“I know that Superman could squash me like a bug. But I know he won’t. Because deep down Clark is a good person. And deep down I’m not.”
Batman
#181031#
Last year, I did a piece of string art for Taenggu for the very first time to celebrate Halloween (see my last year’s Halloween 2017 post about my string art). This year, I thought I could do a new piece of string art for her too, but what’s different this time was I got to design my very own picture as a template to be used for the string art.
My idea is to combine the 2 biggest DC Superheroes of all time – Superman and Batman. And together, they become a bat with a superman logo on its chest. I call it the SUPERBAT.
Knowing the process of making string art is rather tedious, I began working on it as early as 2-3 weeks before Halloween. I purchased a DIY string art starter kit from Carousell which provided me with a wooden board and a small bag full of nails. There were some templates and threads of different colours included in the kit too, but I didn’t need any of those. I already have my own hammer and threads that I had gotten for myself last year and I was going to make my own special template for Taenggu.
So I built my own design using Adobe Illustrator and off I went to start hammering the nails on the wooden board. I did it over a few consecutive weekday nights after work at home. “KONK KONK KONK…” I went hammering non-stop, breaking the silence of the night. I hoped the neighbours didn’t feel disturbed by the noise I had made. 😝
I hammered the nails for the centre part of the bat’s body first, that is, the eyes and superman logo because the position of the nails are more crowded together at that part. Then I started stringing the eyes and superman logo with yellow and red threads. In my last year’s Halloween string art post, I reflected that I experienced a very uncomfortable, weird sensation in my stomach during the hammering process but found the stringing process a much more therapeutic one. But this year, my experience was completely different. While I found the hammering process had become much more comfortable, easier and less time-consuming to me this time, it was the stringing of the threads around the nails that turned out to be most painful to me. My back would get so stiff and start to ache so much that I had to stop and lie on my bed to rest on a few occasions. Not sure why I felt this way, maybe there were some spiritual implications in this. You could think of the stringing process as like stitching open wounds together. It was painful. My body was in so much pain that I even broke down into tears. But I knew I still had to go on. I wanted to make this Halloween string art idea to come into fruition for Taenggu so much.
Then I started stringing the rest of the bat’s body with a black thread. This part onwards was actually a more bearable and pleasant process. I liked it that the process of stringing from which nail to which nail next was completely random and intuitive. I could focus on doing it without thinking of anything else (good training for mindfulness!). But there were times when my hands were feeling a little clumsy and my thread kept tripping off the nails that I had to redo over again, and then at other times, my hands were more steady and I could string more smoothly and faster. Good times and bad times. Lol.
After the stringing part was done, I had a problem to solve next. My wooden board was too thin and the nails were too long. The nails had pierced right through the board and were sticking out on the other side when I hammered them. I needed to find something to cover them. I definitely do not want Taenggu to hurt her fingers when she is holding my string art in her hands! 😵
In the end, what I did was to stick 3 layers of an orange foam board to hide the sharp points of the nails so that they are safely out of touch when you hold the board.
And then, finally, probably the very last thing I did was to stick a Halloween themed washi tape (I just bought it recently at a pop-up store near my workplace) at the top and bottom of the board to complete this Halloween string art.
More detailed photos of my final artwork! 📸
I definitely start taking Halloween more seriously now simply because it is Taenggu’s favourite occasion of the year! Keke. So I wanted to make a good Halloween present in form of this string art for her to make her happy too.
Just 2 days ago, I had made her a Batman drawing for her as our 45th Monthsary present.
And then, I was reminded that I used to say I wanted to have a broad chest like Superman for her to lean on after the Jakarta airport incident last year.
So I felt like this SUPERBAT string art also represents a combination of me and her in one. If she’s the Batman, then I would be the Superman. And if we combine forces together, we become SUPER BAD POWERFUL. LOL.
Haha I hope Taenggu likes the idea behind this SUPERBAT string art! I shall end off this post with a photo of a Ghost bread I found at a bread shop 2 weeks ago and a super cute video of Taenggu asking for treats at a random house (lol)! TRICK OR TREAT, TAENGGU?? 🎃😘
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