Ztampfilicious

Here’s what I have been doing recently: making some changes to our small dining/lounge room! I have been wanting to do this for quite some time but there was always something else that were deemed more important to get done first. But finally I got to do it!

I painted the wall and did something different with it; creating a kind of wall installation featuring my artworks and a Tillandsia airplant with the swirly motif subtly hinted at the background. The swirly motif was designed to incorporate pre-existing screws on the wall where some pictures used to be hung. I plan to change up the artworks from time to time as I have several in the storage from my previous exhibitions.

We finally gave away the old IKEA single-sofabed after holding on to it for a while. We had to admit that we will no longer be able to use it anyway. We also moved the IKEA’s Klippan sofa around and change the old worn out black cover with a new one in natural color (very cheap at only HK$200!). Then we got a recycled chest of drawers to replace the ad-hoc bookshelf – a leftover from my studio that I can no longer afford to keep, and added a couple of Hemnes shelves from IKEA. I love that this way I can easily and quickly change the display too – no mess with drilling wall!

The end result is a more spacious and airy feel of the room… at an extremely economical budget :)

What do you think of it?

Freedom is a Collaborative Effort.
Yes, that’s what I believe. This is the title (and the theme) of my latest artwork, currently showing at a group art exhibition in my hometown Jakarta, Indonesia: “Motion/Sensation” Kinetic Art in Indonesia. August 4 – 21 2011, Mon – Sun 10:00 – 21:30 at the Exhibition Hall, Lower Ground Floor, East Mall, Grand Indonesia.

It is an interactive kinetic art installation. Pull the thread and the wings will flap away. The more people participate, the more vigorous the wings will flap! Freedom is not a static state, you have to continue working on it to keep it. Click the photo below to see the wings flapping in a little clip I made with my iPhone!

You can go to http://art.liefhung.com to see more of my artworks.

As many of you must have been aware by now, I just LOVE wings! I have made various kinds of wings from various materials from paper to wire to canvas to porcelain. But I have never made wings that I can wear myself! Not a long time ago I watched The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus on DVD and there I got my inspiration for a wearable pair of wings! So for Halloween this year, I decided to make some with my older step-daughter who was visiting us then.

I envisioned my prêt-à-porter wings to be somewhat steampunkish – with leather straps and brass snap buttons. The wings themselves would be made from wire-mesh sheets that I already have. So one fine day we went to Shamsuipo to get some leather straps and brass snap buttons. Well, leather straps turned out to be a tad too expensive so we got a roll of gross-grain ribbon in nice thickness instead. Then I found this ribbon that has a row of inconspicuous snap buttons already sewn onto it at regular intervals which gave me an idea on how to put the strap together!

First thing is the shape of the wings. I drew a template on a piece of drawing paper, then trace it onto the brass wire-mesh. Next I cut into shape with a pair of craft scissors. The wire-mesh sheet is soft enough so it was easy enough to scissor the shape. Next I took out my tool box to create the embossed ‘feather’ lines. You can use anything with smooth rounded head for this. A tea spoon worked perfectly to create a pillowy embossing inside the lines!

The trickier part is the straps. The black strap is the one with the snap buttons already sewn on it – and I made use of this feature to secure the wings onto the strap, and then inserting the horizontal straps into the intervals between the snap buttons. This way the horizontal straps are still flexible. You put the wings on by inserting your head through the V opening at the top. The horizontal straps open and close with thin velcro snaps at the side. They fit snugly around our ribcage, right under the bust.

Finally I prettied it all up with some jewelery findings and sparkling rhinestones! Phoebe wore the one that I made, and I wore the one that Phoebe made!

And the scary looking guy with her on the right? It’s her father (yup, my darling husband!). For the first time he has agreed to let me transform him into a ghostly, blood-thirsty looking vampire. And he thrived in the role too – scared quite a few people around! No, it was not blood that he was drinking! It’s wine and not even red!

And me? My look was inspired by a music video that Phoebe showed me the night before on YouTube: Jón “Jónsi” Thor Birgisson of arty Icelandic ensembleSigur Rós. I happened to have these black feathers fastened onto a strip of ribbon. And I have this old plastic headband with a slit in the middle. Perfect to insert the feathers in! And voilà! My birdy headress was ready! The make up was supposed to look birdy too – but I don’t think people see it that way. Never mind, I quite enjoyed it myself :). I think I looked quite scary too… especially when I stared hard with my eyes opened wide… It was quite a fun opportunity to dress up and to wear wings! That’s why I love Halloween!

In case you are wondering, the Halloween event we attended was the one in our neighborhood, down at the piazza. This year it was more festive with golf-cart parade (private cars are not allowed in the community, those who can afford it can buy or rent a golf-cart instead!). There was also a Haunted Castle – which was quite fun with kids from a local theatre group playing the ghosts. Some of them were really good too!

