Woman turns ang pow into lanterns
With a penchant for handicraft, housewife Lim Lay Im loves to dress up her home with beautiful lanterns, traditional fans, baskets and fruit-shaped decorations.
And all the unique, festive works of art are made from ang pow packets.
“It is something I thoroughly enjoy doing. It usually takes me about two hours to produce a piece of such a decoration.
“It’s always a joy as I do not find them difficult to make. I make traditional fans, fruits, lanterns and baskets from ang pow.
“I use a stapler to clip the pieces together and sometimes I’ll add decorative flowers and pins to enhance the handmade products so that they look unique and eye-catching.
“The hardest process is placing the gold tape around the edges of the packets to make the pieces stand out.
“That is time consuming and it takes plenty of patience,” she said at her stall in Tanjung Bungah market yesterday.
Lim, 48, picked up the hobby when she was 23.
She learnt the art from a woman who taught her after Lim bought ang pow packets from her shop.
“Since then, I have learnt to make other designs as well,” she said.
Lim usually makes the decorative pieces during Chinese New Year, besides keeping herself occupied with cross-stitch and shoe beading on other days.
On using only ang pow packets, Lim said she tried using other types of paper but felt it did not stand out as much.
“Red packets are easy as they come in a particular size and can be cut. The pieces last as well.
“I have a bowl-like container I made in 2015 and I still use it to place fruits, sweets and other snacks.
“I placed tidbits on it during a party at home recently and it was easy to pass around,” she added.
Lim encouraged others to try out the art as it is easy to learn.
“There are books that teach you as well.
“Once you learn the basic of folding and cutting, you can make anything out of ang pow packets.”