UPDATED - HOWL-o-ween!...a little off-topic, but still working with paper!

This one's a bit off-topic, but Halloween is just to fun! I have a number of kids programs coming up and so I've come up with some really fun ideas for Halloween tricks and treats!!

-GHOST POPS-
Its been done before, but it's way too fun!

materials: round lollipops like tootsie pops or chupa chups (not the flat ones), facial tissue/kleenex, clear tape, marker
1. Get a Tootsie Pop or Chupa Chup and wrap it in white tissue.
2. Use a piece of scotch tape and wrap it around the neck.
3. Use a marker to draw a face on it. The weirder or scarier the facial expression, the better!

-PUMPKIN POPS-
I ended up buying the regular flat lollipops too. You know, the kind that they give you after you pay the bill for your lunch or got as a treat when you were young. The flat kind of lollipop doesn't really give off a ghosty feeling. I decided to try something different! They turned out pretty well!

materials: flat rounded lollipops, orange tissue paper, clear tape, marker, green pipecleaner
1. Use a square piece of orange tissue paper (big enough to wrap your lollipop)
2. Use the lollipop stick to poke a whole right in the centre of the tissue paper.
3. Slide the lollipop through the whole until the candy part is just touching the paper
4. Fold the two bottom corners of the plastic on the lollipop to the centre and gently pull the tissue paper from all the ends upwards. Sometimes, the plastic will rip through. If it does, you can either leave it as is, or use some tape to fix it up
5. Use the green pipe cleaner to bring all of the tissue paper together at the top, so it looks like a pumpkin
6. Draw your pumpkin face with a marker

-GHOST POPS with ROCKET ARMS-
I decided to do something with some of the other ghosts and I had a bag of boring rockets, so I thought it would be interesting to use them as arms.

1. Follow the same instructions for ghost pops (see above)
2. Use clear tape to attach the rocket arms.

I have one or two more things I'm working on, so I'll post those once I finish.

UPDATE!! ZOMBIE GHOST POP MOB!!




I did do majority of the treats, but I must also give credit to the staff that helped me make these SUPERAWESOME treats! Thanks!!


Have a HAPPY HOWL-o-ween!

[recent work] Chocolat, Je T'aime I

This work was actually is one of a two part series. I gave the owners of Ambiance Chocolat the other art piece, because they allowed me to display my work there and the chocolates I made in the frames were based on their signature ones. Plus, they are SUPERAWESOME, so I don't mind giving them one! I will post the picture of that one sometime this week (hopefully!)

pictures of the work in progress



Title: Chocolat, Je T'aime I (final version)


kitchen: I thought it should have black floor and be all white, but I chose sparkly off-white cardstock for the wall so it wouldn't look too plain. I used cardstock for the table and couldn't imagine it being just black or white, so I chose a beige marble-like design. The kitchen was beginning to take shape, but after I added Chef, I still felt that it wasn't enough. There was too much white space and didn't seem visually balanced, so I added the patterned chiyogami on the table's exterior and a black and white clock, slightly to the right.

chocolate: I love Ambiance Chocolat's chocolate designs. I really wanted to make similar chocolate for the piece. I went on their web site and looked at which chocolates I could try to copy. I purchased various clay - though, the packages didn't have brown clay. I could have just bought brown clay, but that would be boring and what would I do with an abundance of one colour? I thought it would be fun to mix the clay to make brown and experiment with different colours. I managed to replicate a few of their chocolates in extreme mini versions. It was a lot of fun, but it took a long time to figure out the size proportions, shapes and designs. I wanted the tray to look somewhat similar to what one actually looks like. After trying different things, I ended up using medicine packaging and I think it worked out.

Chef: Chef is wearing a yukata. I chose a checkered design, as it seemed the one she would wear in the kitchen. Are you surprised? All of my origami figures wear kimonos and this would be no exception. Yes, I know, normally the sleeves would be pulled up, but I took liberties. I had fun making Chef's hat. I fanned the top and then covered the bottom part with another strip of cardstock. I put a black line across the rim of the hat and on part of the apron, just to make them stand out.

[recent work] Bedtime: The Process

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't updated much. I'm a little overwhelmed with going back to school!! I really try to stay on top of blogging, but I always drop off for a while. I will try to be more disciplined!

Quick Updates
1. I was corrected on the name for the maki sushi piece, it should be maki zushi! Thanks to the nice people who passed on the message.

2. I donated a free origami program for a few of the kids from the 200 Wellesley fire on Monday. There wasn't a big turnout as they have class, homework and other places to go, but I thought it would be nice to try and cheer them up. My friend, Iris and I ended up teaching the library staff too. Hopefully they can teach the kids how to do them another day when life isn't as hectic.

Bedtime: The Process
Anyway, the art I had at Ambiance Chocolat, garnered a lot of positive verbal feedback! My main goal was just to spread the origami love and show people that origami is another form of art to be enjoyed.

Here is the first piece. I don't have the descriptions with me at the moment, so I will post each artwork separately with its own description at a later time. For now, I will just post what I have and give you an idea of how my mind works while making these. Please excuse the repetition of the pictures+process and then later the same pictures, with the descriptions that come with each work. Sorry for the bad quality photos, as I didn't have the dslr with me.

pictures of the work in progress




Title: Bedtime (final version)


Wallpaper: The first thing I worked on, was the wallpaper. I really liked the bunny prints - they reminded me of wallpaper in a kid's room.
Window: I had a left over piece of chiyogami and I thought it would be nice if someone looked out a window and saw this beauty. I decided to make a window and then wanted to have curtains for it. Because the prints for both the wallpaper & the window are very elaborate, I decided that the curtains would have to be a plain colour. I also wanted the curtains to look soft. I decided to use tissue. I really like how they turned out though gluing drove me a bit nuts!

