Craft Workshop: Upcycled Zipper Pouch Workshop with Up & Away

Photo Credits: Up & Away

We had a fabulous time last month with the very energetic upcycling team - Up & Away. They are a group of four undergraduate students from NTU; passionate about doing their part to spread the message about caring for the environment through upcycling - where trash is turned into treasure.

We conducted an upcycling workshop - sharing how we can turn used food packaging into attractive hand made zipper pouches. The children had lots of fun snipping and stapling away, as they transformed packaging which they usually discard, into their work of creation, with some help from their parents.

Selecting her design

    Some help from Mummy in the scissors department.

Stapling requires full concentration!

Matching tape for her green Milo pouch.

Utterly loving his work of art! 

If you would like to try your hand at making your very own pouch, click on here for the instructions. 

Do check out more about what other great initiatives the team from Up & Away does, by following this link.

Till our next post, upcycle something with your hands! =)

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Come join our Shrink Art Craft Party at Woodlands Regional Library!

It has beed a while since out last post and we guarantee this post is good stuff! We are bursting with excitement to share that we are working with National Library Board (NLB) to craft at their libraries! How wonderful is that?

This series of workshops is part of ARTSEEN  - a community arts and culture node initiative by NLB and the National Arts Council, which seeks to promote vibrant arts learning within libraries, where artists and the community connect and engage in authentic art experiences. 

Come join us at Woodlands Regional Library this Sunday - 4th February. We will be there to work with you on your personalised Shrink Art Bookmarks.

You will need to click on here to get register and obtain your free tickets to the workshop. We will see you this weekend at the cosy Woodlands Regional Library!

Till our next post, craft something with your hands! =)

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Craft Workshop: "Grow Big Ideas" - Story & Shrink Art Fun Craft Session

WahSoSimple brought our all time favourite shrink art craft workshop to the Story Carnival at the Enabling Village last week. Together with the veteran and talented story teller -  Roger Jenkins, we ran "Grow Big Ideas", a story and craft workshop.

Roger, a natural at telling stories, enchanted the children and their parents with a story by Taiwanese author, Jay Yue. He told the audience the inspiring story of Ding Ding, the humble bottle cap. Ding Ding believed in his conviction that he is not a throwaway item. The children learnt from Ding Ding that everyone is unique, regardless of size and shape and they can all do great things if they believe in themselves. 

WahSoSimple introduced the children to shrink art and taught the children on how to work on their own inspirational bag tags. The tags were made with messages to remind them to stay confident and have the grit during sticky situations. The children, together with their parents, worked on their colourful and inspirational tags together. 

Till our next blog post, craft something with your hands! =)

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Craft Workshop: "King Lion" - Story & Stamping Fun Craft Session

We had a fabulous weekend running a craft workshop for the preschoolers at the inaugural Story Carnival, held at the Enabling Village. Teaming up with the talented story tellers from Story Connections Ltd, we came together to run the "King Lion" Story and Craft workshop.

The children were told the beautiful story of the King Lion, who learns how each animal, including the little rabbit, has an unique and important role to play in his jungle army. Together with the help of their parents, they then worked on hand stamping their very own drawstring pouch to put their special treasures safe.

                                                  The little ones with their creations

The children went around the exploring the different animal stamps and the myriad of colours. They got to work excitedly; giggling, chatting and asking inquisitive questions as they created their very own personalised pouches with their mummies and daddies. 

Till our next blog post, craft something with your hands! =)

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Craft Workshop: Shrink Art Fun

WahSoSimple is running 2 Shrink Art Fun workshops in June 2017! Watch your coloured art shrink into fun lapel pins and tags!

Dates:

- 9 June (Fri) from 6pm to 8pm

- 17 June (Sat) from 2.30pm to 4.30pm

Venue: The Art Faculty at the Enabling Village (20, Lengkok Bahru)

Price: S$24 per person or S$30 for a parent & child pair. Both options come with a free drink at The Art Faculty Training Cafe. 

Sign-up: Email hello@wahsosimple.com

Join us!

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Craft Workshop: Upcycling Plastic Food Packaging into Zipper Pouches

Used plastic packaging turned zipper pouch for my charging cables!

We have just learnt a startling fact recently. Plastic is all around us and we really cannot live without it. It is a basic need, just like food, air, water and probably wifi too. In Singapore, we generated a staggering amount of 822,000 tonnes (source: NEA) of plastic waste in 2016. This accounted for 10% of the waste we generated last year. Sadly, only 7% of this plastic waste were recycled. 

We believe that every effort to reduce, reuse and recycle counts. We went to a secondary school this week to share with the students how they can upcycle used plastic food packaging into attractive zipper pouches. There was absolutely no sewing required. The students learnt how to hand make their very own zipper pouches, from the used food packaging that they had salvaged from home. These hand made pouches will be given to their teachers for the upcoming Teachers' Day. This is truly a meaningful hand made work of love for the special someone who inspires, guides, enlightens, motivates them.

