tatsuko: paper, polymer & ponderings

Being thankful in these strange new circumstances...

2011-10-09T11:56:00.010-04:00

Since finishing my contract at the Federal Court earlier this year, I've been feeling ready to go back to work full-time. I set out to find a job, and long story short, I was hired for a full-time permanent position in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. Very excited, I was. Started on a contract from August 22nd to the 31st - learned a bit about my job, got a little training. JF could now finally quit his job and take his much needed break and try to bring his health back up to par (hasn't been a great year for him).

September 1st - first day of my full-time permanent position, was spent on the picket line and I have been on strike ever since, with 1700 other members of McGill's support staff union. How bizarre is that?

I have gone from feeling like a hypocrite, to trying to be supportive of my fellow strikers, to being angry (likely looking sour), to being horribly depressed, to being fed up and looking for another job. I still waver from feeling to feeling, but am doing my best to stick it out and see what this job is like! I know I work with a great bunch of people, whom I've gotten to know a little on the picket lines, so this should be incentive enough, right? I try to tell myself that every day.

I've also tried to motivate myself to be productive at the end of my picketing shift. It may not seem like much, but four hours of walking in a circle, five days a week, is exhausting physically, mentally and emotionally. The uncertainty of what is going to happen next is that hardest part for me, and I feel tired and blobbish much of the time. And I want to be at work. Ok, whining is officially over.

SO, from now on, I AM going to be as productive as possible and try to use the rest of my picketing days for good stuff. Cleaning up, cooking good food, spending time with my honey, sorting out my studio and getting back to making a few new things for holiday craft shows. This is my positive voice speaking.

Drumming keeps me sane! Arashi Daiko, the taiko group (Japanese drums) JF and I are members of, performed outdoors in Baie-Saint-Paul last weekend - 10 chilly degrees (Celsius)! This was on a morning visit to the beach - no skinny dipping, but a great time!

So on this Thanksgiving Day (in Canada!), looking at the big picture, JF and I have lived with much less, and are grateful that we have a roof over our heads and more than enough food to eat. We have family and friends and taiko and community and live in a safe city in a safe country. And we have two cats that entertain us to no end. In the grand scheme of things I do have a LOT to be thankful for. Don't we all?

Pretending the sun was out in Baie-Saint-Paul... merci pour les belles photos, Manon!

New pieces for Powell Street Festival!

2011-07-25T13:34:00.008-04:00

The 35th annual Powell Street Festival in Vancouver, BC, this coming week-end, July 30 and 31. Can't wait!

It will be my fifth year selling there and it's definitely my favourite event to participate in. It's so well-organized, well-attended, and I have return customers and friends that I get to see every year. Plus, I get to spend time with two of my brothers and their families as an added bonus; I also have the best sales assistant, my niece Mariko, for the entire week-end, so I cannot go wrong! Oh, and did I mention the amazing entertainment and the more-than-amazing food? Schedule here and programme here Really looking forward to it!

Here are some new earrings I've been working on for the occasion:

I've been having a bit of a hard time getting back on a creative track since my contract ended in May, and just recently (like the last few weeks recently!) started all-out busying myself in my studio. Feels good, and yet I'm also pretty motivated to find me-self a job too, and have been applying here and there. My mornings are for job-hunting and applications, afternoons & eves for making beads and jewellery.

Here's a cane I'm pretty pleased with, my summery goldfish! I saw some initial instructions for a lovely one at Parole de Pate, but being a lazy cane-maker, I could not see myself being patient enough to go through all those steps - so here is my quickie version:

Starting the squishing process, it just looks like a ball of flames at this point...

After reduction, here's my little goldfishie! His body is a little flat, but I like the movement of his tail which I can play with when I'm applying a slice of cane to a surface. My only regret is filling the cane with white instead of translucent clay, since I will now have many white goldfish beads (I think they look great though!). I'll make another with translucent one day!

I've been making lovely earrings and pendants out of this little guy (or gal!). I'll try to post photos soon.

It's a little challenging in my last week of prep for Powell Street Fest, to have a bit of a sore spot on my dominant hand. For the second time in two weeks, I smacked my index finger while playing taiko at a performance a couple days ago and this time the blood spatter was a little more substantial than the first time (that's the scab in the middle of the flap of skin), splattering onto the four drums I was using. It's absolutely true when we say that our blood, sweat and tears are in every one of our group's drums!

It's healing nicely (flap stays closed now), but is a little sore, and I have to stop, and stretch and rest my hands regularly. For the last several years, as a jewellery and cardmaker, my hands have been my livelihood, so I do have to be extra-careful keeping my hands and arms in good working condition. Taiko definitely doesn't help, but it's not like I'll be stopping any time soon! It keeps me sane and grounded and healthy. It's all about balance, I guess.

Ok, time to change my bandage, make a fresh coffee and get back to work...

Still miss you, Mom

2011-06-22T22:10:00.005-04:00

It's already been five years since my mom died. Kind of hard to believe. I still miss her, but more often than not, I'm smiling when I think of her... even when I'm missing her. She was a funny, generous and warm person, a wonderful mom and the best Bachan (grandmother).

Our hip & happenin' family in 1975

She loved her games and was deadly at our family favourite, RACK-O.

A "friendly" game of pool in 1972

Pedal-boating with Evan in Edmonton

A friend to all animals, here she is with Ringo of Coquitlam

At our 2002 wedding, Mom was in her glory with her collective pride and joy, all 11 of her grandchildren!

A much-loved activity - drinks and snacks with her big sister

I'll think about you when I pass through New Westminster, as I do every year on my trip to Vancouver. Love you always ♥

Getting back into the rhythm of things...

2011-06-14T13:20:00.004-04:00

Slowly getting back to the work-from-home routine, to motivating myself to get my butt into gear, to working on some new designs that have been floating around in my leeeetle brain. Still have to work on not getting sidetracked by this thing we call the computer. For a professional procrastinator, the computer is not always my useful and practical friend - surfing has led me to many an unproductive morning. But I digress!

My contract finished a few weeks ago and after a bit of a down, followed by a mad rush of job-searching and online application sending, I am now psyched to get back into my creative work. I'm doing a couple other big events later this summer, but this Saturday is the Journée des bons voisins, hosted by Rue Publique which I'm really looking forward to! St-Viateur will be closed to traffic and there'll be food, activities, yoga in the street and a bike repair workshop :) The craft show is organized by Old Skool Crafts and we'll be in the basement of St. Michael's Church, right on the corner of St-Urbain and St-Viateur.

Hope to see you there!

Benefit concert for Japan!

2011-03-25T00:50:00.004-04:00

Been working hard on this show, and it's all coming together...

Arashi Daiko will be performing some of their favourite and most powerful pieces. Don't miss it!!!

♪ ♫ Ch-ch-ch-changes... ♫ ♪

2011-01-23T12:36:00.004-05:00

"Turn and face the strain..."

Well, it's now 2011 and I've finished week 5 of a temporary work contract which will end in mid May. I am learning to enjoy working outside the studio again and it helps that it's a pretty easy work environment to be in. The biggest adjustment is not having ANY time in my studio to make or work on any jewellery or cards; frustrating at first, but this is temporary and with time, I might even muster up some energy in the evenings to head into the studio. Another big adjustment has been getting up early and going out every day, which means having to care about my hair and if I have crust in my eyes - generally the cats and the mailman don't care about that stuff.

My first week had me marvelling at the fact that I was part of the "work force" again - a bit of an odd feeling after trying to make it on my own (so to speak) for the last few years as a self-employed artisan (again, so to speak). I now feel useful at work, which is a good thing, but I still have a lot to learn - by the time I feel like I totally know what I'm doing, the contract will over :)

I was ridiculously nervous leading up to my first day, but everyone has been super helpful and welcoming. Very different than the people I'm used to, but I am actually enjoying the daily contact with such a variety of people - in spite of my mole-like tendencies, I do like seeing and chatting with people. Really interesting too, in terms of personality dynamics and interactions.

Clothing has been a bit of an issue for me. I got lots of clothes from my sister in Edmonton (thanks Nance!) - kind of standard officey stuff and I did do a fair bit of shopping as well. I often feel like I'm wearing a costume though; I guess I should see it more as a uniform, which a lot of people have to wear at their jobs, right? Now after a few weeks at work, I'm now allowing a bit of my personality into my wardrobe, although I cannot get too granola or grungey or "way out there" since this is a government office and pretty clean-cut... anyway, it's no biggie really. Work costume, it is!

The best thing about this job is that I am contributing substantially to our household and I am so grateful for that. Jean-François has been so amazingly supportive these past several years of my very sporadic business and it feels good to have a regular paycheque to deposit. It is also a very low-stress job, in that I do my stuff when I'm there and I leave it all there once I leave the building. I guess that's a choice as well, but I have made a conscious decision that nothing is going to freak me out at this job. Little daily issues aside, I cannot think of anything at work that is worth getting so worked up over, that it will spill over into my actual LIFE (ie, outside the job).

My creative side is on hold for the moment (well, not really, but you know what I mean) but I'll be back. I cannot really complain about anything. I have my health, my honey, my family and friends, my cats, my passions, a roof over my head, more food than I can eat, more clothes than I could possibly need, a great temp job and a great job to go back to once this contract is over.

Life is good.

We know it's winter when...

2010-12-09T21:37:00.007-05:00

... kittehs cannot see beyond the piled-high balcony. My poor Chibi was confused - alas, it doesn't take much to confuse her... Second dumping of snow coming this week-end, but hopefully it will hold off until the end of Sunday, since I'm doing my last craft show of the season:

We'll be 70 sellers strong at St-Michael's Church on the corner of St-Urbain and St-Viateur! Lots of wonderful local talent, great eats, and unique handmade gifts for your friends and family. From 11am to 6pm both Saturday December 11 and Sunday December 12.

Onsight there will be collection boxes for Dans la Rue (meal-type canned goods) and CTV's The Spirit of Giving campaign(lightly used clothing, toys, non-perishable foods), so please bring what you can to make someone else's holiday season a little more merry and bright (^_^).
______________________________________________________________

The show in Edmonton, Make It Edmonton!, was great! Well organized, well attended (despite the Grey Cup parade on Saturday and the game on Sunday) and lots of fun. Tons of amazing artists with beautiful stuff, made some good purchases and trades! Had a super visit with my sister (aka Nancy, my sales associate) and her family too - icing on the cake! Thanks to everyone in Edmonton who came out to the show!_____________________________________________________________

Change is a comin'... I'm starting an outside the studio/house job next Tuesday!!! It's a temporary position until May next year which is perfect since the winter months are pretty scant for me as an artisan. I got a call a couple of weeks ago - out of the blue - to go in for an interview, so I didn't have time to freak out too much, phew!

And well, here I am, ready to start in a few days. I am nervous as heck, but really looking forward to it at the same time. I'll let you know how it all unfolds...

Holiday shows - already!

2010-11-12T10:32:00.006-05:00

I'm a bad blogger. I feel better now that that's out of the way.

Some fresh sushi platters...

You can find these, my other jewellery lines and my greeting cards at my upcoming craft shows! Here's my line-up for this holiday season:

Friday November 19: 11am to 9pm
Saturday November 20: 10am to 5pm
Art Etc. Exhibition and Sale
50, Westminster Ave S., at Avon Road, Montreal West
(Bus 90, 123, 105 from metro Vendome; bus 162 from metro Villa-Maria)

Thursday November 25: 4pm to 9pm
Friday November 26: noon to 9pm
Saturday November 27: 10am to 5pm
Sunday November 28: 11am to 5pm
Make It Edmonton!
Alberta Aviation Museum, 11410 Kingsway Avenue, Edmonton AB

Sunday November 28: 1 to 4pm
Craft & Bake Sale
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal, 8155 rue Rousselot, Montreal
(Bus 193 from metro Jarry, or bus 45 north from Fabre - 15 minute walk from either metro)
*I will be in Edmonton at this time, but my husband, Jean-François, and my good friend, Yukari, will be at this show to get you whatever you need (^_^) As with all events at the JCCCM, you'll find LOTS of great eats too!

Saturday December 11: 11am to 6pm
Sunday December 12: 11am to 6pm
Holiday Bazaar presented by Old Skool Crafts
Eglise St-Michel, 105 St-Viateur W., corner St-Urbain, Montreal

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Can't forget about my kitties, it IS Friday after all! So for Friday Cat Blogging, here's my Chibi (aka Cheeb, la Chibette, Chicken Sally, Cheechee, Chili con chibi) having a snooze. Look at that face.

I tell ya', if I did not have my two cats, I would be a cranky, nasty, smelly (Chibi grooms me), crafty person with crazy high blood pressure. Well, cranki-ER and nasti-ER, my smelliness would stay about the same since I would then resort to grooming myself. Anyway, they can make me smile even on a horribly stressful day.

OK, to the studio. Now.

Um, NOW.

McGill's Farmers' Market!

2010-09-20T23:56:00.005-04:00

September always whizzes by, a month of changes and the start of autumn crispness in the air. Love it!

This Wednesday September 22nd, I'll be at the McGill Farmers' Market, on the main campus of McGill University in downtown Montreal. I'll be there from 11am to 6pm at Three Bares Park (not a typo), along with Norma of CaraCarmina and the wonderful fresh produce of our local farmers of course! Looking forward to bringing home some fruits and veggies, as well as organic tofu, raw milk cheese and chocolate, mmmmm... Full list of this year's farmers is here.

I won't bring ALL my stuff since the tables are small, but I'll have a little of everything. Worked on some cards today... doo dee doo ♪ ♫ ♪

New (ish) cabinet for my workshop!

2010-09-10T09:34:00.007-04:00

My bro-in-law, Chris, was in town last week to help his mom clean out their basement and garage in anticipation of her moving in the next couple months. Sixty years of accumulated stuff - I was impressed with how organized everything was; goodness knows I'd just be living in a heap of a mess if I ever lived anywhere that long (remember I have that hoarding gene).

Chris' late dad had a wonderful woodworking and repair workshop (I think he was an auto mechanic or an electrician); most the of the well-maintained tools and equipment - ie, all of it! - had been given away, but this amazing metal cabinet that his smaller pieces were kept in, was still sitting in the basement. The drawers are wide and flat, perfect for larger paper pieces - I was thrilled when they said I could have it!

My enthusiasm was quelled somewhat when I realized just how grimey it was once we got it home. It didn't seem to matter how many times I washed it, there was always another layer of black that could be wiped off; it IS metal after all ... Jean-François suggested lining the inside of the drawers, but I was thinking more of the quick and painless route. A little online research and I decided to paint it. Krylon "Outdoor Spaces" in a can had become our toxic friend.

Here's JF finishing up the main part of the cabinet.

Before and after of the drawers...

Friday cat interlude: Chibi had to test the spot where the cabinet would go. She hates looking at the camera.

Tadaaaaah! Raise your hand if you love mossy green!

Thank you, Mr. & Mrs. O.! This cabinet will serve me well and will hopefully help to clear up some of my table space. Three tables in this room and I still can't manage to get rid of the clutter... I have the hoarding gene AND the clutter gene.

Will be writing more, had a great summer and have a busy season coming up! Happy week-end everyone!

Saturday - La Récré! Recess!

2010-08-19T20:44:00.006-04:00

I'll be back at the Marché la Récré (French for "recess") outdoor market in Montreal's Mile End this coming Saturday, August 21st. You'll find me in the schoolyard of Ecole Lambert-Closse, corner of St-Urbain and Bernard, from 10am to 5pm.

This is one of a several neighbourhood outdoor markets that have been popping up in our fair city this summer; you can find artisan-made creations, vintage treasures and great eats all in the same schoolyard, under the summer sun! Lots of good stuff to be found, see a partial list of the sellers on the website. Thanks to Dana and Guerlain for all their hard work and big smiles (^_^)

Some new sushi platters for ya! Litte surprise gift with any sushi purchase !

Matsuri Japon - Japanese festival in Montreal!

2010-08-13T09:52:00.004-04:00

Come and see me at Matsuri Japon in the Old Port this Saturday, August 14th, from 2 to 10pm! Lots of new jewellery designs to show you!
Venez me voir au Matsuri Japon dans le Vieux-Port, le samedi 14 aout, de 14h à 22h! J’ai des nouveaux designs de bijoux à vous montrer!

(*this shot is from 2008)

I will also be featuring cards & prints with real flowers, by Jackie Bassett of PetalPop Designs.
Je vais aussi présenter les superbes cartes & imprimés avec des vraies fleurs, par Jackie Bassett de PetalPop Designs.

This year’s edition of the matsuri will be along the water, just below Rue de la Commune between Blvd St-Laurent and Place Jacques-Cartier. Taiko drumming, Japanese dancing (odori), martial arts demonstrations and great food throughout the day – you can even wear a traditional yukata! Easily accessible by either metro Champ de Mars or metro Place d’Armes. For a map, and a schedule of the day’s activities, http://www.festivaljapon.com/.

Cette année le matsuri aura lieu au bord de l’eau, juste au sud de Rue de la Commune entre Boul St-Laurent et la Place Jacques-Cartier. Tambours taiko, la danse japonaise (odori), démonstrations d’arts martiaux et la bonne bouffe japonaise toute au long de la journée – vous pourriez même porter un yukata traditionel! Accessible en métro, soit la station Champ de Mars ou Place d’Armes. Pour une carte et un horaire des activités de la journée, http://www.festivaljapon.com/.

