Bottle Craft 23.12.17

This month's members' Activity being so close to Christmas, we decided to do something in keeping with the spirit of the season and had a small workshop on how to turn old bottles and jam jars into pretty desk caddies. 

Our activity began at 9.30 as usual, but because of the inclement weather there was only a small turn out for the event. Everyone had fun, however, discovering the most easily available materials to re-cycle with their old bottles.

From old jam jars to scraps of old curtain fabric and bits of left-over parcel string, the members were shown how to cover the jars and bottles with string or old non-slip matting to create a suitable surface for painting or gluing things.

The bottles and jars were decorated with old curtain fabric scraps that had been cut into leaf and petal shapes and bits of old tinsel or string ends.

Something New for 2018!

With the new year just around the corner, we're always trying out new products for our Garden Shop and one of our latest ideas is hand-painted aprons! We're also looking into regular-sized tea towels as well as smaller ones and table napkins which can be framed and hung up just like regular hand-printed pictures or paintings.

Here's a look at one of the aprons we tried painting! 

We also have the following types of art and craft classes for kids and adults  at our Outreach Office every Saturday from 1pm to 4pm -

Printing With Fresh Leaves (on fabric products)

Simple Freeform Chinese Painting (on fabric products)

If you're interested, give us a call or email us for an appointment.

ESOL Nature Walk

We had a group of lovely Years 2, 3 and 4 kids come over on Wednesday for a Garden Walk. The Walk was conducted by our Treasurer, Mr Tajul Arosh Baroky, who took the kids via the bamboo garden route from our Outreach office. 

Arriving promptly at 9.30am, the kids assembled in our office garden and quickly went off on their walk in single file. The focus of their morning's adventure was learning about the ecology of the trees and plants in the Gardens as well as the creatures that live in them. 

Walking under the bamboo was an interesting experience for the kids, expecially when they found out bamboo was a kind of grass and not a tree.

 

Unfortunately, the back route to the Gardens was closed for maintenance work so the route had to be changed to include a meander through the formal garden before heading up towards the lily pond. There were few monkeys to be seen while walking along the road but once the kids reached the pond, there were monkeys waiting to entertain them! 

Hard to say who entertained whom, actually, as the curious monkeys seemed equally fascinated by the children.

It was just a short 90-minute walk as the kids were too young to attempt a longer excursion but the kids learned a lot about things like how even cutting down a single tree affects all the creatures that live in it, from the ants and insects under and around the roots to those that make their homes up in its topmost branches. 

We're really looking forward to seeing the ESOL boys and girls again next holiday as they asked intelligent questions about the things they were shown in the field.

Budding Artist 30.11.17

Guess who drew this little masterpiece? You'll never believe who painted this! Scroll down to read about this morning's 1-hour art lesson and find out the identity of our latest artist!

This week's post is a couple of days early as the regular Saturday demonstration at the Garden Shop might have to be called off due to the rainy weather. However, we were lucky enough to have a really talented budding artist drop by at our Outreach office today. 

Our regular volunteer member, Ms Ch'ng Saw See, brought her grandniece Natalie Goh around for a holiday art lesson this morning. Natalie is a sweet little girl who picked up the first basic stroke of our easy-to-learn free-style Chinese brush painting technique very quickly and after just fifteen minutes of practice on paper, she was ready to go on to paint her own T-shirt.

With a little help, Natalie who's on holiday in Penang, was taught the beginnings of composition and how to place her brush strokes in various positions to form a painting. Using just the simplest dab-and-lift brush stroke, Natalie put in the flowers and buds before we changed her brush and colour for the leaves. Once the basic composition was done, all our in-house artist had to do was add the tiny brown stems and little leaves (using the same dab-and-lift technique) to complete the picture for her. No other touching up was required. 

Just in case anyone's wondering, Natalie is only 4-years-old!

If you are interested in learning how to paint in the Chinese free-form style or your children would like to learn, we have regular art classes for children and adults at our Outreach office opposite the Moon Gate every Saturday from 1pm to 4pm. To make painting fun and easy to learn for everyone, we have a simple curriculum teaching just 4 basic types of the most commonly used strokes for painting flowers, fish and birds.