If you are interested in organising an upcycling workshop with your friends, family or colleagues, do drop us an email at hello@wahsosimple.com and we will arrange something for you.

Till our next post, make something practical with your hands! =)

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Craft Workshop: Shrink Art Fun with Mindset Charity

WahSoSimple was really happy to be part of something meaningful, at a FUN Day event organised by the Jardine Ambassadors. We conducted a shrink art craft workshop for their clients from MINDSET Care Limited, a registered charity, which has been established to make a difference in the area of mental health. Together with the Jardine Ambassadors, we had a colourful and crafty workshop on a bright Saturday morning, making beautiful shrink art pieces.  The volunteers from Jardine and their clients had an enjoyable time creating their very own lapel pins, keychains, bracelets and necklaces from scratch. 

Till our next post, make something beautiful with your hands! =)

Craft Workshop: Upcycling Used Paper into Personalised Notebooks

In March 2017, WahSoSimple facilitated a series of upcycling craft workshops with Primary 4 students at a primary school in Singapore. The objective of the sessions was to teach our young friends through crafting to appreciate our forests. The grand forests accounts for a third of land area on our planet, but is unfortunately disappearing at an astonishing rate, due to deforestation.

The students were asked to come to school with sheets of one-sided used paper. There were lots of chatter and excitement as they marvelled with disbelief at how they could transform the used paper they had painstakingly collected from rummaging through their recycled bins at home, into personalised notebooks.

We showed and taught them how to make and bind their own book, and personalise it with attractive washi tape.

Our young friends were delighted with their handmade notebook. They also went home with a deeper appreciation of the forest, the source of where paper is made. They all learnt the startling fact that along with losing endangered animals, to deforestation, we are losing forest area  the size of Singapore every 2 days (source: worldwildlife.org).

Till out next blog post, craft something! =)

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Craft Workshop: Making a Mosaic Photo Frame With Seniors

Our February crafting workshops with our silver friends were literally picture perfect! WahSoSimple conducted several sessions making mosaic photo frames with seniors and their student volunteers. The volunteers took time after school to spend their afternoon crafting, having fun and most importantly, making our silver friends feel extra special.

Together, we sat down to personalise their photo frames. We assembled multi coloured mosaic tiles onto the frame and added a few embellishments to give it an extra pop of colour.

We also had tremendous fun with our mobile photo booth. We had fun props and our instant camera. The seniors had a whale of a time dressing up and strutting their poses. We captured so many megawatt smiles and heart melting shots. A senior couple, married for close to 60 years, chose to take their picture together, inspiring us with their devotion for each other.

We had a fabulous time crafting and went home feeling fantastic that we added colour to the lives of our senior friends.

Till out next blog post, craft something! =)

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Craft Workshop: PRESSPLAY 2017 - Shrink Plastic Workshop

We are absolutely thrilled to be part of PRESSPLAY 2017, an annual youth festival organised by Singapore National Library Board, who planned a myriad of arts programmes to the public.

WahSoSimple conducted a shrink plastic workshop at the Bedok Library on 21 January 2017. It was a great session of hands-on fun watching their creations come to life. We drew, coloured and cut each unique creation and popped them into the oven. The shrinked art were then transformed into lapel pins and quirky hanging mobiles. We had as much fun as the participants as we spent the rainy afternoon creating their masterpieces. 

If you would also like to experience the magic of shrink plastic, join us at our second workshop on 11th February at 2.30 pm at the Bukit Merah Library. Do check the PRESSPLAY 2017 facebook page for details.

Till our next blog post, craft something! =)

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Craft Workshop: Upcycling Old T Shirts

Do you know that a simple cotton T shirt requires up to 2,700L of water before it makes its eventful journey from a cotton plant into your wardrobe space? The water it requires provides drinking water to an individual for 900 days!

Learning this astonishing fact gave us a fresh perspective of the humble T shirts we own,  and how we should give it a second lease in life post its prime days in our wardrobe.  It inspired us to craft a pot coaster from old T shirts and we were very happy to run a workshop teaching this craft to a group of school teachers.

WahSoSimple was humbled to have teachers as our students on 14 Jan 2017, as we showed them how they could make their own pot coasters from old T shirts. The session was to inspire them on how they could impart the knowledge of upcycling to their students.

If you are planning to organise an upcycling initiative, why not reach out to us and we will share some workshop ideas which you can consider. Drop us a note at hello@wahsosimple.com to enquire.

Till our next blog post, craft something with your hands! =)

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Event: The UP Market @ Toa Payoh Hub Atrium

Happy New Year!! May all the good things happen to you in 2017! =)

WahSoSimple conducted a hands-on workshop and ran a selling booth at the The UP Market @ Toa Payoh hub atrium area on 18 December 2016. We showed residents how to make an upcycled pot coaster from pre-loved T shirts and how to use washi tape on old envelopes to make bookmarks.

This day marked our second year as a participant in this meaningful event.

