Stay-home guide for Wednesday: Attend a virtual craft workshop, shop vintage furniture and more
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PHOTOS: WAHSOSIMPLE, 1B2G, SAGA PRESS, WONG AH YOKE
1. Make rubber stamps
Home-grown craft company WahSoSimple conducts virtual workshops where people can create their own art pieces.
WahSoSimple was founded in 2014 by friends Au Mui Hong and Koh Lee Sin, who love making unique creations by hand.
So far, they have created more than 9,000 physical and virtual craft experiences for small as well as corporate group sessions. Their small group sessions are usually for 10 or fewer participants.
"This is to allow participants to interact and be guided by the instructor in a more hands-on setting to cater to different levels of ability," says Ms Koh. The next workshop is on carving rubber stamps, which is ideal for beginners.
Info: The Rubber Carving Workshop will be held via Zoom on Sept 26, 2 to 3.30pm, at $50 a participant, inclusive of a craft kit couriered to participants' homes. Register at this website or e-mail hello@wahsosimple.com
2. Shop vintage furniture
Mid-century modern furniture from Danish masters such as Hans Wegner and Finn Juhl have been collectibles since these pieces were first made around the mid-1900s.
The pared-down aesthetic and clean lines of the era's statement chairs, showcase cabinets and lighting continue to inspire designers, craft lovers and homemakers today.
Find a piece for your home at 1B2G's online shop, which features a curated selection of vintage items by Danish designers such as Juhl and Wegner. Prices start at $250 for a stackable stool from Danish furniture maker Paustian to $150,000 for a Juhl table.
Info: Go to 1B2G's website and check out the latest additions on Instagram
3. Explore The Green Rail Corridor
The Nature Society (Singapore) (NSS) has just reprinted its best-selling book, The Green Rail Corridor, a biodiversity and ecological review of the longest green corridor in Singapore.
It is written by Dr Ho Hua Chew, vice-chair of the NSS conservation committee, and senior members Anuj Jain of the society's butterfly and insect group and Alan OwYong of the bird group.
The 139-page book is packed with glossy photographs, an aerial view of the parkland, maps and a survey and monitoring record of the fauna, such as the Common Palm Civet Cat and the Straw-headed Bulbul that call the green corridor home.
The NSS also shares ideas on how to maintain and enhance the ecological connectivity of the corridor, which is a part of Singapore's cultural heritage.
So far, 800 copies of the book have been printed in 2019 and earlier this year. It is available at Books Kinokuniya at $29.96.
Info: For more NSS publications and resources, go to NSS' website
4. Tar Pau Nation: Praise the braise at Heng Long Teochew Porridge
I had been wanting to try the food from Heng Long Teochew Porridge since I came across it on the foodpanda website recently.
It delivers islandwide and its menu, comprising mainly braised meats with a few claypot dishes, looks very enticing. Also, this is the kind of food that you know will travel very well.
The problem, however, was that the shop - which has several outlets, but delivers to my address from its MacPherson Road branch - did not have slots every day. A couple of times, I found I could order food for only two days later.
5. Shelf Care: Immerse yourself in the rich fantasy world of Earthsea
Ursula K. Le Guin writes with such beguiling lucidity that her fantasy worlds feel fully formed, weathered and whole the second a reader consumes a word, a line, a page.
The opening of her novel A Wizard Of Earthsea (1968) immediately paints a landscape and a social hierarchy in two sentences: "The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards. From the towns in its high valleys and the ports on its dark narrow bays many a Gontishman has gone forth to serve the Lords of the Archipelago in their cities as wizard or mage, or, looking for adventure, to wander working magic from isle to isle of all Earthsea."
The idea of an illustrated edition of the beloved Earthsea stories thus holds perils for both fans with high expectations and the artist who has to meet these demands. Charles Vess' dreamy smudged charcoal sketches and lovingly detailed colour illustrations are, thankfully, sweetly imagined complements to Le Guin's elegant prose.