Props for The Children's Place photoshoot

I made these cloud and heart pillows + soft cubes for The Children's Place SS18 Baby Bundle photoshoot. After being used as props, they are displayed at windows of one of their shops in Manhattan.

Yoriko on The Big Issue Taiwan

My creative work is covered in a spread "Business Tomorrow" column in the January issue of The Big Issue Taiwan 大誌雜誌, that came out on Junuary 2nd!

The Big Issue started 20+ years ago in UK to support the homeless to their independency. I loved their cause & the plus: the Taiwan version is designed beautifully.

Please spread the news if you have friends in Taipei. The article is written by SF based writer Hui-Min Tsai, who found me through my Etsy shop. Big thank you to Hui-Min and editor Brian Huang for this wonderful article. 多謝。

作品について

自分の作品やSNSについてモヤモヤ感じていたこと、詩人の谷川俊太郎さんがご自身のホームページ、『谷川俊太郎.com』2015年12月24日の「立ち話」で書いていたことを読んだら、なんだかすっきりした。

http://www.tanikawashuntaro.com/archives/2356

谷川さんは詩について書かれておられるのだけど、私の作品もそうあってほしいと思う。ウェブ上での発言についても短く触れているだけなのにすっと心に入ってきた。詩人の目線は鋭いなぁ。

切り紙をした後に残った切れ端でコラージュ。
そこには意外な形が。
「老犬と海」

Cheese Wax Craft by Kiliko

You know those individual cheese covered in wax, right?
I was just tossing the wax part out till my daughter insisted making a candle out of it.
She was fiddling the wax in her warm hands for a while - which made the wax to soften - and she shaped it into a stick. She asked me to put a wick in it so I just gave her a cotton thread & we wrapped it in the wax. Both my husband & I didn't think it would burn properly, so we placed it on the table as a centerpiece and forgot about the candle for a while.

One night, when my daughter's friend & my friend came over for a dessert, they complimented her creation & we gave it a try: It worked!!! Just like a normal candle. Pretty genius - she turned what we usually throw away into an useful object.

You never can underestimate the little ones' flexible thinking & creativity.

 

Easter Art 2014

My peaceful Sunday-afternoon-nap ended with my daughter's "Mama. I want to do something. I want to make an Easter craft." I mumbled back something like I was Japanese and I had nothing to do with this celebration, but it didn't work. I had to get my lazy ass up to fullfill this little creative soul.

We got to work & this is what we came up with:

I've never dyed an egg in my life, but actually it was fun. This link was handy.

All I needed (note to myself):

1 cup hot water

1 teaspoon vinegar

drops of food colors (amount depends on how saturated you want the color to be.)

jam jar

Dip the eggs in the solution for up to 5 minutes & you are done. We used tapes to make marks on the eggs & used a china marker to draw on it.

Kiliko had the box made weeks ago, so all we did was fill it with shredded colored paper, eggs, chick-shaped flashlight and paper hen upon her request. Kiliko had fun cranking the mini shredder I had.

She was satisfied & went off to watch Frozen (again).

Love this smily face she drew.

When it's slow, eat some sushi, feel better, and good things will come.

New products - soon in my shop.

３月は忙しかったのに、最近はとんとオンラインショップのオーダーも入らず、やることが次から次へとある割に一つ一つがはかどらないような気がして、なんとなしにモヤッと晴れない気持ちのここ数日。

午前中、あまりにお腹が空いたので会社の用事で寄った紀伊国屋書店の２階の総菜屋で、ものすごく久しぶりにお寿司を買った。

おいしい。

お昼に持参していたお弁当と両方食べたら、元気でた。
そして席に戻ってメールをチェックしたら、オーダーが入っていた。


「継続は力なり」


聞き飽きたような言葉だけど、ふと思い出した。
仕事、やるべきこと、毎日の暮らし。ちょっと何かあったり（何もなかったり）しただけですぐに一喜一憂する自分に、たまには言い聞かせなければ。当たり前のことをコンスタントにしていく事が、本当はとても大切で、実は難しいことなんだと思った。

