The world of Tzu Chi January 2021 (Vol.130)

2021 • 01 34 Then, with no readily available materials and no funding, Peck Yoong had to source for inspirations around her to continue with her endeavours in promoting handicraft work and to support charitable causes through charity sales or conducting free classes. By using bottles, metal and paper boxes, paper, paper rolls, strings and threads, and other recycled materials, she could apply her clay art, knitting, Chinese knotting, tailoring and patchwork skills, to make exquisite and unique handicrafts. For example, recycled paper could be made into beautiful 3D cards; fabric and plastic bottles are matched to become little handicrafts, such as, pen holders, toothpick bottles, storage boxes et cetera; photo frame, paper rolls, metals and other materials could be used together to create a 3D picture; a small piece of soap could be wrapped in a hand- knitted sachet to become a beautifully-shaped fragrant piece. The list goes on. In classes, when sharing with her students on the spirit of eco-friendly handicrafts, she emphasizes on skills and concepts, not on choice of materials and tools. She never encourages her students to buy materials just to copy her work in class. Instead, she hopes that her students would apply the skills and basic concepts that they have learned, on any materials that are readily available at home. Even if the materials are of different shapes and sizes, the end result can be as good as their teacher’s. However, initially, it was very difficult for students to accept the idea of eco-friendly A student’s gift to Peck Yoong, a mobile phone holder, made with water pipes, light tubes and other recyclables, which made it easy for her to adjust the height of her phone while recording teaching clips. pecial Feature