Until artist Lie Fhung can accumulate enough ceramic pieces to fire in the kiln to complete Dream Archives Portal 007, she's been working on Dream Archives Portal 008. This one involved a blow torch!

I first made the hole on the lid using my bookbinder awl, then enlarged it with my potter's hole cutter. This time I used my blow torch to get the burnt effect around the hole on the lid, outside and inside. Since the fire (and the heat) from the blow torch is much, much more powerful than a lighter, I expected the lid to catch fire a bit - I was hoping for at least a small flame blazing on it. But the Kolo Havana refused to catch fire! Once I turned off the blow torch, there was no flame on it at all -- just a flicker of embers that pretty quickly dissipated on their own.

Wow. The whole box is somewhat fire retardant indeed! Very impressive - especially considering that it's made from cloth and board! This makes Havana perfect not just to keep your precious photos, but also anything else! My Dream Archives are in very safe hands.

Regarding the painting inside it... well, as you can plainly see, it is a kind of human heart, with "roots" branching out of it and what seems like something shot through the hole on the lid. I'll let you to interpret this freely -- would love to hear what you come up with! (Feel free to post comments.)

You're invited to participate in Lie Fhung's Universal Scrapbook project:

Send or email your photograph/artwork/journal page by August 31 to artist Lie Fhung for inclusion in the Universal Scrapbooks project, sponsored by Kolo. It will go on exhibit internationally as part of Lie Fhung's Dream Archives art installation, beginning autumn 2009 at SIGIarts Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia. Be a part of it! For the address and more info go here. If you have questions, feel free to post here.