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

TZU CHI 130 35 Living and Arts— The Power of Eco-friendly Handicrafts handicrafts, especially when their parents might well treat their materials or finished products as “rubbish”, and would just throw them away. Peck Yoong guided her students to reflect on whether their finished work lacked the exquisite taste that would have otherwise made others want to keep them. She encouraged them to let their creative juices and skills run free to produce craftwork that are so beautiful that people would love them at first sight. At the same time, she also encouraged her students to share with their parents on how they could transform a bottle into something new for a different purpose. She hoped that they could influence their parents by sharing their ideology. Gradually, Peck Yoong noticed that some parents, students and Internet fans have started to take notice of resources around them; and some even took the trouble to collect some materials for her. Some parents had given her tofu packing boxes, which she used, not only as materials for handicrafts, but also as teaching props, as containers for putting small objects or as watercolour palettes. Some of her Internet fans had also sent her décor items that they would have otherwise thrown away. They asked her how they could make them into more useful and attractive handicrafts for charity sales and donate for a good cause. Opportunity amidst the pandemic PeckYoong always keeps a lot of recycled materials for teaching purpose. Through her six years of learning handicraft from Peck Yoong, kindergarten teacher, Ng Ai Ai, has witnessed her teacher’s mindfulness in eco- friendly handicraft. She said, “In one of the classes, Teacher Peck Yoong used unwanted copper sheets that she bought from others at low cost. She took some time to conceptualize and design to upcycle the coppers, before opening a class to teach us. She always upholds her principle of not wasting and extending the lifespan of resources.” Inspired by her teacher, Ai Ai would collect leftover decorative coloured paper of various sizes from the notice boards in classrooms, and give them to her students to use as artwork materials. During the Covid-19 pandemic period, PeckYoong learned how to use her mobile phone to do video recording and editing, in order to share about handicraft-making, and taking the opportunity to promote eco-friendly handicraft concepts with the public on the Internet. She said, “During the pandemic, everyone had to stay at home. By sharing my videos, I could take the opportunity to spread positive energy!” One of her students even took the initiative to use water pipes, clips, light tubes and other materials to make a mobile phone holder for her, so that she could easily adjust the height of the phone to suit her needs. She was very happywith such a practical equipment that cost nothing. She commented with much joy, “As the Master said, insist on doing the right thing, and help will find its way.” With more than 30 years of experience in handicraft work, Peck Yoong holds different views on things that we use in our daily life, that is, a single piece of material can be transformed into more than ten different types of decorative objects, ranging from a festive gift to any little item that we would use daily. Each creation exudes a distinctive characteristic of its own.