Uncategorized – Page 3 – Wearable Studios

October 8, 2018November 11, 2018

Exploring Practitioners 2: Moisturizer & Insect Repellent – Charmaine Goh

During the recess week, I visited a workshop conducted by Theo10 with a few other classmates. The workshop conductor, Theodore, guided us through the process of making moisturizers and insect repellents that can be customized to serve different purposes.

Workplace Documentation:

The workplace for the workshop was generally well organised and was simplified to only include the bare minimum equipment that’s needed to conduct the workshop. However the actual factory or workplace houses a myriad of different machinery and technologies that helps develop
the product in the most efficient and accurate manner which is a key aspect in the process. Taking the insect repellent we made for example, Theodore mentioned that is it crucial that we get the measurement of 10ml of water and 2ml of base (company’s secret ingredient) right, if not the repellent we make will not work.

Key Tools Used:

Pipette
Measuring cylinder
Temperature Measuring Stick
Glass Rod (to mix the mixture)
Heater
Cooking Pot
Pipettes
Essential Oil in glass bottles
Spray Containers
Spoon to scoop mixture

Process Documentation:

Moisturizer – We started off by learning how to make our very own customized moisturizer. The moisturizer base is a white cream, made up of Coconut oil, Jojoba, and Aloe Vera. Theodore heated up the mixture for us to melt the cream before having us add the essential oils
into the mixture, using the glass rod to mix it well. For me I chose a combination of lavender and rose scent, due to personal preference to their smell and its individual benefits.

Insect Repellent – For the insect repellent, the process was a lot more complicated whereby more measuring tools such as the pipettes and water beaker were used. The base for the insect repellent was a concoction developed by Theo10 and we were supposed to add 2 ml of it through the pipette to 10ml of water before adding essential oils to mask the smell. The smell of that base was overpowering, smelling a lot like fish sauce so all of us had difficulties trying to mask the smell with the different essential oils.

Pain Points:
One pain point that Theodore mentioned was that this profession often requires a lot of trial and error in order to develop an actual working product. When he first started out, his insect repellent prototype actually ended up attracting more mosquitoes when he applied it. In general, it was also difficult to carry all the equipments outdoors as there are just too many tools required.

Personally I think as of now its not something that is mobile, but in the near future, it would definitely be beneficial if this profession could be mobile
as the products developed could serve so many different types of purposes such as relieving eczema and cuts, which is perfect for outfields and more!

October 8, 2018November 10, 2018

Exploring Practitioners 1: Lash Lift Beautician – Charmaine

Related to my previous assignment on developing a prototype for a lashlift practitioner, I visited another lashlift colleague of my friend to find out more about the profession.

Workplace Documentation:

Elly, actually works as a home-based beautician, with her work site set up in her own room. Below is an image of her work site.

She arranges hers tools into this black multi-layered tray beside the bed.

Some of the key tools used:

Silicon Pads
Cotton Pads
Lash Glue
Lash Tint
Cotton Bud
Alcohol Swab
Mask
Gloves
Y-tool (to separate lashes)
Sharp tool with hook
Cling Wrap
Scissors
Eye Mask

Sharp tool with hook used to separate lashes

Process Documentation:

I actually got a chance to observe the process at the side while having Elly explain to me the procedures step by step. It was an enriching experience as I got to realize the purpose of the different tools. One of the key pain point for a lash lift beautician is really the large number of tools required which can be messy at times.

Pain Points:

Edge of Silicon Pads are too thick to fit perfectly.
Certain tools such as the Y-tool and sharp hook tool can be combined to maximise efficiency
Worksite area is too small which can be inconvenient at times resulting in tools dropping frequently.
Tool organisation area can be messy at times as there are no specific slots allocated for each different kinds of equipment.
Because of the number of tools required, it is almost impossible to bring the service outdoors on-the-go.
A significant amount of time is also required to set up before each customers comes.

October 7, 2018November 6, 2018

Exploring Practitioners 3: Traditional Chinese Medicine – Stephanie

I went to Richlife Chinese Medical Centre with Charmaine to take a look at how the TCM practitioner does his work. Due to patient privacy and competition reasons, photo documentation of the process was not allowed. He shared that TCM consists of many components – Tui Na, Cupping therapy, Gua sha, Electrotheraphy, and Internal medication.

He shared a little more about the various treatments. Tui Na is a hands-on body treatment that uses Chinese taoist principles in an effort to bring the eight principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) into balance. The practitioner may brush, knead, roll, press, and rub the areas between each of the joints, known as the eight gates, to attempt to open the body’s defensive chi (Wei Qi) and get the energy moving in the meridians and the muscles. Medicated pastes are commonly used during this process to reduce the friction and to make the process less painful.

Cupping therapy is when local suction is created on the skin. The practitioner uses glass cups, a lighter, alcohol and cotton balls during this process. He shared that there are new devices that use air suction to replicate this process but notes that the heat from the flame makes the treatment more effective.

Related image — An online image of how fire cupping is done

Following that, Electrolysis requires an electrical outlet, electrolysis machine, needles, alcohol swabs.

