Hello everyone. 🙂

MATERIAL SOURCING:

On this day, I set out on an adventure to Chinatown to source for my materials. Was told that Chinatown will be a good place to hunt for old, vintage shops that cater to my needs for rattan. After hours of walking and googling, turns out, there was no one shop in the vicinity that sells what I was looking for. 🙁 I looked up on google and finally, after several calls made to different rattan selling shops, I FINALLY FOUND ONE THAT SUPPLIES THE TYPE OF RATTAN I NEED.

So lo and behold, this was the shop that saved my *** –

All the way at Geylang Bahru!

Really loved the whole aesthetic of the shop – Super old and rare, almost hard to find these days in our modern landscape. The shop owner was really nice, he knew I was here for my art project and he urged me to capture as many photos to my heart’s desire. And so I roamed around, taking my own sweet time to take my pick among all the available rattans!

Spent hours before I finally took my pick – One that is soft enough to manipulate, and one that fits the design aesthetic of my bag prototype. This is how it looks like:

THE CANE RATTAN

Was told to soak this bunch in the water before the making of my rattan bag as it will help to soften the material. So here we go!

WORK IN PROGRESS

I have to clog up the sink to stop the water from running 🙁 The evenly spaced out hole on the bag resembles a fishing net – which will be in sync with the needs of my target audience. (Will be revealed later in the post)

“SOWING”

And so, the weaving begins! One fast and effective way I learnt on how to secure the ends of the cane will be by twisting them around the loops and inserting them into another overlapped cane. This will prevent the cane from coming loose, really saves me a lot of time without having the need to use hot glue guns which can be time-consuming.

THE “FISH SCALE” INSPIRED SPIN

It was such a chore to twist and bend the rattan while having to keep it submerged in the water most of the time (to prevent it from becoming too stiff to alter). Overall, it was fun experimenting the type of shape I want on the bag.

 

My inspiration derives from something interesting I saw on Pinterest:

 

I realised how repeated patterns can form a really interesting visual, hence, I decided to employ this design and see where it goes!

Finally settled on the placement of the circle elements! Does it look a lot like fish scales?

 FINAL PROTOTYPE: JUMANJI-READY

Carry this and it will ensure that all beasts, no matter the size, will surrender at your toes. This, is the magic of the bag, for it has been blessed only by the best.

And the structure of it reflects beautiful patterns on the wall! It can serve as a lamp if you’d like, it can light up your way even during the darkest of night. Beyond just that, it makes a great statement piece too.

Also, I have personally sent a parcel over to the Jumanji Crew, and its safe to say she loved it!! I am guessing you will see it in Jumanji 3? We’ll see!

Here’s a picture Ruby Roundhouse sent:

Alright, this is all. Thank you for reading and joining me on my very ordinary adventure in this rattan bag making process. I hope you like it as much as I do!

This is, in fact, my very first bag making attempt, especially dealing with materials as raw and unique as rattan. I wanted to deviate away from cloth and set the challenge a notch higher, so I thought a rattan makes the cut since it is harder to manipulate with its stiff and brittle nature.

Ciaos!