One of my greatest accomplishments this past week was finishing the design and printing of DEXTER 2.0 up to scale 5x. Had been running the 3D printers night and day, both at home and at studio, for a couple of weeks. There was a moment of satisfaction that I hadn’t experienced for a long time after I rearranged the printed DEXTERS into an interesting art installation. The final print for scale 10x is still in progress, need to wait for new filaments to be delivered first.
For my calligraphy work, I had finally collected all the characters for the Hundred Surnames (百家姓) in clerical script. Have started writing out the characters in seal script at home this afternoon already. Time is very tight to complete all the writings I had planned to do before moving back to Canada in the summer. Add oil! 💪🏻
Continued my endless work of cleaning and organizing the studio this past week. Helped my studio’s ex-neighbour to 3D print some props for an exhibition he’ll be helping out in May. I also decided to upgrade the studio’s mascot – DEXTER. In the process, I tried to reverse engineer and 3D print LEGO bricks. While I experimented with scaling up the 3D printed bricks, I found out that doubling the size of LEGO bricks made it compatible with the Duplo system, what an epiphany!
Reason why I’m upgrading DEXTER and experimenting with LEGO bricks is to design and develop an organization system of boxes and furnitures that can help facilitate my organization work. Corrugated cardboard boxes are essential in packing and organizing, but they come in all shapes and sizes and there doesn’t seem to be any standard to follow. While trying to design a more systematic approach of organizing stuff in the studio, I got sidetracked by the story of the many city scavengers who had been helping collect recyclables including cardboard boxes that everyone easily throws out. Made an effort to visit an exhibition about them after church today. The many scavengers, mostly elders and women, tirelessly collect the recyclables day in and day out in return for minimal pay (maybe below a dollar for 5kg of cardboard boxes). To me, they are truly the unsung eco heroes of our city! May God reward them for their hard work. 🙏🏻
The studio’s laser cutter stopped functioning a few weeks back. It just so happens that a couple of artist friends came seeking help for their recent projects that involves laser cutting/engraving. After a few days of troubleshooting the laser with no avail, I decided to buy a cheaper and lower power laser to help my friends with their projects in the meantime.
The new unenclosed laser engraver required a large table surface, making room for it triggered an avalanche of cleanup work in the studio. It took more than a week of work and, after the cleanup, it’s now much closer to a functioning design studio that I had initially dreamed up to be! The cleaned up space will hopefully facilitate the projects I planned to complete in Q2 before moving back to Canada in the summer.
Another highlight this past week was picking up my first ever Guangcai artwork from a recent short-term course. The result looked great and I now have another masterpiece to be displayed in the studio! 😬
Many things seem to be ending in March before the start of a new fiscal year. I asked a friend out for lunch on Monday at my primary school friend’s fancy Japanese restaurant in TST because it will be closing in coming weeks. While being outside away from my usual locality, I decided to venture out after lunch to visit an independent bookstore that will be closing end of month. I’m not into buying books per se, but I have a bit of a fetish of visiting small businesses before they close down. Every small businesses in my mind were born from the dreams and ambitions of their owners, and it’s sad to see the hopes vanish regardless of the circumstances.
I myself also decided to close down one of my two companies in HK. Didn’t really have time to spare for website design work ever since I started the studio, I probably should have closed down the web design business much earlier. I still enjoy the occasional opportunity of working on my own websites, maybe that’s best to be left as a hobby.
The city as I know it seems to be coming to an end also with the Article 23 hastily becoming law on March 23rd. Record number of local citizens decided to leave the city to take a little breather during this Easter long weekend. I stayed and joined my church’s Good Friday service for the first time in many years. Easter signifies death as well as resurrection. The end of a journey marks the beginning of another. Never lose hope, I hope.
I started working on a new piece of work for my calligraphy journey after finishing the regular script of the Hundred Surnames last week. This is the second of six pieces of calligraphy work I hope to finish before moving back to Canada this summer. Add oil and may God bless this endeavor! 💪🏻🙏🏻
After isolating myself for one full week to focus on some calligraphy work, I had myself a very enjoyable weekend of meetups. It was kickstarted by a hotpot gathering at a paper artisan friend’s workshop on Friday night. I had the opportunity to meet many eco-conscious friends. On Saturday night, I met up with some UW classmates as one of them was visiting town for March Break. And for today (Sunday), I met up with some primary school classmates for afternoon tea.
These meetups are not easy to come by as it’s very difficult to find a common time that everyone can squeeze out from their busy schedule. The last time that these gatherings took place were all more than a year ago. 3 separate (annual) gatherings concentrated into one weekend, what are the odds?! I took the rare opportunities to announce to friends that I had made the decision recently to move back to Canada in the summer.
I’m genuinely happy to see everyone healthy and well, especially under the gloomy atmosphere that is increasingly suffocating the city’s inhabitants. Hope everyone can keep smiling, amid the difficult circumstances, until we meet and chat again next time!
Other than sleep, I think I had spent more time in calligraphy than any other activities this past week. There were a few nights that I indulged in calligraphy past 3am! Managed to write out all the characters for the Hundred Surnames (百家姓). Next step will be to derive artworks, products, and teaching materials from them.
There was no social activities to count of this past week other than an afternoon tea with a fellowship brother on Thursday.
Finished the third class of my short-term Guangcai course. Really enjoyed the occasional art classes that can provide me a few hours of distraction away from regular work. Looking forward to finishing the artwork at the last class this coming week.
Joined an inexpensive one-off workshop yesterday morning to DIY a mini “neon light” display. It was my first time to play with the extremely bright and flexible “LED” component, a very interesting light source!
After a week of isolation to focus on my calligraphy work, I will try to pick up some social activities to meet up friends again this coming week.
