Origami bowls

Fiddly scale : 6 (0 is I can do it plastered, 10 is I couldn't even work out how to start)

Picked up this paper folding book from the Indo book fair and decided to try out one of the projects. Problem is it used washi paper. I don't have any and am too skint to buy some. So I decided to do it using left over scraps of cloth instead. I did the same thing the book suggested to stiffen the paper. I.e. sandwich a piece of aluminum netting in between the pieces of paper and glue the whole shebang together. Anyone who has glued fabric will know that it's messy, fiddly and doesn't ever seem to dry clear even though the bottle says 'dries clear'. Anyway, it worked. Sort of.
1st effort. The glue is visible along the top edges if you look closely.

Today, I decided to give it a go again. I couldn't believe something that appeared so easy could end up so incredibly complicated. This time, I decided to sew a square, stuff the netting inside and slip stitch the open end together. Much better. Though I have to say that someone who has better slip stitch technique would make this look infinitely better. I also managed to smash my thumb with a hammer trying to crease the corners. There is a reason origami is meant for paper...
2nd effort. Better, but wasn't very careful so the edges are a tad wobbly.

3rd effort. It's do-able!! Note to self, take time with measuring and cutting. Rulers were invented so idiots like me don't have to eyeball stuff and have it turn out crooked...

10 days to the bazaar now. I wonder if anyone would buy them for charity??

Return of the red-eyed fanged monster

630am : My alarm rings. No sounds of stirring through the monitor. No matter, kiddo doesn't really have to wake till 640am. Close my eyes for a quick catnap.

645am : Open my eyes thinking, 'Oh s@*#! Late!' Still no signs 0f kiddo stirring. Well, can't be helped, she has to get up. Crawl under the covers with her and try to gently wake her up. My mom used to yank the covers off me and slap a sopping wet towel on my face. Not a nice way to get up... Today though, I can see the virtues of the shock treatment.

650am : STILL not getting up. This is the kid who is usually up on her own at 630am singing! 'Come on kiddo... You're late...' (Mummy getting desperate here...) This is when the monster appeared... 'But moo-oommm, I'm still tired. WHY do I have to go to school now? I WANT it to be a weekend NOW!' Mum, 'It's the weekend tomorrow, you can sleep in and catch up, now quick! Go clean up!' Monster (with the added finger on chalkboard screech thrown in for good measure), 'But I don't wanna sleep in on weekends... I wanna wake up early and go downstairs MYSELF!!' Rapidly losing patience mum, 'Look, I turn off the alarm on weekends, and if you wake too early, then of course I'll ask you to go back to sleep.' Monster, 'NNOOOO!!! I WANNA WAKE UP EARLY' Punctuated with a foot stamp. Really needing a pee mum, ' WHATEVER!!! I need the loo, GO CLEAN UP!!'

7am : Monster still yelling and screaming that she wants to wake up early tomorrow. Totally lost it mum, 'IF YOU'RE NOT DONE AND READY IN 5 MINS I'M COMING IN THERE AND DRAGGING YOU DOWNSTAIRS, AND YOU CAN GO TO SCHOOL IN YOUR PAJAMAS!!! AND IF THIS IS THE WAY YOU BEHAVE AFTER PLAYDATES, THEN NO MORE PLAYDATES!!!!' *cough, cough* I'm out of practice, we haven't had a visit by the monster in a while, obviously my vocal cords need re-conditioning...

705am : Stomping heard on the stairs and down the hall. Minimally effective because it's tiled, but I guess effort counts.

710am : 12mins late. The kiddo is slowly re-appearing. Very grumpy though. So I just left her to a silent breakfast in the car while I hid behind the daily paper. She didn't even want to have her daily chat with my Dad. Left him pretty disappointed too. 'I'll talk to you after school, grandpa...'

740am : 5mins late for school. Assembly already in progress. She was whisked off by her teacher, smiling and chatting. Back to normal... Sigh.

At a quick count, 1 monster = 1 yelling mummy, 1 disappointed grandpa, 2 staff literally hiding from both monster and mummy. Can you believe it, 1 bad tempered kid spoils the morning for 4 people...!

Indo book fair 2009

Book fair=No money... I should just leave it at that.

The 29th Indonesian Book Fair started yesterday the 4th and will run through to the 8th. I went with rather low expectations of everything being in Bahasa and me not finding anything to buy, but since the entry fee was only Rp5,000 (USD0.5), I figured that even if I only found 1 book, it would still be a bargain... Yeah, right, like I've ever left a bookstore without buying more than 1 book.

In any case, I was there bright and early at 945am waiting for the 10am opening. Walking in I thought, 'Wow, I didn't know there were so many book sellers in Indonesia.' The English books were mostly outside in the foyer. Well represented by some standard shops, Periplus, Aksara, Times. However, compared to some of the others, their selection was pitiful. It was like they had brought out all the trashed up, totally not in demand titles. Periplus was better than the other 2, at least I managed to pick up some craft books. The Times stall was truly dismal, I had vouchers to spend and after going through everything twice eventually walked off with 'The enormous crocodile' by Roald Dahl for kiddo.

The inner hall was filled with offerings from local publishing houses. Never heard of 99% of them. But I DID find the Femina magazine stall that was selling their recipe books cheap. Yay!! I bought books on Manado, East Jawa, and Minang cooking, Street food, banana and corn recipes. Matter of interest, I found a recipe for Bebek Bengil!!! Had a whole discussion with the maid on where to get the ingredients. She reckons we have to buy the whole duck from the market. I'm totally ok with that as long as she doesn't come home with one still quacking. No doubt kiddo will adopt it, and there goes my Bebek Bengil.

I also figured that since I was there, I would look out for some Bahasa books for the staffs' children. From speaking to them, it doesn't sound like they can afford leisure books. Wandering around, everything was 'cinta' this and 'cinta' (love) that. Ugh. I ended up at the Islamic book store being served by a goateed little guy who was amazingly helpful. He picked a few books and gave me a synopsis of them. Apparently, the titles often have nothing to do with the content, they use words like 'cinta' only to catch the attention of teens. He also suggested 2 books on avoiding celebrity chasing and girls not looking for early marriages. That gives you an idea of the issues affecting local teenagers...

All in all, it was a morning well spent. Very, very satisfied with my haul, though in retrospect I should have grabbed the other 2 art books I was looking at. Sigh. The only downside was that the Comtec fair was bigger and noisier and right next door. So traffic was pretty bad. Although nothing like for the bazaars. Conclusion being books and tech stuff are less popular than fashion, home dec and kid stuff?

Anyway, I'm off to try my hand at some of the crafts featured in the books I bought. Tin foil here I come!!!