easy, but how to create a single stamp that will give an impression of three different colours? For this kind of logo, the colors are important elements.

Another challenge is, the customer require the stamp to be in a specific measurement. My problem is, the size of the text is already small, so reducing the logo to the required size will proportionally reduce the text to something much much smaller. Again, for a logo like this, I think it is important to produce a crisp and neat carving rather than rustic or wavy cuts.

I almost say "No, it is impossible to do it handcarved", to the customer, but at the same time I still want to give it a try. It would be a new experience.

So I carried out my first attempt. I spend hours trying my best on it but as soon as I finished, I'm certain that using the cross-line (as to distinguish two different colored background) is a huge mistake. The text is also unsatisfactory.

I come up with a second solution, and this time the customer agree coz it resembles their logo better than the first one.

As usual, carving the wordings is the most challenging part. I took the longest time on it but I still can't get it perfect. Argh.. Sampai terpeleot jari masa carve "B" untuk "Bersatu" tu.

Miniature Artwork

Remember how matchbox labels look like?

Wahahahahahahahahaha....I feel so inspired!! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!!! From artwork, to stamp, and back to artwork again!

I experiment with one of my earliest handmade stamp. And, tadaa!!!... Mangosteenskin's original miniature artwork! It is done 100% using my handcarved eraser stamp.

My husband said I was talking in my sleep last night but he couldn't understand what I was mumbling about. It must be because of THIS, because I almost can't sleep due to over-excitedness!