We have T-shirt printing classes for kids and adults, using local leaves and flowers, too. We also teach a combination of printing and painting for a really fun and interesting way of decorating T-shirts, bags and other useful things.

For more information about our art and craft lessons and programmes, don't hesitate to call our Outreach office.

Straits International School 10.11.17

Two classes of Year 5 students from Straits International School paid us a visit yesterday. They were here with their teachers for a Seed Safari and Seed Collage activity. The boys and girls were very well-behaved and smart, too. Many of them asked intelligent questions and offered well-reasoned answers when asked questions about plants, seeds and flowers.

The Straits International students arrived promptly in their big bus at 9.30 and were quickly organised into their respective classes for attendance checking. As they were a big group, half the boys and girls went off on their Seed Safari with our president, Dr. Liew Kon WUi, and our Treasurer, Mr. Tajul Arosh Baroky. They collected specimens of flowers, leaves and seeds to use on their collages when they returned to our Oureach office at the end of the Safari.

It was a warm morning in spite of our recent rainy weather, so the kids took their water bottles with them. Their Safari included the Formal Garden at the Penang Botanic Gardens and they came back with colourful specimens which they had picked off the ground there.

The second group stayed back to work on their collages first, with the other volunteer members of the Society. They were given palettes f seeds, cut citronella leaves and flowers to paste into their collages. They spent a happy hour working on their masterpieces before being taken for a quick tour of our Outreach office back garden where they had the opportunity to observe various kinds of herbs, beans and medicinal flowers growing.

Here's a look at some of the pieces done by the students at our Outreach office during their outing at the Botanical gardens. 

We have many children and adults' programmes at Outreach, from various kinds of walks and excursions to painting and art & craft activities. Don't forget to get in touch with us if you'd like to know more!

Bag Painting 4 Nov 2017

We've been invited to demonstrate simple T-shirt painting and printing at the KDU WHY RACE event at M Mall on Saturday 18th November 2017 from 9am onwards. We'll be selling our hand-printed and painted bags and T-shirts at the event, too, so don't forget to come and watch.

Our members have been busy printing and painting extra bags and T-shirts for the event and we're all looking forward to interacting with the members of the public who have never seen these activities before,

One of the things we always try to do is to include the local, English and scientific names of the plants we paint or print in a simple Western form of calligraphy. 

We also have regular T-shirt and bag printing and painting at our Outreach office every Saturday from 1pm to 4 pm. If you're interested, give us a call or email us for an appointment.

Finishing with Glamour Oct 28 2017

Sometimes T-shirts need a little bit of touch up to make the colours or the design stand out and look more striking so the last demonstration was on touching up some T-shirts that needed a bit of pop. That's when contour fabric paste is most useful. You can get them in many colours, including both metallic as well as glitter combinations.

The grey T-shirt on the right presented an interesting challenge as the lady who ordered it was quite specific about not wanting colours that were too strong. The problem was that delicate pastels look very faded against a dove grey background. So the solution was to use black contour paste to outline everything and make the colours stand out against it.

The T-shirt on the left had a strong red and green design but it needed a bit of glamour to make it more versatile for both casual as well as party wear, so it was slashed with silver glitter contour paste to look like falling rain. The silver contour paste was slightly smeared in long streaks to give softer contours to the glittery paste.

If you'd like to learn more about fabric painting or printing and other art and craft projects, don't forget we have classes for kids and adults every Saturday from 1pm to 4pm.

Deepavali Demo 18 October 2017

Wishing all our Hindu members and friends a bright and colourfully joyous Deepavali!

This morning's demonstration at the Botanical Gardens was on how to use local leaves to print a specific design. As it was Deepavali, a peacock design was chosen for the occasion. Porterweed leaves (Stachytarpheta indica Jamaicensis) and stems were used to make up the peacock's body and tail.

