My first project of 2025 came from a relatively niche source material. The Inspiration When Phil and I visited Hong Kong in October, we had a blast roaming through Sino Centre in Mong Kok. While he shopped all over the place for Pokemon cards, I mainly lingered around the two used manhua book stores. It
Art
Project Concentric Circles – the Ultimate God of War Shield
Earlier this year, we replaced our two failing toilets with the fancy Japanese kind. The bathroom upgrade was life changing, and I was impressed by something else: the boxes that the toilets arrived in were made of double-layered corrugated cardboard! The discovery was like when a fictional wuxia blacksmith finds a special ore from outer
Project Sister Swords – 萱 Xuan & 莛 Ting
I spent the past two months making a pair of swords for the kids. The Inspiration A few months ago, when I began making Fei Xue, I struggled with how few reference images existed. In both the movie and the adapted manhua, the sword was featured in significantly fewer scenes than Can Jian, and none
Project Long Sword – 飛雪 Fei Xue
During the Valentine’s Week, I completed 飛雪劍 Fei Xue Jian, the lover-partner sword for 殘劍 Can Jian. 殘劍飛雪 生死相守人不離人 劍不離劍 Like its male counterpart, 飛雪 Fei Xue is the name for both the sword and its owner. The 16-word poetic vow above is among the most memorable parts of the movie. It states that in
Project Curved Saber – 驚寂 Jing Ji
In Chinese martial arts, the two most beloved types of weapons are the curved saber (刀 dao) and the straight sword (劍 jian). Pitching the two as complementary or in rivalry is a trope deeply ingrained in the fictions of our culture. From a little boy playing with plastic toys that my mom bought from
Ten Years of Cheshire Cat
Happy Halloween! I carved a pumpkin into a Cheshire Cat. The Cheshire Cat is one of my favorite cartoon characters. I love his crazy, random, confident, and fearless personality, and I love his absurdly colorful design. He’s my go-to when I need an avatar or art project idea. As I reflect back, I realized that
Project Hegemon’s Spear – 霸王槍 Ba Wang Qiang
My third crafty project of the year is Hegemon’s Spear (霸王槍 Ba Wang Qiang), from 馬榮成 Ma Wing-Shing’s manhua adaptation of 古龍 Gu Long’s Seven Weapons novel franchise. Although it’s a wuxia classic, the story is not my favorite. Most of its characters and weapons are just so-so, as well. However, this spear captivated me
The Face Mosaic Project
The LEGO store in Sentosa had unique models and cool sculpture on display, not unlike their other flagship locations such as Rockefeller Center or Disneyland. Though it also had a product for sale that we had never seen anywhere else – a customized face mosaic. For $160 SGD it came with: To say that we
Project Vibrant Sword – A Homemade Lightsaber Experiment
Since Ramnant Sword‘s success, I’ve been itching to make more swords. Because I couldn’t quite figure out how to mold a Fei Xue, the female companion to Can Jian, I pivoted to forge a Lightsaber instead. I have never been much of a Star Wars fan, and am barely knowledgeable of its lore, but Lightsaber
Project Remnant Sword – 殘劍 Can Jian
Last winter break, I joined the kids in making the Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos from God of War. It was incredibly fun and we enjoyed the end result. I kept a few photos on my phone to show people. I have enjoyed crafts all my life, but there’s something special about doing it