Red String of Fate
The red string of fate is based on a Chinese myth that the gods tie an invisible red string around the ankles of men and women destined to be soulmates. This myth is has been adapted into other east asian cultures as well. I first became familiar with it by watching anime; though in those cases, one would attempt to match up couples by tying their fingers.
This image, while on one hand based on that Chinese legend, is one that defines me. With the red thread forming the heart, I frame what is currently my greatest passion: miniature origami. I fold using tweezers, and sometimes with needles (I show a needle here, though for these hearts I only used tweezers as they are not that small). The hearts of paper and string, while representing my passion, also represent my soul, and how my fate is bound by the constraints of life. I’m in my own little world bound by a thread of fate; though my passion lies in a world of paper. While most women primarily use needles for sowing; I primarily use them for tiny origami :P
I would adjust the position of the objects here with tweezers, and sometimes got magnetic reactions between the tweezers and the needle. They say opposites attrack… but they are both metal :]
Each heart was folded from a 15×15mm piece of paper.
Taken with an Olympus FE-340.
For a better idea of scale:
This work has been featured in:
Macro Photography
Inspired Art
All About Hearts
Color Me a Rainbow
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Irene Burdell
Beautiful work Mui-Ling you must have very nimble fingers. x
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thank you Irene. Folding wasn’t too hard since these hearts are bigger than most of my creations, but getting everything in the right position was; string is not easy to work with; and if I wan’t to adjust it’s position while delicate paper hearts are sitting on top of it, I very likely lose their positions.
Rajdev D
Very nice work Mui-Ling, i like the lighting too.
Mui-Ling Teh replied
I’m glad you do. I started out using natural light and taking several shots of the subjects at different positions; none which I were satisfied with yet at the time; then it was getting dark so I turned on my lamp which made the image more yellowing; but it works better this way.
BiographyofRed8
simple and beautiful, great concept
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Hey Red! So nice to see you here. Thanks for the fav; the colour suits you :o)
Well it’s very late here so I’m heading of to bed now.
cherylc1
Gorgeous my friend!!!
Mui-Ling Teh replied
You are so sweet my friend; thank you :D
butchart
besides the incredible gift you have for the art of paper folding..your final composition here is metaphorically beautiful..well thought out and captured…. bravo MLT…............b
Enivea
Brilliant concept and execution Mui-Ling. You are a fantastic artist :-)
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thank you so much Enivea!
BlueKnot
Wonderful imagery… the needle makes sense with the thread (though I hope it doesn’t SEW the thread to someone’s ankle/finger!) and also give a great sense of scale for the hearts… AND makes an ‘arrow’ for the heart. It all works so well, great job!
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thank you BlueKnot. I’m really glad you took notice of that arrow; it took a lot of effort to position it in the way to get the symbols in there meanwhile giving it a decent composition; and with the thread going through one end of the needle there is only so much on that end that could come out. There was also all the difficulty with positioning such flimsy objects, and as mentioned in the description, magnetic attration between the needle and my tweezers.
Alice Oates
Absolutely beautiful image…and a really lovely thought in the description
kjgordon
love it…....now where did I put that string…...........
Rainy
Beautiful work Mui-Ling
Gregory John O...
Nice one. Thanks for the commentary.. learnt something…. now I know why I keep tripping over…. wish the person on the other end of the string would arrive,,
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Then start pulling; NOW :-P
Nascha
delicate and beautiful! x
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thank you very much!
Karin Taylor
what a beautiful Chinese myth, i love the delicacy of your intricate origami, and the stories you tell us… it brings these myths into our daily lives, into our sphere of consciousness and we are better for it….i love this type of idealism…it’s very heartwarming…i love how you’ve created the heart in red thread also…wonderful work Mui-Ling :) xxx
Mui-Ling Teh replied
You are very into oriental culture aren’t you Karin ;) Seeing this at first, aside from the origami, people may not be aware of the asian influence behind it, but there cerainly are a lot of things in western culture right now which have been adopted from asian influence, so you are right when you say these myths are brought into our daily lives. So gald you enjoy this Karin, hope you are well!
Michelle Barlo...
Bravo Bravo Bravo
magneta
Don’t forget to add it to the September Avatar Challenge!
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Oh wow, thank you!
TaniaLosada
Creative and original beautiful work!
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thank you very much!
artisandelimage
bravo !
my best, francis.
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Many Thanks Francis!
sassyjewel
oh my, how intriguing and artful
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thank you very much! For the comment and the fav!
foxyphotography
foxyphotography
Mui-Ling Teh replied
oh wow, thank you!
Kerryn Madsen...
Congratulations Mui-Ling – a lovely and unique presentation.
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thank you very much Kerryn! And thank you for the fav :)
PPPhotoArt
Mui-Ling this is just beautiful, the origami and the layout of the shot, and I love the commentary, it’s lovely – very well done
Taylor Sawyer
Congrats on your feature! You are now invited to enter
this piece into Best of RED
Ellen
This is beautiful Mui-Ling! very creative!
vampvamp
awesome, sooo creative & beautiful!
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thanks again :)
Cadence Gamache 27 days ago
Fantastic!!! You do such awesome work! This is really a special piece =]
Jo Hoden "C'... 11 days ago
beautiful
Arletta 1 day ago
This is very interesting, the description and the look and all. Thank you for sharing.
zarkhoc about 13 hours ago
Wow, that is just a stunning work of art!!!
Mui-Ling Teh replied about 4 hours ago
Thank you very much!