New pieces for Powell Street Festival!

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...

Earrings to make you feel summery...

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!

New in the shop!

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.

Making a ring...

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...

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

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!

It's Friday....

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.

Get with it, girl!

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!

Jewellery party report...

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...

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).

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

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 (^_^).

Presenting... Artistri boutique atelier!

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 (^_^)

What's with the sushi anyway?

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 (^_^)!