My Mother's Sewing Machine & The Meaning of "Mahjong Paper"

This is going to be a post about Mahjong Paper...



...but where the story actually begins is last weekend, when my mother handed down her old sewing machine to me!



This was the sewing machine that my mother had used to sew everything well before I was born, and on which she had honed her amazing sewing skills to this point where she pretty much can make anything to an extremely precise, professional level. She also makes new strange mashups of things all the time. (Once, I came back home and found that she had sewn my old baybeats shirt into a crescent shaped pillow? And she made me a proper quilt from all the School CCA t-shirts I had worn in the past!) Factory-made clothing and sewn goods have got nothing on my mom's skillz! My Mom's expectations of proper standards of workmanship is so critical and precise that clothing from most 'fast fashion' shops feel like cheap bits of cloth carelessly tacked together in comparison to her workmanship.

My father said it cost a small fortune back in the day. This was years before I was even born, and my parents were very much younger, barely out of school and my father had only just begun working at that point in time so purchasing such an advanced machine at the time took years of instalment payments. But of course it proved to be a great investment towards my mother's incredible skills in sewing. If you know me in real life you will know that just about all the clothing that you see me wearing on an everyday basis was actually sewn by my mother. And all of it looks better and works better than store-bought fast fashion! She puts in huge pockets and even replicates the cuttings which I love the best.


A few of the dresses she made for me


Most people are familiar with other brand names but according to the mother she had done a lot of research on the machines at the time and determined this to be the machine she really wanted. Looking it up it seems that Riccar was at one time the largest sewing machine brand in Japan and peaked in the 70s around the world, but went bankrupt in 1994 so the name is not heard so often today. Now this machine from the 70s is a VINTAGE machine.



The entire body and all the parts are made of solid metal and it looks like a machine that could last for a lifetime if carefully maintained and oiled every year - unlike the plastic feel of many cheap sewing machines today.



I did a bit of sewing practice with my mother's newer machine (she got a newer one with more button hole stitch functions and fancy stitches) and back at home with the Riccar I also did some sewing practice - but I soon realised I was very far off the mark and I'd need to put in a lot more practice to sew something of professional quality...



But the thing I really wanted to write about is actually this. The mahjong paper.

It has occured to me that readers from outside of Singapore may have never heard this term "mahjong paper" which I had taken for granted was used universally to refer to a large white sheet of paper for art and craft purposes, or for wrapping books to protect their covers when you go to school.

My mother bought a lot of this white paper in rolls so she could cut out patterns for the dresses and clothing she would sew.

I asked my mother if she could give me a few sheets from her extensive collection of papers - but at the same time I wanted to know what size it was.

The Ding Mother: "Its the size of the mahjong table."

DID YOU KNOW THAT MAHJONG PAPER IS THE SIZE OF A MAHJONG TABLE?

The Ding Mother: "The aunty who sold me this must have thought I'm a real big gambler buying them in rolls of 50. Little does she know I am just making clothing..."

A Totally Unrepresentative Poll of the First 10 People I Could Randomly Message on Whatsapp immediately showed that 9/10 Singaporeans I asked did not know that mahjong paper is produced, marketed, and sold named as such because of the superior tile sliding properties that the 'mahjong paper' affords the mahjong tiles!



I think I've carelessly referred to any large white sheet of paper as "mahjong paper" my entire life without knowing why "mahjong" was tacked onto the front of the word "paper" and I suspect this probably applies for many Singaporeans - that the term "mahjong paper" has come to mean "generic white paper" without any knowledge of its connection to mahjong. The 'mahjong paper' is bandied around in schools as it is cheaply used in so many art and craft purposes - and weirdly enough it is used without explaining the origin of its name.



If you google for "Mahjong Paper", you will see that all of the hits are from Singapore or Malaysian websites.
Google Trends states that a majority of searches for the phrase "Mahjong Paper" are from Singapore. (Quite a few of them must be from me)

The phrase "mahjong paper" does not appear in Google ngram searches, meaning that the term "mahjong paper" is not used in any books in the Google Books corpus.

And for all the all important question: What size is mahjong paper?

- Mahjong tables are always square, and around 81/82/86cm (playing surface).
- Most of the mahjong paper is around that size: 86cm x 86cm.

