PP Recycling
Took a day off on Monday. Took a trip to TST to get some art inspirations from HKMOA. The last time I was in the area was probably about half a year ago already. Spent the whole day there to see all the art and design stuff I wanted to see. Took my time to make sure I didn’t miss anything as it may very well be my last time in the area before I move back to Canada.
Spent much of my studio time working on the plant pot recycling project this past week. Countless hours was spent before a typhoon hit on Thursday and interrupted the work. I went back to the studio soon after the T8 was dropped the next day. Worked tirelessly the whole day and achieved some satisfactory results. I decided to go back to the studio the next morning and give it a second try. There was a little breakthrough in the process of turning the cleaned and shredded plant pots into 3DP filaments. The resulting 3D printed plant pot was not perfect but it was a big improvement and good enough for me to declare a success in the long-standing PP recycling project!
Very happy to see the proof-of-concept cradle-to-cradle design project I have been dreaming up for years finally bearing fruit. The next stage will be to transform the PP recycling idea into a sustainable business. Will try to do that after I return to Canada!
Picking Up Pace
Picked up my pace in clearing out my apt. Finally moved all the acrylic paintings I’ve done at home to the studio. My colleague and studio visitors seemed to love the cute colorful series that is quite different than my usual brush-and-ink style. Besides paintings, I also organized my clothings and had 3 bags of clothes donated.
I had friends visiting the studio on Wednesday and Thursday. Their visits helped motivate me in cleaning and organizing the studio. Also made considerable progress in the plant pot recycling project I hoped to finish up before moving back to Canada.
Watched the movie Look Back on Friday evening. Drew a cartoon with reference to the movie while staying relevant to the cartooning series I have been working on during my usual Sunday art therapy sessions. Will try to wrap up the story before I move back to Canada in about a month’s time. Add oil Tony!! 💪🏻🙏🏻
Clearing Up Projects…
Had been busy clearing up some projects at the studio this past week. Completed a small IKEA hack, updated the display of my studio’s mascot, and finally shredded some old plant pots for a recycling project I had been hoping to do many years ago!
Haven’t done too much in clearing out my apartment this past week, will need to pick up the pace this coming week.
Besides trying to finish up some studio projects, I had a busy week meeting old and new friends. My calligraphy classmate invited me to lunch on Wednesday, he introduced me to another classmate whom I never met before and was visiting the city after moving to UK for about a year. Afterwards, I went to visit a friend’s workshop in late afternoon to have my plant pots shredded. And Friday was busiest in terms of social activities. Met up a fellowship brother for lunch near home. Went back to the studio afterwards to pick up some stuff before heading out to visit a friend’s friend’s workshop for the first time. Couldn’t afford a longer conversation with the newly met friend’s friend because I was late to meeting up a couple of drinking buddies for dinner.
Still procrastinating, can I finish up all the projects I had been wanting to complete before leaving the city in a month’s time? May God continue to guide my steps. 🙏🏻
Shifting Gear…
Finally finished with the redesign of a temporary clothing rack at home to replace the old collapsing one. This new design actually collapsed a few times during assembling, hopefully it will stand for at least a month or so until I move out of the apt and out of the city.
Also made considerable progress in prototyping a scaled up Sky Tree for the vines to climb in the studio. This will likely be the last of the big projects for the studio while I’m still in the city for the next month or so.
After making considerable progress in cleaning up the studio and the apartment, I’m now more comfortable in telling my family and friends that I’ve tentatively set the date of my return to Canada to late September or early October, after the Mid-Autumn festival.
Still many things to finish up before I can leave the city more peacefully, time to shift to a higher gear, add oil! 💪🏻
End of Olympics
The little over 2 weeks of Olympic Games provided a good distraction from my daily routine of cleaning my home and studio. I seemed to be more engaged in watching the games this time than 3 years ago held in Tokyo amid the pandemic. HK did great with 2 golds and 2 bronzes, best result ever for the little city!
One of my most vivid memories of the Olympics was the one held in Beijing in 2008. I was still doing my master and watching the games from Canada. I don’t remember whether HK won any medal that time, but I was really proud seeing how well China had hosted the game and showing the world their unbelievably rapid development to become the world’s second biggest economy! That was one of the reasons why I decided to return to HK the next year.
Now in 2024, after experiencing the Umbrella Movement in 2014, Anti-Extradition Movement in 2019, 3 years of pandemic, and the hasty legislation of NSL and Article 23 in 2020 and 2024 respectively, I had witnessed the side of Beijing that’s completely different than the one I watched from afar in 2008. I have now lost hope in my birth city that’s ultimately being ruled by Beijing.
With the Olympic distraction over, it’s time to pick up the pace of cleaning up my home and studio and prepare for the return to my “Home and Native Land”. May God guide my steps. 🙏🏻
Studio Visits
Finished the studio cleanup just in time for some studio visits this past week. A brother from church whom I met recently visited on Monday afternoon. After the visit, I treated him afternoon tea and visited his office since it’s only 10 min walk from mine! An old CUHK classmate, who’s now an associate professor at a local university, visited the studio with her student on Thursday evening. Didn’t have too much to show them beyond what they could explore at their university facilities, so the visit was considerably short. I treated them dinner afterwards to thank them for their visit amidst the sweltering heat. In preparation for these and future studio visits, I made some customized souvenirs using my previous calligraphy work of the visitors’ surnames.
Besides the two studio visits, I had dinner with a few fellowship brothers to celebrate one of the guys’ bday on Monday. In retrospect, the week was a bit too social for an introvert like myself.
Tuesday was my studio’s 10th anniversary, I took the opportunity to do some gardening at work.
The Olympic Games had begun during the weekend. I managed to stay up to watch the amazing final of Vivian Kong winning the city’s first fencing gold medal! I joined my university alumni group to play some friendly badminton on Sunday evening. The last time I played was already about a year ago. My muscles are still sore while I’m writing up this post, but it’s good to get a healthy dose of exercise every now and then.
Studio Cleanup
Designed and made a couple of shelving units at the studio using some old Ikea boards, papertubes, and custom 3D printed joints. The extra shelving units added some much needed space for organizing miscellaneous things at the studio.
After a few weeks of dedicated work, the studio is now more or less cleaned up! My next step will be to start moving stuff from home to the studio. My home will need to be cleared out before I move back to Canada. Target to have this done in 2 to 3 weeks time. Add oil!! 💪🏻
