I am so excited to have my kiln up and running again!
Starting a new project with porcelain which is very challenging. It is a commissioned work for a residential mansion so I can't just create whatever pleases me. I have to also take into consideration my client's preferences, expectations and needs because she is the one who will look at the art work every day - not to mention that she is also the one who finances the work! Finding the right balance could be tricky, but I am hopeful :)

Here are some snapshots from the first firing session. My kiln is small, it is a 'plug and play' top loading PotteryCrafts kiln called the 'Mercury'. It is capable to fire up to 1300ºC and is programmable with the electric controller. Now, the porcelain pieces are very thin, so to prevent slumping/shape deformation, I had to support them with kaolin powder. They are fired to 1280ºC and I am pleased with the result. It did take a lot of patience and effort to scrape the kaolin powder off of the fired pieces and it got somewhat stuck to them. All had to be done very very carefully because of the delicate and intricate shapes of the pieces. I think it took me almost 2 hours just to clean up a couple of the porcelain pieces! Next time I'll try different supporting method.



Well, this is just one of the many components that I will have to make to form the actual work which will constructed out of many pieces like this one. Each will be handmade one by one, so each piece will be different - although they all will still be within the same concept. More firing sessions are lining up!

BTW, the greatest thing about this project is that working on it has given me inspirations for my next personal project!

This is my latest favorite book! I regretted when I finished reading it because I wanted to read more! It is full of little stories about all those fonts whose name and look are so familiar and yet I didn’t know much if at all about their designer or how they came about into being. It is like reading about your dear old friends – so familiar – that you are so fond of, and yet knew very little about their life and history. It’s like getting to know your friends – that is, your favorite fonts – better. There are struggles, impressive feats and funny bits. You’d respect real font designers even more.

Simply put, it is entertaining and informative, a delight to behold too – set in beautiful fonts! If you like fonts, enjoy working with them, then get this book. You won’t regret it.

(Thanks to my thoughtful husband who gifted this book to me :). He definitely knows me very well!).

‘Balance’ is my word for 2011. It might look like a simple word, but it is a loaded one – very tricky to achieve, and even more difficult to maintain. Because guess what? It is not a static condition in which once you achieve it, you then could passively keep it. No. It is fluid, always on the move. It is something that you have to keep on nurturing in everything you do.

For myself, balance means to focus more into the process of things – of doing, of working, of creating, of living. That is, rather than focusing on the end result... Taking my time immersing myself in THE moment without worrying about the passing of time. Easier said than done, obviously. But we can always try, can't we!

This is part of my Dream Archives Project.

In this project I take ‘dreams’ to include:

1. a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep
2. a strongly desired goal or purpose
3. hopes and aspirations
4. fantasies or daydreams

Introduction

A scrapbook is a blank book or album in which various items (i.e. photos, newspaper clippings, pictures, momentoes, etc.) are collected and preserved. These days, it is often done artistically, incorporating ready-made decorative products and serves as a creative outlet as well as a means to preserve memories. In its most common form, people (usually women, specifically mothers) scrap about their children, recording their progress as they are growing up. These days, more people also scrap about themselves as well as about various other topics. Some people use scrapbooking to create visual journals – using words and images as a means of creative expression.

As digital photography became more and more popular, digital scrapbooking emerged in the early 2000’s and continues to grow bigger. Just like traditional scrapbooking, there are corresponding digital products to create digital scrapbook pages. Digital scrapbook pages can be printed at home, or printed and bound as professional looking photo books and a variety of print products from companies such as MyPublisher.com, MyKoloAlbum.com, Shutterfly.com, etc.

Recently there is a growing number of scrapbookers active in what’s known as ‘Hybrid Scrapbooking’. Basically, this involves creating scrapbook pages by utilizing elements and techniques from both traditional scrapbooking and digital scrapbooking. This hybrid fever has developed further to include ‘Hybrid Crafting’ such as custom card-making, gift-making, calendar-making, etc.

One of the many interesting tendencies I see in the scrapbooking world – traditional, digital and hybrid -  is that there is a prevailing fondness for everything old and vintage. As such as there is a great number of products with retro/classical/vintage styles and various tools to ‘age’ your photos and pages making contemporary pages look like they come from the distant past. There is a juxtaposition of time frame and realities here. When photos taken in, say, 2006 are made to look like something taken in the late 19th century, it’s as if the memories were ‘preserved’ in the wrong time frame. When new photos are made to look torn and worn around the edges like old photos, it’s as if a separate ‘past’ or ‘history’ has been invented – one that has nothing to do with the actual (new) photos or the event and time captured in these photos. Thus, the authenticity of the photos became ambiguous.