He noted that the younger generation tend to come in when they suffer from external injuries such as sprains and muscle aches. For these external treatments, we need gauze, cotton pads and medicated oil.

Moving on to acupuncture, the general theory of acupuncture is based on the premise that there are patterns of energy flow (Qi) through the body that are essential for health. Disruptions of this flow are believed to be responsible for diseases. Acupuncture corrects imbalances of flow at identifiable points close to the skin. The acupuncture needles have varying sizes from 1 inch to 3 inches. For this process, the acupuncture needles, kidney dish, and alcohol swabs are required.

October 7, 2018November 11, 2018

Exploring Practitioners 3: Watercolour Painting – Muhammad Hazzry

I also went to observe a friend who does watercolour painting in her leisure time! She was nice enough to meet up with me, walked me through the process and let me try some watercolour painting of my own.

Tools Used:

Paintbrush
Sketchbook
Watercolour palette
Washi tape
Glass full of water
Pencils, eraser, markers.

The Process:

She started off by asking me if I have anything in mind that I wanted to paint out, but in the end we decided to use an image from the internet as reference. Some prep work was done first and she used the washi tape to create a square border. This is done so that the parameter of her painting will look neat and “clean”. She then proceeded to show me the actual painting process – always painting towards the same direction at a time.

Soon enough, I tried it out for myself. It’s definitely not as easy as it looks, as my attempts looked far from what I imagined them to look like. What I wanted to do was to paint a triangle that is solid at the base, and its colour fading as it reaches the tip. Didn’t manage to do it well.

Also I was told that I can add more paint to it to make it look more saturated, and add dab water to the painting if I want to make it look less intense – in a way diluting the paint and spreading it out.

In the end, below was what we came up with. No prizes for guessing which ones were painted by me. But if you really dont know, the green triangle was started by me and damage control-led by my friend, the blue spade, pink triangle and blue triangle were done by me. The rest were my friend’s painting.

Pain(t) Points

Water in the container turning murky very quickly, which could affect the colours that appear on the canvas. One solution to this is to use at least two glasses of water – one to wash off paint from the previous stroke, and one to prep the brush for the next stroke/ colour.
Actually bringing out the water container can be quite a hassle on its own.
The paper we painted on wasn’t the best for watercolour. She mentioned that using actual watercolour paper would be best as it would be easier to paint on.

PRO TIP: if you have a frayed paintbrush, don’t throw it away, it can still be used! Dip your brush in hot water, and it will solve itself out. Soon enough, your brush tips will return back to normal 🙂

October 7, 2018November 6, 2018

Exploring Practitioners 3: Art Therapy – Kaitlyn

Creative Practice

Art therapy: Anna is an experienced art therapist who works with the elderly. Her sessions focus on encouraging communication and thinking through art activities, during which the elderly’s sense of selves are enhanced.

Tools & equipment used

• Visual references: art books or printed cards
• Clipboard as painting or collaging surface
• Canvas: any paper
• Medium: colour pencils, crayons, oil pastels, paints, magazines and newspaper cut-outs, stickers
• Paint brushes
• Water bottle and container
• Disposable aprons

Worksite / Set-up

For twice a week, Anna would conduct art therapy sessions at an elderly centre. Other times, she would conduct therapy sessions outdoors, such as in parks or nature reserves. As she would usually need to push her clients on their wheelchairs, Anna carries all her tools and equipment in a back pack or 2 for ease of transportation.

Backpack that carries foldable storage cases of brushes and colour pencils
Backpack holding other materials

She also organises her tools and equipment neatly in foldable cases and in respective zip-lock bags to ensure extra portability.

Finding a quiet and serene area suitable for wheelchairs and a bench for Anna to sit is key for the hour-long sessions. While flat surfaces such as outdoor tables are useful for elderly who are generally mobile, Anna improvised a table for those who are wheelchair-bound using clip-boards.

Process

While participating in actual therapy sessions with the elderly was not possible due to confidentiality, Anna kindly conducted a short session with Jo-Ann, Johann and I at her place in her backyard. I suppose a subtle requirement when selecting the right therapy location is how calming it makes clients feel!

During our short half-hour session, we were given 5-minutes to work on our artwork.

1. Visual references to give us
a head start
2. Choosing desired medium: watercolour
My final artwork!

As mentioned, the goal of art therapy was to promote self-awareness and stimulate the mind, which was why Anna asked us individually about our process of creating what ended up with. (For me my stomach was not feeling well that morning; inspired by that, I decided to paint what would be a bleeding wound that was imagined to be on my abdominal area.)

Pain Points

In the past, Anna had tried to use trolley bags in place of her back packs but found the former to be inconvenient when she had to push a wheelchair. Given the nature of her work which involves a lot of bulky materials and travelling, it is important that a wearable studio for her would be able to withstand weight yet be as light as possible. Other considerations would be how it ought to be easy to clean, since the medium that clients and herself would encounter includes a messy one – paint. A convenient source of water would also be needed for painting sessions.

October 7, 2018November 11, 2018

Exploring Practitioners 2: Making moisturizers – Stephanie

Tools/materials needed:
– Small containers
– Glass rod
– Stainless steel pot
– Essential oils
– Moisturizer base

Theo started off the workshop by explaining to us where the ingredients for his products are sourced from, and some of the benefits of the different essential oils such as anti-oxidizing properties or those that can help you to sleep better!

