PPS. V&A instructions

If you happen to find yourself in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London at any point between now and April 2013, why don't you go and visit my "Cross Dress"? 

...Oh yes, because it's impossible to find.

BUT WAIT! 

NO MORE!

HERE'S A STEP BY STEP GUIDE ON HOW TO FIND MY DRESS:

H'ochkay. So. If you're going in the main entrance, go in and go straight. Not completely straight, or you'll walk straight into the reception desk and people will look at you. Go around the reception desk, and through the entrance to the gift shop opposite. Go straight through the gift shop (or stop and buy stuff, but that's a bit weird if you've just got there), and into the sculpture corridor on the other side. Turn left and walk to the end of the sculpture corridor. 

You will see this:

 To the left is the Exhibiton Road entrance, and to the right is the entrance to the tunnel and the Sackler Centre, where the Inspired By... Collection is on display.

T

The exit to the tunnel will be straight ahead, and the doors to the Sackler Centre on the right:

See? Go through them.

You will find yourself in a long, mysterious corridor. It smells of toilets. Probably because there are toilets to your right. You may stop for a bathroom break here.

Carry on through the corridor and you will get to the end that looks like this:

When you enter the Pea Soup Centre, some of the exhibition will be immediately to your right:

After you've had a look, carry on and turn right before the Neon Vomit desk:

Travel in an upwardly motion, utilising the companionway ahead of you:

Here's what it will look like when you're using the stairs:

Here you are at the top of the stairs. Turn right and you'll be able to see the little sign for Room 220 where the rest of the exhibition is being shown:

 Turn right and you will be able to see ... the dress. Dunh dunh DUNH!

So, no excuses! I have written the Idiot's Guide to finding the 2012 and, indeed, the final "Inspired By..." collection, and if you don't see it, you're an idiot.

HAPPY TRAILS!

xxx

Summer Summary

Here is a late summary of the project I was doing over this past summer:

I started off very well, as you might have seen from my first blog post - drawing out designs, creating them, etc. etc. Pretty quickly, though, I became very very behind schedule.

On one particular Saturday, I was so eager to get to the beach, I bashed out 3 hats in a couple of hours. .....Predictably, they were shit.

Like this one.

Close to the end of my estimated schedule, I was 10 hats behind - a whole week! I spent the 7th week, making all the 60's and the 70's, trying desperately hard to catch up and be on time. The next Monday, I made two more, still on schedule at 82... then on Tuesday I found out that the whole thing wasn't happening anymore. 

AAAAARRRGGHH.

Admittedly, I knew from the beginning that it wasn't set in stone. In fact, it was a very offhand comment made by somebody almost a year ago; there was a very large possibility that they wouldn't take the hats, even if I made them. However, they scrapped the entire thing this year, so it wasn't a case of they saw the hats I'd produced, thought they were hideous and went with someone else.

How do I feel about it? Well at the time I was bummed, feeling like I'd wasted my summer... Thinking about it though, I hurried through some of them, and am kind of relieved they won't see the light of day. Besides, it was fun to have to make something in bulk and have a schedule to keep to! 

Also, a few of them are on sale at the Hatwoman pop-up shop at the Hong Kong horse racing in Shatin, four of which have already gone! Hooray!

The whole 84 of them... somehow made 2 more than I thought... are available to see here on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.306553822775973.63858.193675597397130&type=1

For the ones that aren't being sold by Hatwoman, they are either going to be dismantled and used for parts (the ones I made that Saturday, for instance), or to be sold separately, if I can pull it off!

Am now studying for a Higher Diploma in Millinery at the Kensington and Chelsea College (previously the HNC... still the same course, but due to government funding the college have changed the title so the students don't have to pay through the nose - sweeeet). More on that later.

If you're keen on buying any of the remaining ones, let me know by contacting me on Facebook or Twitter!
Here, have another photo!

Well, THAT was predictable.

I said it, and so I jinxed myself.

I am now behind again. Or still behind, and yesterday I was just overly optimistic/an idiot.

