New Year Update!

Happy New Year everyone!


New year, new update...yes, I know that to most people the new year started on January 1st, but that's so the Year of the Bunny. Plus, many people have probably forgotten, or ditched, the resolutions they made on the Gregorian 1st by now anyway, so this is as good a time as any to take stock.


Besides, I'm a girl, so my sense of direction is instinctively based on cuddly animals (go past the bunny, to get to the dragon, etc) rather than boring numbers (after 2011, comes 2012 - I flunked my first maths test aged 8, unfortunately). And, yes, I do know some cuddly dragons out there.

See? 

More to the point, it's been a pretty eventful week/end. I'd submitted an interview to UK Handmade earlier in the week that's now published on their wonder web. I find it's really helped me take stock of what I've achieved until now and make my next plans of action. So, if you want to know what my resolutions are for the Year of the Dragon, do lend that interview your 龙眼, or any other 眼! I'm not fussy. Hehe.

龙眼 ('Dragons' eyes' in Chinese), or mata kuching ('cats' eyes' in Malay) are these tasty little fruit. Named for these yummy little sclera found between their scaly brown shells and shiny black pupils. Guess there aren't many dragons in Southeast Asia though
(Credit: Pic filched from a fellow blogger)

Here's a quick update on what I've been up to (and been too slow to report on the first New Year's Day, I think I did an okay job of covering that up though, don't you? > u - Well, until now that is...)


Christmas brought me a a bit of a windfall in terms of an unprecedented demand for my Bboys, so I've come up with a new and improved version of Bboy Hollowback. He comes with his own non-slip lino and has a handgrip so strong that it's positively magnetic. This bboy never crashes his freeze!

Rock steady

Hong 10 freeze. Whooo! *jump up and down maniacally*

My work buddy had also been helping me plug my work by showing it off to friends and family. Many of you probably know that I usually make stencils and spraypaint my own packaging. Ranjit had also seen a top I painted for myself.

Rockin' that Banksy-style style at the Breakfest jam, and at work some days

Anyway, the result was a request for this T-shirt, based on my packaging design.


From my bezzie, for his cousin's prezzie! Hopefully, more of these will be trotting out of Sock 'N' Soul HQ, but I need to not spend hours cutting out each stencil from cereal boxes. There has to be a better way...

Frontside view

Backside view

While I was getting creative with stencilling, I also came up with a new packaging design for my commissions.

'Cos you get all of me when you request a commission rather than picking something up from one of my standard ranges, like Darn Stuff, or Sock 'N' Soul, or Sock 'N' Pole, or Sock 'N' Shoal...okay, I'll stop now, promise! haha...

I used those for a commission made for artist Hamish Blakely - a Christmas present from his wife. Blog report to come, but you'll see pictures of in the UK Handmade interview, and, if you haven't already, WHYYYY??? Go look now! Uh, pleeeease?


While I'm on the topic of personal goals and bboying, I just have to show you this! It's my incredibly hardworking, creative and original training buddies battling each other at King of the Bboys on Saturday, left side won, but right side got through to next battle. Go figure about judges' decisions, but anyway, I'm proud of them all.

My personal goal with breaking is to practice the moves I don't like as much as the ones I do; at least 10 times per session. I've already made huge improvements in my flares, swipes and blowup freezes using this approach. Enter the dragon! RARRRRR!


Maybe I'll upload a video of my progress sometime. Mayyybe. By the way, here's a date for your diary, Andy's organising an event which is scheduled for 28th April in The Studio at the Herbert Gallery, Coventry. So train hard, enter the battles and stand to win awesome prizes like Sock 'N' Soul Bboys and a Bboy Dynamick original.

One final thing. As of Friday, I'd been appointed online marketer at jobs.ac.uk and start today. It's going to give me a chance to learn more about social media and boost the ol' income while I take my time getting to know you, my faithful friends. And it gives me a chance to use my creativity, and academic background, and get paid to hang out on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn! Cool beans.


So that goal I talked about in my interview has come to fruition *happy face* 


This dragon is one good-lookin' year...