BTS: Camera Shy :D

The 3 years old Almas is my distant relative that I haven't seen before Eid this year. She came to my mom's house with her parents and her 8 years old sister to do the silaturrahim. She's quite chatty, friendly, not a shy little girl.

An idea occured...I needed a model for my Calyx batik ruffled top and denim kid bloomer and she seems perfect for it. Her parents gladly gave me consent and my brother Reza were getting ready with the camera.

Problem started when Almas' mom tried to change her clothes. She was reluctant and of course I will never force any child to do against her will. I told her parents that if Almas doesn't feel like to be photographed, that's ok, we won't do it. But her parents so excited about it and try to talk her into it.

Clothes changed but every time she saw my brother behind the camera, ready to shoot her, she just hid behind her mom. Strangely, it was her sister, Bina, who was keen to be photographed :D . Unfortunately I don't have anything in her size ready at that moment, but we shot her anyway because she's a gorgeous little girl with many cute poses on her sleeves, though we can't use her pictures for Calyx (for now).

Almas, her older sister Bina and their mom.

BTS: A (too) Happy Baby :D

Syahdan is a very cute 6 months old baby. He's chubby, smiley, I rarely heard him crying. He's a grand son of (again) my mom's neighbor. I am glad that his mom allowed us, me and my brother Reza, to take a picture of him as a model of Calyx batik boy's shirt.

Despite being a happy baby, he's a very active one too. It's quite difficult to put a shirt on him. My mom helped me and she's sweating by the time the shirt has successfully put on him. He just kept on moving, when he was shot too. His chubby little legs moved as if he'd like to run around (but he hasn't walk yet), bit my hijab and all. We just kept on laughing, seeing what he did.

Thanks Syahdan and my brother Reza, for the cute pictures :)

A Belated Eid Greetings...

BTS: Photographing The Calyx Batik Sundress

Again, this is an over due post, but while I still on Eid Holiday, I think I'd better updating this (almost forgotten) blog of mine :D

I'm lucky to have a brother who was a graphic designer and knows about photography quite well. So when I need a good picture for my (slowly made) look book and my brother, Reza, agreed to help, I really feel grateful.

We asked a 9 years old daughter of my mum's neighbor, Vira, to model for us and she said ok. I put a very small make up on her, just a bit of powder and very thin layer of lipstick, I want her to looked as natural as possible.

Many people thought that a good picture should be taken in a studio or some place fancy. But my brother proved that it also can be taken in a place nearby. This pictures of the sundress were taken in Jalan Bali, a relatively quiet street near my mum's house.

Thanks again to my brother, Reza and our model, Vira, you're doing great job!

The photo session

Alhamdulillah...

Nothing more to say but alhamdulillah and yaaay!!

To all my muslim friends...

Expanding the brand

Calyx Baby Bloomer sets initially started as a "trial". I love batik and I love babies (obviously because I only have a son and he's a tweenie now, not that cute anymore, lol). Never thought that it will made a success in the Inacraft 2012 and orders are keep coming in ever since, alhamdulillah :)

So I think it's just appropriate that I should expand the brand with the line which just caters baby and kids needs. Discussed with my brother, a graphic designer who formerly worked with branding, I decided to keep the name "Calyx" for this baby and kids line but with a few adjustments.

Calyx Handmade tags are like this...

The new line, will be in white or blue color block, the fonts are also in either blue or white color.

Thanks to my brother Reza Mappanganro for the inputs and beautiful photographs ;)

A collection will be ready to be launched soon, insha Allah... can't wait to show it :)

3R strikes again!

On May 27, 2012, Ramu Rame Ramo, a community of Bandung crafters consists of my self, Kawakib Craft, Raisy Tasthy, Pepoloco, Linda Sari and Anggraini Craft attending a high school Bazaar as a tenant. It was SMA 3's Inori Bazaar.

The Bazaar was a Japan themed bazaar. There were also band competition, dance cover competition, etc. But the most interesting competition for me was the Cosplay Contest.

According to Wikipedia, the meaning of Cosplay is: "Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure), a contraction (or portmanteau) of the English words "costume" and "play", is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime, and video games, and, less commonly, Japanese live action television shows, Japanese movies, or Japanese pop music bands. However, in some circles, "cosplay" has been expanded to mean simply wearing a costume."

I found it interesting because these kids were serious about the costumes and they posed and acted accordingly to the characters. So serious that some costumes were made painstakingly and very detail, it so related with crafting. 

Camera, action!

It's been a loooong time I haven't been involved in a TV shooting (last time was when I was still in high school, shooting for a TV musical,lol). But, on Thursday May 31, 2012, I had a chance to do it again.


The shooting was for Trans7's programme, "Warna", a programme which usually features small businesses. There supposed to be three of us, me and my partners in craft, mbak Vivi and ibu Pia of Idys. Unfortunately ibu Pia unable to come due to her business in Bandar Lampung. So there we were, me and mbak Vivi, talking about Calyx's batik products. Taken place in the Idys Store and ibu Pia's house in Jakarta.

It involved two 9 months old smiley babies, a curios 3 years old girl (mbak Vivi's niece), an active 1,5 years old boy (Arka, mbak Vivi's son), a pretty 3 years old girl named Alby and a gorgeous 10 years old girl whose name I regretfully forgot (hey, I'm not 17 anymore! Lol!)


Anyway, it was aired on Monday, May 04. It feels kinda weird though, to see yourself on TV after a loong loong time...heehee...
My father recorded it, so here it is...

1st Day of Inacraft 2012: A Lovely Surprise :)

Yesterday was Inacraft 2012 first day, the most anticipated event by Indonesian crafters.
Too bad, I can't come and accompany my best friend, bu Pia of Idys wait our booth, because there are commissioned orders that I have to do and supervised myself.

