Monthly Archives: April 2011

X Marked the Spot

It’s been exactly a year and a week since Eye for Detail started back on April 18th, 2010! But this blog wasn’t always named Eye for Detail, for the first few weeks, it went by the name of X Marks the Spot.

I can’t believe how many events happened! Oh the places I’ve been, oh, the people I’ve met. And it’s only been a year… If you asked me, the past year felt like a past decade. So how do I commemorate this (slightly belated) happy birthday to the Eye? 

We make a friendship bracelet, duh. 

And not any friendship bracelet! One that looks like a double-helix.

‘Cuz you know, Eye for Detail has become a part of who I am, my DNA. ;D

Count the safety pins. Did you get 12? Thought you’d might. There are 12 safety pins to represent the 12 monthes since I’ve created Eye for Detail. 

You will need: 

- Seed (small) beads (I used some from a broken bracelet)

-12 Safety Pins

- Pliers

- Needles

- Sewing scissors

- Thread

-  Jewelry clasps

- Embroidery threads (at least 2 colours, maximum 4)

Extra: Bead tray (I used clean quail egg cartons!)

Approximate time: 1 hour

Step 1: Sort your beads in the bead tray.

Step 2: Add beads to all 12 pins.

Step 3: When you are satisfied with the bead colours, close the pins by squeezing the metal shut with pliers. 

Step 4: Measure a string of embroidery thread by wrapping it 7 times around your wrist. Do this with all four strands (you’ll need two different colours on top  and two on the bottom).  

Step 5: Take the two strings you want to use for the upper section of the bracelet (in this case, I chose grey and red). Fold them in half and loop them into the jewelery clasp. Tie a knot.

Step 6: Secure the clasp unto a heavy object for you to weave on. Start weaving using the “4″ rule. Use two strands (in this case, white) to cross over two strands of the other colour (red). This forms a “4″ shape. Pull the top strands (white) underneath the red and over it’s original strands forming a loop around the red. 

Don’t worry if you’ve weaved too much strands, simply pick at the the loop you just wove and the threads will come loose. 

Step 7: Continue doing this by alternating with every other colour. Try to prevent accidentally weaving the same colour twice by checking the colour you just wove if you forgot. Weave about half a centimeter to 1.5 cm of string depending on how thick your wrist is. Add a pin by threading one strand over and one under the pin-hole. 

Step 8: Continue doing this until you’ve finished with the entire upper portion of the bracelet. Keep the threads loose as you’ll tie them with the lower portion in step 10.

You can leave the bracelet like this or use the method to make a necklace or a pendant that has pins fanning out. 

Step 9: Repeat the process with the lower strands. Remember to leave the same amount of space between pins on the upper portion and the lower portion or else the bracelet would turn out crooked. 

Step 10: Weave the two loose upper and lower strands together. Tie a quadruple knot!

Step 11: Trim the end. 

Step 10: Sew the clasp on the upper portion threads with the lower threads.

Et voilà! Tu as fini.

You can stack the bracelets as I’ve done here. Here comes the major hippy-earth-shaman vibes. 


And now the hipster earth shaman is performing an exorcism…

…I can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for Detail! 

African Cats

Today, I attended the Toronto premiere of Disneynature’s newest documentary, African Cats! 

At first, I thought it’d be just a voice-over nature doc, but oh, it was so much more. The director was able to film the cats in a way that was endearing to the audience. The videocam followed two cat families- the River Tribe lions and Sita’s cheetahs (yes, the lead felines had names.) Props to the producers who were able to keep track of which cat was which! African Cats had the right amount of humour, love, suspense, grief and action which led to a very effective presentational. Jordin Sparks even provided the end credit soundtrack, “The World I Knew“.

I can’t let the inspiration of the movie past, alas:

I wanted my look to display the pride and rough beauty of the cats. Mabintou is wearing a:

  • Collar by Vintage
  • Scarf by Lars Wallin
  • Earring by Maria Nilsdotter
  • Dress by Rützou
  • Blouse by H&M
  • Skirt by Zara

Mama cheetah and cubs minus two. Sita lost two of her babies when a rival lion tribe separated her from her cubs before nightfall. The next morning, the audience learns that the cubs fell to the mouths of the hyenas. 

The visuals immersed the viewer in the raw nature of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. 

There were many intense close-up and chase scenes. My heart was beating along with the escalating soundtrack!

I was surprised at how, well, human the cats were. Their remarkable reactions to loss and happiness tugged at the heartstrings. The film illustrated how far a mother would go for her children. It’s beautiful the way nature has got life planned. After watching the film, I felt a bit sad stepping outside and seeing the concrete corners of downtown. Going to Kenya is now on my bucket list!

A special thank you to my friend, Sarah, who invited me to this screening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Images created on Looklet.

Fashion Featurette: Lulu

For the second installment of my Fashion Featurettes, I present to you: Lulu, who’s birthday was a few days ago. Bonne fête à toi! Yet another classmate of mine, Lulu’s clothes are unique and her style is very individual- you can never point to where her clothes are from!

This is one of my favourite outfits from Lulu. She’s rocking the leopard print scarf and her signature edgy- military style is on full display.

Lulu has also been seen rockin’ a pair of two-toned jeans. Blue denim at the front, black at the back with blue back-pockets. You can imagine the class’s surprise when we saw her get up from a chair!

That’s it for this feature, remember- the Eye is always on the lookout for more victims.

All photos are taken by Lucy Yin.

When the time comes

“A person should be buried only half a meter, or two feet, below the surface. Then a tree should be planted there. He should be buried in a coffin that decays so that when you plant a tree on top the tree will take something out of his substance and change it into tree-substance. When you visit the grave you don’t visit a dead man, you visit a living being who was just transformed into a tree. You say, “This is my grandfather, the tree is growing well, fantastic.” You can develop a beautiful forest that will be more beautiful than a normal forest because the trees will have their roots in graves. It will be a park, a place for pleasure, a place to live, even a place to hunt.”

-Friedensreich Hundertwasser http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/94/holy-shit.html

I think I have just found a meaning to life.

I highly recommend you take a look at Adbusters. I really agree with the sentiment of the magazine: “Adbusters is a not-for-profit, reader-supported, 120,000-circulation magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces…

We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society…

Our aim is to topple existing power structures and form a major shift in the way we live in the 21st century.“

Eye for Detail is an echo of these thoughts. Fashion is seldom not seen in a light that portrays it as a useless industry, something only the wealthy can afford and have a care about. But I don’t see it like this. To me, fashion is just another form of art. I don’t think fashion is about the materialism, the constant “I want this, I want that.” Haven’t you noticed how after a long day at the mall, everything starts to look the same? Honestly, it saddens me when I go shopping. When I step into a commercial mall, all I see are the racks beyond racks of clothing produced. Is there enough of us to want to buy all of that? Do we need this? And for what? So everyone can have a copy of the same style? So we can perform as an amorphous blob, a society without individuality? We can adorn ourselves with as much as we want, but it will eventually become poison to our own bodies and to the Earth. At the end of the day, who really cares if someone has the new “it” product? Who’s dreams are filled with comparisons of dresses and shoes? I embrace the fashion that evolves, the fashion that is not a product to be sold, but a feeling to be carried. I don’t support the mass consumption of whats hots or cool. I don’t see the point of buying clothes and throwing them away, and buying a very, very similar piece ten years later. After all, trends recycle. But creativity, innovation and individuality is what keeps it alive.

It just makes one wonder, when is it all going to run out?