Looking forward to seeing you all there! Au plaisir de vous y voir!

Powell Street Festival July 31 - August 1!

2010-07-28T12:14:00.003-04:00

It's that time of year again, yaaay!

I'll be in Vancouver's newly renovated Oppenheimer Park, for the 34th annual Powell Street Festival. Come on down for lots of great Japanese food and a schedule packed with amazing entertainment! Lots of music, dancing and taiko (Japanese drumming), both traditional and contemporary. Complete schedule of both days can be found by clicking here.

I'll be in great company as usual, among the many wonderful artisans selling accessories, glass, pottery, soap and lots more. For the list of sellers and a complete programme of the festival week-end, click here.

News...

Finally, photos of some pieces I've been working on! I'll have some of these at Powell Street in Vancouver, as well as at Montreal's Matsuri Japon on August 14th in the Old Port. Other new stuff as well, including these long 'n skinny pendants and earrings, plus a different sushi platter that I'll keep as a surprise... (^_^)

Marché la Récré outdoor market

2010-07-15T10:09:00.006-04:00

I'll be at the Marché la Récré outdoor market in Montreal's Mile End this coming Saturday, July 17th. It's the first time a weekly event of this sort is being planned, where you'll be able to find artisan-made creations, vintage treasures and great eats all in the same schoolyard, under the summer sun!

It'll be happening every Saturday in the schoolyard of Ecole Lambert-Closse, corner of St-Urbain and Bernard, from 10am to 5pm. I'll be there tomorrow for sure and might make it back for some other dates as well! Lots of goooood stuff to be found, see a partial list of the sellers here.

Vancouver...
I'll be heading back to the Powell Street Festival in Vancouver in a couple of weeks, July 31st & August 1st. Looking forward to being back in the newly refurbished Oppenheimer Park and seeing all my Vancouver friends and family!

For the occasion, I decided to make a new fancy tamago maki, or egg roll (hee hee!) sushi! Click to see more detail. Other new pieces in the makes as well!

Happy Birthday Ebi! (aka Friday Cat Blogging)

2010-07-02T14:33:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Ebi's 11th birthday, woo hoo! He's been having some kidney problems lately which is common in older cats, but he's on a special diet now and taking some meds so he's doing pretty well. We can tell he's still the same ol' boy because he still charges around after Chibi, and she still takes it from him.

Here is Ebi the ninja on my craft show table cloth that is ready to go into the washing machine. Nothing quite as comfy as laundry on the floor to lie on.

Averting his gaze in this shot below, the ninja truly passes unnoticed...

Remember that Ebi was a birthday gift for my mom; you can read about that here. It's been four years now that my mom passed away - still can't believe it some days. Time goes by so quickly and yet everything about her hospitalisation is crystal clear in my mind, still makes me wince.

He was a few months old in this shot but boy, did she love this cat, her little king!

Well, he's OUR gift now, my little stinker and JF's best buddy - and Chibi's arch nemesis. Happy Birthday Ebi!

I'll be here again...

2010-07-01T09:41:00.004-04:00

Happy Canada Day everyone!

I'll be back at Impact Galerie today, Thursday July 1st, selling my jewellery and some cards (won't have everything with me - just ask if there's something in particular you're looking for), from noon to 5 or 6pm (might stay later, if it's a good day!):

Impact Galerie, 209 St-Paul West, in Old Montreal just west of St.François-Xavier (street the Centaur Theatre is on), metro Place-d’Armes. Lots to see and do in the Vieux-Port (Old Port)!!!

There will be other talented artisans there too including fellow Etsians, Jackie of Petal Pop and Norma of CaraCarmina - definitely making it worth your while! This will likely be my last day at this store as well, and the next time I'll be selling to the public in Montreal in August 14th at Matsuri Japon... just so you know... ;)

Selecting fruit...

2010-06-28T16:03:00.004-04:00

So we were at the grocery store yesterday and the bins of watermelons were out again - it IS the season, after all. It used to take me awhile to pick my melon, but I try not to think about it too much anymore and go with my gut feeling. I spotted the one I wanted which was on the other end of the bin, closer to Jean-François. I pointed to it and said "that one," to which the lady standing next to him promptly scooped it up and put it in her cart, turned around and rolled her way into the store.

We were stunned. Did she see my special melon-picking talent, or was she just too lazy to make her own selection? Was it something in human nature that made her do that, i.e., I must have that which someone else covets? I settled for my second choice melon, and - HA! - look at this perfect specimen that we cut into just awhile ago. Deeeelish!

Take THAT, you melon-stealing-can't-make-your-own-fruit-selection person! (not a whole lot to blog about this quiet Monday, as you can see - will have some production photos this week!)

Friday!

2010-06-25T10:05:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone! I'll be here today, Friday June 25th, selling my jewellery and some cards (won't have everything with me - just ask if there's something in particular you're looking for), from noon to 9pm:
Impact Galerie, 209 St-Paul West, in Old Montreal just west of St.François-Xavier (street the Centaur Theatre is on), metro Place-d’Armes

There will be other talented artisans there too including fellow Etsians, Jackie of Petal Pop and Norma of CaraCarmina - definitely making it worth your while! The weather is going to be great (ie NO RAIN), perfect for dinner or just a coffee/beer down in the Old Port. Looking forward to seeing you later today.

And... drumroll please (perhaps a little dramatic)... the return of Friday Cat Blogging, with a quick and cozy photo. Jean-François now has an I-pad. Ebi doesn't mind if he uses it as long as there's room for him too.

Bonne fin de semaine tout le monde, et Bonne Fête St-Jean un jour en retard (^_^)
Have a good week-end everyone, and Happy St-Jean-Baptiste a day late (^_^)

Perfect day!

2010-06-24T14:11:00.005-04:00

I rambled on about my bike a few posts ago. Well, yesterday Jean-François and I went for a 24 km ride! I am not often proud of myself but for this feat I am! The ride was mostly on Montreal's impressive system of bike paths, but we were also on the street and there I was pretending like I knew what I was doing. I guess I kinda know what I'm doing.

This first photo is on the path along Boulevard Gouin, so pretty! Quaint little clapboard houses alongside century old stone houses, with a smattering of pillared mansions (a tad tacky for my taste) and St-Leonard style (Montrealers will know what I mean) duplexes. An odd blend, but makes for great ride-by scenery. This is down by one of the dams, very low water level as you can see.

Riding back home we went through the Miron Quarry which is now home to Montreal's recycling plant. You can read more about the quarry and the bike path surrounding it at this blog who did a great job writing about it!

The path around the quarry also passes right around the Cirque du Soleil's headquarters, which is home to the org's administration, training centres and costume makers. It's almost like a little village. Arashi Daiko, the Japanese drum group I'm a member of, has been hired on several occasions by the Cirque, to perform at their parties, and even once in this building at the training centre, as a send-off performance for the troupe leaving to tour Japan. Very exciting for us!

This large circle of land in their "back yard" must be used for outdoor training and we've even seen their tents set up on it. Maybe it's for testing equipment too. An ideal spot for an inexperienced rider to practice!

After our ride we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. JF waited outside since he doesn't have a lock for his bike so I charged around Maxi grabbing a lot of heavy stuff since I had a knapsack and my bike basket. WELL...having never ridden with a full and heavy bike basket it was a pretty funny ride home. JF wore the very full knapsack, but my bike was rather difficult to steer with a watermelon, 2 litres of OJ, 2 tubs of yogurt, and a couple pounds each of apples, nectarines and grapes. I was laughing nervously all the way home, luckily only a few blocks away.

It was a perfect day! Great weather, the best company and my two wheels :)

Earrings to make you feel summery...

2010-06-22T14:29:00.006-04:00

New earrings in shop! Got some lovely new chiyogami (paper) - same simple but beautiful pattern in 5 colours. I'll be wearing these all summer!

Not sure about the background in these new photos. Was very excited when I found this placemat at Ikea, since I love the colour and thought the texture would be interesting, but it just looks...well... rubbery. What do you think?

Working on other designs for my upcoming summer shows in Vancouver and here in Montreal, so more to come!

Went for a bike ride this morning and even ventured out into the street in a residential area; I surprise myself with my boldness sometimes (partly tongue in cheek - if you're wondering why I have to muster up courage to ride my bike in the street, please read this post for clarity). Wanted to bring my camera but had to recharge the batteries. I'll go out again tomorrow if the weather holds up so I'll have photos then!

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T13:38:00.013-04:00

I have written a lot about my mom over my blogging years since her passing impacted me pretty hard, but I've never written much about my dad, who passed away in 1993. Here he is :)

He was born in Vancouver, BC in 1920. In this photo he must be around three years old. So bright-eyed!

Here are the four siblings (the fifth sibling, Robert, would arrive in the household several years later). My dad, Tad, was the eldest and I think he was already a smoker when this photo was taken! Mari is next, then Dan and then George.

Fast forward to our family in Montreal after WW2. Here are my parents with the first four of their six children. This must be around 1958 since my sister Nancy is just a wee thing.

Ten years later, 1968, here is my stunned self with my dad in our front yard. Like father, like daughter - both of us often had our mouths hanging open...

Here's our early 70's clan. I love my mom's funky orange dress (very thick textured polyester), my dad's too-cool purple shirt, my three brothers' side-swept bangs and my sisters' geometric mini-outifits. I am the youngest looking like a small cranky man in a red dress.

Ever the hipsters, here are my dad and my oldest brother Ron in their fine leather duds, at Butchart Gardens in Victoria BC, likely around 1977 or so.

Dad was pretty serious, but he did have his goofy moments. We put those plastic glasses on him with the fake nose attached but it really matches his skin tone and seems to kind of blend in with his face!

My dad was a very hard-working, honest and caring man. When I think back on it now, he was way ahead of his time and an involved father even with everyday stuff - I have clear memories of him bathing me and taking me shopping; my sister even remembers him hemming her new coat because she was so excited to wear it and my mom was in hospital giving birth to me! He took us camping and taught me how to fish - how to put the worm on the hook, how to grab a fish without getting cut by the fins and how to take it off without harming it to put it back in the water. He really enjoyed all the holiday food preparations - he was the kamaboko (fish cakes or patties made from freshly ground fish) king! We could never get it quite right once he was gone...

At his happiest, with his love, my mom.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

I'll be here...

2010-06-19T00:17:00.004-04:00

Saturday, June 19th, from noon to 9pm-ish
Galerie Impact
209 rue St-Paul W., in Old Montreal
Metro Place d'Armes (walk south on St-François Xavier, turn right on St-Paul)
I'm one of several local artisans selling in the lovely courtyard of the gallery. In the case of rain, we're not sure what will happen, so if it DOES rain later today like the forecast says, it might be safer to wait for another day to come by to see me. Thanks for understanding and I look forward to seeing you soon (^_^) More dates at this gallery to be announced soon!

Samedi, 19 juin, de midi à 21h (à peu près)
Galerie Impact
209 rue St-Paul W., au Vieux-Montréal
Métro Place d'Armes (vers le sud sur St-François Xavier, à droite sur St-Paul)
Je suis un parmi quelques artisans qui vendent dans l'arriere-cours de la boutique. Dans le cas de pluie, nous ne sommes pas certains qu'est ce qui va arriver, alors s'il pleut plus tard aujourd'hui comme l'annonce la météo, il serait peut-être mieux d'attendre à une autre date pour venir me voir. Merci de votre compréhension, et au plaisir (^_^) D'autres dates à cette galerie seront bientôt annoncées!

Family BBQ!

2010-06-18T15:20:00.006-04:00

Here are some pics from a barbecue my nephew hosted earlier this week when my nieces drove into town from Ontario. Thanks for hosting and cooking, Phil, Janice and Allison- it was delish! Oh yeah, and Granny and Granpa for the yummy dessert!

Phil bbq-ing the chicken that Allison and Janice marinated.

Chowing down on the balcony...

... moved inside for dessert.

Phil, Janice and Allison with Granny and Granpa. Sierra the Boston terrier is Allison's little girl. Thank you Granpa, for the excellent photos!

Now for some older pics of three "kids" above, taken around 20 years ago. Here's Allison dancing with her Bachan (grandma in Japanese), my mom.

And here are Janice and Phil playing with Bachan... or Janice and Phil watching Bachan play (^_^).
Happy week-end everyone!

Yikes, almost half the year is gone!

2010-06-10T16:53:00.009-04:00

Seems like I'm always going on about how quickly time goes by and how badly I am at optimizing my use of it. I guess we're all a little guilty at wasting time, but I believe myself to be a specialist. My husband would say (bless his big heart) that I'm too hard on myself, as he always says. But I've told you before that I'm the queen of procrastination and I'm telling you now, I'm a the real thing, a pro.

The first half of 2010 was not stellar, I can tell you that. Avoiding this, putting off that. However I DID do something that I have not done for 29 years.

Get on a bike (and ride it).

When I was around 6 years old our tenants upstairs gave me their son's bike that he had outgrown. My mom and sister came out to the backyard with me and I got on, and of course promptly fell off as I tried to pedal. I didn't know that the mom and aunt living upstairs were on the back balcony, but then I heard the laughter - to which I got up and stomped off into the house. Even as a kindergartner's I was self-conscious, my pride was crushed and I would not get on that bike again and ended up giving it to my cousin Kevin.

Six years later I wanted to ride a bike since all my friends did. My parents got me a bike from the Bay, and I got up early on a Saturday morning, walked it to the nearest park and learned how to ride it myself. For two summers I warily rode with my sister and my friends, although I stayed on the sidewalk while they were on the street. I'm not quite sure why I stopped riding but I did.

Sorry this is so long, but getting back on a bike after almost three decades has been a bit of a revelation to me. I spent much of my adult life figuring I would never ride a bike, although every spring as people would be taking out their bikes and riding along Montreal's extensive bike path network I would think of how great it would be if I could do that too...

I never even told Jean-François that I wished I could try bike riding again, since I knew he'd be too enthusiastic and probably run out and get me a bike and then I'd be forced to try it. Which would then lead to me being cranky and nasty. Enter the Bixi bike system here in Montreal, which allowed me to spontaneously try out being on a bike again and happily realize that - although still rather spastic - I could still ride.

Which leads to my giddy expression above, with my NEW bike!!! I got a Trek Pure , and even with my super short legs, I can keep my toes on the ground because of the where the pedals are positioned. Verrry happy with it. Here she is:
Jean-François just had his bike refurbished, so we can now ride together. So much fun to be on wheels. Kinda silly, but I get great joy in saying the words "my bike" and knowing that I have joined the ranks of those-who-ride-bikes. It's new for me and it's a good feeling.

And on an unrelated note, here's a recent sibling photo, when my sister Nancy & her family, and my brother Doug were in town. Sadly, it was for a funeral, but it was at the same cemetary where our parents are buried and so we got to go for a little family visit :) Thanks to my niece, Naomi, for the photo, which I nabbed from facebook.

Upcoming shows...

2010-04-30T13:54:00.002-04:00

I'll be at the following events next week!

Festival Accès-Asie Cocktail Opening
featuring ODAYA, Women’s First Nation’s Singing & Drum Group
Thursday May 6, 5 to 7 pm
Gesù-Centre de créativité
1200 Bleury (Metro Place-des-Arts)
Free Entrance
For more info on the evening, click here. And for more info on Festival Accès-Asie, click here.

On Saturday May 8th, I'll be in our nation's capital, Ottawa, Ontario, at Ladyfest's Tarts n' Crafts show.

April snow showers....

2010-04-27T13:13:00.005-04:00

So it's April 27th and yesterday it was 16 degrees out (I think that's around 60 farenheit). Today it's zero (or 32F) and snowing. It'll be gone by tomorrow, so I'm going to say it's actually kind of nice to see the falling flakies since we've had none since February.

Went to Toronto a few weeks ago for the One of a Kind Spring Show, to see what kind of stuff people were selling and buying, and what my competition would be like SHOULD I ever get in. It was very well-organized and sellers also mentioned how nice and welcoming the staff was. Jewellery is a hard category to get accepted into since there are so many talented jewellery artists out there. Still battling to get my new pieces together. Gotta put together the best application possible.

Jean-François and I both really enjoyed Toronto this visit, I think for the first time. As a Montrealer, I am not supposed to like Toronto (you know, the long-standing rivalry), but we went to some really interesting neighbourhoods that showed us the flip-side to the kind of standard downtown, polished look I tend to think of when I think of the city. I'm looking forward to going back and discovering more.

CN Tower coming out of my head.

I'll be going to Ottawa next week-end for Ladyfest's Tarts n' Crafts show, the day before Mother's Day. It was a great show for me last year, looking forward to being there again! Details to the right →

Sort of back... kind of... well anyway... meow.

2010-04-01T09:40:00.004-04:00

It felt good to say what I did yesterday, kind of cleansing. You leave stuff in your head and body too long and it starts to fester and ferment. Next thing you know, you start to stink and soon begins the metamorphosis into a block of tofu... Hmmm, not where I meant to go.

Back to yesterday's post, thanks for reading it and taking it off my shoulders, so to speak. If I start using the word "universe" in future posts, I hereby give you permission to slap me.

I'm leaving this afternoon for Toronto, so I likely won't be blogging for a few days. I'm going to the One of a Kind Show, kind of scouting it out to see what kind of sellers are there...