Saigon Skydeck: Closeup from Afar

No visit to a new country for me is complete without an attempt to visit a Very High Viewpoint! Last weekend (was it only last week?) when I went to Ho Chi Minh City I went to the Saigon Skydeck where unlike many Very High Points use of the high power BINOCULARS ARE FREEE! (More on the binoculars in a bit...)



Ah! Look at these gentle carefree holidaymakers sitting outside this touristic viewpoint spot. This picture at the foot of the tower makes it look like going to this tower would be like going to visit other skydecks around the world where you're next to shopping malls and starbucks and all the other regular, humdrum accoutrements of modern life - but don't be fooled! This was nothing like the other skydecks I had visited in recent times (the walkie talkie in london, or melbourne skydeck88, or singapore's 1-altitude). Most skydecks are located in the CBD of the city, and most CBDs are full of futuristic skyscrapers which look the same whether you are in Singapore or in Europe. Ho Chi Minh is no different, but then THE ROADS; THE ROADS, THEY ARE DIFFERENT.

I'm not sure whether I am pleased to find that it wasn't like just walking through a generic urban CBD to the Skydeck. Is it good for everyday tasks like crossing the roads to feel like massive challenges? I guess this is Life for a lot of people. For me (as a visitor to Ho Chi Minh on a very short first time visit), the walk to Bitexco Financial Tower involved lots of defensive jazz-hands at the nonstop onslaught of motorbikes and a couple of near-death experiences (because if you horn at me my instinct is to stop or even walk backwards - very confusing to drivers and very bad form in Ho Chi Minh I know). And that makes going to the roof a bit different; to be gleefully plucked away from the mess and terror of the roads.









One great thing about the Saigon Skydeck is that the binoculars are FREE! I spent a very long time playing with it. Here are some of the shots taken through the viewpoint of the binoculars:



Here you can see how all the houses in Saigon are stacked on top of one another, all higgledy-piggledy. I'm not sure if there is an explanation for this but this viewpoint gives me the impression that a lot of development here is all random piecemeal bits stuck together at different times.



I saw two men standing in the middle of a deserted construction site. One of them crouched on the ground for a long time and I watched him eventually stand up but he did not do anything. Two men who don't know I've been staring intently at them with a giant telescope from the top of Saigon Skydeck. I must have watched them for over 5 minutes but they just didn't walk around or do anything. They were probably talking but I don't have a sonic telescope.



Distant ribbon barriers on an incomplete high rise building, fluttering in the wind...



Floating pontoons and machinery slowly moving in the distance...



Nonstop traffic in the middle of busy intersection... imagining whether the people below know that someone is spying closely on them from far away...


I'll end here with a picture of Nguyen Hue from above...

Space Geodes at Ota Fine Arts Singapore (4 August 2018 - 15 September 2018)

The show at Ota Fine Arts is all set up, with many thanks to Jodi for inviting me to show the work. I've shown this work two times but this is the first time I had the option of REAL PLINTHS. I previously used all acrylic casings as plinths. At the time it was a practical decision as I was using whatever unwanted 'plinth'-like items I could find and The Substation was getting rid of these old casings - but also it was a consistent material to the rest of the work. Plastic upon more plastic!

[PS you can read more of my writing about the work here as well:]
Space Geodes: On the 3D Printed prototype as Digital Fossil
Space Geodes at Singaplural 2016
Public Service Notice about Geodes


Left: Space Geodes at Singaplural 2016. Right: Space Geodes at Objectifs in 2017.



Space Geodes at Ota Fine Arts in 2018
Given free choice over the colour that I would want the plinth to be, I'd always choose Grey as a neutral base over White or Black. We chuckled over the names given to the colours and I have to admit I was almost tempted to choose a colour simply because it was named "GRANITE ROCK" or "SLATE GRAY". (Ultimately if the names given to the colours by savvy paint companies were totally ignored, the choice would have been very clear to me anyway; it was always going to be a specific warm mid-range sort of grey for which I don't have a name but can always pick out of a lineup)



I did give the arrangement more thought this time around. Recently I've been enjoying laser cutting a lot because I now have access to a lasercutter in the NYP Makerspace which is literally a 5 minute walk from where I am staying at the moment (and its under-utilised!) so as a simple experiment I tried to make an acrylic base/riser which would also light the work from beneath.





