Christmas Order Deadline

The last few weeks have flown past at an alarming speed, I have so much to tell, beautiful things I've seen, plans for next year, giveaways that I want to do, but sadly that will all have to wait.  I'm madly getting the last of the Christmas orders out to sit under the tree ready for the big day.

As I handcraft everything, I'll be taking the last of my orders tomorrow night, Monday 16th.  All orders $40 and over, going to an Australian address will get a free express post upgrade and will be getting sent on Thursday this week.

Pieces are available through both my personal store and through my Etsy store.

The Photo Files - Origami Cranes

Slowly going through old photos.

Strings of origami cranes.  Osu Kannon Temple, Nagoya, May 2011.

Wishing the World....

Wishing the world peace, love and joy.

Family Outing

I'm very excited as this weekend the new members of my Origami family are making their market debut.  There are some wise owls, some sweet hummingbirds and bunnies,  a cat that loves to snuggle up and a cheeky little fox all waiting to find new homes.

They will of course be joined by the older member of the family, my origami cranes.

All of the brooches have been laser cut in sustainable-growth bamboo, then hand sanded and  hand coloured.

We'll be at the BrisStyle Twilight Market tomorrow night, the special event Fashion Week Young Designers Market on Saturday and Saturday night and then some will be going online next week.

If you're around, please pop by and say hi.

Origami Treasury

My bamboo crane brooches finally made it into both my store and Etsy store yesterday.

So I was really chuffed to see it featured in this lovely origami treasury last night.

Today, I'm going to try to lock myself away in my workroom to work on a new range that has been floating about my head for a while.... stay tuned!

Japan Relief Auction - Kimono Crane

As most of my regular readers will know, Japan was my beloved home for six years.  I lived there twice, once when single and then later as a newlywed.  It's a country I adore and is filled with people that I love.  A place I hold so dear to my heart.

Last week's tragedy broke my heart, as it did people all around the world, whether you've ever been there or not.  I found it hard to talk about and still do.  I am so lucky however that my friends and their families are all safe, even though quite scared and nervous.

I'd like to help give back to the country that has inspired me for so long now.

I'm going to open two blog auctions today.  The Kimono Crane pictured below, and in a moment, in another post, a bundle of vintage kimono fabrics.

This Japanese origami crane has been hand folded the traditional way, but in antique kimono silk.  The particular kimono this crane comes from was a celebratory gown so comes infused with well wishes.  The words "Joy" and "Love" have been hand embroidered on the wings.

It hangs from a looped ribbon, like this one.  The ribbon is also adorned with Czech and Japanese beads.  The wingspan is about 18cm.

The origami crane is a well-known symbol of peace.  In Japanese culture, the crane is also a symbol of longevity, fidelity and a happy marriage.  

The nitty-gritty of the auction...

1. The auction ends at 9pm (Brisbane time) on March 26th, 2011.
2. To bid, leave a comment on this blog post with the amount you wish.  You can keep checking on the post during the week to make sure you haven't been out-bid.  The starting bid is the first bidders choice.
3. Bids are to be made in Australian dollars, in dollar amounts.
4. Make sure that when you bid I can contact you somehow if you win, either with a link to your own blog or an email address.
5. I'll post the crane to yourself (or someone of your choosing) anywhere in the world.
6. The full winning bid amount will be donated to the Red Cross Japan Disaster Appeal.

For other great Japan Relief auctions and raffles, please visit A Bit Of This and A Bit Of That, the organiser of this event.

So, without further ado... let's get this auction started!

... update... the other auction, a bundle of gorgeous vintage kimono fabrics is now up, over here....

How to Have a Normal-ish Weekend - Part One

This weekend, for the first time in what feels like a very long time, I have both Saturday and Sunday market-free.

My plans of going to a Christmas meet-up were foiled by the little one waking up with a cold.  It hasn't slowed her down much, but the nose is runny enough for me to not want her to share it with any other littlies there.  This girl's a hugger, she loves to go up to random people (especially older boys) and give them big hugs whether they like it or not. So chances are, she would share the cold.

Instead, our little three-piece family went for a yummy cafe breakfast and a bit of a drive.

We dropped in to see the girls at the Nook Pop Up shop.  Their stall looked lovely.

I know I should be thinking about presents for other people at this time of year, but instead, I added a few pieces to my own wish list...

I've always loved Jetta's Nest's "Sew or Die" artwork...

...and Chrissy Foreman C's fabric necklaces are so cool, I especially love that giraffe!

But I kind of have my eye on this one...

And Dash Robin's bird brooches are just adorable.  Don't you love the cards they've been packed on?

Once we got home, the little one was all tuckered out, so I took a few peaceful moments to flip through the latest Frankie magazine.

And then onto some playing before some more serious order-filling work...

You might remember a little while ago I was playing with this three piece brooch idea, so here it is, the first one.  It was only "blog ready" when I took this photo, once the glue on the brooch backs have set, I'll take a photo of how it looks on.

And then there's this one.  I call it "Evolution of Crane", a concept I've been thinking about for a while now.  But do you get it?  Does it make sense?  The man doesn't think so.

It's been built up of parts, patterns of how to fold a crane... I'm thinking of making the bits into a necklace like this...

 So how's your weekend?  Is it a normal-ish one?  Doing anything fun?

My Creative Space

A little something just for me... or at least that's how it began.

I whipped this 3-piece brooch up the other night as a bit of an experiment, don't look too closely, the edges aren't finished and the embroidery is rather dodgy.

