turtle-inspirations..??

i did not design these ceramic-turtles..

instead, i bought them as samples from a fellow ceramic-manufacturer..

a strictly-manufacturing set-up which also imported & supplied ready-made moulds..

i bought plenty of their ready-made moulds during my formative years in ceramic-business..

and after nearly 16-years, the supplier has become an old, old friend..

yes, i got these ceramic-turtles from danny..

and danny too, did not design these turtles..

why am i posting & viewing the turtles here..??

a customer has requested 'something-malaysian' for her KLIA-gift-shop, and i'm running out of ideas..

those ceramic-turtles are cute, eh..??

or they're instead, should be called tortoises..??

mmm...

handcrafted ceramic oil-burner..

obviously i like anything squarish..
but of course, excluding squarish people.. ;)
but on second thought, i should include them, eh..?? ;)))

this is a mini-sized ceramic oil-burner.. designed a few years back as part of our corporate/doorgift items.. it's very small, measuring 6cm-width and 7cm-height only.. and very compacted too, with 1cm-deep oil-space.. and approx. 4cm-height candle-burning-space..

with those minute measurements.. this burner is definitely impractical for hardcore oil-burner-users.. it doesn't burn so long coz the oil-space is very shallow.. it emits greater black-carbon -smokes that stain the outer-part of the burner coz the candle-burning height is insufficient.. it utilises more number of candles coz the insufficient burning-height means your candles burn faster than they should..

but regardless of those, i treasure the designing process of this impractical oil-burner.. the finished product has turned out very simple and stylish.. yes?? i had included almost all of our production strengths & identities.. so that we could produce them bulk, all handcrafted with ease.. and most importantly, within the specified budget of specified quantities..

the ceramic-chimes that dont normally chime..

i designed these giant ceramic-chimes a few months after we moved to our permanent/current beruntung-house, so that i could 'hear' the stronger & cooler winds that we get to enjoy now that we live nearer to and in pleasant frontal view of the banjaran titiwangsa.. besides the stronger & cooler winds coming down from the surrounding highlands (we can see genting highlands clearly), our house also immediately faces a large recreational field equivalent-sized of 2 football-fields, hence no other buildings infront of the house to obstruct the banjaran wind-movements onto my gardens most of the times..

i decided that one side of my car-porch would be the perfect location to hang these ceramic-chimes to capture these winds.. and also the perfect location to subtle-ly showcase my ceramic products to any passing motorists in my neighbourhood, ahha.. ;)

the ceramic-chimes (or maybe we should call it ceramic-mobiles?) consist of upside-down square-shaped ceramic-containers that are joined & tied together by colourless fishing rod that went through a small hole at the base of each ceramic-box.. hanging on the same rod inside the ceramic-boxes are clay-marbles that would knock on all inner-sides of the boxes to create the chime-effects.. additional chiming sounds were expected to be derived from the ceramic-boxes knocking on the outer-sides of each other when the winds pass by..

we coloured & glazed them soft-green, simply because that was the same glaze-colour being utilised for another production-order that went on in my factory during that same time and i didn't want to create so much hassles for my production team by asking for another tone.. and also because the soft-green was pleasantly natural to my eyes and my garden-theme..

i'm very pleased with the design of these ceramic-chimes.. my house-architect that is my dear good friend atZaida had also nodded her approval when she first saw them hanging.. the simple square-shapes arranged in one straight-line to cover almost half the length of my porch captivated our senses and aroused further inspirations in both of us..

but, but.. the ceramic-chimes don't normally chime..!! :(

a design error on my part..?? most chimes are flat objects that are light & flimsy and easily moved by the passing winds.. if ceramic-clay is used as the basic material, the thickness of the finished & fired 2D-chimes would normally be less than half-cm.. my ceramic-chimes on the other hand, are thicker, glazed (added thickness & weight) and in 3D-forms, therefore much more heavier to be easily moved by any passing winds, hence don't normally chime as they should.. :(

or maybe it was designed heavier and sturdier on purpose to sustain the stronger banjaran-winds..?? that could also have been in my head because i remember thinking 'what if one of the ceramic-squares break?' and i wouldn't have the height and elevation to dismantle everything just to replace one broken piece..