Bed: The bed was complicated. Because of the limited space in the actual frame, I had to decide how to position the bed. I made a pillow as well. Though a soft pillow would have been ideal, I didn't want to use tissue again, so I used card stock. The blanket was another lovely chiyogami print I found. I love the bunnies!

Mother & Daughter: I wanted to have Daughter ready for bed and have the Mother coming to check on her. Initially I wanted to have Mother reading a bedtime story, but it started getting complicated. How could I fit Mother beside the bed? Her body position would be hard to do. Instead, I made Mother standing near the window at the foot of the bed while Daughter was already asleep. Ironically, you can't really tell if she's sleeping, can you?)Daughter has pigtails to show her youthfulness and Mother has her hair tied back and a nice floral yukata (summer kimono).

Altogether, I think this piece came out nicely. It was actually sold today! It is now on its way to a new home.

six by eight art exhibition @ The Paper Place

Yay! My art piece, "Just Visiting" was accepted into the Six by Eight art exhibition at The Paper Place (886 Queen St. W.) The exhibit runs until August 5th, so pls check it out. There are a lot of nice pieces there that can be purchased, including mine :)


Title: Just Visiting

6' x 8'

chiyogami, textured paper, plasticine (modeling clay)

Hope you can make it over to see. There are a lot of interesting and amazing artists participating. There are three that I want to purchase. One has already been sold, one i'm waiting to hear back on the price and the other one I really like, but I'm waffling! ^_T

Commission: The Violinist

One of my friends commissioned me to do a framed origami work that had to have an element of classical music or opera for her stepfather. I thought about it for a while and I wanted to incorporate an instrument. I finally decided on trying to make a violinist in a kimono.

Inspiration always comes to me at very late hours and I spent three hours working on the origami violinist - trying to get create the perfect hair, the perfect kimono, the perfect positioning and the violin. I also had to take into consideration the liberties I take making these pieces...the origami people never have hands or feet. This is what came out of it.



After going through around a dozen different chiyogami papers, I decided on these four backgrounds... I was really surprised at how many backgrounds went well with the violinist, but I really tried to narrow it down.


The silvery paper and the flowers and branches give it a very calm, zen feeling and the violinist stands out.


I like the gold background and the trees. The gold lining on the violinist's kimono seems to match well with the gold spirals on the water. It also makes me wonder whether the violinist's music is turning the trees pink or white.


I like how the gold dust seems to form clouds or water over the tones of blue. It has a magical feel to it. When I posted these pictures on facebook, majority of comments favoured this background.


I felt like this background had a fantasy feel to it - like there is a tree with ribbons or a sacred tree of some sort and the wind is blowing, while the violinist plays. My sisters liked this one the best.

In the end, it is a commission. I gave the choice to my friend and she chose the third background. I hope her stepfather likes it! I will post the finished piece before I hand it over to her! :)

Updates: More Pictures from the art unveiling and crafty happenings

I must admit that I was so busy during the show, I didn't take photos of all of the people there. Oh well! I definitely will at the next one! Here are some photos of the art

all of the framed origami


angle shots




left side


right side


I will post the pictures of the stand-alone and series pieces that are still avaiable for purchase soon.

CRAFTY HAPPENINGS
I have just posted the rest of the pictures of the pieces I sold at the art unveiling in the previous post. Other than that I have been quite busy and have not been able to blog regularly, so here are a few more updates!

1. After the art show, I received numerous commission requests, so that's what I have been working on lately.

2. The origami crane mobile workshop has been postponed and will hopefully be offered in the fall

3. I will be putting some of my art work up at Ambiance Chocolat - a wonderful chocolate/coffee shop, for the month of August. They have the best chocolate hazelnut croissants in the city!

http://ambiancechocolat.ca/contact-us/

4. I have submitted an art piece for The Paper Place's Six by Eight art exhibition. The opening reception will take place on Thursday, July 8th from 7-10pm. If my art is accepted into the exhibition, it will be there from July 6 - August 5.


Title: Just Visiting

6' x 8'

chiyogami, card stock, textured paper, plasticine (modeling clay)


5. I will be donating a special origami piece for the (drop-in) South Riverdale Child-Parent Centre's Annual Auction in the fall, to raise money for the centre. I do quite a bit of programming with them and support the work they do. I plan to make a family-oriented piece with 1-3 origami people in it.

6. Some of the framed origami is hanging in Woodside Square Public Library, I believe, until the end of July. The pieces there are all stand-alones and can be purchased separately, though I always find that it likes nice when you have a set of three together because of the size of the frames.

Stand-alone pieces SOLD at made by a SAM-urai's Art Unveiling @ DISTRICT

3rd posting of pieces sold at the art show!




Title: Sashimi (さしみ)

17.5cm x 17.5cm x 4cm

shadow box, chiyogami paper, origami paper, card
stock, pencil lead, candle wax, orange & white plasticine



Title: Sign of Peace

17.5cm x 17.5cm x 4cm

shadow box, chiyogami paper, origami paper, card
stock

*girl holding a paper crane



Title: Mother & Daughter

17.5cm x 17.5cm x 4cm

shadow box, chiyogami paper, origami
paper, card stock



Title: Untitled #5

17.5cm x 17.5cm x 4cm

shadow box, chiyogami paper, origami
paper, card stock



Untitled #6

17.5cm x 17.5cm x 4cm

shadow box, chiyogami paper, origami
paper, card stock



Untitled #8

17.5cm x 17.5cm x 4cm

shadow box, chiyogami paper, origami
paper, card stock


Untitled #9

17.5cm x 17.5cm x 4cm

shadow box, chiyogami paper, origami
paper, card stock