Lookie here… this cute little rebel of a nephew! If you like this layout, you can download it as a QuickPage here and use your own photo and write your own notes there. It is created with the brand new Fly Rebel Fly Mini Kit available at Studio Ztampf! Enjoy!

P.S. Did you know that there are many free samplers that you can download from Ztampf! site? You can no longer shop there but you can still download the free samplers and gifts :). To shop for ztampfilicious goodness, just head over to Studio Ztampf!

My stay as an Artist in Residence at Vermont Studio Center back in 2008 is still one of the most exciting, most memorable time in my life so far. Here are two photographs that always make me smile and transport me back to the unforgettable Open Studio Night… My new Fly Rebel Fly is just perfect to scrap them with!

VSC is situated in a charming small town on Johnson in Vermont. It was such an elating experience, so different from my life in metropolis Hong Kong…

Scrumptiously grungy and rebellious with metal wings buckle, stitched leather belt and wings, rusty tags and slide holder, semi-translucent journaling page with loosed stitching and more… Fly Rebel Fly Mini Kit is just perfect to scrap about teenagers and those elating exhilarating uplifting moments in your life while versatile enough for about just anything else in between!

Now available at Studio Ztampf!:

An exclusive 20% OFF Discount Coupon to purchase the matching Fly Rebel Fly Templates from Studio Dutchie is also included with this kit! Be sure to check it out!

So for those of you prefer to get just some bits and pieces from the Adventouriste Collection, the first batch of individual packs are now available at Studio Ztampf! @ SBG:

This is what started it all… the wings! Adventouriste Wingz:

Some of the wings included here are from my own original artworks! Particularly precious are the porcelain wings – they are called “Soaring” and are part of my art installation entitled ‘flight‘ which marked my comeback to the contemporary art world in early 2005 after a decade of hiatus. It was a successful exhibition in many ways.

In 2007, the remaining parts of ‘flight‘ was selected to be shown in the International Ceramic Biennale in Korea. To my surprise, at the end of the biennale they decided to purchase ‘flight‘ for their permanent collection! Of course I’d just have to say yes *smile*. It’s just that I haven’t said good bye to the wings! The wings have flown and never to come back to me again! But… I hope they are happy in their new home and that it enables more people to enjoy them.

And then in 2008 I received an email from Mr. Emmanuel Cooper – which at first I thought was a prank because I knew his name and his works; I used his books on ceramic when I was studying in the university ages ago! He is a renown ceramicists and his books are widely read by ceramic artists worldwide so who am I to get an email from him? But no, as it turned out, it wasn’t a prank at all. He was writing a book on contemporary ceramic and would like to have some photos of ‘flight‘ included in the book! Yay! The book “Contemporary Ceramics” by Emmanuel Cooper has been published by Thames and Hudson in the fall of 2009. They have unfortunately misspelled my name (omitting the ‘h’ between f and u) and placed Korea instead of Hong Kong as the city where I live. Oh well! We all make mistakes, including giant publishers like Thames and Hudson *smile*. But of course, I feel so honored to have my works there and I am truly humbled by most of the works also shown in the book. There are so many talented artists out there!

The bright orange wings here are made from copper wire-mesh which I cut and shaped into pairs of wings. Originally they were housed inside some bottles – there are 9 bottles total (my poor husband had to drink all the content which happened to be a not-so-great-tasting wine!) and they are part of the ‘flight‘ installation. They are entitled “Self-Exiled 2“. The ambassador of Mexico to Indonesia has acquired this piece when it was shown in a group art exhibition in Jakarta in 2009. So these wings have flown away too!

Now, I made these metal wings for a mascot for my latest art project, the “Dream Archives” that was shown in my solo art exhibition “Corporeal Dream” in Nov.-Dec. 2009. They are made from copper and aluminum sheets, and I used rivets (eyelets) to join the pieces together. Love me some metal! These wings stay home though. They are perched on our door – guarding the peep hole *smile*.

The big paper wings are made out of my drawing, they are residing quietly in my sketch book. The dragonfly wings are 100% digitally created by myself. The rest of the wings are mostly made from photographs that I took myself – then digitally worked (as are others) into what you will receive in the “Adventouriste Wingz“! I hope you will enjoy playing with these wings for your various projects… there are so many styles here from angelic to mythical (dragons?) to nature and (almost) everything in between!

And here are the other four packs that are now waiting for you at Studio Ztampf! @ SBG:

Adventouriste ARTiculate:

Adventouriste Pieces of Time:

Adventouriste Labelizer:

Adventouriste Labelizer Dark:

And here are some more fantastic layouts done by the fabulous Z!Girls:

by Amson

by Tracy

by Lynn

Enjoy!!! And drop by to this blog tomorrow – I have an introduction to make *smile*.