Just got a mail from a friend with an surprise attachment!

I love it and got me so "Fire up" again that I must stop all work and post this...:)

Thanks Macky! Like the eyessss!

New Bo9 Mini!

Feeling frustrated with work last night, so I picked up a pen knife and started carving and shaping a small piece of scrap Sculpey. It has been a while I have worked on any project since my last custom, largely due to work. After a night of carving and shaping, it was finally done. Coated it with a layer of primer and viola! a 2" mini BO9 is born! I must say he is certainly cute and full of attitude, too!

Thank You Clutter Magazine!

Surprise! BO9 featured in Clutter!

Recently got my hands on a copy of the latest Clutter magazine and surprise surprise, Bo9 is in it! Hooray! Thanks Nick of the Clutter team :). It is definitely an honour and extremely exciting! Thank You!

Thank You

Have been super busy with work lately, but in the midst of busyness, a feature came along from a Singapore-centric blog Culturepush supporting Singapore-based talents. Very honoured to be alongside with these fellow artists/designers. At the same time, I also stumbled upon more sites with postings of BO9. Awesome.

Thank you for your great support!
www.culturepush.com
www.joshspear.com
www.blankandempty.com

If I do miss out anyone... please forgive me. And once again... a big THANK YOU!

:) simon

Darth Vader Movie Clip :)

Ha ha, this is so cute...laughed till I dropped :) I found this clip while researching for Darth Vader. Someone should give the credits to the guy who did that...super cool!

Project Black Beta

BO9's very first custom!

It is strange how I actually had the spare time for customisation even with tons of other things in the pipeline. Could I have mastered the kung-fu of time management? Ha! Well, so I decided to get my hands dirty again... and created my first BO9 custom.

I have always wanted to do a Darth Vader custom, and look how oddly cute my version is! Awesome. He will definitely make a worthy addition to my toy collections. I like the final look, the fact that it is not so full of attitude and serious-looking but somewhat very funny is enough to tickle me and my family. I spent a night sculpting the helmet and it turned out really oversized. Love it. The cape is made from a thick plastic sheet, had it cut out and heated over the stove to soften it in order to form the waves. Finally, I added some elements on the body using super Sculpey and here we have, a complete outfit. Ah yes, the light saber (who can forget that?) is made from 5mm acrylic rod with a light source from the handle. Cool.

On top of that, it does resemble you know who (Bxxman)...double the look with just one custom! Double the cool factor :)

For more on the production stages in making the custom, click on my Flickr banner on the right.

End of Project BO9

All things come to an end, Project BO9 has (almost) reached to a closure after 2 years. Perhaps now I can fully concentrate on my work at (BlackOink Design) which I have neglected. It has been quite difficult to squeeze time for Project BO9 but its finally done. Similarly, it is equally hard to concentrate on my work when there is something bugging in my heart and I know I ought to complete the task in order to fulfill that dream I have. It is something I aim to do in life, and I am glad I took that step even though, many a times during the process, thoughts of giving up came to mind as I do find it hard to juggle between family, passion and work. In spite of all these, it has been an exciting journey; made some new friends and learned more new stuff. This journey is indeed both rewarding and priceless!

Project BO9 will no longer be produced and only 12 were made for sale. Get it whilst stocks last if you have not seen it at my website yet ;) Meanwhile, I am working on some of my own BO9 customs to add to my toy collections. Maybe I might also invite some of our local designers to take part in customising BO9 and bring the project to a new level. Just thinking aloud. More brains are always better than one, no?

Till then, do stay tuned for more :)