今日を丁寧に暮らしたことが、未来に力になることを願って。

Quietly Enthusiastic Day

今日は家で仕事なので、窓の外を眺めながらちゃぶ台でお昼。
風が強いみたいで、裏の家の向こうにある木の梢がゆれている。
青空の遠くの方にぼんやり白い点の飛行機が飛んでいるのが見える。
裏の家の向こうの木はずい分背が高くなった。
ここに越してからそろそろ５年が経つからなぁ。
私達の知らないところで、木も日々成長してるのね。

Japanese leftover lunch. Miso soup w/ root veggies & half-milled rice w/ a plum pickle.

私が昨日オフィスに出ている間に主人が材料の麻布を全部洗濯しておいてくれたので、今日は他の仕事を朝からできた。布地は量があると結構重いしかさばるので、感謝。







私の仕入れている麻はヨーロッパで作られている。色つきの方は先染めで縦糸と横糸の色が違うせいで色に起伏というか微妙な色合いがあり、とても美しい。糊のついた真新しい状態だと、まるでシルクみたい。

買ったばかりの麻のハリと光沢のある感じも好きだけど、私の商品は子供用品や日用品になるので、まず洗って先に縮めます。こうしておけば、お客さんが洗った時に縮んで形が大幅にくずれたりすることを防げるから。でも、糊がとれてちょっとしわになった麻もラフでカジュアルな親しみやすさがあって好き。麻は大好きな素材です。

さ、今日は休憩もかねて、これからずっと作りたかったレモン・バーに挑戦。
仕事で座っていることが多いので、キッチンで動くのはいい気分転換なのです。
おいしく焼けるかな？

Slow Saturday, Artsy Sunday

SATURDAY • 3/22/2014

Leftover lunch bowl.
Itadakimasu.

Photographed and listed more linen
pot holders at my shop in the after noon. 

 SUNDAY • 3/23/2014

Went to The Noguchi Museum for a kids' art class with my daughter.

Though this is geared for children, taking Harumi's classes reminds me of my days at art school; the days we always created and critiqued our work. It's a great exercise of the brain to observe Noguchi's work and Harumi always helps us to look at them in different perspectives.

Today's subject was akari - light - as Noguchi's work sometimes incorporated paper and light.

This is what I made:

I expressed my mind forest.
As a young child in Japan in the 70's, reading thick volumes of original Grimm Brothers' stories was very exotic, it felt like wondering in the dark, but mesmerizing woods. The images and the feel is still vivid today and trees and woods are among my favorite motifs to draw.

In this one, I replaced the LED provided in the class
with a orange-ish flickering light. I like the cozy feel.

I was pretty tired, but Kiliko helped me with the dinner.

She was so proud of her sausage spaghetti - delicious.

Leftovers

I've been making some pot holders using leftover fabric from my bib making. I love making use of things otherwise can be trashed. All you need is a little imagination to turn things into useful things for your life.

 

Talking of leftover, my standby lunch is often something I whip up from whatever I have in the kitchen, like the one in the photo at the bottom. In this, I topped rice with avocado slices, shredded chicken breast meat and nori seaweed, then drizzled it with Asian-inspired dressing I learned from a friend (I changed it a little). You can omit the chicken or add slices of abura-agé (fried tofu, available in Japanese grocery stores) - dry sautée it to make it crispy - to make it vegetarian.


Asian Dressing:

3 Tbsp.  soy sauce
3 Tbsp.  lemon juice
2 teasp.  finely chopped or minced ginger
2 teasp.  finely chopped or minced garlic
4-5 Tbsp.  oil (neutral flavored oil like canola, grapeseed, etc.)

This dressing goes well with salads, fish, chicken, and lean parts of pork.