The only reason I haven't gone with this lighting option is the fact that there is a little colour discrepancy in the "white" when it is lit. My lights and acrylics are too "laser white", whereas the work glows with a warm white. Weirdly enough, some of the works looked more yellow when lit, as if they differed in thickness, which I couldn't understand to be the case since they were designed as hollow shells of the same thickness for the SLS process (to save on material cost)



The answer as to why there was a discrepancy in thickness and lighting became clearer later. As I was arranging the works yesterday, POWDER STARTED COMING OUT OF SOME OF THE WORKS. The powder had been thicker in some portions so that was why the lighting was not consistent. Having shown the works two times before, I was surprised that powder was draining out now when I'd have expected any excess powder to come out of the work in the previous round. Perhaps it was all the transportation and vigorous moving about that dislodged the excess powder hiding inside the print, for the white nylon powder began issuing forth from the escape holes I had designed for the works.

Perhaps on previous viewings we had treated the works so very softly and cautiously as if we were handling live explosives - but this time around I put them in a basket for rocks and slung them over my shoulder as I carried them to the gallery.



For those unfamiliar with the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process, it is an additive manufacturing process in which the laser sinters the powder into a solid material, but because the material itself is quite costly, designers often design the part as a hollow part with some escape holes so the excess powder can be shaken out. I would have thought that all the powder from before had been shaken out by now!

Its a bit funny as come to think of it the white powder flowing out visually resembles a weathering process in which the rocks break down into smaller particles. Earlier in the day I was also just building a prototype for a new work in which one can see material flowing in a similar way. When something breaks down into particles that small, the dust is literally blown into the wind. There's no "trying to collect it in a cup and sticking it back together". Its just gone, blown away, it ceases to be an identifiable part of the thing it was once part of.



Prototype for a new work
The private view for the group show is tonight - please come down to see if it you're in town!



The exhibition will be on view from August 4 through September 15, 2018 at Ota Fine Arts, 7 Lock Road, #02-13 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108935.

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SPACES
Kray Chen | Sheryl Chua | Debbie Ding | Hilmi Johandi | Tristan Lim | Ian Tee
4 August – 15 September 2018

Opening Reception in the presence of the artists:
Friday, 3 Aug 2018, 6.30 – 8.30 pm

Ota Fine Arts Singapore is delighted to present SPACES, a group exhibition featuring 6 artists from Singapore: Kray Chen, Sheryl Chua, Debbie Ding, Hilmi Johandi, Tristan Lim and Ian Tee. This exhibition showcases each artist’s reaction to the spaces and structures in contemporary society, as well as a more formal focus on pictorial space. From painting to photography, video, 3D print and textile work, diverse expressions by the artists discuss relations between the virtual/imaginary and actual spaces.

Ho Chi Minh: Dates in the Pavement

I hate crossing the road in Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh was not made for pedestrians. Turns out that when it comes to the bottom line, I am actually extremely risk-adverse as a pedestrian. Or maybe I am a soft and flabby urbanite. Or maybe I just don't have a death wish?

Perhaps it was the law-abiding Singaporean in me who was extremely averse to crossing the road if the bikes and cars did not stop first. Unfortunately, the traffic NEVER DIED DOWN, so on at least 2 occasions I was frustratingly stranded on the wrong side of the road for up to 20 minutes. (Mom, if you're reading this, you probably never want to visit HCM, because if you already hate crossing a 4 lane road in Singapore, then you're going to HATE having to cross an eight-lane road in HCM where the traffic WILL NEVER STOP. Oh my word just thinking about it...)

I don't normally talk about my neuroses and latent anxieties on this blog but that time I was in Jatinegara in Jakarta and people were sitting near a live train track and everyone seemed cool with it? NOPE.... Live train tracks and DANGER OF INSTANT DEATH are still inextricably linked in my mind. Or that other time when I was walking along the North Circular Road in London next to high speed traffic on the motorways? Yeah even though I'm safely on the pavement which is well away from the main bulk of the speeding cars, and even though London's motorways are supposed to be one of the slowest yadda yadda, if there are vehicles speeding next to me then I'm still fully at HIGH ALERT. Because speeding metal boxes whizzing past me still translate as DANGER OF INSTANT DEATH.

