Looking back at my mother's life, besides being a talented artist,  she was also extraordinarily gifted in many other ways, and I feel those gifts need to be extolled here as part of remembering her legacy.

 

Before I was born in 1955 she was already creating things simply out of sheer necessity, to keep the family well clothed, fed and comfortable. 

​

Hence I would like to think my mother was also an artisan. I like this word, 'artisan' because it connotes an 'olde worlde' charm. According to the dictionary, an artisan is a skilled worker in a specific trade or handicraft, especially one that involves making things by hand. And I may add, someone who takes pride in creating things of beauty and usefulness.

 

My mother was most certainly a multifaceted artisan.

​

I remember my siblings reminiscing about the wonderful and colourful animal lanterns my mother would make for them, to light up at the street parade during the Lantern festival. She would ask each of my siblings what lantern they would like. One would say dragon, another rabbit and so on. 

​

Using wire, slender bamboo sticks, cellophane paper and glue, she made the best lanterns in the little town where we lived, according to my siblings.

​

My mother would make things because they were not sold in shops, or were too expensive or she thought the commercial product was not good enough. 

​

Before she married, she made all her clothes. She would cut her own hair and that of her classmates. 

For her wedding day, she made her own paper floral bouquet. She also crocheted her white wedding gloves. 

​

After she married, besides making lanterns she was also the barber to my father and my four elder brothers, and also a resourceful tailor and handyman to boot. Not to mention a talented and versatile cook as well. When my siblings were growing up in a remote rural town in Malaysia, she made an outdoor oven using a biscuit tin that she mounted on bricks to fire up the charcoal. I was told she made delicious biscuits from this basic contraption. 

​

Unfortunately I missed out on all these wonderful inventions as I was not born yet or too young to know what was going on.

But as I was growing up as an adolescent, I noticed she also made furniture when she could not find anything suitable to buy for the house we just moved in. 

 

And every Christmas she would set up the Bethlehem scene, making a cave or shelter to house the little figurines of the Holy Family, with the three wise men standing outside offering gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  As children, this was something we looked forward to and brings back many happy memories.

​

My mother also made wigs and costumes for the annual Shakespearean plays performed by students at the Royal Military College in Kuala Lumpur, where my father worked as a teacher for many years. She also did the make-up for these student performances. 

At the Royal Military College the wives of officers and staff had a Wives Club, and my mother would  be invited to teach them how to make soft toys and cook her specialty dishes. She was also invited to represent the club at the state level floral arrangement competition, where she won the First and Second prize for her two submissions.

​

When my parents first immigrated to Australia, she upholstered furniture to supplement their hard earned savings while my father was still looking for work after settling in Adelaide.

​

My mother  had a keen eye and a pair of hands that could magically turn out beautiful and useful  things when she set her mind to creating something.  As children and even as adults, my siblings and I took this for granted.

 

She made things to keep us amused, happy and not lack for anything, especially when my siblings and I were growing up in the post-war years and following that, the upheaval of the Malayan Emergency. But much more than that, as she made things she would tell stories that would inspire us to become kind and compassionate adults. 

​

Here are some of the lovely things she made at different times of her life.