es_uhns brings a drawstring bag to put her bentou in every school day, and I found the design so simple yet functional that I had to copy it.
Being me I couldn't be content with a plain cotton bag, so my weekend craft project ended up looking like a cross between a kinchaku and an agnes b voyage handbag (incidentally, I have one of these in purple too :O). BUT the most important thing is that it is still very functional. Not to mention a little flashy.

New furniture meant for kimono storage has arrived, pushed/carried into place, and filled with wafuku. Papa paid for it,  in the end, as a present for my 22nd birthday. I'm loving it loads! As mentioned in the previous tansu post, this new storage unit is actually two pieces of furniture - a shoe cabinet placed on top of a chest of drawers in an attempt to imitate a traditional Japanese kimono closet.

The shoe cabinet:



The chest of drawers:



What's in it:

Shelf 1: Tsukesage and houmongi
Shelf 2: Furisode
Shelf 3: Maru, fukuro and vintage nagoya obi, kimono bags
Shelf 4: Synthetic hitoe komon (in tatoushi) and synthetic kimono, rolled up juban
Shelf 5: Meant for yukata currently out on rental, rolled up juban
Shelf 6: Yukata, kimono bags
(Footwear and komono are kept in storage bins just above the tansu.)



Drawer 1: Hanhaba obi and contemporary nagoya obi
Drawer 2: Yukata/kimono bolts, haori, boxes containing obiage and obijime
Drawer 3: Empty, just in case the collection grows.



I hope I don't run out of space too quick...organising the wafuku was TIRING!

Went to the V.hive furniture showroom in Yuan Ching Road today (somewhere near the Japanese Gardens). I couldn't find the shoe cabinet I wrote about in the previous post, but saw a gorgeous solid oak cabinet which looked very tansu-like and would have fit my collection with no problems. Alas, 1) I doubt my room has enough space to accommodate it, and 2) it was over-budget by twice. GARRRRRGGHHHHH. You can see the oak cabinet (no. 2) in their advert below:



I spent almost an hour pacing between the shoe cabinet section and the drawer section to find a cheaper substitute, mulling over the cabinet all the while. Finally decided to make do with a roomy shoe cabinet with six shelves and ring handles, to be placed on top of a chest of drawers in similar width and colour. When in a pinch, improvise. Have to wait until the deliver on Friday to see how tansu-like the combination is.

Good for kimono tansu?



Its dimensions are 69.4 X 40 X 120 cm, which should fit my longest tatoushi (61 X 37 cm). I can organise the yukata and kimono by type/season into each of the shelves <3. Might even get two sets if I still like the thing when I see it in person (each set is $139, delivery included). Only thing is that the store is in a secluded part of Jurong ;_; (near where Tang Dynasty theme park used to be?) and I have no idea how to get there. But will give it a go when the school term starts again and I have to commute to the western part of Singapore anyways.

 More like things I did over the two week break after December's clinical posting...

1) Amass a small collection of hanbok! And even invited some of my batchmates over to take photos to put up on the rentals blog :D



2) Sew yukata from one of the pink bolts in this post. The morning glories and goldfish one! I decided to start from the pattern I liked the least, so at least I have some motivation to complete the other bolts. I sewed all the straight seams by machine (lack of time ;_;) but hems were hand-blindstitched as I cannot stand hems that have an unsightly line of machining. Can't wait to start on the sakura and dragonflies bolt, but the reality is I'll only be able to sew again after this coming school term is over. *SOBS*.

3) Helped out at a furisode photoshoot! I thinks this was the craziest kahouya assignment ever, but it was good to see other people dressing up in furisode (in Singapore's weather, nonetheless).

4) Watched James Cameron's Avatar thrice! This is the first time I've ever been compelled to rewatch a movie in the cinema, and still want to get a copy of the DVD. I felt like a 8 year-old again, when I would watch VHS tapes of Disney cartoons (and JURASSIC PARK!) over and over for thrills. Sequel please be made soon :D.

5) Read Atwood's The Year of the Flood in a 4-star hotel in Batam. Ultimate slacker holiday. BLISS.