So it will be Thursday Cat Blogging this time around:

Chibi has a new spot, perched on the back of the sofa on this folded blanket. Not an option for her without the blanket as she is very particular about the textures beneath her. On the bed, for instance, she will avoid walking on the sheets - odd, quirky maybe, but I like to call it higher intelligence :)

Time to get out of my rut...

2010-03-31T11:05:00.008-04:00

This has been a tough few months, trying to decide what to do with my ridiculous life. I won't bore you with the whiney details, but I'm having a rather hard time naming what it is I want and don't want. And a hard time being productive. Oy.

I've finally started working on new jewellery designs that I've been thinking about since January, but I can't seem to focus on a direction. Not necessarily a bad thing, except that I feel scattered and overwhelmed with a bunch of partially started projects covering my work tables. I've also spent the last couple weeks looking for part-time work and working on variations of my CV and cover letter, but even those efforts feel a little bit half-ass, kinda like everything else. Tired of hearing me complain yet?

In an attempt to make my workspace more inviting and rewarding, I added some colour which I'm very happy with. I can now just stare at my wall all day (only partially kidding).

A corner of little doodads that make me smile, like cats and owls and little stone men. The frame holds a picture of my parents and a small card that my mom made for me.

The quilted kimono hanging on my closet door is by my talented sister, Nancy. The embroidered Daruma (yes, it's all done by needlework, no paint!) once hung in my Auntie Mitsuko's spare bedroom which is why I never wanted to go in there alone when the lights were off. He doesn't scare me anymore.

I just heard that I'll be doing the Ladyfest show in Ottawa in May, which perked me up yesterday. Ok, I'll try to keep the figurative scab-picking to a minimum; I have to try and just keep my head up, and trust that if I keep moving forward, things will happen. Good things.

Haiti Fundraiser

2010-02-07T08:18:00.003-05:00

I'll be taking part with Arashi Daiko in the following fundraiser next Saturday, February 13th at our cultural centre. We'll be doing a taiko demonstration as well as presenting a little about the history of taiko and the group. Come on out and support a most worthy cause!

Haiti Relief Fundraiser Organized by the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal
Saturday, February 13th
12:00pm to 4:00pm
8155 Rousselot, Montreal (Jarry metro, bus 193 East; Fabre metro, bus 45 north)

- Enjoy great food to support a great cause! Sushi, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, manju, daifuku-mochi, zenzai, and more will be available for purchase.

- There will be taiko (Japanese drums), odori (traditional dance), ikebana (flower arrangement) and iaido (martial art) demonstrations.

- Screenings of recent Japanese Canadian animated short films.

*Admission is free; donations will be collected at the demonstrations and films :)

***All proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross for Haiti***

We hope to see you there!

Sheesh, are the holidays over yet???

2009-12-30T11:27:00.003-05:00

So maybe I'm not as cranky as my Chibi looks in this photo, but I sure am glad Christmas is over. Hmmm, that didn't do much to prove I'm not a scrooge. Chibi cracks me up - she is the most expressive cat I've ever met, unlike Ebi the Botox Boy. NO, he hasn't had any botox injections, but his face is truly motionless not unlike... well, you get my drift.

I AM looking forward to New Year's Day and the year ahead! How's that for optimistic?!

Looking forward to a day off...

2009-12-17T11:12:00.005-05:00

I'm a little haggard these days - kinda run-down, not exercising, not eating great (too many carbs and sugar), drinking lots of coffee. Thank goodness for clementines and those big containers of pre-washed greens, which have been pretty much my only fruit and veg lately.

Was getting ready to leave for the Rusty Plum holiday bazaar last Saturday morning - was going to bring all my stuff downstairs and wait for my taxi , when I grabbed my glasses and this happened.

They cracked clean in half! So I brought my contact lenses along and had those on for the day. Not good, not used to having them in all day and my eyes were zonked by the evening. The next day, I didn't want to wear lenses, so instead I looked highly intelligent, holding up one side of my broken glasses like a monacle and squinting to see what or who was coming at me. I'm sure I scared customers away. Wasn't a horrible weekend sales-wise, but not great either. I'm hoping for a better time this weekend. By the way, the Rusty Plum is at 105 St-Viateur W., corner of St-Urbain. Saturday December 19th from 11am to 7pm, and on Sunday December 20th from 11am to 5pm.

I love my black glasses and was thankfully able to just replace the front part of the frame for $80, so I was thrilled. The place I went to, Farhat, was also having a $99 special (frames and prescription lenses), so...

I also got these!

I have loved this shade of green for so long (kinda avocado/mossy/limey) but am not keen on it too close to my face. Yes, I know, you can't get any closer to your face than glasses, but I love them and I still have my trusty black pair to fall back on. Figured if I was going to get another pair then they may as well be reeeally different from my usuals :)

Monday December 21st will be my first day off in a long while AND we are going to see the Cirque to Soleil! Can't wait!!! Ok, back to work... but first, to the espresso machine!

Rusty Plum this weekend! (plus a ring and a cat)

2009-12-11T19:01:00.010-05:00

Folks, we are down to the last two weeks before Christmas. Once again, I've done diddlysquat towards the holidays - it's been that way for the past 5 years since I'm prepping, making and selling pretty much right up to Christmas. I WILL get my act together for 2010!

Back to the present, the Rusty Plum is back at St Michael's Church, corner of St-Urbain and St-Viateur. Come and finish off your gift shopping and have some pierogi for lunch (or snack)! I'm looking forward to the Polish prune doughnuts - looooove 'em! Click on the poster for all the details :)

I didn't write about the last couple shows I did, did I? The one on November 29th at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre was amazingly successful for me - I was kind of in shock at how much I sold. I need more shows like that!!! Well, I think the universe must have known what awaited me in TMR the following week-end (which was last week-end). P-I-T-I-F-U-L. Oy. It's all good though - live and learn. And I met some wonderful new sellers :)

And... I did buy a lovely ring from the wonderfully talented Cristina Fragapane, the Traveling Artisan. She makes the most beautiful pieces from silver and stone, just amazing. Mine has a blue topaz, a little brighter than my birthstone which is aquamarine. You can click the pic to see it better, and yes, yes, I need to put cream on my monkey paws a little more regularly.

Cristina will also be at the Rusty Plum, on December 19th and 20th, so check her out too!

My Friday cat ...
It's the Ebster. Jean-François (hubby) bought me an espresso maker a couple weeks ago (yahoo!) and it arrived in a perfect box for Ebi. He sat in there for a good half hour; I'm sure big boy (aka "le Gros") was enjoying the feeling of fitting in a box, such a wee tiny kitty... Funny little man-cat.

ok, back to work now...

More craft shows...

2009-12-03T11:20:00.003-05:00

Thank you to everyone who came out to my first two craft shows of the season – great to see you all, and I really appreciate your continued support!

More shows coming up... more scrambling to do... Please take note of the changes below for my shows in December, if you were planning to stop by and say “hi”!

Friday December 4th, Saturday December 5th, Sunday, December 6th
11am to 5pm (no change!)
Schofield Hall, Town of Mont-Royal City Hall – 90 Roosevelt Ave, TMR
(bus #165 north from métro Côte-des-Neiges; bus #16 from metro Parc – please see http://www.stm.info/ for other options)

NEW! The final TWO week-ends before Christmas!
Rusty Plum Holiday Craft Market
Saturday December 12th & Sunday December 13th
Saturday December 19th & Sunday December 20th
Saturdays 11am to 7pm
Sundays 11am to 5pm
St. Michael’s Church (basement) – 105 St-Viateur W., corner St-Urbain (or 5580 St-Urbain!)
*Collection at the door of non-perishable food items for http://www.laruedesfemmes.com/ (Herstreet)!

Hope to see you there!

Framed leaf collages... (oh yeah, Friday cat blogging!)

2009-11-27T14:05:00.009-05:00

How in the world did the year pass by so quickly? The older I get the faster the years go. Oy.

I have a show on Sunday afternoon - a shortie, from 1pm to 4pm, but sales have been brisk in the past. I hope that tradition carries on this year! I'm making some of my leaf collages for this show, although I stopped making them for other shows; I am trying to use up some of my frames, which take up much needed storage space!

I gather leaves in the fall, dry and press them, and then carefully sew them onto paper. I've learned which leaves just crumble and which are more hearty to being punctured. They are then incorporated into little ensembles or single images, with Japanese papers of varying textures.

Some of the maple varieties here in Montreal have been infested with a type of fungus the past couple years, that results in icky black "tar spots" - even framing cannot help those poor leaves! I do like some of the leaves with little spots and imperfections though - makes for interesting images and contrasts...

Voilà! Here's a finished one. I'll try to take more photos of the other ones I complete for Sunday.

My poor neglected cats... Well, THEY're not neglected, but since I haven't been blogging, Friday Cat Blogging kinda went down the toilet. Sorry about that. Here are some shots I took last month, of the world's most beautiful calico kitty, my Chibi. (yes, the backdoor window is rather scuzzy)

Look at that face.

And here is a cat haiku that my sis-in-law's friend sent to me, among many others - thanks Leanne!

This describes Chibi perfectly:

You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail!
Behold,elevator butt.

One craft show down, two great purchases (^_^)

2009-11-23T10:42:00.008-05:00

Off to a good start of the holiday season craft shows! It was my first time as a seller at Art Etc. show in Montreal West and it was a lovely two day show. Thanks to everyone who passed by! And I have to thank my booth neighbours who sent over so many customers, merci Cate and Josée!

Having two good days of sales allowed me to make two purchases that I am so totally thrilled with. My first is this sweater-vest that is great for layering now, but will also be perfect in the spring and summer over short sleeves or sleeveless tops. I met Colette van Haaren, the maker, a few years ago at another craft event and we've kept in touch ever since; at every show I try on her beautiful things but have never made a purchase, and then regretted it afterwards. So I decided BEFORE this show that I was going to buy a piece from her!

I've gotten into the layering thing lately, but most of what I have is cotton or jersey knit, and very casual - which is actual ideal for me since I'm not a dressy kinda gal. This sweater though, makes me look just a little more put together even if I'm wearing my usual uniform - t-shirt and jeans. I got it in a deep plummy aubergine (photo by the artist) that I love and that suits me, if I do say so myself. And it is surprisingly forgiving for many body types! Colette's amazing sweater collection can be found at Boutique Katrin Leblond at 4647 Boul. St-Laurent.

My second purchase at Art Etc., and new discovery is Red Sofa, by Montreal jewellery designer Joanna Szkiela. She makes gorgeous wearable art, substantial pieces that are nature-inspired, versatile and comfortable, yet edgy and fun.

I fell in love with these solid sterling silver Twig Hoops and had to have them (please click on the image for detail; photos by Anthony McLean). They are now dangling from my earlobes. Happiness.

I am sure that creations by either of these artists would become a much-loved and often worn gift!

I will spend the week preparing for my upcoming shows. Am feeling a little more at ease since the first one is over. Hah, ask me how I feel as the week progresses!

Upcoming craft shows...

2009-11-18T10:00:00.005-05:00

Been busy making and trying to stay healthy despite a sick spouse who is now relegated to the bedroom - poor guy, sitting in bed with his laptop watching J-dramas. My hands are so dry from washing them so often.

I'M DETERMINED NOT TO LET ANY MICROBES ENTER THIS BODY. BACK OFF GERMS!

Gotta get to work now on some new seasonal cards, like these.

Here's where you can find me in the next couple weeks:

Friday November 20th, 11am to 9pm
Saturday November 21st, 10am to 4pm
Art Etc. 2009
Montreal West Town Hall - 50 Westminster S. at Avon Rd.
Live chorale from 6:30pm to 9pm on Friday eve, and lunch will be available for purchase on both days at the Café des Fleurs.

Sunday, November 29th, 1pm to 4pm
Holiday Craft & Bake Sale
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal - 8155 rue Rousselot, metro Jarry or Fabre
Crafts, baked goods and Japanese fooooood! More info here.

Hope to see you at one of them. More shows to come in December!

Happy Hallowe'en!

2009-10-31T16:34:00.002-04:00

My "look" for Hallowe'en 1974. No one bought costumes back then... don't think there were many to buy. You simply poked around the closets for something to throw together. I think I was aiming to be a "hobo", whatever that is (hope that's not too offensive). Always wore my North Stars (running shoes)!

Happy Hallowe'en everyone... brush your teeth :)

New in the shop!

2009-10-29T12:23:00.004-04:00

Mission accomplished! I finally listed a couple of new pieces in my Etsy shop yesterday. Sure took me long enough.

These new necklaces are a little dressier than my regular chiyogami pendants; the added dangle and sterling chain add a little movement and sparkle, dontcha think?

I'll be making more of those this week!

Having a little bit of hard time with scattered energy this fall... I so enjoyed that glass lampworking class a couple week-ends ago that I had a hard time getting back to my production for the coming months (I'm easily side-tracked, and as many of you know, the QUEEN of Procrastination). Oy.

My lampworking intensive scheduled for this coming week-end has been postponed, so I'll probably do it in the new year since they're supposed to have two choices of dates. I was so disappointed when I got news of the cancellation yesterday, but I got to the bright side right away, in that I would not be distracted yet again from my work at hand, which is definitely more important.

Here's my finished ring that I worked on in the intro to jewellery making class. Most people opted for a highly polished look with the heavy duty polishing weel, but I used steel wool to finish mine, which gives it a kind of dull, matte finish. Pretty clunky, but I like it.

Off to heat up some soup and I'll then get back to work.

My intro to lampworking...

2009-10-22T09:18:00.005-04:00

Yesterday's post had lots of pics of the process of lost wax casting; I was free to take photos of that whole process since there wasn't time to learn how to do all that in a mere 20 hour jewellery basics class.

This past Sunday I took my first lampworking class, learning the basics of how to make lampwork beads. With the heat of a propane and oxygen torch, glass rods are melted around a mandrel to form little works of art that can strung up and proudly worn. Well, uh... the "little works of art" will come with tons of practice, along with proudly wearing them! Right now I'm still working on how to get the perfect flame from the torch. Yup, the basics.

I am so glad I took this class, after having become totally obsessed with looking at and buying these handmade beads. After just one 7-hour class, I can totally see how you can get obsessed with MAKING these beads too.

So I'll get it over with, I present to you... my first homely beads (didn't clean the holes out yet, so they're a little dusty from the plaster from the mandrels).

hee hee heeeee! Ok, stop laughing. Stop.

I have go back and practice making evenly shaped beads first. Since this was just a one day class, the instructor wanted to give us the basics on a few embellishing and decorating techniques that we could try right away so we didn't focus much on getting a good evenly shaped bead form. Hence the wonky shapes. Yes, yes, and ugly, I know.

One of the wonderful things about working with glass is that it is so forgiving, which is great particularly for a beginner, since you can totally transform something you're not happy with or make a mistake into something not so knee-slappingly hilarious. The way the glass melts in the flame is truly hypotic.

I'm taking another lampworking course next week-end at a place called Espace Verre, which, like the place where I took my metal working classes, offers a college diploma in glass work. I'm looking forward to this week-end intensive, 17 hour course that includes beadmaking, small sculptures and glass blowing. Can't wait! After the holidays I want to start renting studio time and practicing the beadmaking.

Ok, gotta get to my present production now. There's still the holiday hump to get over!

Making a ring...

2009-10-21T11:06:00.008-04:00

A couple of posts ago I wrote about taking some jewellery classes at the Ecole de joaillerie de Montréal, an excellent school that offers a college diploma (CEGEP DEC, here in Québec) in jewellery making. The facilities and teachers are wonderful and they offer open studio time for students, even old adult students like me ;)

In that other post I showed you the first step of the lost wax casting technique, often used in ring making, where you shape your ring from a block of wax that is then melted away, with plaster taking its place. Rather heartbreaking when you've spent so much time working on the ring's design. There are ways to make molds too, if you want to make a series of pieces. Lots of info and videos on this technique on the internet.

Here is our instructor, Jocelyne, at the centrifugal or spin caster, preparing the crucible for the silver that will soon be dropped in.

Melting the silver...

Pushing the silver around a bit...

And we let 'er rip! The molten silver is pretty much flung into the container housing our plaster molds.

The molds are cooled in water and then the plaster is cleaned out with picks and small brushes.

These black bands are actually sterling silver! Can you see mine?

Ummm, not sure how they got from black to white, but they did...

Here's my ring with the leaf carved into it. It weighs a ton. Silver is a lot heavier than wax!

This is after the last of the plaster has been cleaned off - it still has to be properly cleaned and smoothed out. I think I might leave it kind of rough looking for a more natural look.

Taking this class has given me a real appreciation of all the work the jewellers put into their pieces; I'll be looking at handmade jewellery with a different eye now. I'm also really glad to have learned how to use many tools of the trade, that can also be applied to my clay work. Yesterday I bought some files that work great with polymer clay, so I'll be filing everything I can get my hands on - outta my way, unless you want your edges smoothed out!

I now want to take a class with metal clay, so I may do that in the new year. Lots of ideas a brewing, but I need to focus on holiday season production now. Too much stuff in my head, must-turn-it-off...

I'll be at Marché Duluth!

2009-10-09T08:23:00.002-04:00

Marché Duluth is a farmer's market in Montreal's Plateau neighbourhood, whose goal is to get locally grown produce to the local community. They run every Sunday and even have a chef on site cooking up a meal for sale from whatever's fresh and on-hand. Mmmm, I'm looking forward to that, and to buying local! There's also live music; this Sunday, Metro Trio and Lake of Stew. Here are some photos from their website.

