I've moved on...
...to a different domain. Why, what were you thinking? The truth is, I just woke up one day and decided it's time for a change—a metamorphosis, if you will; or, in layman's terms, if Britney can shave her head, then maybe so can I? Nevertheless, it's been a rather handsome 10 years of talking to you, and thank you for putting up with all my moodswings and terrible dad jokes. Fear not! The hormonal imbalance and jokes are more terrible on CUBICLE, see you there.

Hat – Angels Sale, Dress – +J Uniqlo, Tights – Courtesy of Gal Stern ‘Lizard’ of Wild Collection, Crop top – Vintage, Shoes – H&M, Bag – Vintage studded, Watch – Casio, Necklace as bracelet – F21, Nailpolish – Model’s Own ‘Red Alert’

Exactly one month ago today was when I put the order for Canon EOS 550D at Calumet, with hopes of picking it up in a few days. I was starting to wonder, as days and weeks crept by, whether they were trying to assemble the camera with sticky rice, or instead of loading it onto an airplane they’d commissioned a Tokyo taxi driver to courier the cameras to London. Little did I know that the lovely volcano with a keyboard-slam of a name would interrupt delivery flights, and the factories lacked parts to birth my baby. Then the call came last Friday, and today Kit and I went to pick up the camera, oh bliss. This photoshoot marks the first hundred shuttercounts of the hopeful millions to come. Thank you 400D for being my closest sketchbook & pencil since 2007.

Thank you Kit for slaving in the heat, waiting on you to join the new-camera club!

Inspiration: Abaete for Payless

What you’ll need: Victim Shoes (Preferably with thin high heels), Chain-heavy Jewellery pieces to take apart (fringed necklace if possible), 8 Studs with prongs (any size), Scalpel or hobby knife ,Jewellery Pliers, 8 Jumprings (~1/32inch diameter)

Mark the width of the stud onto the shoes and make small slits with a sharp scalpel (or hobby knife) for the prongs to go through.

Hang 2 jumprings on each of the prongs of the stud, insert stud into the slits. Bend the prongs inward to close using a butter knife or a metal ruler.

Add another stud, but this time hanging only one jumpring on the right arm, towards the back of the shoes. Position the stud at the top of the heel arch. Repeat for other side.

Take apart the piece of jewellery with the most chains available – best if the necklace is a chain fringe. If not, pick out a thicker chain for a main hanger, and hang thinner chains so it looks like a fringe. Measure onto shoes, cut and hang onto the jumprings.

Using your jewellery prongs, (usually equipped with cutter) cut the fringes just short of the ground

Optional: Add extra details with leftover chain; Add heavier weight chains on every other slot if wanted.

Those Abaete for Payless pics have been sitting in my DIY inspiration folder for almost a year now, I just never had the guts to risk a lab rat pair of heels for the potential disaster of an operation. Well, in truth I had no clue how to attach the chain onto heels, and the gluegun option only made me think of scenarios like backtracking the streets for that few lost strands of chain… Then Forever21 contacted me requesting a Prom themed DIY, and let me choose a pair of heels to be sent over with some old collection jewellery. Maybe it was the faux-suede heels I found in their store, or the fact that they were free (HOOT), but I went straight to the stab & hang option.

For those wondering what would happen if the chain would drag – would you step on it, fall over and die a slow death…? That won’t happen unless you somehow miss the instruction on cutting the chain just short of the ground. Just please don’t go rock-climbing in them and then sue me for slipping on a chain or two.

It’s slightly too bling for me personally, so I’m thinking of tuning down the chains and getting rid of the additional details, but there’s so many styles you can try. Instead of conical studs, try flat round studs – spray painted with black might make things less hardcore. It’s really up to you.

Thank you F21 for the shoes & jewellery. You can see the DIY in their blog, The Skinny.

Sweater Jacket, Dress, Leggings – Zara, Jacket – Vintage Escada (MilanVintage Etsy), Bracelet & Necklace – F21, Bag – River Island Man, Shoes – Gmarket | Photos by Susan Falkenas

During the year and a teaspoon of blogging I’ve encountered numerous occasions when I’d receive emails reading along the lines of which camera & lens model do you use exactly? and would buying it help my blog’s popularity? Hm now, I’m not out to bash those who were genuinely interested in photography and simply wanted to know the tools; I’m not out to bash anyone really, but something inside me breaks when that question appears from behind the legs like a devil child just waiting to possess a dog. It’s a huge misunderstanding if you think good camera equipment makes a good blog, or even a good photograph; it’s like telling an Olympic athlete that you like his running records, what brand is his running shoes.

I feel that boiling down the quality of a blog to the equipment is also an gross under-appreciation to those who take the photos. Sure, I might abuse them and call them names such as homo podians but they are the ones behind all this outfit-photo magic. I’ve been incredibly blessed to have talented and willing people around me to take outfit photos, albeit some being closer to a tripod than a human (sorry mum), I really can’t thank them enough. As many of you know by now, Ellen has been taking majority of my London photos, you must check out her blog to see the glory of her illustration talent. Thank you Ellen, for slaving away at extra photos on a bad face day, for avoiding angles that make it seem like the streetlamp is growing out of my head, and for forgiving me when I put up 3 photos when we took about 300.

So you see, good blog photos are not what the super camera can manage to capture when aimed, it’s how much you and people around you toil to produce; and what makes a great blog photo is all the fun you have and the relationship you build while producing it.
The exact model and make of my camera & lens is in the Q&A/FAQ page, feel free to purchase the exact same thing.

p.s This outfit shoot was done by Susan, a new crew member. Everyone, meet Susan; Susan, meet everyone. She’s a whole other post.

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Crop Tshirt H&M | Dress All Saints | Bag River Island
Pants Gmarket | Shoes F21

Now that my trusted camerapig has gone off to see her parents for Easter and stuff, there should be a considerable fall in the number of outfit photos. (Have a great holiday Elface <3 Thanks always for the photos) Which of course would be a happy news to those wondering when I’ll get over myself and just post the next damn DIY. Sorry for the disappointment, but I’m too busy getting drunk on nailpolish remover watching One Tree Hill from season one. (Getting more and more annoying by the episode, may I say.)

No, it’s around the corner. (Oui, another corner. I live in a maze, apparantly)

Oh yes, I’ve been getting a number of questions about all kinds of stuff, so starting today I thought I’d just post all the answers in the FAQ page I’ve added on the right.