so my ceramic wind-chimes don't normally chime on most days.. but when they do CHIME, i could hear them all the way from my soho at the furthest end of my top-floor.. and i'd immediately know that my nights would be cooler than usual and my garden would be messier with dried leaves strewn all-over.. and i'd be immediately warned that the banjaran-winds have come passing by in greater forces, but secure in the knowledge that my chime-pieces would still remain intact to captivate and inspire us in many more years to come..

thank you darling..

regardless of how many times i've kept saying that i jumped into this ceramic design & manufacturing business totally by accident, i must admit that some kind of a strategic planning & thinking had happened 16 years ago in my little head, continued to happen over the course of many other little accidents over the years, and still happening till today even when i've kept saying i'm now so tired and should just retire..



at this point of note, i'd like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my loving & supportive darling husband for always believing in me, for always guiding & motivating me, for always inspiring & sharing my simple goals & visions, for always elevating me to greater heights & richer experiences, for always listening & urging me forward, for always being the rocky shoulder to cry on whenever things got too much for me to handle on my own..



yes darling.. regardless of the many turnings, side-trackings, little breaks, adjournments here, there & everywhere that i've taken along the way, accompanied with either your blessings or disapprovals, we are actually still on the right track..

and mostly thanks to you.. ;)

just looking back to move forward..

i've just finally finished re-writing my unpublished 2003-why-talk-about-failures-articles and linked them into my accidental business journey, PART-1.. and now obligating myself into backtracking my thoughts, memories & experiences to start building up content for PART-2..

why do i even bother doing this..?? the perfectionist in me, maybe..?? the start of another year, possibly..?? just looking back to move forward, you think..?? just making sure i'm still on the right track, most likely..?? mmm...

my journey in part-1 was written in jan-feb2003, after 10-years in my accidental-business.. i've been including & posting the 7-articles in that journey into this blog since mid-2008, most possibly because i was lost again then and trying to get back my directions.. so what has actually happened between jan-feb2003 and mid-2008, the period of approximately 5 and a half years...????

wow.. quite an amount of recollections are needed here, eh..?? so again, why do i even bother doing this...?????

i heard somebody said recently over the airwaves.. failing is not simply due to fate or bad lucks, but most likely due to bad life-choices.. and vice-versa, succeeding is also not simply due to fate or good lucks, but most likely due to good life-choices, or something to those effects.. as i understood it immediately then, you make your own life choices as you progress in life and subsequently these good & bad choices would lead you nearer to or farther from your intended destination/s..

so what life choices have i made in those 5 and a half years between jan-feb2003 and mid-2008..?? and where have those choices led me now..?? i know i've constantly made conscious efforts to keep improving my personal/family well-being and keep simplifying my business activities to suit my changing priorities, but i also know that i can be very sanguine & emotional and keep side-tracking onto other passions & ventures, regularly & temporarily forgetting my business goals & focus..

so yes, as i look forward to greater challenges in 2009 and beyond, i may need to back-track 5 and a half years to enable me to move forward more happily, comfortably and confidently into the new year..

welcome 2009..

phew, what a relief..!! the school holidays are finally over and i'm actually very glad to be back to normal routines..!! one activity after another and i never realized just how busy and hectic a year-end holidays could do to me until now.. or is it that my body is no longer able to sustain all these..??? mmm..



asked my darling hubby whether he felt glad too, and he replied, why should he? life has been normal to him, work-work-work, regardless of the times of the year, therefore school holidays or not, my darling hubby's life is always centred around his passion, that is his work & business.. i'm forever glad that he's very committed and really enjoying looking after his/our financial-priorities, therefore allowing me to be forever having free reins of the other 'non-financial' areas in his life.. ;) i'd just need to give him ample notices of our family plans and he'd re-adjust his schedules to be involved as my better-half and my children's doting-father.. simply 'perfect' huh?? ;)

yes, so welcome 2009..!!!

i already know what my new year goals and plans are, but i'd just need to rewind and snip off whatever remnants of 2008 that are still trailing behind me.. and with the school-hols plans always mixing together and jumbling up my other agendas, sorting out my head to face the new year may take a while..

some quiet time alone with my iced cappuchino in my favourite wifi-cafe.. is necessary, huh??

this blog-post is just to tell my few 'loyal-readers' that my life the past 2-weeks was not just about my many, many cats.. ;))

this is also to inform that i started the new year in full blast with fellow mama-mias, exactly on new year's day 1st january 2009.. ;))