Does anyone need some wrist corsages?

My first experience with wrist corsages was a month ago when I helped a distant friend out with making some for her wedding. S.C. thought she could use some of my artsy talents (or so she claims, but I think it was more because I was the only available one on a weekday afternoon!). It's fun actually, but tough, tedious and quite exhausting to put small fresh flowers all round a wristlet. It would be easier to make a chest corsage (for the groom and groomsmen), or a wrist corsage that resembles the pin-on version, just with an extra ribbon attached. I guess we liked the journey less travelled, and wanted the bridesmaids to feel a little special. We did the corsage in a bracelet form, with small flowers all round the first half of the wrist. Tedious, arrghhh tedious... I think I took more than half an hour for 1.



I didn't bring a proper camera then, and one month later, a sudden urge came. I recreated these corsages, with wax (not candle wax, not ear wax either, hehe... it's a cute hardy flower) and limonium, to take proper pictures. Except that, these are not for any particular occasion, and I am really not sure what to do with them. I am kind of kicking myself now. I better be reading this entry 10 years later for a good laugh to make all the work well worth it!



It is very enjoyable though, I am reliving part of my childhood dream of being a florist. If you intend to make some yourself, equip with:

- good sharp scissors
- florist tape
- wire (may not be applicable, it depends on your design)
- ribbons (I used 1/4" thick for the above design)
- flowers and greens of your choice (best to pick hardy ones to withstand the twisting torture, and small ones if you want to make wristlets like mine)
- patience (it probably won't turn out well on the first try)
- ample time! you can't rush it...
- refrigeration (don't leave the wrist corsages to wilt in sweltering heat!)

P.S. Let me know if you are getting married this weekend? I would love to see these worn on a joyous occasion. ^^

Belated Ganache Squares for the birthday girl

It was Jane's birthday on 2nd July and I texted to send her some morning greetings. She had a special request for chocolates or cakes (homemade). I haven't gotten an oven yet (yup, that quite explains why I am making chocolates, I only have all the baking/confectionary equipment except the oven), so most cakes are quite out of question. I decided to make some plain ganache with dusted cocoa powder... in a squarish box, and personalise it with her name. It'll be lovely to have a 4" by 4" ganache square further cut into 1" by 1". Love squares. (no squares for long names like Jennifer or Mirabelle ^^)



Huh... but I couldn't find a pretty box at home so I ended up making one. (excuses excuses to dish out the pen knife!). I spent so much time working out the die cut that when I fell asleep that night, I recalled my whole day was really just about the paper, ruler, pencil and pen knife. Other nights, I am thinking about chocolates, cream, a new mixer, new fabric prints. In this in-between phase of trying to start something on our own (entrepreneurship as they would put it), I sometimes experience bouts of guilt when I consume myself in such indulgences, instead on working on business plans. Maybe I should spend less time blogging too. It's turning into a chocolate blog. Hehe... okie that was a big sidetrack from the present.







For this ganache, I upped the cream proportion. 4 parts cream to 3 parts chocolate. No butter. I wanted something really melt-in-the-mouth. I decided on something simple, no fuss, but the proportions may not turn out too right. Whilst combining, I was very worried; The ganache wasn't like pudding-like, unlike what I had worked on before, it would take a longer time to set. I let it set for close to 24 hours (which is why it's belated) "Something has to be different", I thought, be it uglier, softer, creamier. It's after all, Jane's birthday.

Mmmmmmm...mmmmmm....mmmmmm..... this has got to one of the best chocolates I ever tasted. It's totally melt-in-the-mouth, creamy like... like... cream?? (pardon the lack of vocabulary). Chocolate taste lingers soothingly on the tongue, not overpowering, but still intense. Bittersweet, yes bittersweet... I like it as much as my favorite Royce chocolates! I am very glad Jane and Ed enjoy them, they said it's better than the first (the ugly yummy truffles). Man I was over the moon. I'll keep working on it, testing out different recipes and proportions for the classic ganache.