Our hands-on Workshop: We brought in many pieces of old t-shirts and showed residents how they can cut the t-shirts into smaller pieces to tie them to a piece of anti-skid rug to make pot holders.

Photo courtesy: Singapore CDC

Our Selling Booth: We show residents how they can use washi tape to upcycle common everyday things to something useful.

Upcycling examples:

• from toilet rolls and used envelopes to gift wrapping
• from a old DVD box to a travelling colouring kit
• from an old cassette box to a holder for your 2017 calendar
• from cereal boxes to Christmas decorations and mini-magazine holder
• from one-sided printed paper to a notebook
• from a used envelope to a bookmark

We sold washi tapes and had a hands-on 'make-a-bookmark' activity. It was fun! =)

Photo courtesy: Singapore CDC

Till our next blog post, craft something! =)

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Craft Workshop: Making Marbled Clay Dishes

On the 26 November 2016, WahSoSimple run a private craft workshop for a group of creative friends. We made marbled clay dishes from oven baked clay and personalised the dishes by stamping on them. Some dishes were stamped with happy messages, or simply 'Merry X'mas' while many had a hint of loved ones (including cats) in them! So sweet! =)

If you are interested in having a craft workshop with your friends / colleagues / family at a birthday party or office, feel free to contact us at hello@wahsosimple.com and we will work out something fun for you. =)

Till the next blog post, craft something! =)

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Craft Workshop: Fun With Shrink Plastic at The Art Faculty

On 26 November 2016, WahSoSimple conducted a public Fun With Shrink Plastic Workshop at The Art Faculty. We shared with participants on how they can use chalk pastels, acrylic paint, colour pencils and permanent markers to create their own shrink plastic pieces. We had fun while watching the plastic shrink to permanent masterpieces.

The workshop space at The Art Faculty is fantastic! Though it is set at the cafe area, it is quiet and spacious. We love the windows which allowed plenty of natural lighting to come through. 

We made emoji and Pokemon shrink plastic masterpieces!

Till our next blog post, craft something! =)

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Craft Workshop: Making Marbled Clay Dishes with Beauty Consultants

In late August 2016, WahSoSimple run a craft workshop with a group of beauty consultants. The craft workshop was held at the end of a 3-day meeting and ended the meeting on a fun and creative high note. We had beautiful marbled clay dishes coming out of the oven!

If you are interested in having a craft workshop with your friends / colleagues / family, feel free to contact us at hello@wahsosimple.com and we will work out something fun for you. =)

Till the next blog post, craft something! =)

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Craft Workshop: Mosaic Art with Seniors

Mosaic is the art of creating images by assembling small coloured pieces of materials. It is an art which calls for immense patience as the creation is put together piece by piece, with precision to ensure that the tiles are properly place. Together with the help of the student volunteers, a group of seniors created their own mosaic art piece - The Gentle Owl, at a customised craft workshop which WahSoSimple had designed. 

The usual chatter in the room were replaced with an air of quiet focus and concentration. The seniors painstakingly combed through the coloured tiles, matching the colours with the template. There were occasional bursts of laughter as they exclaimed for help from the volunteers - with their mosaic pieces unintentionally placed too far apart, resulting in their owls looking like an aftermath from an earthquake. It was good fun piecing the owls together, tile by tile.

The Gentle Owl

Arranging the mosaic pieces a tile at a time

The owl taking its shape in the patient hands of the seniors

Till our next blog, make something with your hands. =)

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Craft Workshop: Making A Merlion Shrink Plastic Keychain with Suede Tassel With Seniors

The iconic Singapore Merlion roared to life at our craft workshop with the seniors. We coloured the Merlion which were drawn on shrink plastic with the rainbow selection of Sharpie markers. Lovely hues of assorted colours on the Merlion were created and the seniors watched in amazement as their creation shrank in size when baked in the oven.

Together with the student volunteers who spent the morning crafting with them, they handmade suede tassels to complement the Merlion keychain. Their completed creation was an authentic made in Singapore keychain!

Matching the colours of the Merlion with their handmade suede tassels

A 100% Made in Singapore Keychain

Till the next blog post, make something with your hands! =)

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Craft Workshop: Painting Tropical Fruits on Fabric Bags with Seniors

Nobody can resist a wedge of red juicy watermelon nor a ripe and golden pineapple, especially with the recent hot and humid weather. We handpainted our favourite fruits into vibrant designs on drawstring fabric bags at our recent customised craft workshop  - specially designed for our student volunteers to bond with the lovely seniors over an afternoon of craft session. 

Stroke by stroke, we created the ripe and juicy fruits together with the seniors with the help of the student volunteers. Painting is indeed an avenue of unique self expression and no two creations were the same; as we gazed around the room at the dozens of painted watermelons and pineapples fabric bags. We found the sight amazing as the bags from the same set of stencils and shades of acrylic paint.

Happily painting and chatting away

The completed creation

Every painted piece we saw was a unique creation

Till our next blog post, make something with your hands! =)

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