My project will make extensive use of this ‘Hybrid Scrapbooking’ format because of its perfect mix of old and new; reality and make-believe; past, present and future; tradition and technology – it represents the blurring of boundaries between what is real, what is imagined, when is the past, when is the future – akin to what we often experience in dreams.

People across different personal backgrounds, cultures and geographical locations might share similar dreams. Something that is regarded as personal could actually be more widely shared. Dreams are like instances of collective hidden consciousness where past memories, the present, and hopes or fears for the future are juxtaposed and transformed to either further hide or reveal our innermost selves – from the trivial to the substantial.

By using the scrapbook format, which is often seen as a mere housewives’ hobby craft, to create art, I wish to both undermine this false dichotomy and bring art into the daily lives of ordinary people. These scrapbooks, created with both manual techniques and digital technology, bring together old, manual craft traditions with modern technology; they bring together past memories and hopes for the future; and they bring together the personal and the public concerns of the participants. They connect people by revealing a glimpse of the hidden collective dreams they might have unknowingly shared with each other however diverse they might seem on the surface.

The juxtaposition and the blurring of boundaries between what is real and what is make-believe in these hybrid scrapbooks is a perfect reflection on dreams themselves. What is real, what is make-believe in the dreams you have in your sleep? Which is the realistic, which is the fantasy in your dreams for the future? The way people share their scrapbook pages online through the internet these days reflects on how the personal becomes public.

Public Participation

Participation from people near and far will contribute to the diversity and the notion of ‘authenticity’ of the project. The contributions of the public – be it in the form of objects, verbal feedback, and other kinds of reaction – will supplement my own material for this ever-evolving project.

You could participate by contributing an object that symbolizes a particular dream you would like to share with me. This could be dream in any of its meanings (dream you have in your sleep, dream as in a strong goal or desire, dream as in hopes and aspirations, or dream as in fantasies or daydream).

These ‘dream-signifier objects’ could be as simple as a short note describing your dream, a photograph or a picture, an actual object, a digital representation of the object, a poem, or even a single word, etc. You may include a photograph of yourself along with some personal information you are willing to share with me for this project to provide background for your ‘Dream-Signifier Object’, if you wish. Please let me know if any personal information submitted are to be kept confidential or if you don’t mind them to be made visible in the Universal Scrapbooks.

The Dream-Signifier Object could be anything. It doesn’t have to be something that you made yourself although some people did send me something that they have lovingly made specific for this project. But there are others who just sent scanned images of actual scrapbook pages they have previously made.  There are also those who sent me some found objects and store-bought objects that they think best represent their dreams. A few individuals told me stories: about their aspirations and about some dream they had. There are a few poems too! The majority sent in digital photos by email – which I will print out later. It could be just about anything, really! Postcards are welcome too! What yours will be?

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So, are you interested to participate?
Then find your ‘Dream-Signifier Objects’ and get them to me!

You can send in your contribution in two ways:

a. by email to fhung [at] liefhung [dot] com with ‘Dream-Signifier Object’ as the Subject (or just click here). If you are sending digital files, please make sure that the resolution is good enough for printing (minimum size is 1.3 MB or 1600 x 1600 px).

b. by post: contact me and I'll email you my address in Hong Kong. There is no maximum size for this although small and light-weight items are preferable as they can easily fit into the scrapbook pages. I will take photographs of any items that are too large/bulky or heavy and use the photographs for the scrapbook pages instead.

Lastly but not the least, I would like to thank KOLO for their generous support for my Dream Archives Project. They’ve been providing me with their archival quality Havana Boxes that I’m using for the Portals and they are providing me with a couple of their new, archival quality Kaji Albums for the Universal Scrapbooks as well – the perfect scrapbook album!

I have always been a fan of their elegant products so I feel honoured and grateful for their generous support for my projects. It’s hard to tell what I like best about their products: their classy look with minimalistic design, their scrumptious color selection, the craftmanship of their products, their sheer functionality, their archival quality, or their superb durability? I guess all of these qualities combined in every single piece of their products is what hooked me right from the beginning. As I’ve been using their products more in ways that are not usually dealt with them, I came to appreciate their qualities even more. Like when I discovered how the Havana Boxes is almost indestructible when I made the ‘Impediment‘ piece. You can read the story here at koloist.com. You’ll find a lot of interesting things to read and see there as well!

Now, let’s gather your ‘Dream-Signifier Objects’! I look forward to receiving them! Thank you very much in advance.