6) Bought Paul Coelho's The Alchemist and Atwood's Oryx and Crake ($21 in total from KKH's used books store FTW!). Seems like I've rediscovered a love for English fiction, while my manga/anime interest is slowly becoming dormant. Maybe I'm just getting older.

7) Ok, maybe the anime lover side of me is not dead YET.  Finished watching the series Kemono no Souja Erin on Crunchyroll over the exam period. We all need a warm fuzzy sometime. Feel good fantasy epic series with a Disney ending with lots of flying. I love shows with flying, floating rocks and aerial battles. Funny, I don't like flying in planes that much myself, but I would want to try hang gliding one day.

8) Went out with a lot of friends on a lot of random trips doing random things around Singapore. When you are stuck on a little island, you find excuses to do ANYTHING.


So what next for 2010? Maybe survive the last (honours year is a bonus year, LOL) school term. And perhaps keep Kahouya open for the next year at least, because I doubt I can juggle it with a full-time nursing job when I *finally* start work. Then my collection will be personal again.

Argh, ok. Sleep.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

Now that's out of the way, I'll just write a short post about a conversation I had with a friend about the movie Avatar. I've watched it three times in two weeks, twice in 2D and once in 3D. Pretty hardcore, but the movie is like a roller coaster you'll want to ride a few times until the thrill wears off.

Anyway the conversation has nothing to do with the awesomeness of the CGI, but rather the plot holes (the story is obviously not the strong point of this movie, it's just really another Pocahontas with blue people in outer space). See, the reason why humans are invading a distant planet is to mine a rock which is insanely expensive. The movie doesn't explain why this rock is insanely expensive, just that it is. Riiiiiiggghhhhtttt. So everyone, myself included, assumes that it is a source of energy, because, you know, we have been influenced by the whole global warming and overuse of fossil fuels and the Copenhagen failure and stuff, so plundering some blood diamonds on another planet is obviously for "green" energy. WRONG. Being the geek I (sometimes) am, I went over to the official movie site and discovered Pandorapedia, which is a guide to the planet of the blue aliens.

Turns out the rock (named "unobtainium") is a mineral with superconductor properties. Anyway, the conversation went like this, or something to this effect.

Friend: So this unobtanium thing, it's an energy source right?

Me: Uh, I think the creators of the film said it's some sort of superconductor (because I had just read Pandorapedia).

Friend: Then what's it good for?

Me: .... erm, faster internet? (My knowledge about superconductors is limited to some vague memory of floating magnets on a ceramic track, but explaining superconductivity in terms of liquid nitrogen-cooled ceramics would sound more ludicrous than faster internet, I imagine.)

Friend: So we are obliterating entire planets for faster internet?

Me: ... Yeah. Because there are such large deposits of unobtainium in the planet, the natives must have godspeed internet (which they do - the environmental network allows them to upload and download data into plants, animals and each other - as explained by Sigourney Weaver's character) that they see it fit to worship it as their All Mother.

Oh, so Eywa = Internet. That makes a whole lotta sense.

Frivolities aside, Avatar was an exhilarating ride, especially the last scene which reminded of the aerial battles anime that I love like Last Exile and Sky Crawlers. Can't wait for a sequel!

Link to the blog of two of the ladies who dressed up, with some pictures :D

Just finished uploading photos and updating the rentals blog with 6 hanbok, 3 hanhaba obi, 3 pairs of geta and 3 pairs of zouri. I still have two children's yukata to photograph and upload, but I forgot all about them until now!

Too late to take good pictures now, and anyway I have to sleep soon to as I have a furisode rental appointment tomorrow. It's going to be fun :D

I recently acquired a norigae so I dressed Muzuhime up in this blue-chima-white-jeogori hanbok set to see how the whole thing looks like with the right accessory.

November/December ensemble up! Was busy with exams in November so I only had time to make one formal coordinate for the year end.

Wore this for the Labour Day kimono outing with chiiyo , sodiumion and mangy_mongrel ! One of my favourite kimono because it has a lovely chayatsuji (tea houses) and is also multi-seasonal with lots of chrysanthemum, bamboo. plum, and AYAME (iris)! Perfect for a formal dinner :D. It has a few small pen marks on its right sleeve from a rental outing though ;_; but it's still quite stunning. I always pair it with this gold fukuro obi with marumon (family crest motifs) for a sweet look. Usually I use shibori (tie-dye) obi age but I decided to experiment today with a normal green one. If only a little of the obi age is shown it adds a nice accent and also brings down the formality (and bling!) level by just a notch, to get an elegant yet not over the top look.

