Memory Wire... added with Paper Beads

After months of being neglected, my paper beads have finally come to use. It looks cheesy tho and I still can't really remember whether or not I have varnished it. But oh well, at least now I have one new bracelet. :)

Memory Wire... What the heck is it?!

I've posted this in my tumblr but it's in Bahasa Indonesia and I wanted to give it a go in English.

So, in searching for a cool jewelry inspiration, I stumbled upon two words, "memory wire". I had no idea what a memory wire is. Could it remember something? Or was it like electricity cable? I was seriously clueless.

After doing a serious googling, I founded out that memory wire is a type of wire that could retain its shape. Then it came to my mind a certain bracelet with blue cat's eye beads that I had years ago which use this particular wire. I also see such bracelets at accessories shops and even had the liberty to explain to my sister about this particular wire.

What I didn't know was that I had actually bought a pack of memory wire without knowing it. I thought it was just normal wire (again, normal here means not too thick, nor too thin). It looks thin and easy to bend but when I actually tried to bend it, oh boy... you don't want to know.

That's when I realized that I actually had memory wire all this time. The one that I have reminds me of slinky. I wouldn't play it like one tho, because it easily gets tangled. And believe me, when it's tangled, it is difficult to sort it out. Trust me, I've tried to untangle it from the start of National Treasure 2 until the end - which includes the credit rolls - and it is still tangled. Boo.

Fooling around with the memory wire. :D

Made it Myself Jump Rings.

These jump rings are the result of my cheapness and curiosity

I was bored using my usual copper coloured jump rings so I decided to make my very own silvery jump rings. At first I tried with my normal wire (normal being that it's not too big, neither it's too small) but in the end I couldn't manage to cut it off. Gawd, I nearly bruised my fingers and busted my wire cutter!

Eventually I used a smaller wire size, 0.5 to be exact. I was rather afraid if it would easily bend but after making a string of jump rings, it was quite inflexible. Therefore I decided to make a bunch of it while watching "The Count of Monte Cristo" - which is a good film, btw.

I might make smaller jump rings with coloured wire someday later in the future.

Things needed:
1. Wire
2. Something cylindric - I used a 3.0mm screw driver.
3. Wire cutter - one that is strong enough to cut the wire.
4. Patience - yes, this is definitely required!

Chunky Grunge Bracelets

When I was browsing for diy toggle clasp, I found this interesting page about cool jump ring trick. Considering that I had heaps of jump rings, I thought why not give it a try? And it was also a perfect project to remake one of my bracelets.


This purple one is the first that I made. I used purple stones. I think it's amethyst but I can't be really sure. It's a trial and succeed project. Hehe.




Now this red and yellow one is my bracelet before the remake. My auntie gave it to me last year and I only wore it once to a wedding. That's the problem with this bracelet. It's too flashy that I can only use it occasionally. Not to mention that it's rather too big for me and the elastic string gave me the impression that it could snap any time. I only used the red crystals for this project.




This is the bracelet after the remake. It looks more gloomy but that's the way I like it. It can fit for both casual and special occasions which make it more to my liking.




This is how they look on my wrist. Not bad eh?




This last one was a request from my sister. I used pink beads and green seed beads.



Those are all that I made but I am definitely attempted to make more. :D

Bead Necklace (from an unused tasbih)

Saturday two weeks ago (16072011), one of my besties, @nisa_interisti, had a sleep over at my over. She brought stuffs which (she thought) I could recycle. I couldn't recycle all but at least I did make her a necklace out of her unused tasbih.

Tasbih is a like a Rosario, but it is used by the Muslims. It usually has 11, 33 or 99 beads on it (always odd numbers). Some prefer to use tasbih, but Nisa and I prefer to use our fingers. That's why her tasbih was unused.

Most tasbih are made out of very very pretty stone. I had ones made out of cat's eye stones while Nisa's is made out of brown stones. I think the Big Boss wouldn't mind if we turned it into something which people could appreciate more. :)

Things needed:
1. Beads/stone beads
2. Cord (1,5 m)
3. Transparent nail polish - to glue the cord
4. Scissor - to snap this and that, of course.

More Wire Cage Pendants

I was a bit on fire when after I made my purple stone pendant. It resulted in these blue glass stone and white garden stone pendants.

I don't remember when or where I got the white garden stone one but the blue glass one I got from one of my neighbours back in Sydney. I've had it for like 15 -16 years.

My Purple Stone - Finders, Keepers!