Yes, she likes the box too. ^^

References:

Die Cut adapted from Structural Packing by Josep M. Garrofe

Psuedo Chocolatier Fridays - Some Ugly Yummy Truffles

Haha... this post is going to be embarrassing... I didn't quite expect truffles to look good anyways, but I think mine turn out uglier than expected. Making them was quite a nightmare actually. I think it has to do with starting at 9 pm in the night and finish washing up past 2 am. Did I also mention my hands were full of chocolate and cocoa powder and I spastically tried to open the fridge with my elbows (pausing in front of the fridge wondering if I should dirty it or twist my arms)? And I had to very anal-ly insist on making very tiny squares so they are really bite-size, so I made about 100 instead of 50 as what the recipe suggests. I have to really kick myself in the ass for that...







They are done though! Definitely not pretty but I think they taste very good. (not my credit really, it's the very good chocolate used) It's really melt-in-the-mouth, smooth, not overwhelming but very intense, bittersweet, but with a sweetish aftertaste, with some crunchy bits of nibs.

To give a very blunt detailed description: (no wonder I never did well for English as a subject)

"These are ganache squares made from Valrhona 70% Guanaja, with President whipping cream (35.1% fat), President unsweetened butter. They are encrusted with a very thin chocolate crust made of Valrhona 55% Equatoriale, sprinkled with some cocoa nibs and dusted with unsweetened cocoa powder. To prevent your hands from getting dirty whilst enjoying them, they are served in tiny black paper holders. Because we eat with eyes too, they have been carefully packaged in a self-made box lined with some Japanese brown paper. (I just have to make some efforts to distract you from the not-so-pretty chocolate treats). Finally, because we all enjoy receiving presents, the box is finished with grosgrain ribbon."

I am dreaming earl grey and rose truffles already.. hee hee...

Because chocolates are best eaten fresh (I REALLY REALLY mean it... I was not a fan of chocolate until I ate some homemade 30-minutes old truffles made from very good dark chocolate), I am going to try give out all these truffles within the next 2 days.

Before they are all gone!!!

I have finally finished making these mini photo frames/albums for friends, about 100 over of them. They are pictures of guests taken at our wedding some months ago. I made them in batches, so I never really had all of them at any one time. Multiple trips to the photoprint shop, more trips to the paper and ribbon shops (mostly due to indecisiveness in colour selection). Then, loads of paper cutting, pasting, and creating little "window", which is a cut-out frame for each guest, and the ribbon tying for the finishing touch. I could have finished them all in a week, but I took a few months! The cut out frames were really arduous, and as much as I dread going back to my pen knife and ruler, occasional motivation steeps in (from what reasons, I am not sure...). I have a habit of working in spurs-of-moments, and stayed up late one night to finishing the remaining 40! Voila...








Before they get passed to friends over lunches and sent off via snail mail, I thought I would capture the last few before they too, get slipped into the envelopes.

Ribbons Galore...

It's wonderful to receive presents, and more so to be presented with a prettily wrapped one. Since Christmas last year and my wedding recently, I have accumulated a vast collection of ribbons and textured papers (as I handmake all the wedding favors/cards etc.). It gives great satisfaction to tie a perfect bow, and I can't seem to get enough of it. After the invitations, I used ribbons for wedding favors, and after I am done with favors, I designed another post-wedding album which uses ribbons too. To make things slightly worse, I have a weakness for double faced ribbons which often cost up to twice as much as single faced ribbons. In lay man terms, double faced ribbons have same texture on both sides. I find them a whole lot more "intergral" and "ribbony". But as a friend has described, she feels this fetish is a mere extension of my sometimes-senseless pursuit of perfectionism. Erm.... I can almost agree with her on that...

But as the months passed, the fascination grew. I didn't buy them what I needed, I bought everything I fancied, and I bought them in bulk from manufacturers and distributors. (some really great stuff are only available from rare collections from hard-to-find distributors, and I can't bear to get just a few yards since I travelled such a distance). It's scary how much there is now. I have a dedicated drawer to ribbons. I probably have enough supplies for gift wrapping for the next 50 years; friends and folks can probably bring their gifts over for the next 50 years too, and I bet I will still have a surplus.

As with all things in a series or collection, it brings great joy to photograph, and a neat challenge for ribbons because I wanted to capture the textures accurately. I started off photographing some for auctioning on ebay. Then it became more of a hobby. I waited for early mornings and late afternoons, which seem to work well for me (gives very good daylighting) given my resources (my apartment cum studio/camera etc.). Here are some pictures.