I want this crepe!

The market takes place in the schoolyard of l’École Arc-en-Ciel, at 4265 avenue Laval, corner of Marie-Anne. Click here for a map. This week-end, as the market season comes to an end, they've planned a small craft fair alongside the usual food kiosques. It looks like the weather might be a little icky and chilly, so it seems we may be indoors, in the school gym, if it's raining. Hope it's nice enough to stay outdoors with the food, music and the action!

I'm working on making more cards since they already have several jewellery sellers and they asked me to focus on the paper goods. I'll still be bringing some jewellery though, just in case.

Another week...

2009-10-08T15:55:00.006-04:00

Has another week gone by already... sheesh.

The Puces Pop marketplace went really well last week-end. Tons of people, good sales, and great pierogi (this event is housed at a Polish church) - not much more you could ask for. Oh yeah, the excellent prune-filled donuts (might not sound so yummy, but if you've had one of these Polish tasties from Patisserie Rosemont you would be a prune donut devotee) were there too. And oh yeah, how could I forget the vegan cupcakes! My apologies, didn't get any pictures of the food or the show. Pooh.

My table next to glass artist, Vanessa Yanow, whose amazing work you can see here on her website. I got one of her zipper necklaces and I am thrilled with it. Here is a shot from her website.

The one I finally settled on (I tried on a few) was an avocado green zipper with a wee peacock feather in it. Love it!

Had a really nice chat with Vanessa and I know she'll do well at the upcoming Salon des métiers d'art in December, I can just feel it. And she deserves it. Her parents came to see her - so supportive and sweet. It gave me a little lump in my throat when she asked about my parents, but I know they'd both be supporting me if they were still here. I know they are in some way and I do take comfort in that, but selfishly, I'd sure like to see them again and hear their voices. Sigh. Sorry, didn't mean to get weepy, but it happens.

Puces Pop!

2009-09-30T12:38:00.007-04:00

My niece, Janice, emailed me yesterday, "You haven't blogged in a while. I'm just saying." Understood. So here I am, my obedient, guilty self.

I started my metal working classes. I guess it is actually an intro to jewellery making class, which is what it's called in French. It's sort of an overview of lost wax cast technique and basic metal construction. I just did the one class but I have a new-found admiration for the work that jewellers do. Very precise, unlike me - I am actually very impatient and lazy when it comes to certain things like measuring, which is extremely important in jewellery making.

In our first class we started working on a ring, which will be a silver band. I ended up carving a wonky hole into my block of wax since the centre wasn't in the same spot on both sides. You can see the double outline is thinner on the bottom part; when you flip it over, it's thinner on the top. Sheesh. It's ok, I'll make do (instructor said she'd help me fix it). I have this same "meh" attitude with sewing too, which is why I don't really sew. I have to sketch out a design to carve into the surface of the band for this Friday. Hmmm. I'll bring my camera this time and take some pics in class.

I'm getting ready for the Puces Pop Marketplace this coming week-end!

Pop Montreal is an annual music festival that features alternative, hip hop, folk and indie rock, and it also hosts a crafty marketplace with over a hundred sellers. Happy to be among them this year!

Finally got around to making a few round pendants this time. They sort of look like some kind of game tiles or buttons. What do you think?

Gotta get back to work now... I'll be back.

So excited to be taking classes!

2009-09-08T09:07:00.000-04:00

It's been a couple years now that I've been wanting to take some classes to expand on my jewellery making but I always end up cheaping out. Time goes by so quickly too, and before I know it, the busy holiday season creeps up and I have no time for classes. But I've put it off for too long.

So I've registered for some classes this fall in metal work and glass lampwork - yahoooo! I am so excited!!! And I'm really looking forward to being able to offer some new designs to my customers - that probably won't be until well into next year though, but that's ok. I'll be taking my metal working classes at l'École de joaillerie de Montréal, which has an excellent programme for a college diploma, as well as a very thorough adult education programme.

I'm also taking a lampworking or flameworking intensive course at Espace Verre, which includes an intro to glass beads, small sculpture and glass ornament making. I've written about my glass obsession in previous posts that has gradually swelled over the last year or two. I am totally fascinated with "regular" lampwork beads, but I'm also really interested in the idea of making mini sculptural beads too.

Oh, the possibilities! I already have ideas of designs I'd like to create in silver and in glass, but then I don't want to disappoint myself - I really should cool my jets, since I don't even know if I'll even be any good at any of this. I'll be producing as usual for this holiday season, although I'll have a few new designs available, but then hopefully in January I'll be able to rent some studio time and practice my new techniques. And I have to be realistic, if ever I'm no good at the metal work and flameworking, I'll just have to work harder on some new and original designs in clay and challenge myself in other ways, right? Right.

Ok, now to the studio for some organizing! I've got a show coming up on October 3rd and 4th - Puces Pop Montreal - tell you all about it tomorrow!

She's a shoe lover and a cat lover...

2009-09-04T09:35:00.004-04:00

This girl likes to shop. But since this girl hasn't had any to spare in the last couple years, she hasn't done any major shopping. And that's totally ok.

Enough with the third person thing. The girl is me. And although I like nice things, they are nice things often only to me, but that's ok too. I am definitely a shoe person, so when I come into a bit of cash - like having a couple of good summer craft shows - I start researching and tracking down the shoes I must have.

The clogs that I wanted are from a Spanish company called El Naturalista, and are pretty difficult to find here in Montreal. Ever since I saw a friend's boots made by the same company a few years back, I got a little obsessed, looking for them on the internet and hoping that somewhere they'd go on sale. Just a couple weeks ago I found a store in NDG (Notre-Dame de Grace) that had a few left, at 50% off! So across the city I schlepped and got these babies in the most lovely shade of apple green. Very happy, and they even match my mug (^_^).

A week goes by and I'm happily wearing my clogs and I realize they comfortably accommodate all my foot problems... so I should call the store and see what else they have in my size. Isn't that what anyone would do?

After finding out they have another pair in the same style, but with closed backs and in a neutral brown, I schlepped back out there yesterday, yaaay! And I'm now all set for fall. Look at my happy wide feet.

And... it's Friday, so it's a Cat Day.

Still on the topic of shopping - and yes, this fits in with the cats! - I saw this top while on av. Mont-Royal the other day and it's now in my closet. The version I got is sort of a taupey-grey, I love it! This company, Yumi, makes some really neat tunics and dresses/tops; a lot of it is pretty frilly, but there's some quirky kinda odd/kitschy looking stuff like this that I think is really neat.

I'll stop with the brand endorsements now.

Now for the REAL cat; this is Gyoza, my cousin Judy's cat (photo below by another cousin, Kathy). He slapped me on the face last week-end because I tried to pick him up (and he didn't want me to). Just like that - no claws, but paf, a paw across the cheek. That's what I get for getting too fresh. He's a very good cat, Judy claims, even though he hissed at a couple people while we were visiting. I know he has every right to be testy with so many strangers in his territory, but we were just chuckling at Judy who kept saying, "He's not usually like this..."

But WHAT a cutie!

2009 North American Taiko Conference

2009-08-31T10:19:00.007-04:00

After my trip to Vancouver at the beginning of August, I headed down to Los Angeles, for the North American Taiko Conference, held every two years on the American west coast. This is my fifth time attending and although it's great to be with fellow taiko afficionados in any setting, the conference just feels like it's "home" when it's in LA's Little Tokyo. I love it there!

There were a few less participants this year - a sign of the economic times we are in - but as always, it was a lot of fun and luckily for me, people were still interested in bringing home some taiko jewellery with them!

I made a bunch of these okedo taiko, the drums that need holes in the "skins" (that's the two flat circles on both ends of the barrel), that JF so patiently drills. They are then all tied up in traditional katsugi okedo style, which is when the drum is worn and played slung across the body.

I then make the okedo wearable by putting them on leather necklaces.

These are the other kind of mini taiko I make, nagado taiko.

You can't see them so well on lovely Paige who is pictured below, but she is wearing my wee little taiko earrings and the matching necklace. She performed at this year's Taiko Jam concert with Kishin Daiko.

Here is Kishin Daiko with the members of Arashi Daiko who attended this edition of the conference. Kishin member, Darren Endo, did a super job as the coordinator of this conference - woo hoo, way to go Darren!!! He is also a most beautiful persona to behold onstage - a powerful player with true stage presence, expression and tons of heart. He's definitely one of the highlights of this year's conference for me - a very generous and complete performer.

My ongoing taiko inspiration is Molly Kitajima, seen below, jamming on the plaza in Little Tokyo. I blogged a little about her after the 2007 taiko conference in Seattle; you can read all about that here. This time I had a chance to chat with her a little, and found out she was born in Vancouver, BC, where my parents were also born. She is an amazing woman and still going strong.

There is a comfort I find when talking to Japanese Americans, who are just as familiar to me as Japanese Canadians (I'm talking about people of Japanese descent born in the US or Canada); I especially enjoy meeting nisei (second generation JA's and JC's, my parents' generation), maybe because it feels like I'm talking to my family, but there is just an ease there that I cannot describe. Perhaps it's a sense of community and fellowship, shared experiences, and other things that are are simply understood without saying anything, but it's just very comforting.

These are some other women who play in a taiko group with Molly; they claim to be of a "certain age", but I don't believe them. Annie (in black) asked about my tattoo, because she says the members of their group were all thinking of getting tattoos too. Are they cool, or what?

Here's my Molly again, getting down and into her solo... I STILL want to be like her when I grow up.

Happy Birthday, Jean-François!

2009-08-30T11:33:00.005-04:00

It's my honey's birthday today. He is doing his second level reiki class today, sort of a birthday gift from me, but more of a gift for himself to himself. Our good friend and community mentor, Terry Yasunaka, studied under the same reiki master and recommended him to JF. He was really looking forward to today's class, and gave me a reiki treatment last night.

Here he is preparing to drill all the holes in my mini taiko drumskins. You can tell he takes his dremelling job seriously.

Since my late mom and JF had birthdays just 2 days apart, we would celebrate their b'days together - they would usually have to share a cake, but sometimes would each get their OWN cake! Here they seem to be happy sharing this one (sorry, it's a bad scan, but I love the pic). I think this was in 2002.

JF is far from perfect - and who would want to be with a perfect person, that would just be annoying - but he is one of the nicest people I know. Thoughtful, generous, caring, sensitive, intuitive and open-hearted. And hilarious. He is the best partner, husband, supporter, fellow cat-parent, craft assistant and friend I could ever hope for. And he's all mine! Well, so to speak...

We'll be going to dinner at my cousin's house later on today, yay! Happy Birthday Schmoo!

New stuff in my shop... and a Friday cat!

2009-08-28T23:26:00.012-04:00

Been taking some new photos of stuff for my Etsy shop. I love this cast iron teapot that my sister Nancy gave to me many years ago. However, it is a bit of a drippy pourer, so using it as a prop or background for my jewellery seems to work. What do you think? Still working on the white balance as you can see - same pot, different tone in different pics. Good texture though, don't you think?

Night blossom earrings

Sushi platter necklace and maki earring combo

I'll be listing these Hawai'i earrings shortly...

Square sushi platter necklace

Morning blossoms earrings

And it IS Friday, so I have to blog a little about a cat...

Embarrassingly, I cannot remember this cat's name; I'll have to ask my friend Michio to remind me - she is the sweetest wee little thing and is 16 years old! Isn't she in great shape? Have I ever met a cat I didn't like? (* her name is Minette - how could I forget that?)

I'm really proud to say that I got the cat-loving (and animal-loving) gene from my lovely mom, who would have turned 83 years old today. We went to the cemetary which made me happy and I only cried a little. Happy Birthday Mom!

My growing obsession: glass lampwork beads

2009-08-27T09:28:00.000-04:00

There are certain artisans and crafters I've admired online, and it's always a bit of a thrill to meet them in person at a craft show or event. Over the last couple years, I've become more and more interested - obsessed even - with glass lampwork beads; the whole process and technique and the finished product absolutely fascinate me. Although I enjoy working in polymer clay, the end result in bead form is less sturdy and long-lasting than a properly annealed glass bead.

On Etsy I discovered an artist named Ikuyo, who makes the most breathtakingly lovely beads; I love the colours she uses, the shapes of her beads and her trademark murrini (glass cane slices) in her bead designs. She also sells on ebay, under the username "ikuyoglassart".

My sister Nancy bought several beads from Ikuyo, including this pair that was in my list of faves, that she had sent to me as a gift - is that a sweetie of a sister, or what?
Here are some of my favourites of Ikuyo's sold beads on Etsy:

In Ikuyo's Etsy shop you can see that she lives in Coquitlam, BC, which is the suburb of Vancouver where my brother, Mike, and his family live. I contacted her before going to Vancouver at the end of July, to find out if her beads were available in any Coquitlam or Vancouver shops. Unfortunately not, but funnily enough, she lives around the corner from my brother and is good friends with his next-door neighbour! Small world. So she generously invited my sister Nancy and me to her studio in her home, to see how she makes her magical beads. We were so excited!

My crafty niece, Mariko, also came along, since she was as curious as we were to see how Ikuyo creates all that loveliness. Above you can see Ikuyo using the flame to make a bead. Since I'll be taking some lampworking classes (finally!) this fall, I was also interested to see how her studio is set up and what kind of ventilation I would eventually need. Not quite sure how I could pull that off in our little apartment, but I'll worry about that later.

Here is Ikuyo with her giddy fans/groupies. My brother Ron has said several times that Japanese women (or nikkei women, which are those of Japanese descent living or born outside Japan) are all the same height - it just might be true. Mariko is lucky enough to have some of her mom's Scottish genes and has surpassed the 5'2" ceiling.

Ikuyo let us look through her stash of finished beads and to our delight, we were able to purchase some, and she gave us many as gifts. So generous of her! Look at all my lovely beads! We stayed there a really long time, rummaging, oohing and aahhing. Sistah Nancy alleges I elbowed her out of the way when I spotted a bead I wanted. Although I can safely say I did NOT use my elbow, I don't totally deny trying to dominate the bead-foraging space...

Another wonderful glass artist...
At the Powell Street Festival, where Nancy and I were crafty vendors, we have also ogled the gorgeousness of Minori Takagi's beads. You can see them in all their intricate splendour here.

In 2007 at the Powell St. Fest I fondled her beads. In 2008, I returned to see her, only to fondle her beads once more. But earlier this month, August 2009, I had decided before I even got to the festival, that I was going to not only fondle every one of her beads, but make a purchase. I bought not one, but the TWO lovelies you see here. I love wearing them. And fondling them.

This fall...

Along with some jewellery classes on wax casting and basic metal working, I'll be taking a lampworking class or two in the coming months. I'll let you know how it goes. Either I'll embarrass myself and set my hair on fire, or I'll fall in love with lampworking and become even more obsessed.

Either way, yikes.

More on my trip to British Columbia...

2009-08-26T13:37:00.013-04:00

I'm so proud of my family.

My siblings and I are taking the promise we made to my mom (and indirectly to my dad too, of course!) to heart - we stay in touch with each other by email and see each other when we can, but it's not that often since we live scattered across Canada.

However, selling at the Powell Street Festival in Vancouver for the past three summers has meant I can see my two brothers who live close to Vancouver. And my sister in Edmonton has also been selling at the festival for the past two summers so I get to see her too. The first time I did the festival in 2007, Nancy surprised me by showing up without telling me (although the rest of the family knew, including my husband!) - there was a lot of screaming and tears at the airport when we first saw each other. We can be pretty loud.

It has now become a tradition (can three years in a row make it a tradition?) that after the Powell Street Fest, we go to this amazing Japanese restaurant in Coquitlam, close to where my brother, Mike, and his family live. Good Japanese food and sushi is easy to find in Vancouver - everything is so fresh. I'm jealous. There are maybe a handful of good Japanese restos here in Montreal (maaaaybe), everything else is mediocre at best. Anyway, this place, Shyun, is wonderful and Mike and his family go there pretty regularly. Here we are after our scrumpy meals have been wolfed down. Looking forward to eating there next year again!

My sister Pat (my only other sib here in Montreal), supplied the surprise factor this year, by just showing up at the festival! Picture lots of hooting and hollering going on in front of our tent that you see in the pic below. Good thing she showed up with her boyfriend early in the day, or we would have scared customers away with all the shrieking. Did I mention we can be pretty loud?

Here we are on the ferry to Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, to see my oldest bro Ron, who just retired in April, and his family. I know it's no big deal for people who take this ferry all the time, but I just love this ride!

We took another small ferry from Nanaimo to Gabriola Island to do some kayaking - what a perfect afternoon! Here's my niece Emily, patiently waiting to leave the dock.

And below you can see Ron and Nancy practicing their strokes in the bay before we headed out to more open water.

JF had the camera, so this is shot below was taken while I was paddling alone against the crazy current, just before it nearly swept us into these rocks. That's what you get for trying to get closer shots of the seals (hey, we're city folks).

Here's one little guy on his own, click on it to see it a little bigger! There were sooo many seals and little babies; our guide was saying it was a good year since there was enough fish to feed all the moms and pups.

Here are the paddling siblings! Mike and Doug, you HAVE to join us next year!

JF and I can't go anywhere without taking this shot at least once. Awwww!