But, I did swear by Odin's Beard that there would be photos, so here are some:

Here are the ones that are completely completed, headbands, combs, labels and all:

(The middle row are Saturns and Saucers)

Here are the ones that I still have to label, etc:

(The pointy bases are drops, the round are domes)

Heading to the last horse races of the season now, followed by Ladies Night (girls drink for freeeeeeeeeeeee). Buut since I'm not ahead of my schedule now, I still have to come into work tomorrow and DO STUFF. AARGH. Toss it.

Tuesday 10th July, people!

Do you know what today is?

Today is not only my beautiful barrister brother's birthday (also the birthday of my lovely little cousin Lian), it HAPPENS to be the day I am back. On. Schedule!

Or, dare I say it, ahead of schedule?

...

No, I don't dare. I would definitely be jinxing myself.

Anyway, I've decorated quite a few hats today, which means I can spend tomorrow concentrating on attaching headbands, combs and labels to the Saturns and Saucers, and headbands and labels to the Domes and Drops. Don't know what I'm talking about? That's okay, I shall have photos up tomorrow.

BY THE BEARD OF ODIN, I SHALL HAVE PHOTOS UP TOMORROW!

Happy Handover!*

Today is the 11th day of my challenge, and for the second Monday in a row I have completely forgotten it's a public holiday:

June 23               Tuen Ng Festival (Saturday)

July 1                  Hong Kong SAR Establishment Day (Sunday)

July 2*                 The day following Hong Kong SAR Establishment Day (Monday)

*Happy Day Following Hong Kong SAR Establishment Day!

15 years yesterday!

Fireworks - happy.

Public holiday - happy.

Political protesters marching the streets - not so happy.

Shops closed meaning I cannot buy supplies like I had planned - annoyed and grumpy.

Anyway, I've *mostly* done 20 hats, so I'm roughly on target, yay! Here's a couple of previews.

The new ones... my office is starting to get a bit crowded...

This one is my baby... I am so tempted to keep her!

Quite proud of this idea... Pheasant feather wrapped around the edge of a saucer. Going to add a burgundy flower to the headband when I attach it.

Tomorrow I plan on buying buttloads of headbands and combs and attaching them to the hats that need them. Then I'll have a little photoshoot and upload them so I can pack away the finished hats and start on the next lot!

My Great British Menu

This might seem completely random and off-topic, but then, so am I.


I am currently engrossed in Great British Menu, and being a genetically-disposed foodie, I decided to imagine my own menu. If I suddenly start sneezing pound sterling, and wake up magically knowing all the techniques involved, I might attempt to cook a course or two.


Starter: 3 sweetbread ravioli (medallion-shaped, obvs) with rocket and apple-cider-vinegar-marinated seaweed, plum jelly cubes, morel/sweetbread juice and morel smoke (a la Roca brothers). Small, shallow, rectangular perspex/glass dishes with matching lids. Think a cross between a Ferrero Rocher box and a standard plate cover. 

        


Ish.




Fish: Great British Ceviche! Fresh raw Coley, cockles and crayfish marinated in lemon juice and set in a tarragon jelly (like jambon persille), cut into slices and served with sage/chili crispbread and some grated red onion and daikon. Served on a ceramic round plate made to look like yer average white paper plate.

(Daikon is a white Japanese radish that looks like this:

but one usually sees it like this:

or, if you're a Miyazaki fan like me, given life to as the Turnip Spirit from Spirited Away:

Main: Wild garlic-smoked wild boar medallions with wild boar head cheese/brawn and bone marrow croquettes, parsnip mousse, grilled baby turnips and gailan with blackberry gravy and mead vinaigrette. Served on a very shallow black slate podium, with the medallions in the gold spot, brawn in the silver and bone marrow in the bronze. Veggies scattered and smeared around the base and sauces in two thin glass vials standing on either side, with flame-shaped stoppers.

Gailan -

Dessert: Rose and water-chestnut (jelly) cake with rose jam and mini banana spring rolls with sea salt caramel sorbet. Plus little sugar-coated rose petals of course. Rose popping candy? I LOVE ROSE FLAVOUURRRRR. Served On a flat, black, laquered, square plate to show off the pinks and caramels.



Whew. Now I have that off my chest, time to watch the next episode!