Hub got us this new Tahitea earlier this week and we tried it one evening while we were in front of our computers. It’s a nice combo of noni leaf tea, green tea and jasmine flowers.

Something else new (to me) was the Fuso tea bag.

My friend tells me that this nylon-mesh pyramid isn’t that new as it was already developed in Japan by its maker in the 1980s.

This form of tea bagging is meant for better infusion.

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Mirror-like blackness

Besides “Bean art“, another unique craft at the fair was black ceramics.

The Chinese black ceramic (中国黑陶) dates back to about 5000 B.C. and the Chinese invented this art form 3000 years before china.

Here’s a really quick look at why this handmade blackness is like no other:

• A very important material is the mud, which can only be found at the lower reaches of the Yellow River in China.
• The gloss black surface is neither glazed nor painted but obtained through a special burning technique which carbonizes the mud mold while burning in the kiln. Afterwhich the handmade mud mold must be left to dry for 2 days before a craftsman uses selected sea shells to press onto the mold inch by inch for 4 times in order to achieve a smooth and shiny appearance.
• Under different lightings and from different angles, the metallic luster will reflect light to show off hues of purple, grey or blue. It produces a pleasant sound with a light knock on the ceramic.
• It contains activated charcoal which is known to absorb odor and purify the air from toxins such as formaldehyde, benzene, ammonia, chlorine, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide.

There’s another thing, it’s not easy to mirror this form of black so the inferior pieces in the market today are blacken using…(make a guess?)…paint!

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Meet the Chinese food artist, 崔淑敏, the creator of 崔岩豆画 (bean art).

Her adzuki bean drawings undergo a cleaning and preservation process to rid bacteria and to keep the beans from rotting. In China, her bean art received a patent and won several awards, including one from a handicraft design contest.

I missed her when she was in town for the “Unique Chinese Artifacts and Crafts” fair held in a mall, as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. But at least I got to enjoy her work through this brochure.

Last Friday, the need for a distraction (from work) came in the afternoon and so I talked myself into giving bloomize a makeover.

I had designed fake comb binding patterns as a layout for one of my websites in the past but this time I decided to use a real flip-calendar, my camera and some editing at Paint Shop to produce this.

The spiral wire on a real writing pad weakens the bonds esp when you tend to over-flip (I know I will, so that’s why I rarely use it) but with wire pixels, the bonds are permanent. :-)

Jordan

It was just a short stopover (not part of the itinerary) for us to buy fruits* at the Cozmo supermarket in Amman, and my travel mates couldn’t believe that I found the time to pick up this sunflower. And neither did I! I remember it was a speedy grab. And I did buy fruits too!

* Our hotel served excellent food but just no fruits! But well that was 2 years ago…

Japan

I entered a small+crammed toy shop along Shinsekai in Osaka and dugged up this cute softie.

Paid 330 yen for a dusty old-and-forgotten pack of sheepy sponge. Such a shop I like!

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