We are seriously trying to plan for a six-sibling and families vacation at some point. JF is aiming for Japan, but I'd be happy out on the west coast again, which is a little more affordable if we want to do this in the next couple years. This year, we had five of the six sibs... maybe next year? Ahem, Doug?

Vancouver's Powell Street Festival 2009

2009-08-25T09:41:00.006-04:00

Every time I go to Vancouver, British Columbia, I think "Hmmm, I'd be happy to stay here..." I totally understand why two of my brothers have been living there for 30+ years. It is a beautiful city - the perfect blend of urban living in the most gorgeous setting, with greenery, mountains and the coast. Sigh... the coast...

Who in the world would want to leave this? AND the support for crafters, artisans and all things handmade is incredible. I kind of think we might end up living there one day... one day. Above is a shot of our kayaking trip around Gabriola Island - it was such a great day! I'll write about that another time.

This is my third time selling at the Powell Street Festival, our nation's biggest Japanese Canadian festival. It was on August 1st and 2nd, and while eastern Canada was living through a cool and rainy summer, Vancouver had gotten our hot and steamy weather. My brother Mike wouldn't let anyone in his house use the oven for over a month because it was too hot!

The festival days were great though, and people came out as always, to taste some delish Japanese food, watch some traditional and non-traditional Japanese entertainment and happily for us, do some shopping. Above are some of the artisans' tents; you can see how dry the grass is from lack of rain. My sister Nancy, who was also a vendor again this year, and I shared the corner white tent in the left of the photo - lots of traffic!

Here I am, behind my table, preparing someone's purchase, and below, you can see Nancy in action. She made some snazzy baby bibs to go with the adorable booties she did so well with last year; she also had some gorgeous scarves and tote bags, along with her lovely pearl jewellery.

Another shot of our tent...

And the entertainment... here's a duo from Okinawa, Japan, amazing costumes!

Kenny Endo's ensemble, from Hawai'i, with special guest Kaoru Watanabe of New York. A mind-blowing set!

Last year I had photos of little dogs in their finest festival wear. This year, this man came to my table and I had to take a picture. I had a good snicker, but I know if my cats would let me, I'd probably try this with them too. With Chibi and Ebi tho, not a CHANCE!

Final thing of note at this year's Powell Street Festival. Festivals are fun, right? The worst thing that could happen is a little sunburn, right?

Well, at Japanese festivals, people parade around hauling an omikoshi, or a portable Shinto shrine (supposed to carry some form of deity), and it's essentially a mini-building on huge pillars or beams. Festival goers line up under the beams to cart the omikoshi around and sometimes people stand on the shrine to challenge the carriers and shout out a rhythm or pace. My husband, Jean-François, volunteered his services this year - you can see him on the far right with the wide-open mouth, enthusiastically doing the peace sign.

J-F was quite a bit taller than most of the other omikoshi carriers, so he had to either bend forward a little, which was hard on his back, or bear much of the weight when he was standing up a bit straighter. He came back to see me and Nancy at our craft tables, his white t-shirt red with blood on his right shoulder. He had to go and see the medic, and altho he was embarrassed (had to happen to the tall white guy!), it was indeed, an impressive and rather icky wound. The top layer of skin was completely worn off!

Ewww! Owww! He had a hard time showering and sleeping for the next several nights, but it healed well. A memorable festival wound.

Tadaima! I'm home!

2009-08-24T09:36:00.006-04:00

I guess thinking about my blog doesn't really count as blogging, right?

All the photos I took during my trip to Vancouver and Los Angeles had me thinking, "This will go into my blog"... Oh well, I should know myself by now. Thank you for coming back for a peek!

My last entry saw me looking downright pathetic - haggard and a little green-skinned. That's what too much coffee and no sunlight will do to you. Be my witness. (clickable for full effect)I also realized how taiko (Japanese drumming) really does keep me in shape - not playing taiko for a couple weeks and my arms turn to mush. Actually my whole body turns to mush, or I should say more mushy. But I'll blog about that another time.

Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better now, after having a couple weeks to recover from the trip and the lead-up time to it. It was that lead-up time that killed me. Preparation, production and that other p-word that keeps following me through this life: procrastination. I wouldn't have been so exhausted if I had just paced myself. This comes back to me over and over in this business, but as usual, there's Sandra slamming her head against the wall once again, "DOH!"

While I was out west, my lovely friend, Rhiannon, was selling for me at home here in Montreal, down in the Old Port at Matsuri Japon, a one day Japanese festival. I cannot thank her enough for the amazing job she did. Thanks so much, Rhiannon! This is a photo taken by Jo-Ann, and I didn't even ask for permission to use it - hope it's ok, Jo-Ann, let me know!

I'll write again, with more pics and trip info. I'll be doing a thorough cleaning of my studio to get ready for fall and upcoming production for the holiday season. Eeep!

What time is it? What day is it? Did I fall asleep?

2009-07-27T15:21:00.005-04:00

So now every MINUTE counts. Must prioritize. Must stop hitting myself over the head with the "Why didn't I get organized earlier?" Must sleep. Am aiming to be in bed by 2am, instead of 4am tonight.

I'm looking pretty haggard and pale, from lack of sleep and lack of being outdoors. I went out for the first time this morning in three days. Did I tell you I was a mole? Had to go to the bank, to get my floats for the three craft shows I'm doing. I asked the teller for some American $2 bills, and realized in my dozy haze that there are no American $2. The teller then asked me for additional ID. Good thing I at least brushed my teeth.

This is what an exhausted and slouchy crafty person looks like. Ebi is at at the window. So far, neither of the cats have shown even the remotest of interest in my work (I was hoping they could take over the business for me one day); even if there are all sorts of little pieces of potential play things on all my tables, they have never disrupted anything - touch wood. Such well-trained cats. Ha.

Did you notice my big mug of coffee above? My best friend.

I've been on a serious fruit kick this summer, namely nectarines and plums, which have been particularly tasty this year. I have yet to bite into a dry, grimey nectarine or plum - isn't that the worst? I don't mind if my fruit is unripe or hard, in fact that's how I prefer them, but a pasty piece of fruit is just bad. Anyway, JF came home with three varieties of plums on Saturday, and more nectarines. Enough to last me until I leave for Vancouver on Thursday morning. This is one that I had never tried, a pluot plum. So pretty, I had to take a pic. Kind of beige-khaki skin with a reddish undertone and then inside, bright coral red. Just gorgeous. A little bland and a bit too ripe, but good texture. My favourites are the dark purple ones (yellow flesh) when they are firm and just a little sour, mmmmm! Doesn't take much to make me happy.

Nothing quite as lovely as Quebec strawberries at their peak. Haven't had many this year since I've been focussed on the fruits with pits, but in my basket of berries a few weeks back I found this, a kitty berry! I took pictures of it, then forgot about it on one of my tables for a few days. Then it was pretty dried up, purple and not so cute anymore. I couldn't even eat it.

I must be tired. I re-read this post and thought it was funny. Ha ha.

Six days and counting... oh, and it's Friday!

2009-07-24T10:02:00.007-04:00

I leave for Vancouver in six days. Oy.

My niece Sarah worked for me yesterday and did lots of packaging and assembling. I think she may have nightmares about those purple split ring pliers you see below.

Above are some earrings, onigiri charms and that other box is filled with the little taiko charms you see below.
So much more to do. Every hour counts at this point. Productivity. Efficiency. Multi-tasking. Coffee. Lots of coffee. I think my teeth are turning yellow.

Friday cat blog bit... July 1st was Ebi's 10th birthday. We had a little party for him, which was just an excuse to get together and eat. I love this picture - Ebi looks like a cartoon character; click on it and you'll see what I mean. Just so you know, this is THE ugliest cake I've ever made.

Hmmm, it WAS kind of an excuse to get together and eat, but I do think it was a reason to celebrate - JF and I have had him for almost two years now and cannot imagine not having him in our family. Besides, 10 is a bit of a milestone for a cat, isn't it? When we got him in 1999 as a birthday gift for my mom (the consummate cat and animal lover), she wrote in her journal, "... they gave me a lovely but at times a real pest of a cat. He is adorable and we named him Ebi."

That about sums it up.

Oh man, is it really July 22nd???

2009-07-22T10:02:00.005-04:00

Yikes, time has snuck on me again. Dang.

You'd think I would have learned by now - to be better prepared, to spread things out, to pace myself. But no, I now have terribly sore fingers, hands, forearms, shoulders and neck from working throughout my waking hours. Somewhere tho, it must be working for me, if I keep doing it (bit of Dr. Phil wisdom there).

Anyhoo, it is what it is, and I am what I am at this point. I am preparing for three big events where I usually do really well, so all I can do is keep my fingers moving and try to keep my eyes open. I've hired my niece to help me with some of the tedious stuff (who likes putting the charms on those crazy little cell phone lariats?), and of course I don't know where I'd be without my husband, the Dremel king (he's drilling all the holes in my little okedo drum skins).

Here's some stock that's been put together so far. I really couldn't take a picture of my whole workroom since it's very embarrassing. It's actually been good that my niece has been working with me since it forces me to keep one small table clear for her. One smaaaaall table. As you can see my paper cutter is also being used as a surface to put stuff on. You can click on it to see a little better.

My clay table, yes, my clay table. Sigh. You can click on it, although it's rather scary.

I have to thank you all for coming back to read me little blog. I'll write a couple more times before I leave for Vancouver on July 30th.

Hey, something to look forward to - I can sleep on the plane ...

Friday cat blogging... and a YART reminder!

2009-06-12T09:26:00.007-04:00

I've missed a few Fridays now, and so my cats need some coverage; they've been ignored - on my blog, not in real life of course!

I discovered last week when I ate some corn on the cob that Chibi loves it. It must be the salt and butter, but she was really wrestling me for that cob. Didn't know just how strong she was! Please click on the collage below to see all her crazed expressions (^_^)

These are few shots of her trying to pull the cob out of my hand; some of them really crack me up since you can see how hard she's biting and/or pulling. And apparently Chibi is not alone - other cats like it too!

To business... My YART SALE (that's Art + Yard sale, please see yesterday's post) runs through until midnight EST Sunday June 14th. Anything and everything in my shop will ship for FREE WORLDWIDE, plus blog readers (that's you) will get 20% off their purchase. Even items in my sale section that are already reduced by 30% will be discounted an additional 20%.

Sakura So Bright earrings...

Happy Doxie chasing Bunnies card...

Mitsuko chiyogami necklace and earrings set...

Great savings! Come and have a peek at http://www.tatsuko.etsy.com/. Have a great week-end everyone, bonne fin de semaine!

I'm having a YART SALE - what in the world is that?

2009-06-11T09:02:00.010-04:00

I'm participating in the second annual Yart Sale on Etsy, sponsored by the Etsy Supplies Street Team. What IS a Yart Sale, you ask?

It's a yard sale with an artistic spin: Art + Yard sale = Yart Sale! All Etsy sellers are invited to participate - you can read all about it here.

I'm offering FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING on EVERYTHING at http://www.tatsuko.etsy.com/! Just mention "Yart Sale" in your note to seller at check-out, pay as usual and I will then refund your shipping fees! If you prefer, you can also wait for a revised invoice prior to paying - it's totally up to you!

And... for my dear blog readers, I will take an additional 20% off all items! Please mention my blog at check-out as well, and you'll get the extra discount - a little thank-you for coming back to my blog even when my posts are sporadic...!

Sushi platters ship for free:

And you'll pay nothing to have your Hinoiri comfy bracelet shipped to you...

Plus, there are great bargains to be found in my sale section - that all ships for FREE too!

These "Kaede" earrings, regular $20, now $14.

"Okayama Orchard" were $21, now just $14.70:

"Bright Blossoms" regularly $20, for $14:

And "Red Sakura on Purple Waves", now just $15.40 reduced from $22:

Come on in and check it out!

It's Friday....

2009-05-15T14:53:00.005-04:00

Yes, it's Friday!

Here in Canada it's a long week-end too, not that the self-employed really end up taking days off! Anyway it's Victoria Day on Monday in the rest of Canada, or la fête de Dollard (des Ormeaux) here in la belle province.

It'll be busy, with taiko performances both tomorrow and Sunday; hope the weather is nice on Sunday since we're supposed to play outside. Tomorrow should be interesting too - I'll blog about it next week.

Finally got around to taking some new photos and listed a few things in my Etsy shop. Not sure about the white background though. What do you think?

Denim Dahlias chiyogami earrings

California roll sushi charm

Floating Sakura chiyogami pendant

Friday Cat Blogging:
And it IS Friday, so it's gotta be a little about the cats, right? As you may know, our cats, Chibi and Ebi have not gotten along since... well, forever. It IS much better now than it was at first. I got really excited last week when this happened.

Ebi (black cat) now sits in the window in my workspace, a spot that used to be only Chibi's. She doesn't seem to mind too much, and for some reason this time, I don't think she saw him already sitting up there (don't know how you can miss him!), and jumped up... Neither of them freaked out which was good, no slapping at each other like they usually do, but I grabbed the camera just in time to see Chibi turning around to escape. This was as physically close as they've ever been!

There's hope yet.

Lampwork bead giveaway, oh my!!!

2009-05-14T16:10:00.003-04:00

A few posts down, I confessed to my new lampwork bead obsession - I ogle, peruse, dream about all the things I could do with the handmade glass, but it takes me forever to choose and decide on the beads to buy! Blue Heeler Glass on Etsy (username, bluhealer) has some gorgeous beads in their shop and I've been eyeing these for some time now. I love the cheery colours and the lightly etched finish - I do tend to gravitate towards the more matte lampwork stuff.

If you'd like a chance to win them, just leave a comment on Fab Fibers blog post, and post the info on your blog to share with your readers! Good luck to you (and to me too!)!

Featured in an online magazine...

2009-05-12T11:30:00.005-04:00

Hey look, one of my pendants and one of my cards is in the May issue of VivaLaModa Handmade online magazine! Here I am on this page, and on this page too!

I've got them up in my Etsy shop too. Here's the Pensive Bunny...

And the Positivity or Happy Thoughts card...

My Vulcan roots...

2009-05-07T12:21:00.010-04:00

When I was little, my Dad insisted we all have short hair - my sisters and brothers and I, so I often looked like a boy. Here's a perfect example.

My mom would cut our hair, so it was the classic "bowl-on-the-head" look for the girls (up to a certain age), the boys got crew cuts. Sometimes my mom would cut mine really short and trace around my ears with the scissors, for a very... attractive... look... like this.

(* this was the Christmas wreath I had just made in kindergarten and my brother was trying to take a picture of me with it, but I was wiggling around so much because I was too excited to show it to my parents - all that to explain why I'm blurry and the wreath is in focus)

Because of this "hairstyle", combined with the fact the tips of my ears are a little on the pointy side, my siblings would sometimes call me "Spock" - lovingly, of course. I would later shake off my nickname, by growing my hair just a little, and I thought I had entirely escaped my Vulcan past, when...

... Enter http://www.trekyourself.com/, and I now have an updated Spock look.

I don't think I've ever cackled so loudly as while seeing and doing these last night - my husband started us all off - his is the best - perfect proportions, except for the uncharacteric (of a Vulcan) smile. Mine just looks like I got a bit of a bad haircut.

These are just the jpeg versions, but it's actually pretty darn hilarious when you do it yourself, since you can make the head, eyes and mouth move. There are different characters to choose, but of course everyone wants to be Spock. And of course, we had to do the cats as well.

My Vulcan Chibi who looks like some kind of anime character...

my Vulcan Ebi, who looks a little cranky and sininster.

When you go to http://www.trekyourself.com/, Spending my time doing this kind of stuff is why there are not enough hours in a day.

Lampwork beads

2009-05-05T08:32:00.006-04:00

I've recently become a little obsessed with lampwork beads (I guess "a little" and "obsessed" don't quite go together). I check out what's been newly listed every day on Etsy - yes, EVERY day - and imagine what I could make if I had the money to buy the beads. I bought some beads awhile ago, from a few sellers and just ogled the beads, laid them out, touched them, and well, that's about it. I think I was afraid to commit to making something and then that would be it, I couldn't just admire the beads anymore. Silly, I know.

Anway, here's what I finally made for myself, and I am quite thrilled with it. I love the colours and the way the beads feel. Focal bead by Amber Van Meter, additional lampwork by Jennifer Jennings and Keitha Osterhaus.

I'll have to take a lampworking class one day!

More making... while Friday Cat Blogging!

2009-05-01T07:57:00.000-04:00

Although I've been working with polymer clay for around 7 years now, I haven't experimented with a lot of canes. I have, however, made my share of makizushi or sushi rolls though. I guess I could make a really humungous one so that I don't have to make another one for some time, but this one will take me through the summer anyway.

Here it is assembled, filled with spinach, carrot, egg, gourd strips (kanpyo) and pollack / fake crab stick. The rice is thin noodles of transluscent clay wrapped with white.

And for the Friday Cat Blogging... You know I love my cats, they make me smile when no one else or nothing else can. Impossible to look at this face and NOT smile.

This is Chibi a couple days ago, trying to ignore me and the camera. I don't know what it is about the camera, but she hates it. As soon as she hears it being switched on, or sees me point it at her, she's off in the other direction. She is truly the world's sweetest kitty.

Making, making...