I mean... I'll still walk around places which feel risky (because I don't want to let fear to keep me from doing what I feel like doing) but it doesn't change the fact that its actually still anxiety-inducing for me.

I was attending a wedding in Ho Chi Minh last week and on the first day I arrived I immediately had two near-collisions. (TOP TIP: DO NOT SUDDENLY WALK BACKWARDS!!! BUT OBVIOUSLY DUH NO ONE EXPECTS PEDESTRIANS TO WALK BACKWARDS IF YOU SHOCK THEM BY BEEPING YOUR DEAFENING HORN AT THEM.) I developed a tension headache almost immediately. I even began plotting routes which would minimise my need to cross the road. I was like, Goodbye Family Mart across the road I will never know you because you are on the wrong side of the road and I will never get there. Welp, guess I won't get to the Independence Palace because I can't cross the tiny road in front of it. (Two days later I finally managed to cross that road).

I was chagrined to have been told by Rich that the street I was on (Phạm Ngọc Thạch) was in his opinion a great road to walk down with old trees lining it and the turtle roundabout at one end. YEAH I KNOW IT IS TOTALLY LEAFY AND NICE BUT I STILL CAN'T CROSS THE ROAD!

Anyway, despite my instant hatred for crossing roads in Ho Chi Minh City, I eventually found a good reason to get me walking about even though I was fearful of the roads. As it turns out, in Ho Chi Minh City you'll find a lot of dates stamped into the pavements, on the telecomm network and drainage system covers. The words on the pavements indicate that the dates were left by Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNTP) and Ho Chi Minh City Urban Drainage (Cong ty Thoat Nuoc Do Thi). I've only seen this in one other city (Paris) where I also spent a lot of time photographing these dates and mapping them out.

Here is a selection of dates inscribed into the pavements of Ho Chi Minh:





























This is not an exhaustive list of photos I took but it seems the earliest one I saw was dated from 1998. My favourites are the hand-made dates. What's pretty interesting as well as is that sometimes the manhole and the cover for the manhole have a different date! Never seen that before in any other city.

More Ho Chi Minh posts coming up...

Snails of the Soil

If you have ever shopped at Poundland, you'll know those bags of soil which they always start selling in the summertime. They also sell those tiny plant pot kits with tiny portions of soil of unknown provenance, all of which look a bit like crushed mica and is often very terrible at holding water. I've always wondered where on earth the bits of soil came from, and where they had travelled from. But of course the answer is probably something very mundane, not at all the reveal of a big soil secret, and more the result of a logistical business decision: what is the most expedient way to run a business selling a discount bag of soil for a pound?

Over here in Singapore the only pot of soil that had been in my house for some time was actually the remains of a plant that Han had given to me (SORRY FOR THE BAD NEWS, HAN). Whilst I've liked keeping potted plants for many years I also know that introducing new plants to a collection of potted plants can result in you introducing new plant diseases or bugs in that will wipe out all your other plants. I think every single attempt of mine to start a high-rise garden has ended this way. I also have a problem of underwatering and overwatering my plants, despite knowing full well that the key to keeping the plants alive is finding the right level of water and nutrient for the plant. I looked into gaining more control over the feed through hydroponics, or something like rock wool, but I currently lack the space and equipment to do more.

Anyway I had the feeling that the soil I had in the pot from Han did not seem to be the optimum potting medium for the plant, because it kept drying out more quickly than I could water it (within a day). Perhaps because I kept the pot on the scorching windowsill here where the temperatures were insane.

When it dried out, the soil turned light brown instead of the black-brown peaty colour it used to have, almost with little white flecked crystals on top. I began rehydrating this pot of soil recently and upon being wetted it instantly went back to being black-brown in colour like this:



Strangely, this rehydration of a dried pot of soil appeared to have triggered something.

A day later I was looking at my pots of soil when I noticed that something was moving on top of it.

Five little snails had crawled to the surface of the barren pot...

THE HORRORS!

LIFE? JUST ADD WATER™



REMINDER TO ALL WOULD-BE SOIL SAMPLERS: SOIL IS ALSO A MEDIUM FOR TRANSPORTING TINY ORGANIC LIFEFORMS SUCH AS SNAILS!