Tag: darrenleeyong

Process Documentation/Practice:

I joined a life drawing session by accident (didn’t know what life drawing meant). It was an event organized by the Hive in Lavender, where people gather to draw a nude model. It was definitely a different experience — one that was rather shocking/surprising as it was my first life drawing session. It was indeed enjoyable.

The session started at about 7pm.

All the participants have arrived and collected the materials provided for drawing just outside the main studio.

We were briefed on how the session was going to go — the model will do 4 poses (each for 20 mins) with a 5-minute interval between each pose so that the model can rest.  

After the brief, classical music was played at a low volume and the model walked into the center and stayed in his first pose. I was shocked. You could hear giggles from the other participants. The artists and myself then started drawing the model in whichever angle we are positioned in.

At each 5 minute break, we would go around looking at each other’s pieces.

After 4 poses, the drawing session was over.

Tools Used:

• Standing Artboard
• Charcoal
• Pencil
• Kneadable Eraser
• Crocodile Clip
• Spotlights on model

Worksite:

The worksite was an open space with a table in the middle for model to pose in surrounded by the standing art boards and spotlights. It wasn’t cluttered and there was room for people to walk around the room if they wish to draw the model at a different perspective.

Personal Insights/Pain Points:

I felt that one has to have familiarity with the drawing tools in order to draw nice pieces. For instance, it was my first time using charcoal and I had no idea how much strength I should be applying on the paper for an intended effect. Much practice for human anatomy was also needed as the human anatomy is very complex — coming in different forms and shapes. After the 2nd pose, I felt that my hands were getting a little tired from holding up (there was no support for your hand as you draw). Lastly, I felt hard to manage so many tools and keeping hold of my other completed sheets at a place was hard. I went around asking and chatting with others and noted that it was a matter of practice indeed and they just simply place all the other stuff on the floor or another surface. I felt that the overall experience was rather therapeutic.

Process Documentation/Practice:

We paid a visit to Sticky, a business that makes custom rock candy confectionery. The candy is completely hand-made. After asking the practitioners permission to observe and partake in the process, we were able to see the entire process of making a custom order.

Sticky had an order for a custom design — required a website’s URL. So it was pretty interesting to see how they produced the characters one at a time.

They first had to melt the sugar into a working paste for about 20 minutes. Once melted, they can start the process of making the candy. They have 3 different colors – blue, white, and orange paste for the custom order.

They place the slabs on the cooling rack first and then kneaded it. After a few rounds of kneading, the slabs were stretched on a hook to make it more elastic to work with.   

After kneading, they put it on the warm table to work on it.

Once done, they will snip parts of the bigger slab and work on the details from inside-out — starting with the URL. They mold the pieces and then shaped it properly to get the desired effect. The shape is then reinforced with a metal rod.

The process repeats until the entire character is done, wrap it with the white paste and then finally prepare the outer layer.

The outer layer is wrapped around and then they start pulling the giant candy into the smaller signature tubes which is cooled down further with a fan.

Once cooled, the small individual tubes are then cut into the recognizable Sticky candy we know.

Tools:

• Gloves
• Scraper
• Metal Rod
• Hook for stretching the candy
• Scissors
• Fan for cooling down candy

Worksite:

The worksite is open to the public to observe the candy-making proces but only staff could enter the actual site. They have a rack of food coloring and a ‘kitchen’ at the back to prepare the sugar paste for working. In the front, they have large desks – one for keeping the candy paste warm and another that is cool to harden the candy. All their tools are just placed on the desks.

Personal Insights/Pain Points:

I never knew that the candy-making process would be so long and exhausting! You could see the practitioners breaking out a sweat especially with the kneading and forming of the characters. It is pretty labor intensive for pieces with a lot more detail. You need to have an eye to see the characters forming — I didn’t notice it until only halfway through! There was no mold and every detail was formed by the 2 artisans.

Process Documentation:

I joined a class to craft a leather cardholder. The practitioner started off with a piece of conditioned leather that has a cutout drawn in pencil. We would cut it out with a penknife guided by a ruler for the straight parts and free-hand for the curved edges. We were also told to use a good amount of force for smooth edges.

Once the shape has been cut out, using a leather hole-puncher, holes of differing sizes are made in the sides of the cutout for the cardholder’s opening and holder. Three edges were folded multiple time and held it together by screwing a metal piece to form the pocket of the cardholder.

Oil is applied to the edges with a balm to smoothen the edges and protect it from external damage. At this stage the wallet is more or less done and the final step is to customize indentations.

To make an indentation, a small indentation kit is provided with different characters that can be left on your leather product. To make an indentation, you dap a little water on the area for indentation with water. It is then hammered lightly to prevent it from punching through the product. You are done whenever you are satisfied with your design!

Me testing out the indentation tool on a smaller strip of leather before on my finished product.

Tools:

• Penknife, ruler, and cutting board for cutting out shape of wallet
• Wearable Craftsman Apron for protection
• Hole-puncher
• Oil Balm Applicator
• Hammer and Indentation toolset to leave your desired mark on leather product

Worksite:

The worksite is a small craft workshop with proper benches, chairs, and desk lights for the practitioner to perform their craft with focus. Materials (leather and bits) are stored all around the workshop on hooks/shelves on walls. There was a part of the workshop with a big hydraulic press machine for bigger indents that can’t be done normally.

Personal Insights/Pain Points:

It’s a really cool practice that requires precision and concentration to get the job done. You can express creativity with your work with choice of color and indentation. However, once you mess up, it is almost irreversible — a mistake on a good piece of leather is hard to recover and costly (raw material is expensive). Overall, the craft itself is not as easy as it seems as you require accuracy and precision when cutting and imprinting on leather.