The plan was to make something just for me, but now it's inspired me, so this afternoon I'll be playing on Illustrator with a new design, hopefully soon to come.

For more creative spaces, Kootoyoo is the place to go.

My Creative Space

Finishing off a custom ordered kimono crane that is to be a wedding gift.

For more creative spaces, Kootoyoo is the place to go.

These Boots Were Made For Stitching

Today at the Brisbane Brown Owls meet was a stitching type of day. I jumped at the chance to get started on a project I've had in mind for quite a while... to embroider a pair of boots.

For now, it's just a lone crane, but the plan is for a string of three on each leg.

And with the split-toe in these Japanese boots...

It's lucky that I have a collection of split-toe tabi socks to wear underneath.

My Creative Space

Some resin casting experiments in progress at the moment. The shaped crane is from a mould, my first ever mould, that I made. Most of the work on these pieces today however has been research, research on where to take them next to get the best looking results.

And this week, I've done a little more embroidery on some vintage kimono fabric. Another piece waiting to be folded and stitched into a fabric origami crane.

For more creative spaces, visit Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space

I'm continuing to work on some embroidered cranes.

I'm thinking of doing a few different types, ones that can be placed on a table (rather than hung) like this, single strands like the one above, and full mobiles similar to the one I made for a friend.

For more creative spaces, drop by Kootoyoo.

Giving Love and Joy Wings

A new range I'm working on. All from vintage kimono fabrics.

Joy

A piece finished last weekend, for a friend's bub-to be.

Dear little girl, may you always have joy.

Origami Crane Cot Quilt

Mum has finished the little one's cot quilt and I'm just delighted with it!

The fabrics are pieces that I collected whilst living in Japan. I just love how if you look closely, there are gorgeous little images in each block.

There are even origami cranes within the origami cranes.

There are some gorgeous little hand-stitched touches.

The quilt out the front of our place... (well the next door neighbours - that's our place on the left, my workroom window in the top corner) and DH's fingers peeking over the top of the gate.

And while it's not the season to need it yet, I just love seeing it on the cot.

I think mum did such a good job on it and I'm thrilled with how it turned out! It's something the little one will grow up with and I'm sure will treasure forever. Thank you so much mum!

The pattern is based on Margaret Rolfe's Peace Quilt which I was originally told about by a very lovely lady (a non-blogger) - thank you to you too Marla!

Love - An Image a Day, Day 4 I think...

A digital design I did a while back. I'm wanting to get back in and play with this series.

Sneak peek...

... of the cot quilt my mum is making for the little one.

This is... my style and My Playday

Firstly, I have to apologise for not getting a photo done in time for this week's This is… theme.

But really, this is my style (minus the parasol)



Just add a large pendant and a couple of chunky silver rings, change the shoes to Mary Janes and that's it. That's me most days (days when I'm not just hanging around the house that is). It's usually the choice of the shirt (though almost always black and red and a variation on this theme) and the jewellery that individualise my style.

Thank you to Kitty’s Kaboodle for this weeks fun theme (even though I slacked off) and to Angela for hosting.

The reason why I was so slack this week, was that I was having too much fun on my play day. Do you want to see what I did?

I made this fabric origami crane. I'm wanting to make a stack of them and make them into mobiles. My hand stitching still leaves a lot to be desired though.

With the help of dh, I made a huge stack of fabric covered buttons ready to make some more magnets for the store. They've been flying out. Luckily, dh does the hard pushing stuff for me while he's watching tv.



And some Matryoshka / Babushka (can anyone tell me are they the same?) buttons.




And, what I'm super excited about - a silver origami crane. I may do some more polishing of it later, but I love the sculptural quality of it. I tried a couple of different techniques, the other one didn't work so well, but I have another idea for it and will play with it again at a later date. I can't wait to wear it to school tomorrow, with the outfit above of course.

Nengajo Design

Yah! I've just finished designing my 2008 Nengajo, Japanese New Years card. I didn't end up using any of the images from the nengajo book I bought, but rather used it for inspiration. I decided to stick with my origami crane theme for the year, you can see the Christmas cards I sent out below.

The watermark on the card says "Akemashite Omedetou!", which is Happy New Year in Japanese.

For our 2007 nengajo, we stuck with tradition and used our wedding photo as we had gotten married the year before.

Mmmm... so now, I just have to finish printing these, and then address them all.... better get back to it!

We're back!

After a nice, but very busy Christmas, New Year break, we're back up on eBay. I have to confess, I really missed it and was raring to go this morning with the listing.


I thought we'd start the new year with one of my favourite new pieces - it's best we sell it before I decide to keep it for myself. I love black and red together and I love origami cranes, so when Mummy Mel bought this one, pictured to the left, she knew I was going to approve, and was going to have trouble parting with it.


We've also combined Mel's eBay paper store, so we'll be regularly selling origami paper, washi and yuzen.

This year, we'd really like to make our blog a little community and so ask for your help. We'd love to hear from you, hear about your ideas, projects, kimono fabric experiences, comments on our blog posts, links to your own blogs or websites, anything you think people would be interested it. Photos would be great, but even stories without photos are good. Tell us a little about yourself. We've got our first link up to one of our customer's, Jackie, website. She's a really talented photographer whose just finished an exhibition. We'd like to offer our customers a little present, that we'll send the next time they buy with us, for any contributions.

My email address should be showing at the top of the blog page, but otherwise feel free to contact us through the comments feature or through our eBay store. We look forward to hearing from you soon.