Being born in February, whenever I hear the word "amethyst" my ears perk up. That's why, when I saw amethyst pendant being sold at Kinokuniya, I badly wanted to buy it. But alas, it cost around Rp 90 thousand something which roughly cost around US $ 8 till US $ 10. I don't know whether that would be expensive or not for US range, but it sure is in Indonesia.

Fortunately for me, I somehow found this purple stone in my drawer in my room in Jakarta. It has a unique shape although it's rather chipped on the bottom. I guess it belonged to the previous owner (she moved to a room next to mine) or the previous owner's previous owner. Anyway, being petty as I am, I didn't tell my neighbour about the stone and decided to claim it as my own. Finders, keepers people! :p

As soon as I got back to Semarang, I turned it into a pendant. The wire cage is more or less like the one I used in my cage pendant and the string is made from suede cord. It's not as good as the ones found in Kinokuniya, but it sure looks ethnic enough for me.

It's cheap, it's pretty, it's limited = it makes me happy! :)


You can't really see the chipped part, can you?


Resting prettily on my neck.

Bottle Cap Galore

Last year (and also earlier this year) I went into a bottle cap crazy stage. I first saw it here and suddenly became addicted. These bottle caps make really cute necklace pendants. And the good thing is, you can use anything media that you like. Some people even use food - preserved with resin of course!

Anyway, here are some stuffs that I used to make my pendants:
1. air dry clay
2. PVC glue (fox)
3. fabric
4. stickers
5. glitter glue
6. sequins
7. nail polish
8. permanent pens
9. acrylic paint

Here are some of the results of my bottle cap charm. They don't really look like bottle caps once being painted and decorated, ne?


This is my first bottle cap pendant. It's my lucky shamrock charm. I got the inspiration from cutout and keep.


These are what they look after being painted.


They look cute, don't they?

Coffee Mug and Paisley Choco Granule

For one month, I didn't have a mug at all. I relied only on my favourite mid-size blue Tupperware glass. But in March, I finally bought this glass at Atrium Mall. It cost around Rp 17k. I instantly fell in love. Not only it has a cute design (it has 'coffee' and 'make me a cup of coffee, will you' imprinted all over it), but it also is the same size as my coffee mug back home.

I just love it, love it, love it!

Here's another picture of it with Good Day cappuccino in it. Somehow, the choco granule sprinkle looks like a paisley design. Accidental but definitely unique, as unique as the mug that holds it. :D


Paisley choco granule sprinkle. Yum!

Coffee Sweet

I got this from a friend. It taste damn good! Seriously.

Mars Bar, from me, for me

This is actually a Mars Bar that I bought on my birthday (20110211). I bought it in the mini market at Pacific Place Mall. It cost Rp 14k. At normal circumstances, I wouldn't have bought it but I once vowed that if I found a Mars Bar, I would buy it. And coincidentally, it happened to be my birthday. And you know the rest, I bought it.

It's delicious, but I think it's more delicious when I was craving it.

Thanks God for Today

Okay, before I start with my post, let's all pray for the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan (8.9 magnitude) and I also hope that the Karangetang eruption in Sulawesi won't be as devastating as Merapi. I heard that there was an earthquake in Bali but I'm not really sure on this, yet. Indonesian's eastern coast and also the pacific coast received tsunami alert due to the earthquake in Japan. Anyway, #prayforjapan #prayforindonesia #prayforworld.

Back to today. Actually, I've been dreading today that I think it might have made me sick these past nights. The exhaustion after evening classes were maybe due to the fact that Friday was approaching and I wasn't prepared. So, when today finally arrived, I couldn't help twitting: "ONIF: OH NO IT'S FRIDAY!!!". You know, as opposed to TGIF? Friday has never been cheerful lately.

But, somehow, today, other than the national disasters, everything was going fine. To make it quick, here's the list:

1. I downloaded Dragon Ball 40. I know, I know, it's cheating. But seriously, it's only semi-cheating because I it's not available at bookstores anymore. Therefore, downloading it was a bliss!
2. I attended a Peace Corps seminar at 2 till 4 today. I was feeling rather lazy and to be honest I actually spent most of the time completing my drawing. The Peace Corps itself more or less was like Dejavato, but this Corps consisted only of American volunteers. The exciting thing was after the seminar, not during. So my friend Nurma and I chatterd with mb Icha, a middle east master student and she asked us to photo with a former minister. He turned out to be former Menhan, Mr Yuwono Sudarsono (I hope I got your name right, Sir). Nurma and I didn't know who he was until we showed his photo to Pak Yadi. The only famouse people who I'd spot straightaway probably would be Chris Evans and Aaron Ramsey. Other than those two, I'd be oblivious.
3. The small prayer room turned out to be a hiding bliss. No explanation here.
   