2009-04-30T09:58:00.006-04:00

Hard at work the last few days, getting some new stock ready for Ladyfest's Tarts 'n Crafts in Ottawa next week-end. I recently rearranged my workspace with JF's help and it feels great to actually look forward to go to work in there every day. It's already back to its usual cluttered state, but I know now I'm just not cut out to be neat. As long as I know where everything is and it feels good to work in, then I'm ok.

Here's some of the chiyogami pendants and earrings I was working on yesterday. The paper is cut and then laid on a layer of polymer clay; now they are waiting to be put on their second layer/base clay, which will also be hand-cut. Thank-goodness for my trusty pasta-roller! I'm also testing some glue-on bails, using different adhesives to see which one sticks the best. I'll post some photos of the finished product when they're done.

This is a prototype of a bead I've been fiddling around with for awhile, with varying versions. Other ideas are a-brewing!

So many happy years...

2009-04-26T10:14:00.003-04:00

My parents got married on April 26th, 1952. Here they are when they were a-courting.

And here they are in the mid-late 80's some time, not sure of the exact year. I love both of these photos - very warm and happy.My dad passed away in 1993 and my mom in 2006, but I'd like to think that their spirits are celebrating together today. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad (^_^)

Friday cat blogging... study buddies

2009-04-24T20:00:00.000-04:00

My husband, Jean-François, just finished had his final exam last week, and he's pretty relieved the semester is over. He will be taking advanced Japanese for his final six credits and will have his degree next year at this time! I am so proud of him for going back to university to complete it (^_^) And yes, although his Japanese was always better than mine, I could always boast that I understood more than him - not the case anymore!

You may remember that Chibi seems to be more my cat while Ebi is definitely JF's. Well, here's proof that Ebi loooooves JF - draped over him for support while on the computer:

Here are the study buddies again, Ebi making sure JF makes no errors with his kanji ...

I love my guys!

Orizuru cards

2009-04-23T14:13:00.013-04:00

Hard to even tell what these are, eh? Let me pull back a little more...

There we go - now you can see that they are folded cranes, or orizuru in Japanese (oru means to fold, zuru or tsuru means crane). This is a traditional Japanese origami (folded paper) design that has become easily recognizable to many around the world, is probably the most popular design that people learn to make. Although I was born here in Montreal, I learned to fold this when I was pretty young - don't even remember exactly when!

The crane represents a lot of good things in Japanese culture: peace, fidelity (cranes mate for life) and honour. In Japanese mythology it is thought that the crane lived for 1000 years; if you fold 1000 cranes you will be granted a wish, hence the custom of folding 1000 cranes prior to a wedding to ensure a happy marriage. For more info about origami, see here and here.

None of the cards I make have any text in them; having a bilingual customer base here in Montreal means I would have to make both English and French cards - with blank cards language doesn't matter, but this way I really feel that the image on the card (in the case of my stamped cards), or the folded design has to express some kind of heart-felt sentiment.

These orizuru cards work perfectly for wedding and get well wishes, as well as for birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's and Father's Day. They are lovely to send to a friend who is feeling down, or even to someone mourning a loss - I like to think of the crane as a messenger of hope of sorts.

The folded crane is also strung with silver or gold thread so that the recipient can hang it as a decoration and remember that someone is thinking of them.

The second part of the card is where the giver writes their message; this is made of two pieces of paper folded into a pocket in which the crane sits, to keep the message hidden until it's opened.

And finally, packaged cards, ready for a store here in Montreal, and for my upcoming craft show in Ottawa, Tarts 'n Crafts. You can also find them in my Etsy shop!

Gotta go and finish up the rest of this batch!

Upcoming craft show

2009-04-22T08:54:00.004-04:00

I'll be in Ottawa on Saturday May 9th for Ladyfest Ottawa's Tarts n' Crafts sale, just in time for you to pick up a super-dee-duper handmade Mother's Day gift for mom, or for any spring and summer birthdays! I'm really excited since the line-up of creators and crafters looks pretty darn impressive. *note to self: I must make some sales BEFORE letting my inner shopper loose.

Get with it, girl!

2009-04-01T12:26:00.004-04:00

Having a little trouble settling back into "normal" life after the production of that big taiko show. I've only now gotten around to cleaning up my workshop (all my post-Christmas craft show debris!) and it's still in a rather frightful state. At least I can see the surface of my jewellery table now - part of it anyway.

I have dreams of having a huge workspace studio one day. Where, even if I'm splayed out all over the place, I still have enough surface to work on. My polymer clay work is pretty contained, but I need two tables for both my jewellery and paper creations. I have a small room though, so I just have to try and keep it a little neater. I think some more reorg is in order and I really do have to get rid of some stuff (remember I have the hoarding gene).

Just listed these yesterday:
Will be taking more photos in the coming days!

Back to life as we know it...

2009-03-31T16:11:00.006-04:00

I'm back again. No schpiel, no promises from me, because you KNOW how that will go! I will, however, vow to do my best at being a good blogger, which is all anyone can do, right?

This is our post "working-full-time-on-our-taiko-group's-25th-anniversary-concert-we're-so-relieved-it-went-well" look (click for full impact of crazed expressions):

We all let loose on the week-end after the three concerts, and were treated by Arashi Daiko to a two-night stay in Québec's Eastern Townships, around 2 hours from Montreal. Clean country air, fresh snow, and the most amazing buffet you could imagine - we could not have asked for anything more! Ask any taiko player what their group's favourite activity is after playing taiko, and they will all say "EATING!" (duh!). Wonderful salads and great vegetarian selections, and fabulous desserts!
I generally don't eat meat, but on the first morning I ate not one, but two sausages (the other has already been downed in this pic). The second morning I ate two pieces of bacon. I was charged with a misdemeanor by the local vegetarian police.

It's been a couple weeks since the concerts, and now it's back to life as we know it, back to reality and working on new designs and making a living. I've got a craft show on May 9th in Ottawa that I'm looking forward to. More soon!

Countdown to the big show (we're talking taiko again)!

2009-03-06T09:32:00.008-05:00

I cannot believe that the dates for our 25th anniversary concert are already right around the corner... Yes, it's another post that has nothing to do with my official work as jewellery and card maker, but about the activity that pretty much takes up the other half of my life, taiko (Japanese drumming).

We were on the news broadcast of one of our local English stations. If you'd like to have a peek (you'll see me a'yakkin'!), please go here:
http://montreal.ctv.ca/ and you’ll see a list of segments under the “CTV video player.” Click on “My Montreal : Taiko drumming group turns 25”. Reporter Debra Arbec is wonderful - thanks so much Debra!!!

(photo by Hunt Hoe, 2002)

My life, like the lives of all of Arashi Daiko's members, has been totally consumed by this show. Our waking hours have been spent on all the aspects of making this the best possible celebration of our group: publicity, from soliciting reporters to submitting articles and press releases to doing interviews on tv and radio (or trying to!), gathering and working with a great technical team of lighting designer, sound engineer, and film crew; a beautiful printed programme with photos; a photo display showing our group's history; we're also having costumes designed and custom made for us, for the first time. Publicity, by far, is the biggest chunk of work, where everyone has been pushing (reeeeally pushing) to fill our concert hall - not an easy task!

Anyway, gotta get some stuff done before heading out for some errands, and then practice tonight. We're heading into our final 14 hours of group rehearsal this weekend - yikes. Jean-François was just saying the other day that we have to remember how lucky we are to have the opportunity to play these drums, that we have to enjoy ourselves. I'm adding that no matter where we are at the end of this week-end's rehearsals, then we have to be proud of that and present ourselves in the best possible way next weekend. Hmmm, easier said than done.

I humbly ask that if you've read this, please send us any positivity, energy, prayers that you can spare. Much appreciated! And there's still tickets available - it's going to be a great show!

(click on the flyer for details!)

Valentine Craft Show

2009-02-02T11:36:00.004-05:00

I'll be selling my wares this coming weekend!

♥ Crafty Bazaar Affair! ♥

♥ Le Carnaval Artisanal de La Reine de Coeur! ♥

♥ Saturday February 7th & Sunday February 8th ♥
♥ 11 am to 6 pm ♥
♥ St. Micheal's Church (corner of St.Urbain and St. Viateur) ♥

Happy Cat has gone a little lovey-dovey for the occasion!

Our upcoming show... Arashi Daiko's 25th anniversary!

2009-01-30T15:21:00.009-05:00

Well, I've been pretty sloth-like with my resolution to be blogging regulary - and we're only into week 4 of the new year. Sheesh, must be a record, even for me.

I haven't been a total sloth though, since our taiko group, Arashi Daiko, is crazy busy preparing for our 25th anniversary concert on March 13, 14 and 15. I've been working on our flyers that you can see below - these are the designs on postcard ads/flyers that we'll be leaving around the city, one side in French, one in English. If you live in Montreal, and would like some to hand out to friends and family or to leave at your favourite café, please leave me a comment here; we'll also have posters ready very soon :) Please click on it to see it more clearly!

Here's the French:
And here's the English:
One of our group members, Yukari, did the beautiful kanji character of "Zenshin" that you see on the poster. She painted many versions, all of which I though were equally beautiful, but it proved to be quite a challenge for the Japanese members to choose the final version that would appear on our advertising.

We chose the title Zenshin for this show, to represent the journey and evolution the group has undergone over its 25 year existence - we continue to enjoy the process and are grateful to all that have made the group what it is today. Zenshin can also mean one's whole heart, gradual progress, and it can also refer to "ancestors." It just seemed like the ideal word to encapsulate Arashi Daiko, although I'm sure I lose much of the subtlety and nuance to the word since I don't speak the language.

I might be blogging a lot about this show in the next while, since it's taking up a big chunk of my waking hours...

Friday cat blogging with a Boston terrier bonus

2009-01-09T09:16:00.000-05:00

I work from home, so my cats are used to having me around. I think they really noticed it during the holidays when we were out pretty much all the time since we didn't do any hosting this year. I haven't been taking many photos of them lately, and they so hated the little Santa jacket we put on them last year that I didn't have the heart to do it to them again this year. So here is the photo greeting we sent out last year (it's clickable):

Cats seem to hate having anything covering them - they do that funky get-it-off-me walk when something that is not normally there is touching their legs or body. Both Chibi and Ebi really hated it - lifted their legs high to take a step and then paused before taking another uncomfortable step. And yes, I admit to laughing at them. I'm a meanie, I know.

Dogs, on the other hand, seem to like wearing jackets and sweaters. I don't quite get it. Sierra, my niece's Boston terrier, is the sweetest little thing, and look how she loves the two new additions to her wardrobe - umm, actually the only pieces in her wardrobe.

Posing, and looking pretty spiffy in a sweater that my sister-in-law, Karen, knit for her.

And in her seriously-cold-outside coat, with faux-fur collar, and booties.

I spent my holidays with these two cuties - lucky me!

Will be back with some craft-related posts next week!

For my siblings out west...

2009-01-08T09:27:00.001-05:00

Preparing a fish might not be too exciting for you all, but this one is really a beaut! This post is for Nancy, Mike and Ron, my siblings who live out in western Canada, and do not get to see our New Year's feast... We got an absolutely gorgeous red snapper this year from our favourite (and only) place to buy all our New Year's fish and seafood, United Seafood .

My brother, Doug, got to work on it when we got home, propping up the tail and head to give it a nice arch; he also holds the fins and mouth open with toothpicks.

Below, it's ready for the oven.

Above, he is out of the oven and cooked. If I was 8, I would have played with the eye once it was plucked out; would've scraped off the outer soft coating to reveal a transluscent bead-like centre. But alas, I digress, and I am not 8 years old...

And here he is on our New Year's Day table!

What does this year hold in store?

2009-01-07T09:24:00.009-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I took a break from making stuff - well, more of a break from making stuff I sell. I did quite a bit of making of the baking and cooking type, and of course, plenty of eating. LOTS of that. That combined with not playing taiko for 7 weeks has resulted in a rather mushy body with some areas that seem to move on their own. Jiggle, jiggle. I'll be getting back into shape quickly enough (I hope) with intensive practices for our upcoming concert and my own little home routine.

We continued our family New Year's (Oshogatsu) tradition over at my sister's new apartment, where she moved last August; I think she had New Year's at the back of her mind as part of her criteria for selecting a place - somewhere big enough to accommodate our sprawled out preparations, all the food, and our guests. It ended up being the perfect place - a great size and layout for a party. We had enough room for two buffet tables, so they actually look a little sparse in the photos - I think we could have completely filled the one table and it would have been nice. Images are all clickable to see them a little better. Sorry for the glaring plastic wrap!!!

On this table: sushi platters (maki, inari, nigiri, ones with caviar - don't know what you call those), peel and eat shrimp, kazunoko (more fish eggs), chashu (BBQ pork), kinpira gobo, red snapper (check out that curved body! That'll be another blog post on its own), tako.

Here: nishime, maguro, won tons, bean salad, fruit salad. The cows (ushi) standing ready for the year ahead...

The newest and least helpful member of the family, Sierra. Points for cuteness though.

Doug, slicing salmon for nigiri sushi.

The octopus, or tako, was actually cooked the night before. We had to get two this year, since they were so small (one three-pounder, one 4 pounder). Slow-cooked to perfection, Doug's tako is never rubbery - thanks to Uncle Yosh's recipe!

The inarizushi (seasoned fried tofu pouches stuffed with sushi rice) crew this year included, JF, Yukari (my friend who is a potter) and Yumi, a visitor from Japan. Yumi was a staff member with Kodo, the taiko drummers on Sado Island, where she is from.

Here I am rolling maki - I'd be fired if I was working in a restaurant for slowness and poor technique. I might get points for good ingredients.

New Year's celebration was wonderful, although we were missing some family members due to illness. The best of health to everyone!__________________________________________________

My craft show season was great, my best ever sales-wise, and I'm looking forward to a good year. I'm preparing my application right now for a summer art festival here in Montreal - not sure if I'll get in to that one (mostly fine arts, but around 30% of participants are artisans/craftspeople) but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. I'll let you know how that goes when I get some news.

Will be cleaning up my studio (it's in a very scary state right now), taking inventory and trying out some new materials. Will also try to get my Etsy shop back into shape, since I've been a very bad shopkeeper. *whispering* Oh yeah, will try for a consistent blog too...

My last craft show of the season!

2008-12-17T16:41:00.012-05:00

A huge thanks to all those who came out last week-end to the Hotcakes show, supporting local artisans and giving a wee boost to the local economy. Great to see you all!

For those Montrealers who didn't make it to Hotcakes, and who still need to do some last-minute shopping, fear NOT!

The RUSTY PLUM Craft Sale is back in Montreal's Mile-End, and I'll be there, along with lots of other amazing crafters!!! Please bring along a non-perishable food donation for Herstreet/La Rue des Femmes, an organization helping homeless women with housing and autonomy.

◘ Saturday December 20, 10am to 7pm
◘ Sunday December 21, 10am to 5pm
At the Ukrainian Federation, 405 Fairmont W., corner Hutchison

Come and have a peek - I'm sure you'll find some perfect gifts! *** AND... a wee little gift for you - mention you saw this message on my blog and I'll give you $5 off any purchase of $20 or more!
_________________________________________________________

I must apologize to my readers for being a bad blogger again.

As I'm sure you understand, craft show season is a little crazy, and I put up and took down my display at 7 different events, one more than last year - I seem to add one on every year! And it doesn't seem to matter how many times I set up my display, it always takes me waaay too long!

Christmas is next week and I've done diddly-squat. I'm going to cram my baking in next Tuesday. Our family does the big New Year's celebration, so there's stuff to prepare for that too (here's last year's for an idea). And I've done... zippity. Yikes.

Will be back to good blogging habits again in January!

This week-end I'll be at Montreal's HOTCAKES... PETITS PAINS SHOW!

2008-12-11T23:09:00.004-05:00

Come and get your holiday shopping done this week-end!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday December 12th, 13th and 14th, from noon to 7pm, I'll be at the 3rd annual Hotcakes Craft Sale / Petits Pains Show, at Eglise St-Enfant Jésus, 5035 St-Dominique, between Laurier and St-Joseph, a 10 minute walk from métro Laurier.

You'll find original, handmade gifts for everyone on your list, while supporting local artisans and crafters! Hope to see you there (^_^)

Some new and new-ish cards

2008-11-25T08:19:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was a card making day; did a new version of my Holiday Crane - the colours are a little off here since it's very overcast here.

The cranes are paired up in packages with my new design below - can you tell it's a little gift (I thought it was such a good idea, but if you look at something and poke around with the design for too long, you kinda lose perpective)? I think I'll be doing these year-round in different colours, since I like the simplicity of them. Pretty happy with how they turned out.

I package cards by 6's, 3 each of 2 designs which seems to work well for customers. I'll have to also make more of my other set today, which you see below, since I sold almost all of them this past Saturday. At certain shows I sell tons of cards, at others, hardly any; the one this coming Sunday, is usually good for cards.

Then there's my other larger card (5"x7") series, but I'll write about that another time...

The post office will be opening soon, so I'll be heading out the door into the snow (just a smattering). Looking forward to the the first coffee of the day that I'll make when I get back!

You can NEVER tell...