Femina Magazine as one of the leading women's magazine in Indonesia, also participated in the event.
They will choose 23 products to receive their award, Femina Award, as the most unique, recommended products.

The Inacraft 2012 Femina award

I, of course, got interested. The booths which will received the award will be mentioned in their Inacraft shopping map, therefore hopefully will boost the sales. Then I submitted my newest product,Calyx Batik baby Bloomer Set to be nominated. They said, they will review it first.

The Calyx Batik Baby Bloomer Set

In the afternoon, bu Pia text me that the Femina Magazine people took one of the bloomer set to be nominated. I jumped for joy, to be nominated was already good enough for me .

In the evening, bu Pia send me this picture:

At first, I just saw at the two persons in the picture and wondering why bu Pia send me this picture, for I don't know who the lady standing next to her was. I looked again at the picture and it suddenly came to me, when I saw the thing held by by bu Pia. It was the award !!

Alhamdulillah, we won the award! Whoaa, a lovely surprise! I didn't really expect it because there are many candidates who have great products at the Inacraft. I feel so excited...after all this time, through many obstacles, finally I feel paid off !

Thank you to Femina Magazine, bu Pia of Idys, my cute baby model Bitha and all of my friends, for your support & du'a, huugs!

My friend, a talented crafter & craft books writer, Ira Dhyani Indira, stopped by our booth

The 23 products chosen by Femina Magazine. My bloomer is in the bottom row, third one from the left (or right...it's in the middle )

Inacraft will be held until April 29, you are welcome to visit our booth at the Inacraft, no. 43, Plenary Hall .

Ribbon Flowers on a Ready Made Clutch

Since I showed my clutch collection here, some friends gave me questions. Like, "Did you make the ribbon embroidery (re) on a ready made clutch?" My answer was, no, I made it on a piece of fabric and sent it to a clutch maker.
Another question was, "But is it possible to make it on a ready made clutch?" The answer was, yes, it's possible, but I haven't try it yet.
So to satisfy me & my friend's curiosity, below was my first attempt to make a ribbon embroidery on a ready made clutch.

1. I bought a ready made clutch.

2. I prepared a ribbon flower with the gathering technique. I used a gold colored ribbon 1 inch wide, rolled it 3-4 times and work a running stitches along the selvedge.
3. Pull the thread carefully to gather the ribbon so it will shaped like a flower. Secured the shape with a couple of stitches.
4. Prepare the leaf by folding an 1 inch wide green organdy ribbon so it shaped like pyramid and make a running stitches along the selvedge. Again pull the thread, gather it to shape it like a leaf, secured with a few stitches.
5. Carefully stick the flowers and leaves onto the clutch with some stitches.
6. Voila! My clutch is ready...

Perfect Giveaway this week :)

When sis Lia of Lia's Crafty Journey announced that the winner of her giveaway was me, I had never been happier. Not only because the giveaway were soo gorgeous (Alexander Henry's is among them!) but also included was a sweet note from her .

Can't say enough thanks to you sis Lia, these are perfect gift for a fabric freak like me, lol...

My, how many ideas I can get to work on these beauties... projects

!

(Almost) Always With RE

RE on the above title stands for Ribbon Embroidery.

You see, my first love in craft was with RE. I saw a beautiful ribbon embroidered blouse in a local mag, I called to ask the price which turned to be too much for my budget and lead me to learning all about those beautiful ribbon stitches, up until now. I learned it from books, AJ. Boesra's, Di Van Niekerk's, Chris Rankin's and Ann Cox's. After that, I bought many local ribbon embroidery books too (beside AJ. Boesra's) like Rosa Amalia's (which is my online friend here), Yossi Zulkarnaen's, Endang Rachminingsih's, and many more, for inspirations.

Whatever craft I made, I've tried to put ribbon embroidery in it, if possible, because not only I love the looks and doing it, but also I feel I owe my existence in the craft community to ribbon embroidery (Sounds too much, eh? Lol)

Now let's get to another story. Almost every crafter I know have an owl creation. I myself love the owl ever since I read Edward Lear's poem about "The Owl and The Pussycat" which I found both funny and cute. As the matter of fact, I made a pochette based on that poem.

As written above, almost every crafter I know have an owl creation. To the point where sometimes there are little bit of "clashes" where one "stole" other design, one claimed to be the best owl creator, and so on. While there is a strict rule between crafters that one can be inspired by others but NOT duplicating theirs (for commercial use), I think there's no problem if every crafter have an owl creation (of course, as long as it's not "pirated" pattern), the more the merrier . Now, I'd like to have one(s) too, but of course with my own rendition. Since I consider my self as a stitcher, these are my version of owl plushies:

To be honest, I was inspired by Aimee Ray's, but I'm sure, as you all can see, I'm not trying to be her . What do you think?

Being double now...

There are 2 reasons why I haven't updated my blog for such a long time...

1. My tweenie have become more and more attached to the fb now

2. I have a new job, an office job. So I'm doing double jobs now, office work 9 to 5, crafting afterward.

At first, I feel overwhelmed, because being a "single" parent, doing double jobs, it really is not easy. Hats off for those who've been doing this for quite a while ! Not only I feel handful, but also sad to leave my son at his grandparent's, sometimes alone at our place. For 13 years, I've been nurturing him, never leave him to anyone but hubby (and that's on veeery rare occasions!). But I have no choice...my inlaws are getting older, they often have to be treated at the hospitals because of their illness. Separated from my husband, turns out quite hard on financial, it's like funding 2 households. So I have to earn more than just what I usually get from my craft, if I want to have little money in the saving and for my son's lessons and extra activities.