The process first begins with customizing our moisturizer with a preferred scent using a combination of essential oils like ylang ylang, lavender, mint and rose. No more than 10 drops of essential oil should be used and they we were given a metal circular container to put them in.

Subsequently, Theo scooped a premade mix of jojoba, extra virgin coconut oil, aloe vera and glycerin which is the base for the moisturizer.

The moisturiser base is kept in the steel pot to ensure that it remains warm

Following that, we mixed the essential oils and the base with a glass rod while it was still warm to make sure that the essential oils would be fully blended together with the base before it solidifies.

Lastly, let we let the mixture cool and popped the lid on.

October 7, 2018November 6, 2018

Exploring Practitioners 2: Lei Weaving – Kaitlyn

Creative Practice

Ke-Ting Chen’s work, *Queen of Collectors*

Ke-Ting Chen is a Taiwanese plant pathologist and artist whose residency with Jalan Besar Salon 2018 featured lei weaving artworks that intertwined with selected research documents. Collectively, the series of talks and workshops will showcase his work with the indigenous communities and farm sash where he explored the effects of human intervention on these natural resources.

Tools & equipment used

• Fresh and dried botanicals specimens
• Weaving ropes of variable thickness
• Cutters or scissors
• Mats or trays
• A pair of hands!

Weaving ropes of variable thickness
Cutter
Mats or trays with flowers and leaves

Worksite / Set-up

Chen picked up lei weaving from aboriginal tribes of Taiwan; they would typically weave head or body wreathes in open spaces surrounded by natural environments, such as in indigenous villages and farms. Here in the city, his weaving workshop was conducted within a retail store, where participants would sit on the floor around tables and the experience turned out to be quite and intimate!

Retail store of Emporium of the Modern Man (EoMM)

While handy leaves and flowers were prepared on trays for later use, a corner in his 3-week worksite is dedicated to a larger variety of plant and flower specimens, which were also part of his botanical installations.

Chen’s Kombucha displayed with his collection of local flowers and plants
Research specimens from his botanical detective workshop
Local plants and flowers collected by Chen over 3 weeks

Process

We were taught one of the simpler forms of lei weaving: using braids.

1 mat and 3 weaving ropes per participant
1. Braid the ropes to about 5 – 10cm

Before we started to weave flowers into our ropes, Chen advised us to map out how we wanted our final wreathe to look, on the mats/trays given to us.

I really liked the purple leaves and thought I would add yellow and red flowers as a pop of colour.

2. Visualising how my neck wreathe would look like
2. Visualising how my neck wreathe would look like

Time for weaving!

3. Weaving in dried and fresh leaves and flowers
Made a whole lot of mess 🙁

2 hours and a whole lot of patience later…

Pain Points

It was really difficult to braid dried stems into the sash because they’re very brittle and rigid; I had to replace them multiple times whenever they would break away. Chen later mentioned the trick was to soften them before braiding by spraying some water on them; I wished he would have told me that earlier!

October 5, 2018November 11, 2018

Exploring Practitioners: Veggie Hunt Cristine – Allison Kapps

Learning about how much food is wasted in Singapore and how to conserve and recycle it so that it is still used. Collecting this food as well.

Worksite Documentation

I participated in a volunteer group led by Cristine and other practitioners that approaches shopkeepers and asks them to give vegetables and fruits that they no longer want. This food hunt was done ta Pasir Panjang at late morning, while food producers were preparing the food they were planning on selling for the day. The centre was filled with people, everyone was constantly moving from place to place and the entire building smelled of fish.

Tools

Identification Cards
Trolleys
Large Boxes and bags
Delivery trucks
Closed toed shoes
Cellphones

Process Documentation

The experience began with an information session, where we all explained the dos and don’ts of interacting with vendors and the businesses. There was language that we had to adhere to in order to be more persuasive, and some overall tips to make the experience go by more smoothly. It was explained that often vendors would not sell food products that looked imperfect, either too small or too large or if they were bruised or did not fit specific standards.

We were each assigned to teams that focused on different food groups — some for vegetables and some for fruits. I met my team leader as part of the vegetable group. There was also a communications coordinator that was responsible for letting the rest of the team know about our progress, meeting places, and keep us on time. The entire collection period couldn’t last more than an hour and a half, so someone had to be keeping us on track.

We brought a large trolley and began approaching owners and vendors by asking if they had any food they wanted to give away that they did not plan on selling. Immediately vendors began giving us massive quantities of vegetables that appeared in perfectly eatable besides not looking standard.

Store owners were friendly, especially because many recognized the organization and understood what was needed. Some even helped stack boxes for us despite being very busy planning for the day’s work.

PAIN POINT: We would quickly fill up the capacity of our trolly and have to return to the truck to unload and then return to collect more.

At the end of the collection process, we returned to the area where the loading truck was and debriefed our session. There were so many products collected, all received for free and many in great condition! Our group could now select the products to bring home for ourselves, and the rest would be used to provide for charities or the poor.