2008-11-23T23:49:00.001-05:00

This past Friday evening I was feeling pretty down since the craft fair at the CBC was rather pathetic (please see previous post for my excited ramblings). What I and all the other sellers thought was going to be a lovely two days of regular sales ended up being the longest two days I've ever spent in one room. Apparently in former years it's been quite successful, but hardly anyone came this year! I felt bad for the people who did venture in because then we were all like sharks circling innocent prey - well, no, it wasn't really that bad, and I'm not an aggressive seller, but it kinda felt that way :) I met some really nice sellers though, which is always great! And I did have a pretty good lemon poppyseed scone from the cafeteria there - the coffee, however, was another story. Hmph! I thought Canada's national public broadcasting agency would at least have good coffee! You can NEVER tell...

Yesterday's craft sale hosted by Ikebana International Montreal made up for the poor sales the previous two days, yay! A small scale event, sales were brisk for the four and a half hours we were there. Did I say "yay" before? Yaaay!

Got two shows to prepare for this coming week, one at Collège Villa Maria on Friday and Saturday, and one at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre on Sunday afternoon. Looking forward to a good week-end in sales, but once again, you can NEVER tell, right?

I have no photos of my week-end sales, or anything pertinent to this post for that matter, so here's a picture of me and my friend Cathy. I think we were around 8 years old, so this would be 1975-ish. She is holding scantily clad Barbie and I'm holding the Ken whose head I would later experimentally stick in the spout of a boiling kettle (it's plastic, what did I THINK was going to happen?).

Bad habits and a list of food

2008-11-19T10:04:00.008-05:00

I'm feeling like this is going to be a productive day. Well, I have no choice really.

It's 10am, got my second coffee sitting in my good friend, the French press. Just got back from doing some work for a community newspaper that I volunteer on - wanted to get it done early so I still have full day to work. I feel like there's a flame at my heels today since it was only yesterday that I really got into gear again for my next sales, which start tomorrow. What is it that makes me act like a meatloaf on some days and a whirlwind on others, when I could just spread the work out evenly and have a normal work week like everyone else? I think I'm a freak.

Anyway, it IS going to be a productive day. Got some more pendants to varnish, some jewellery to assemble and cards to finish up. I'll be setting up early tomorrow morning at CBC / Radio Canada (Canadian Broadcasing Corporation, kinda like the BBC in the UK); looking forward to that one! It's a nice building too and they have a decent cafeteria - although I usually bring a lunch to sales events, I'm always concerned about having good coffee and a good snack.

My brother, Doug, and sister-in-law, Karen, were in town this past weekend to see a play that their son, my nephew Phillip, did the costume and set design for. He's studying at Concordia University here in Montreal. The show was great, the costumes were amazing (woo hoo Phil!), as were the actors. I'm always amazed at young theatre folk, as the acting (and singing in this case too) just comes so naturally. Where can I get me some of that talent?

We all went to my sister, Pat's for brunch on Sunday morning. My other sister Nancy, remarked in an email last night, that I'm like my mom in that I like to list what foods are at any gathering and comment on them. Cannot deny it. I like to eat, I like to look at food, talk about it and take pictures of it. It's all true. I didn't have my camera on Sunday but thank goodness Karen had hers (yay!). So here are the boys looking a little odd, that's Doug in the Habs' cap (he always wears a cap), Phillip in purple and JF saying "cheese"...

And here was brunch (Nancy, my sistah, this list is for you):

lovely fruit platter - that pineapple was crazy good
clementines (yay, it's clementine season again!)
a delightful and mild camembert from the monastery in St-Benoit du Lac
chocolate chip muffins (fresh from Pat's oven)
whole wheat bread (fresh from our bread machine)
the BEST bagels in the world HANDS DOWN - Montreal bagels (why are they the best, you ask? the secret is in the Romanian Jewish recipe that you apparently don't find in other cities. ). These are not buns with barely a hole in the middle, THESE are the real thing.
cream cheese, to sit on the bagels of course
smoked salmon, to keep the cream cheese company of course.

Now for some randomness... This terribly unflattering photo supports a theory: apparently, our armspans are supposed to be kind of equal to our height. So I wanted to test this, and Phillip measured me on the tiles. I guess I'm kind of proportionate despite my very short legs.

Ok, will get to work now. On my way home this morning, picked up an almond croissant from the Italian bakery around the corner and will have half with my coffee that is now very strong since it's been sitting in there for 15 minutes! The other half will accompany my afternoon coffee. Aaaah, the ever so temporary joy of sugar and caffeine.

Jewellery party report...

2008-11-17T11:34:00.006-05:00

My first day of selling for the upcoming holiday season went really well!

Last Friday, I went to the primary school where my friend, Rhiannon, works and did pretty well with the staff there. Everyone was so nice (as they were last year)! We then went to her place to set up for our jewellery party; she has a great house, perfect for this kind of event. We were both kind of nervous, but it ended up going really well. It was a small gathering of 8 lovely women, but everyone ended up buying numerous items from me, so I ended up doing as well as I do on a pretty good day at a craft show. The whole day added up was just fine and dandy!
Here's my jewellery table in the living room. The format of the evening was great, very casual and relaxed. People arrived, got a glass of wine and then came to look at the jewellery. I have lots of pendants not on a chain or leather necklace (middle display board on my table) since many people already have numerous chains at home, and customers also like to choose the colour and length of leather for their necklaces. I also brought along all my tools and extra findings to put it all together, and everyone was happy with their custom-made pieces.

Here are my cards on the coffee table, and my catalogue that I left out in case people were interested to see where I work and other kinds of pieces I make. I also did a draw for a chiyogami pendant necklace at the end of the evening.

There's all kinds of hostess incentives and gifts you can offer; just google "home jewelry party" for lots of ideas. I opted for one necklace & earring set as a gift for hosting, and 10% of the evening's sales in gift certificates or merchandise. I really enjoyed this relaxed format; I didn't do any kind of cheesey presentation - not that there's anything wrong with that, I just feel a bit silly chatting about how to wear my jewellery! I think the women there enjoyed an evening out to get some early Christmas shopping done, and a chance to meet and chat with some new acquaintances. Everyone commented on the uniqueness of my stuff, so that made me feel pretty good :)

Definitely something I'd like to do again, and something I'd totally recommend trying!

Setting up shop in a school & in someone's home...

2008-11-11T11:06:00.007-05:00

These chiyogami pendants are fresh, varnish still drying. Needless to say, they are far from the kitties' reach...

I made this batch because this Friday, I will be going to an elementary school where my friend Rhiannon works, to set up shop in the staff room. She invited me out there last year around this time since some of her colleagues liked my work, and I ended up selling much of what I had brought with me in the 90 wild minutes I was there. It was kind of overwhelming, but great! I had heard that school staff rooms are a great place to sell jewellery and other hand made items, since teachers are often looking for gifts, or a little treat for themselves, and last year's experience definitely supported that!

So they're allowing me back there again this year (yay!), and then that evening Rhiannon is hosting a home jewellery party featuring... me!

We had talked about the possibility of doing this earlier in the year, but I wanted to leave it up to her since it would be in her home and the burden would really be on her. I'm so happy it worked out, and even if it ends up being a quiet evening with a few friends passing by, I'm really looking forward to just trying out this format. I've read about other jewellery makers' experiences and wish I had a big enough (and nice enough!) apartment to host something like this - one day...! But for now, I'm so grateful for good friends like Rhiannon, who is also a very enthusiastic supporter and wearer of my work (I get kind of embarrassed by her compliments) and she's really looking forward to this Friday too! I'll let you know how it goes.

In case you're interested in doing something like this yourself - or with other jewellery makers or artisans (would be neat to host a mini-craft fair, don't you think?), here is the invitation I put together for this Friday's party. It's meant to be sent out by the hostess. Please feel free to use it for ideas for your own invitation (click on it to enlarge).

Week-end eating!

2008-11-03T11:27:00.004-05:00

Monday, phew...!

Seems like it was a busy week-end for lots of bloggers out there - mine was jam-packed, and involved lots of eats from some of Montreal's best restos!

Saturday lunch/dinner: Indian food from Indian Curry House in Montreal, where our taiko group often eats after performances. Toronto taiko group, Nagata Shachu, were our guests since they were in town for two shows. Director Gary Kiyoshi Nagata is an amazing taiko player (the best in Canada!) and teacher who we are fortunate to call our friend. Their show was stellar, to say the least.

Sunday lunch: Beautiful Japanese bento style meal at Sakura, for a volunteer appreciation gathering of a community newspaper that I volunteer on. Crap, I should have taken a photo!

Sunday dinner: My sister has turned us all onto Roberto's lasagna since she started ordering it in the humungous family format size years ago. The homemade pasta and simple tomato sauce is the best. The pan is so big, we always get to bring some home (^_^), so no need to even think about dinner tonight!

Sunday evening was a perfect evening, with dinner at my sister's, and my brother Ron in town overnight on a stopover on his way to a meeting on Canada's maritime coast; my nephew Phillip made it too since he actually had a free evening from his university studies (we'll be going to see a play he is working on (costume and set design) in a couple of weeks. Here we all are: Pats, me, Ron, Amy, Phillip, Sarah, JF (our cousin, Judy, had already left).

Happy Hallowe'en!

2008-10-31T09:30:00.006-04:00

This was taken probably five or six years ago... My sister made Ebi the cat a Hallowe'en cape with silver bats all over it (can't see it that well here), and we tried to make him sit in the window with the pumpkin, which he got tired of pretty quickly. He slept the rest of the evening.

Please be sure to keep your cats safe and indoors tonight, especially your black cats!!!

It's going to be a busy week-end for me - enjoy yours (^_^)

A bit of everything...

2008-10-29T14:53:00.004-04:00

Just received some flyers in the mail for an upcoming show - you can see one of my necklaces on the cover, second from the bottom, yay! This show is at a private high school here in Montreal; I did it for the first time last year and it was a really good one for me, so I'm really looking forward to it again this year. I had a few great trades with other sellers too, which is always fun!

Lots of new pieces being created in my wee little studio... This one is up in my shop:

It's October 29th, and we woke up to a dusting of snow this morning. Aaack!
I remember many times as a kid, having to wear my ski jacket under my Halloween costume... it's supposed to be much warmer this Friday though, for the trick or treaters :)

To warm ourselves up, a fall favourite: butternut squash soup, well, more of a potage. Turned out yummy, although I went a little heavy on the pepper.

Gearing up for the busy season & treasures in the garbage!

2008-10-23T12:54:00.010-04:00

I think the pressure of the holiday season has finally hit me. Sales have picked up a little online (yay!) and I've got five craft events/shows that I have to prepare inventory for, three that have been very good to me in the past, and a new one this year that I'm looking forward to.

The paper that Chibi was lying in last Friday's post is now mostly cut up into the sizes I need for some new cards. Gotta put it right back in the plastic bins or either Chibi or Ebi will sprawl out over it.

Went to the post office this morning - sent and order to a customer in France whose mother is Japanese and who was chose my jewellery because she was looking for earrings with some kind of "Japaneseness" about them. I'm always happy to meet other people of Japanese ancestry, but who are not Japanese (not born in Japan), since this is what/who I am too. Whaa, identity, that's a whole other thing to blog about! Post office lady still stuck my parcel in the measuring slot, but she might have actually listened to me this morning when I said my schpiel about the flatness of the boxes - I was in a better mood so it didn't bug me like it usually does.

I was probably in a good mood because I had spotted these in the garbage passing by the bank, on my way to the post office, and trotted back there once my parcels were mailed. These are old shelves that the bank used for various forms, but they are a perfect height for risers for my display. They'll lie flat, of course, and not on their sides as pictured here.

I have a huge roll of black velvet that I got at a bazaar last year - hey, everything looks better covered in black velvet! These will replace the flimsy boxes I've been using until now, that are always threatening to cave in. They were kind of awkward and heavy to lug home, but well worth it!

Yaaaaay, for freebies (^_^)

The post office lady and Friday Cat Blogging

2008-10-17T11:48:00.005-04:00

Every time I go to the post office, it's the same thing:

I present my parcels, packaged in cd boxes that I switched over to in April (they are flat and can ship for less than a third of the price of jewellery size boxes).
One employee in particular insists on taking out the little slot measurement device to make sure it fits through, which means the lower price applies.
Every time I say in a light-hearted manner, "It's still the same size." What I WANT to say is, "The boxes haven't grown since I was here last week, lady. I'm not trying to fool Canada Post into charging me $1.92 instead of $6.45 - I purposely changed my packaging to fit into the less expensive category! And anyone looking at the box can tell that it's less than 2cm thick" ... A few times now I've even mentioned to her, very politely, that I switched over to these flat boxes because I know about Canada Post's regulations regarding package size.
Her answer this morning: "Hmm, I just have the tendency to want to measure it. You never know!"
My eyes then roll back in their sockets (I have no control over this), I let out a big sigh and a ,"You see, they ARE still the same size, hahaha..." AND she always tosses my customs forms (which I take the time to fill out at home so she doesn't have to) receipts at me. What happened to customer service training, or even just basic civility?
I gotta learn to just go with it. She isn't going to change, but I can -therein lies the challenge (^_^)

Thanks for letting me vent.

It's Friday!

Cats are wonderful for so many reasons. They are great company and the perfect destresser - just looking at them makes me smile. I cannot pass by a cat on the street without smiling at it (I always smile at dogs too) and chatting a bit if it will listen. My two cats are the best, although they still don't get along too famously; way better than it was before though. This morning I immediately felt better when I got home from the post office and scritchy-scratched my kitties. Instant relaxation. My Chibi:

I've been buying lots of paper for cards, in preparation for the holiday season. Au papier japonais here in Montreal has a superb selection of some of my favourites and I like to buy the full size sheets and cut it myself. Of course when I get home and unroll it to cut it, Chibi comes charging over to slide around on it and lie on it.

Of course. But how can I not love her for that?

Procrastinating.... and oh yeah, a 20% OFF SALE!

2008-10-16T10:38:00.009-04:00

Ouf... I am slow to get with it these days. Even though it should be a whirlwind of a production time. Today is going to be a good day though, since I know I have a rehearsal from 5 to 11pm - psychologically when I know I have limited time, I get more done. Go figure. Five members of our group Arashi Daiko will be playing taiko (Jpnz drums) with a bunch of other amazing world musicians at this show on Saturday in Quebec City. So excited!

Been procrastinating with making stuff, cleaning up my studio, rearranging my tools and materials. Yikes. I said it before, I'll say it again - I am the QUEEN of Procrastination (capital P).
Because of my wandering and oft leaky brain, I totally forgot last Saturday that I had reserved a showcase spot on Etsy, to advertise my little shop. Totally missed it - didn't even select the featured items that would appear in the showcase pop-up. Grey matter, fail me not again!

Well I remembered that I've got a showcase spot today (yay!) and yesterday I took photos of some new chiyogami pieces, as well as other items, and got some posted in my shop last night.

... AND, I'm having a sale: 20% off everything in my shop, even the items already reduced in my sale section! Woo hooooo!

Clicking on any of the items pictured here will take you directly to its link in my shop!

Sale details:
* Regular shipping fees apply. Please make your purchase and I will send you a revised invoice with the applied discount. Or if you prefer, please go ahead and pay, and I will simply refund you your discount.

* Please note that I will be away from my computer today from 4:30pm until midnight, and I will make the revised invoices and process any refunds as soon as I get home. Thank-you!

Since I'm kinda late doing this blog post too (like, a couple of weeks late, haha), I think I will extend this sale for my blog readers for tomorrow as well! Just mention my blog in the note to seller at check-out (^_^).

Friday Cat AND TURTLE blogging...

2008-10-03T09:17:00.013-04:00

I let out a gasp and then a chuckle when I saw this photo on Etsy. Everything about it is perfect - the colours, the cat's pose and attitude. Love it!

The beds are the lovely work of Jayne of likekittysville. Model kitty Betty Bob now lives with Jayne, who has rescuesd many an abandoned cat (often feral) who have come a-knocking at her door... Have a look at Jayne's other beautifully designed modern beds for your funky feline.

Onto the turtles:
A couple weeks ago, we were all having dinner at my sister Pat's, when my sister-in-law Karen happened to mention that my brother Doug will NOT read my Friday blog post if it has to do with cats. Skips right over it.

Now, Doug likes animals, has always liked my cats, is good with dogs, and their kids who are all grown and out of the house now, always had a bunch of pets: birds, guinea pigs, snakes (two that are now around 8 years old) and turtles. They couldn't have a dog or cat in the house because of allergies, but they would have if they could have. And yet, he doesn't want to read my fascinating Friday Cat blog posts. Hmmmffff!

Over the years, on top of the little pet-shop turtles for his kids, Doug also rescued some turtles who were going to be out of a home when his construction company was preparing some boggy land prior to building. I believe he's relocated turtles to new homes in ponds and marshes closer to his home (they live in a small town near Toronto) safe from the construction bulldozers. One of these turtles, Margaret, is now living in an indoor turtle pond built by my bro, along with Jesse and Flash.

Here is the pond in their living room (you can click on it to see better). Oh yeah, and btw, that wooden chest was my grandfather's and it was sitting in our musty basement for 50 years or so; Doug did an amazing job refinishing it. Back to the turtles, apparently, Margaret (the biggest one) sometimes escapes, teetering first on the bamboo fence and then leaping to the floor below, so Karen and Doug have to be careful where they walk. It seems the turtles are pretty happy here.

Which reminds me, I will have to make more of these cards...

Hope you enjoyed this Dougie! Have a good week-end everyone (^_^)

Autumn leaves...