4. Class was EXTREMELY taking ages. But I think I could finally make up questions from the presentations which were being presented. The questions were rather dull, but hey, sometimes dull is better than none at all (remember, key word is sometimes, not all the time).
5. While I was having a very enthusiastic conversation with Nurma at our Soto food stall, a blond foreigner took our photo secretly with her cell phone. Seriously, she offered no explanation why she did it. Now I know how those foreigners feel about having their photo taken secretly by the locals.

At first, I thought that there'd be no more happier news but I was wroooooongggggg! It turned out that 6. Aaron Ramsey has an official twitter! It's @aaronjramsey. His first tweet had something about californication in it. This definitely makes me more set on making Red Hot Chili Peppers as my muse.

Well, maybe it seems boring to some people but today, I feel like it's such an amusing day.

ps: today as in March 11th, maybe this is gonna be posted on March 12th 12 something am. But the event definitely happened on the 11th.

New Room, Yay!

So starting from today, I officially moved to a new room in the same boarding house. Yay!!!

My old room was, yeah, uhm, er, too bloody expensive for my taste.

I actually wanted to move out to another boardhing house. I've already paid the down payment. But you know what, exactly the next day that I've paid the down payment (shortening it into dp sounds kinky), somebody moved out of one of the "normal" priced rooms. To cut a story short, eventually I got this room.

It is smaller and hotter than my first room, but I think I'm loving it already.

But of course, the best room in the world is my OWN room in Semarang. ^^

New Place New Life

I just moved out from Semarang to Jakarta. And yes, Jakarta as the central of Republic of Indonesia. One of the busiest place in the world. One of the place with the most traffic jams and pollutions. Et cetera. You name it yourself.

Unlike Jakarta, Semarang where I usually live is a normally quiet place to live. It's almost static. But that's the beauty of the city. I can do anything to my hearts content, including crafting.

Now that I'm in this hectic city, I had to leave ALL my crafts behind so that they won't distract me. Nevertheless, I brought my drawing kit so that I can draw on my spare time. If I don't, I know that I'll die of boredom.

Well, I hope everything goes fine for me here until I get back to my own city. Wish me luck, minna san! :)

Jakarta, 06-Feb-2011
-Ath-

Caricature Wishes

This is something that I made in 2009 for one of my friends birthday wish. I like experimenting on different things, so when I was given the chance to make the birthday card, I made this. It's more like a birthday booklet. Teehee.

I made these caricatures based on what they like and what they want. I luv these girls! *heart*

ps: There's still one more in the group, but she "joined" in 2010.


Zer, the birthday girl. She likes purple and she wants to be an astronaut.


Ary. She likes things pink and vintage.


Nisa. She was going to go to Spain at the time I drew this.


Mia. She also likes purple and she wants to rule the world.


Ath aka me. I like mixing Javanese and Japanese culture.

Black Forest Fruit Cake

Finally at last I have completed something important before I move out of this city. This is, as you see, a black forest fruit cake. But it's not a normal cake, you know. There are treasures once you have cut it.



Okay, it's not a real fruit cake but just a ring box made out of felt. Did the look fool you? :D




My rings. :)


I can't help wanting to cut it. Hehe.

Harddisk Felt Case

I made this because I'm cheap. Buying a real case is too costly for me. But this gives me the satistaction of making something. Not to mention that I was quite happy to discover how to blanket stitch overlapping layers of felt. Lame, I know.

Thesis Box

The lid. It has a quote from Little Mermaid's Ursula on it.

This is a box that is made out of my unused thesis paper revisions. I had heaps of them and I needed a ring box so this is what I came up with. It eventually turned out into a box to store my acrylic paints and other thingamajigs.

I chose not to paint it because I wanted the prints to be seen. I think it's some sort of vanity of mine to show that I did make my thesis months ago!

And ps, despite being made entirely from paper, it's pretty sturdy. But don't let an elephant step on it. Even I can't guarantee that. Hehe. XD



This is what the lid and the box looks from the inside. On the lid you can see the title of my thesis and also the logo of my uni. And inside the box, you can see my mini oranges and my cloth flower.


This is what it looks from the side.