It was a busy morning at the Gardens, with many families taking advantage of the sunny weather to enjoy a family outing and there were many children watching the demonstration. Perhaps due to the large crowds around the Botanika Shop, the usual furry friends were nowhere to be seen so the demonstration went off peacefully and without  any funny incidents.

The largest leaf was used to print the peacock's body first before the stems were printed in a radiating fan shape on which smaller leaves could be arranged to make up the tail feathers. A mainly blue and green colour scheme was chosen for the design. When all the shapes had been printed, gold and silver glitter was added to highlight the peacock's body, eyes, crest and tail feathers. 

If you're interested to learn more about printing with leaves or would like your children to learn a simple but valuable craft which they can use to decorate their own T-shirts at home, don't forget that we have classes for printing and painting at our Outreach office from 1pm to 4.30pm every Saturday.

Texture Paint Demo 14 Oct 2017

Today's demonstration was a distinctly different one from past ones as the medium used for drawing and painting was not applied with a brush but directly from the bottle, using the built-in squeeze-tube nozzle. It's not for the faint of heart as there is almost no room for error. The texture paint will bond with the fabric almost immediately and any attempt to rub or brush it off will only smear the thick paste all over your white T-shirt. Have a look at the step by step photos here.

The Cosmos or Red Tower Ginger was the subject and the demonstration began with drawing in the outlines of the flower with black paste. It's much easier if yo stretch the T-shirt properly on a hard piece of cardboard before you begin drawing.

And you must have a clear idea of what you want to draw before you apply the paste because you can't make a correction easily. An easier way to do it is to sketch your subject on to the T-shirt with a pencil first.

You can also use coloured texture paste or glittery texture paste to draw but on a white T-shirt, black provides a more effective contrast. When the paste is dry, it will stand out against the fabric. It won't be flat like paint. You can even paint inside the outlines with ordinary fabric paint.

Once the outline is finished, you should wait for the texture paste to dry completely first before applying any other coloured paste within it. That normally takes at least two days in rainy weather but you can apply other colours on other parts of the T-shirt before that. If you have a steady hand, you can also write with the fabric paste.

For the purposes of the demonstration, the glittery gold was added as a highlight and to balance the design. Just one word of caution, try to draw or paint where you won't be distracted. Especially by monkeys. Since this morning's demonstration was done in the Botanic Gardens, I ended up with glittery gold dust all over my own clothes when a monkey jumped out of the tree behind me and landed on the ground right next to my chair!

You can add more glittery colours. I've added red glitter to complement the gold and black here, but it's best to limit yourself to just one or two. Too many glittery colours will make your T-shirt look like a Chinese opera costume! And on top of that, you'll have little space to paint in the ordinary fabric paint because the texture paste will flatten out and spread slightly as it dries.

We have lessons on Texture Paste T-shirt Painting, as well as other forms of fabric decoration on T-shirts and bags at the Friends of the Penang Botanic Gardens Society Outreach office so don't hesitate to drop by and have a look!

Delicate Flowers Demo 7 Oct 2017

The demonstration for the Garden Shop this morning was a more delicate combination of line work and single-stroke painting done on a ladies' black T-shirt. 

The weather was good but for some odd reason, there was hardly a single furry friend around. There were lots of people, however. It was really nice to see young parents taking their toddlers out for a morning walk at the Gardens. There were lots of senior citizens, too. Although the audience this morning was mostly local people, there were also some Middle Eastern and Indian tourists who stopped by to watch. 

The T-shirt chosen for the demonstration was not a 100% cotton one but a lighter, looser and thinner mixture of polyester and cotton. This combination works best with the special paints we use for coloured or black fabrics since it isn't easily absorbed into the material. The colours wouldn't be visible if that happened.

The photograph on the right shows the close-up of the T-shirt painted this morning. The combination of slightly more watery paint and thicker, bolder colour gives a more delicate look to the final painting, almost like lace from a distance. It will probably be touched up with a bit of glitter paste, to bring out more details and to highlight various parts of the design.

We have classes for children and for adults at Outreach, so don't hesitate to call or drop by to learn more about our various art and handicraft classes!

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!