2008-10-02T08:35:00.007-04:00

I went to see my osteopath yesterday, who made some adjustments in my usual trouble spots; often when I have pain somewhere that I have always thought was a muscular problem (I get terrible hardened spots in my forearms and shoulders since I work with my hands and am hunched over my work table for long periods of time; I'm sure playing taiko also contributes a little) it's actually structural, and a bone has moved or slipped slightly out of position. The muscles then get all wonky since they too are pushed out of position, soreness ensues and well, you get the picture.

Anyway, I ended up walking home, about an hour's walk, since the weather was nice and I didn't do any yoga this week since my back has been bugging me. I made a decision while walking: that I will bring back my collages for my craft shows this season (and I'm writing it here in my blog so I don't try to weasel out of it). A few years ago I started using leaves in combo with Japanese paper, needle and thread to make these little framed pictures. (for some reason, the picture uploads on its side all the time, and I can't flip it once uploaded -strange!)

These would do well at craft shows, but were not terribly cost-effective for the time they take to make and the price of the frames. I have a whole slew of frames that I would keep buying every time I'd see nice ones while out shopping, and yesterday's walk saw me harvesting more leaves for my collection (I've got 4 old telephone books full of them!). So I'm all set - I'll at least use up the frames I've got in stock. Now the only problem is finding room for them at the shows I'll be doing, since my table is usually pretty full with jewellery and cards...

Here's a new pendant I just listed in my Etsy shop yesterday - fitting for fall, wouldn't you say?

This past summer I did a festival in Vancouver, BC, and my sister, Nancy, was also selling there - we had neighbouring tables, so it was a lot of fun. Along with her beautiful pearl jewellery, she makes these ridiculously cute baby slippers using Japanese material. Fittingly, since her birthday is in October, her Japanese name is Akiko, which means autumn baby, and here are some of her autumn-ish slippers. Love 'em!

Updates: taiko and sushi...

2008-10-01T09:35:00.009-04:00

If you've made a trip or two to my blog before, you probably know I am a member of Arashi Daiko, a taiko or Japanese drumming group here in Montreal. This is a huge part of my life and that of JF (my husband) as well; I've been playing for 10 years now and he's been playing for 13 years, and it's how we met - but that's a whole other story that I'll share another time!

This is when we were in Japan last year, filming a documentary on our taiko group, part of a television series on world music and musicians in Québec; here I'm trying to incorporate Fujimoto's san's (Yoshikazu Fujimoto is Kodo's most senior performer and the most incredible all-around artist/performer) comments and instructions into my playing while trying to calm my nerves and not make a total boob of myself. JF watches and prepares to receive comments on his playing. Photo by Melanie Taylor (thanks for taking all those shots, Melanie!).

Arashi Daiko is also going to be on tv this Saturday evening, LIVE! Yikes!!! The documentary I mentioned was on the air a few months ago, and led to this other tv show finding us, and contacting us to be on their musical variety show called Belle et Bum (kind of a quirky way of saying "Beauty and the Beast"). Very exciting, although going "live" is pretty scary. And if anyone is going to take a tumble off the edge of the stage or have something stuck on their face when a camera zooms in, it'll be me. I'm serious.

On a crafty note, staying within the realm of Japanese inspiration, here is a new sushi platter I started making this summer, but that I didn't show you all yet. It features a temaki, or hand-roll, those cone-shaped sushi packed to the brim with sushi rice and your favourite fillings - this one has fresh sake (salmon) and its loving partner, ripe avocado. A couple of nigiri and maki complete the meal, with the ever-present wasabi (horseradish paste) and shoga (ginger). I just sold the last one in my Etsy shop for this batch, but don't worry, I'll be making more shortly!

Whaddya think?

Is September really over?

2008-09-30T10:11:00.013-04:00

I cannot believe how quickly September has just scooted past me.

I did a craft show this past Saturday - very small event at a local church, but I'm content with how I did for a pretty low turn-out. I also got to see some interesting demonstrations. I met glass-blower Cathy Strokowsky a few years ago at some craft shows we were both doing (it was her mom who invited me to this show), and I now have five pairs of her earrings and 3 pendants since I looooove her lampwork beads. Even if I buy something, JF usually sneaks back to see Cathy (and partner Suzy), asks what else I've been eye-balling, and gets it for me - I told you he was the best (^_^).

I've recently become obsessed with lampwork beads in general (not just Cathy's) and I've been doing some serious glass bead ogling on Etsy. This past summer my sister in Edmonton told me she took a lampworking class, so the idea was planted in my head to try it too, "You'd love it, Sand!", she said. Sigh, that would be yet another thing to spread my energies on... If I am going to take a class I will wait until the new year...

Here's Cathy doing a simple bead. Very neat, I was like a kid, watching with my mouth dangling open.

There were also ikebana demonstrations; Linda has been studying and now teaching ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, for the past 25 years. She actually helps out with the ikebana classes given at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal, which is where I spend a lot of time playing and practicing taiko (Japanese drums). Small world.

Here's Linda with a finished arrangement for autumn.

I met some wonderful customers at this little show on Saturday. One of them was this lovely woman who bought a pendant and earrings, and who then came back a little later on (she lives across the street from the church) to get some earrings for her mom. So sweet!

Don't they look great on her?

Just a shot of my earring display...

This has been a bit of a crazy-busy month for our taiko group, Arashi Daiko. I'll tell you about that tomorrow...

Friday cat blogging... again with the sushi!

2008-09-12T09:42:00.005-04:00

This may look similar to other photos I've posted of Ebi trying to get at the sushi while I'm making it. But this is actually another recent occasion - he tries EVERY time! Gotta give him points for trying!

While Ebi covets the nori (seaweed), Chibi is more of a crab-stick girl...

When I was done rolling all the maki, Chibi came to see what was up, and as usual, she was too fast for me, a wobbly blurry cat next to the slow-moving sushi :)

This stuff on my head...

2008-09-11T09:29:00.012-04:00

My hair makes me a little crazy. I've dyed it, bleached it, shaved it, even permed it when I was in high school. When I started cutting my own hair and that of friends' at the end of high school, I realized I could change my look just like that; for an impatient person like me who wants immediate gratification this is not always a good thing.

I've hacked off hair when I was sick of it only to lament the fact that I had no more ponytail. I've hastily cut bangs when my hair was at an in-between phase, only to realize I'd have to go through another in-between phase if I wanted to grow it out again. I had a crew cut at two separate times in my twenties, much to the dismay of my mother. I'll have to post a photo of that period some time.

Further aggravating this constant distress with my hair is my cheapness when it comes to what I consider luxuries. I have no problem spending money on concrete things (gifts, clothing, shoes, food ie groceries), but when it comes to things/services I don't consider true necessities like haircuts, massages, pricey restaurants and even osteopath visits, I'm a realy scrimper. I guess it's partially because we don't have the money to spare. My husband is forever telling me to go and get a haircut if I want one, especially since I've been to the hairdresser twice in the last 6 years, and once was for my wedding! I think he's secretly afraid to come home to me with a shaved head.

Anyway, this past week I had reached my limit with what's on my head - again. My hair is very thick and straight which makes it heavy and hot. This was yesterday morning - definitely fed up!

I was feeling ready to hack it off, but I just did that about a month ago in my bathroom; dang hair had grown back! Wanted something layered and light, nothing brushing the sides of my face or heating up the back of my neck.

Enter Mrs. Lee, Korean hairstylist extraordinaire. To make a long story short, here I am this morning after her work with her magic thinning shears.

I want some of those scissors - like a comb with razor blades on the teeth. Hmmm, probably better that I don't have one, I'd probably get carried away and just leave a few wisps hanging off my head.

My hair used to be a lot flatter, but as I've aged for some reason it's more puffy. With age, I am also totally uninterested in styling my hair - woke up after washing it last night, and just wet it a bit to flatten it (looked a bit like a muffin when I first got up) and rubbed a bit of that molding stuff in it. Easy. Here's the back, all thinned out and layered. My head is so much lighter!

So I'm already planning to go back and see her in a couple months so that I'll look presentable when all my craft shows start. My husband is thrilled. Going to let the bottom in back grow longer, but keep it all layered and airy. Did I mention Mrs. Lee is very reasonable, especially for a hair salon smack in the middle of downtown Montreal? I guess that's also why I'm not hesitating to go back again (^_^).

While downtown getting my hair cut, I also found these on sale. They look like Birkenstocks, but are actually Viking Fussforms which fit me perfectly (Birkenstocks size 36 is too small but the 37 is too long). This is my second pair of Vikings, so I know I'll be happy with them for a few years.
Yesterday was a good day!

Now... to work!

Presenting... Artistri boutique atelier!

2008-09-08T10:56:00.015-04:00

This past Friday I missed taiko (Japanese drumming) practice. I never miss taiko practice.

The occasion was special - the opening of a new shop, Artistri, in Montreal's Mile-End neighbourhood (home of the best bagels you'll ever taste). I met Artistri's owner, Jennifer Lonergan, at a holiday season craft show last November and she contacted me earlier this year to be a part of her new store. How exciting is that?!

The boutique is in a beautiful, bright space, at 5319 Ave. du Parc, and it looks fabulous! Not a great shot here with all the glare, but the banners and awning are really eye-catching. All the photos are clickable.
Surrounded by some amazing artists' work, here's some of my work in one of the jewellery display towers, and there are even a few pieces in the front window as well, yay!

Shoppers having a peek at some jewellery.

Pottery by my very talented friend, Carmen Abdallah.

Look at this gorgeous quilt by Sandra Jones!

There were lots of visitors, friends and shoppers who stopped by. Just before going to the shop opening on Friday afternoon, I went to Au papier japonais, where I buy some of my paper supplies and also give workshops; there, I met some travellers from England and Wales, who seemed to be looking for interesting spots and shops in the area, so I invited them to the opening and they actually did pop in! You just never know who you'll meet and what a little chat can do :)

Thanks for inadvertently teaching me that, Mom (^_^)

Friday cat blogging... FEED ME!!!

2008-09-05T10:00:00.006-04:00

We feed our cats, Chibi and Ebi, at 10am and 10pm. This way, they don't wake us up early in the morning, and they don't howl while we eat supper, although they do casually hang around in case something falls off the table.

From around 8:30 onward in the morning, while I'm taking care of emails, Etsy stuff and my blog, Chibi, the smaller tortoiseshell cat, jumps up on my computer desk to say "Good Morning, glad you're up, please touch me." She's happy to be carried and sritchy-scratched. Ebi, the larger black cat, loves to be carried too, and gallops away like a horse when he's had enough (he's big).

As it gets closer to feeding time, the two get restless and seem to antagonize each other - a bit of chasing, hissing, slapping at each other - further piquing their hunger.

By then Ebi is pining for kibble, howling what sounds like "Bernaaaard" or "Manooooooon" (if you could hear these names pronouced in the québécois French accent, you'd recognize that's what he's saying!), and Chibi is prancing about on my desk, stepping on the keyboard, shedding in my coffee cup.

I've got their bowls and Ebi has such a loud voice I often wonder if the neighbours can hear him (especially when he spontaneously breaks into howl at night). Here he's at my legs, just before he's about to get his bowl. Tried to get a shot of his mouth, which opens so wide when he's meowing (almost cartoonish), but could never capture the hilarity on camera.

"My bowl is obviously empty, but I will lick it to show you how famished I am, lady."

She's too fast for me...
Can't keep still in the pre-feeding frenzy...

ANTICIPATION!

These cats continue to crack me up! Best kitties in the world...

What's with the sushi anyway?

2008-09-02T09:58:00.020-04:00

We grew up eating sushi in my family, although mostly on New Year's Day and special occasions. It wasn't the fancy kinds you now find in restaurants either, but our family-style makizushi (rolls in seaweed, or nori) and inarizushi, or ageh-zushi as we always called it (seasoned tofu pouches - may sound odd, but it's yummy). Sushi is, oddly enough, a kind of comfort food for me. If you're interested, you can read all about our New Year's Day celebration from this past January.

Although some people assume I make sushi jewellery because I'm Japanese - or at least I look it! - some people do actually ask why I make it and how I started. It is rather an odd thing to do I guess.

I made my first mini sushi platter as a little gag gift for my mom, back in 1999 (or was it 1998?) out of some polymer clay that I got at an art supplies shop. I experimented making lots of mini-foods - pastries, cakes, sandwiches, fruits, veggies... and then sushi popped into my head which I thought would give my mom a good laugh. The first sushi platter I made was pretty basic looking, but I was pleased with it back then, as was my mom. Here it that original first wonky platter - it's now on my fridge!

Little did I know that this would one day end up being my full-time work! Friends and family started ordering them from me and when I donated a bunch of them to a small craft show fundraiser in 2000 (or was that 2001?) and they all sold out, I thought it might be time to try selling them on my own.

And selling my first sushi platter when I opened my Etsy shop back in late 2005 was such a thrill. Up until then I was selling at local craft shows and I couldn't quite believe that someone who saw photos of my little platters on the internet liked it enough to actually buy one! It still amazes me that people want to buy something I made...

Here's Cassandra, looking smashing in her Sushi Combo necklace & earrings set that she recently got for her birthday from her Aunt Bridgette, who ordered them from me on Etsy - thanks so much for sending me the photo!

These are my newest California roll earrings, now available in my shop, complete with soy wrappers, that are great for a bit of colour on the outside of your maki. The wrappers come in pink, orange and green as well, but I wasn't sure if that would look too far-out and un-sushi-like. I'm pretty happy with the subtle look of these. I also made some saba (mackerel) nigirizushi earrings this summer and photographer Yumi Ang took a photo that you can see here.

From part of our family celebrations, to a major part of my business, sushi is a part of my life for good (^_^)!

Making my way back...

2008-08-28T12:00:00.003-04:00

Slowly getting back into the groove of blogging - regular blogging, that is. It seems when I was writing every day, there would be countless things I'd find to blog about, and now I'm always looking for a topic. Habit, I guess.

Earlier in the summer I was interviewed by a fellow Montrealer and blogger, Pamela of "oh, little bird!" for Toronto Craft Alert, which is a great blog on all things and events crafty in the Toronto and nearby areas. She asked some great questions, so I was pretty rambly in my responses. Anyway, to read the interview, have a little peek here.

A theme that has run through my blog has been my mom and the hard time I had losing her in June 2006. Wow, it's been two years now and everything around that three months of her being in hospital is still fresh in my mind. I've gained a little more perspective though, with the amazing life she lived for 79 years and 7 months leading up to her stroke far outweighing the 3 months of hardship. Although I still get weepy (I don't think I'll ever shake that) and I haven't been able to take apart a couple of the photo collages my sibs and I put together for her funeral, I'm more often able to smile and laugh at the happy memories. One of the things we loved so much about her was her kookiness and how easily she laughed.

Here she is at her 75th birthday, complete with Silly String, which she thought was a hoot. She would have been 82 today. Happy Birthday Mom (^_^)

My tail between my legs...

2008-08-22T12:00:00.011-04:00

Hullo.

It's me, yes, it's me!

Thank-you all for letting me know I've been missed! You know how you leave something for sooo long, it's overwhelming to go back to it, and it seems too far gone to make it right again, anyway? I guess that's how I can best describe the shabby treatment of my blog and blog readers. I will no longer make any promises about writing every day or even every week, but will do my best not to let 3 months go by without a peep of news!

I'll just get right to it. The summer has been great, although we've not had ideal summer weather here in Montreal. Lots of rain, and cooler than average, which is fine for me who wilts and gets cranky in the humid heat.

Arashi Daiko, the Japanese drumming group I'm a member of, along with my hubby, JF (you remember him), has done over 20 shows since I last wrote in May; it's been a busy, taiko-filled summer. We're looking forward to settling down to our regular hard training this fall in preparation for the group's 25th anniversary concert next March. The television show that we were featured in aired in July, and it was pretty good. Strange to see us on tv, but fun!

Part of the televised "live" concert filmed at the end of May. That's me on the far right, arms in the air, with the demented, googly eyes... (click on it, you'll see what I mean)

Craft-wise, the summer has been busy, productive, and very good sales-wise, yaaaaay!

CraftMafiaMontreal's Fringe Bazaar back in June went pretty well, and although there weren't a ton of people, sales were good. I did Vancouver's Powell Street Festival at the beginning of August, which was just as fabulous as it was last year! Sooo many people, sales were great, and the food was delish! What made it even better this year was my sister, Nancy, from Edmonton who met me in Vancouver with her handmade baby slippers, bags and pearl jewellery, and who was my neighbouring seller at the festival - we had so much fun! We visited our brother there (he's already planning for our visit next year) and then went to visit another brother on Vancouver Island. All in all a wonderful trip.

Part of my display at the festival

Wee little hounds in their yukata and happi - too cute!

Fresh, heavenly yaki-manju... waited until the last few hours of the festival to get my mitts on this!

Last week-end was Matsuri Japon, a Japanese festival in the Old Port of Montreal, where I was also selling. The weather was perfect (one of the only good weekends all summer) and the turnout was great. Also great for me sales-wise. Online sales this summer were painfully slow (non-existant), so these good shows helped a lot!

Other exciting news - my things are going to be in a brand new shop, Artistri, opening in a couple of weeks. Can't wait to see what it looks like! I'll keep you up to date on that - I swear!

I think I'll stop there, since I don't to freak anyone out... or bore you with too much stuff. Fall is looking to be busy too, so I'll have lots to write about - back again soon!