Glitter Paste Demo 30 Sept 2017

The weekend's weather was rather unpredictable. It started off bright and sunny, perfect for a special kind of T-shirt painting demonstration using glittery texture paste as a touch up and highlight media. There were lots of families, very fit senior citizens and schoolchildren and many came to watch and ask questions during the demonstration.

The first was touching up a painted panel of Costus ginger flower that had been painted o to a black T-shirt. The impressionistic painting technique used to produce the flowers was perfect for touching up with glittery texture lines in gold while glitter pink was used on the flowers. It was a very eye-catching effect. 

The second piece involved a T-shirt that had been printed with Porterweed leaves to produce a flowing diagonal design not unlike a wisteria in effect. A more subtle effect was achieved by avoiding strong lines and using smudged opalescent pink glitter to highlight just the insides of the pink leaves and some of the green leaves.

All our painted or printed T-shirts and bags can be washed without the paint or glitter coming off once they are completely dry, as we use good quality dyes and glitter texture paste.

Unfortunately, before a third demonstration could be done, the rain came and there was a frantic rush to get everything back into the shop before the T-shirts got wet. The usual troop of macaque monkeys was missing though, and a small family of langurs took the stage (or the top of the big dustbin) and happily posed for all the tourists taking their pictures.

Don't forget we have classes for T-shirt painting and printing, glass painting and other art and craft projects for children and adults at Outreach. You'll be surprised what your child can produce! So drop by our office to find out more!

   

Coffee Talk 23 Sept 2017

This morning's Members' Activity was all about coffee and it was a gathering of coffee connoisseurs for an informative talk all about coffee came to be a popular drink, how coffee came to Malaya via the Italians and then later, the British, and the trials and tribulations of the early coffee planters.

As always, it was less of a formal talk than a social gathering of members and a few non-members with coffee being served (what else would have been more appropriate?) to go with red velvet cake and biscuits. 

The turn out was quite good in spite of the threat of more rain and everyone had a good time discovering that our local coffee is 'robusta' rather than 'arabica' as well as comparing the individual merits of the two main types of coffee beans. 

Malaysia Day Demonstration

Doing this morning's t-shirt painting and printing demonstration was an interesting experience as the heavy rains yesterday had caused the river behind our Outreach office to swell and flood to an unprecedented height (see picture).  The herons and monitor lizards were nowhere to be seen yesterday but they had a grand feast this morning when the receding waters left many fish stranded in shallow little pools of water near the banks. The trees, the Botanika Shop veranda and the Gardens were all wet and even though it wasn't raining at 9.30am, the trees were still dripping water droplets. The Garden staff members were also busily scrubbing the veranda of washed-in mud and leaves.

On top of that, there was also a new audience to watch the demonstration. These watchers did not, however, come round the table to watch. There were five of them up on the shop's porch rood, another perched on the shop sign (a BIG one! between us) and three more in the trees behind the desk.

In the past, some of these macaques had stolen not only our t-shirt paints but also our brushes right in the middle of a demonstration so it was a bit nerve-wracking knowing that one of them might decide to find out whether the new paint tubes would make a nice snack.

Thankfully, the furry friends decided to stay where they were and except for once, when they got irritated by the lack of attention. The monkeys put on their own demonstration in the branches right above our painting station and sent a drizzle of water droplets right down on to the t-shirt being printed. 

It was a good thing the colouring material was waterproof! But the monkey show did allow the demonstration of our use of quality permanent dyes and paints for our Society's various t-shirts so it was a good morning's fun for everyone who came to watch.

  

Black T-shirt Printing & Painting

This morning's demonstration at the Botanika gift shop in the Penang Botanic Gardens was all about painting and printing on black t-shirts, a difficult proposition for most people. There was a shifting crowd of seniors, young parents, families and lots of children coming and going as they watched the demonstration. It was interesting that most of the questions came from children who were fascinated by the printing process.

At Outreach, the Friends of the Penang Botanic Gardens Society office, we conduct art and craft classes for children and adults every Saturday from 1.30pm to 4.30pm. Interested parents can book a family session for -

* T-shirt printing (black/coloured or white) 

* T-shirt painting (white T-shirts only)

* Glass painting

* Chinese-style impressionistic watercolour painting

* Macrame

*Simple beading to make bracelets and necklaces

For more information regarding bookings and charges, please call or email our Outreach office on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

Art & Craft Demonstrations At Garden Shop

With the school holidays at the end of August and three consecutive long weekends this September, we've been doing bag and T-shirt painting demonstrations at the Botanika Garden Shop on weekends and public holidays. 

Simple printing techniques on black T-shirts is scheduled for this coming Saturday, the 2nd of September 2017, so don't hesitate to drop by and discover how you can also print your own. 

Next weekend, the 16th of September 2017, we will be demonstrating glass painting.

For those children and adults interested in personal lessons at our office at Outreach office opposite the Moon Gate at the Botanical Gardens, lessons can be arranged every Saturday between 1pm to 4pm. Each lesson last 1 hour and participants will be taught on how to print or paint on their own T-shirts, jeans or canvas bags. Check out the links below to find out more!

Saturday Art Classes

Printing WIth Leaves

We also have nature walks available for group bookings, so don't forget to check out this link below, too.

Children's group Activities

For more information, don't hesitate to call our Outreach office.

NEW at our Garden Shop!

Starting this Sunday August 20th, we have new friends at our Botanika Garden Shop veranda!

Introducing one of the hottest Group Fitness activities suitable for all fitness levels at Penang Botanical Garden. Conducted by EzYoung • Friends in Fitness, you can

• Improve Fitness
• Lose Weight
• Gain Muscle
• Suitable for all fitness level

Together, you will see results faster and accomplish more ambitious fitness goals. 

EZYoung will also be conducting health workout sessions weekly for everyone!

Don't forget to drop by this Sunday to check out our new friends' great workout activities. If you'd like to sign up early, you can contact Mr. Alex Tan at 012-4787622.

Plant Exchange/Banana Talk 15 July 2017

Our July members' activity was another resounding success with more members and quite a few walk-in non-members turning up for the plant exchange and Part Two of Dr. Liew's talk about bananas and their hidden secrets.

It was a lively session with people asking all kinds of questions about bananas, especially when they discovered the hidden history of banana cultivation in Malaysia. This session focused mainly on the sweet dessert and cooking bananas.

The participants were fascinated to discover just how close to being completely wiped out the local plantations were over the years and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when our good doctor ended the tale with the wonderful efforts to save the commercial banana crops over the years.

We had a number of banana trees for those who wanted to try their hand at growing their own supply of the fruit, apart from the banana trees already planted at Outreach. Most of our bananas are quite young so we didn't have any fruiting trees to show, but it was still a great time showing newcomers around our herbs and flowers at the back.

Many also asked about their plants' health and our various Outreach programmes for kids and adults. If you're not yet a member but interested to join us for our members' activities, don't forget to get in touch with us by email so that we can add you to our mailing list!