Kahouya is currently closed to allow for exam preparation, but I have to introduce four new additions to everyone! These hanbok will be displayed on Muzuhime and uploaded in kahouya by the end of the year.

All four pictures are seller's pictures.




They're all definitely more beautiful in person. I love the embroidery on the navy/pink and white/red one especially. My own pictures are posted below.




Still need to buy norigae for a more complete look. Hanbok house in Katong Mall sells them, will probably go down once exams are over to grab a bunch.

BUT EXAMS ARE COMING AND I HAVE TO STUDY.

In the process of putting together a chima jeogori set (otherwise known as hanbok). I made a list of items to get and where to get them.

1) Chima = skirt, jeogori = jacket top (Ebay, won one, bidding on two others).
2) Inner petticoat (Ebay, won one).
3) Shoes (Ebay, still browsing).
4) Norigae = tassel thingy that is tied on the chima and hangs down from under the jeogori (this site has many pretty ones, still browsing).
5) Cap (optional)

Slowly veering towards an international closet, no? I've already got a sari from years ago, and just learnt how to put one on. Go figure.

<--- Just uploaded a new userpic. Alphard Onee-sama from Canaan <3

Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood is now out in bookstores. I have always loved her stories set in near-future dystopias, but with such a depressing workload this month I don't think I could handle any other dampener on my mood right now, as beautiful as they may be.

Still in the process of creating a collection of formal ensembles for kahouya. Next up is the blue rinzu houmongi. It strikes me as a summer piece, because of the watery colour, wave pattern rinzu and swirls of black ink, but the flower motifs are multi-seasonal. I think I did a great job on this set, the accessories almost make the whole thing look very furisode-ish.

First up: Front view of completed ensemble. Working with date-eri again!





Close ups of obi and collars from front:



And of course pictures of the obi-musubi! I attempted another formal knot, this time called ougi-daiko. It gives a touch of elegance without being too fancy.



I still have the pink houmongi and kurotomesode to put up, and then I'm done with formals. Yay!

I went to China Town to take pictures for this essay I have to complete as part of my Singapore Studies elective, and made a detour to the fabric shops in People's Park Complex. I always come away with something Japanese, but this time was extra special because the shop I usually patronise had fabric meant for yukata. They were regular 120cm width fabric bolts, but printed in such a way that divided the cloth into three equal parts - obviously meant to be cut into smaller widths for yukata. Needless to say, I bought enough fabric for three yukata. This picture shows how the fabric looks after it has been cut.


All pinks since I don't have much of it in my collection (I usually stick with traditional blues for yukata, but it's bad for business). I'm in love with the sakura bolt. Dragonflies are <3.

In autumn, it is the evening.
As the setting sun draws closer to the mountains, the crows hastily fly back to their nests in threes and fours and twos.
Even more delightful is the sight of a line of geese flying far overhead.
Then, after the sun has set, the crying of insects and the sound of the wind have a charm that goes without saying.

Sei Shonagon

Autumn approaching, so it's a good time to bring out this tsukesage with chrysanthemums galore. I am planning to put up more formal ensembles at kahouya in preparation for Dinner and Dance season, and since the purple obiage that made a round trip to from Japan is finally here with me, it's time to make good use of it. Purple and brown looked good in my head but it doesn't work in real life. Oh well.


First time working with date-eri, and man, formal kitsuke is really tiring and difficult! Made worse by the fact that Muzuhime doesn't have any arms to help me hold things up :(. I had to use the new (very pretty but expensive) dressing clips to keep the collars aligned. Date-eri, obiage and obijime are all different shades of purple though :/.

Obi musubi used is called "hanatsunodashi" in my book, looks like a fukura suzume from some angles. But it turned out really well.



One thing that I love about this ensemble is the variety of autumn motifs on both the obi and kimono. Kiku (chrysanthemum), kiri (paulownia), kaede (maple).