W80xD80xH120mm, Vietnam
A box that smells like Xmas, apple pie, chai, the buttery toast in Hampstead, tagine, the warm sweet desert in the coldest night …
Now i am going to make myself a midnight snack …
Archives for category: wood
L160xW90xH60mm, Indonesia
Great imagination to take a piece of wood rose and made it into a broody hen!
The wood rose is an unique material, it is actually the gall developed by the tree who has been parasites by mistletoe. Mistletoe, apart from the kissing part, is actually a parasite which cost great damages to trees that they host on. The wood rose is the masses of woody tissue the tree tried to defend itself from the mistletoe and the mistletoe on the other hand leaves mushroom like malformation on the wood.
W40xD50xH100mm, China
This puppet head is that of a glove puppet, it is of the character Qing Hua Junior of the Jing (painted face) catergory. Qing Hua Junior can portrait characters of a villain or a hero with an explosive attitude.
The making of the puppet starts from selection of Zhang wood (Cinnamomum Camphora), apart from the nature of the wood its also has a function of being a wood pesticide, the required size would be taken out and together with the trimming to the rough form all done by use of a hammer. The details are then carved out, once the carving is completed a thin layer of white slip is applied as a filler to smooth out the knots of the wood. The base colour is then sprayed by a mouth piece and the features hand painted. If there are hair to the puppet, it would be added at the final stage.
W100xL230xD40mm, China
On your birthday if someone made you a cake in the shape of a turtle, you will probably thought they taking a piss at you. However, the “red turtle cake” is a special birthday sweet for the Chao Zhou, Fujian, Taiwan area, the sweets are made to be given to friends and family at the celebration of birthdays, for the new born or birthday of the land god. The red colour is a symbol of happiness and the turtle a symbol of longevity.
If you cannot wait till birthday to try it out, they are also use a celebratory food for Chinese New Year.
DIA80mm, Hong Kong
Apart from elaborated neckwear, we also have casual items, Here is a handmade casual leather bracelet.
DIA90xH60mm, China
Mu Yu is a form of Chinese percussion musical instrument, it comes in different sizes from DIA 40- 850mm producing different sound at each size. The smallest size is only for the used in the Buddhism recitation. The name Mu Yu (wooden fish) is believed to be a reminder for the monks, as the fish is awake and alert in the day and at night, Buddhism should be practiced just the same.
Here is what it sounds like with chanting:
And here is a Maywa Denki version:
W250xD250xH500mm, China
This is a figurine of the Kui Xing, unlike the one posted earlier, this figurine has a more popular composition; its left leg is kicking backward in the air. This composition is inspired by the word 魁 (the Chinese word for “Kui”). Can you see the resemblance?
魁, on the left is the word 鬼 (ghost) and the left 斗 (dou – traditional Chinese unit for volume, where 1 dan = 10 dou). The word 鬼 (ghost) reflect the appearance of Kui Xing, a talented scholar who was born with a face so slightly that he looked like a ghost . The word 斗 (dou), goes back to phrase 才高八斗 which is a praise for someone’s intellect, if the intellect in the world is measured to be 1 dan, someone who has 8 dou of the world intellect who be a genius. Dou therefore became a measurement of intellect as well as for wine.
DIA230xH230mm, China
This is one of the container for dowry for the Chinese in the old days, a container to be filled with melon seeds. Melon seeds is a popular snack for the Chinese especially for festive celebration like the Chinese New Year, apart from its nutrient and availability, more importantly its symbol for fertility.
Traditional melon seeds are kept in their shell and nibble open, unfortunately I cannot find a human demonstration, here is one by the squirrel.
See our other dowry containers; Wooden Pail, lacquer Box, Water Bucket, Double Happiness Jar, Embroidery Pouch.
W100xD70xH180mm, Macau
The courageous looking figurine, riding on a tiger on the right and stepping on a dragon on the left is in fact an ancestral saint of the fisherman of Hong Kong. For the Chinese both the dragon and tiger are creature of power, being able to control them would give extraordinary strength. These ancestral saint are kept and worshiped on the junk boat by the Tanka tribe for keeping safe their journey at sea.
See our other junk boat gods; Tanka Wooden Effigy, Junk Boat God (god?), Junk Boat God, Crane Riding Mother Saint
W230xD230xH270mm, China
This is an octagon tea cosy, it was used as an insulator for the ceramic and metal teapot which gets cold easily. The small opening is for the spout of the teapot while the top two is for the lock of the lid which unfortunately is missing.
Here is another tea cozy made with bamboo.
Mountain Folkcraft 