Little tip on poaching chicken breast: Use a heavy duty pot with a lid like Le Cruiset, place the breasts in one part water & one part sake (so the chicken is barely covered) with some ginger slices & a stem of scallion. Cover and bring it to boil then lower heat to simmer for 20 min. Turn off heat and cool the chicken in the broth. I think sake & cooling the meat in its broth make the meat tender and moist. Serve with your favorite sauce or dressing. (Save the broth - it's a nice chicken stock - to use in soups.)

Enjoy!

gift wrap idea with Monkiri-gata paper cut

One of my good friends has a birthday in early January.
She is a designer and loves black but also bright colors. Her in mind, I came up with this fun gift wrap using monkiri-gata, paper cutting patterns of Japanese designs that was popular amongst everyday folks  as a hobby in the 1800s. Yes, we are big on hobbies. Still.

Each pattern symbolizes something positive such as longevity, prosperity, good health, and good luck. You must have realize by now that we are also big on anything with good lucks. Seriously.

I chose a few patterns that have associations with early spring & good fortune, and picked origami papers with colors that made me think of her.

The red paper is cut into a shape of a stuck of sake cups which is very Japanese New Year-ish. The yellow one is called "6 snake scale" pattern which is supposed to repel evil. The green ring one is kind of humorous & the purple is an arrowroot flower pattern.

My husband got me this alphabet stamp set from Michael's for Christmas & ever since then I've been stamping my gift tags away. They add a nice, polished touch!

If you are interested in monkiri patterns, this is the book I have. I got this in a bookstore in Tokyo a while ago. This post seems to have some links & nice pictures of finished monkiri-gata works.

It looks so festive & can make small gifts very special. It's also  something fun to do in those bitter cold winter days!

Holiday Cookie Decorating

Today was very productive and festive day for me & the girls. I used IKEA's frozen gingerbread dough  for the first time & pre-baked the cookies a day before with some help from Kiliko. The flavor is pretty good.

My mom always hosted a holiday cookie decorating playdate (almost a party) for me, my three siblings, and our friends before Christmas, and with Kiliko in a good age to enjoy things like this,  I planned to do a smaller version of it this year.

Little pastry chefs.

I looked up icing recipe online & here I'm using a basic icing with powder sugar & egg white. Some recipe calls for some lemon juice, but I did fine without since I didn't have any. It's probably for hiding some eggy taste and maybe the acid preserves it a little? Before I crack open the egg, I washed it in soap and hot water to avoid any salmonella poisoning.

My mom used to use just powdered sugar & water, but the egg white seemed to thicken & stabilize the icing a bit. It hardens nicer and looks more opaque when dry.

Lots of cookies, lots of personalities.

I enjoyed it as much as... well, maybe more than the girls. More I did it, I got more ideas, but cookies ran out before I could try everything. Kind of understood why there are people out there who go really far with iced cookies or even become pros! Need to bake more cookies next year. Wait, there's the Valentine's Day!

Stella & Blueberry Muffins

外が寒くなってきたので、部屋がぼおっと暖かい。

本当は仕事しなくてはなのに、なんだか冬っぽいことがしたくて久々にかぎ針編みで簡単なものを編んでみる。ラメ入りの糸でヘアバンドを編んでいたら、娘のラグ・ドールのステラが目に入って・・・

ついでにステラにもかばんを編んであげた。

素朴なせいか、ラメ入りヤーンが似合うわー

このステラさん、私が初めて娘に買ってあげたお人形。
今はバービーに押されて見向きもされてないけど、かつては娘は地下鉄に一緒に乗ったり、どこへでも連れて行ってた。私には特別な思い入れがあるのです。

 

仕事用の布地の洗濯もやっとこ終了したけど、その合間に冷凍庫にたくさんあるブルーベリーが気になり出してマフィンを焼いたりしてたら、午前はそれだけでなんだかぐったり。パターンを作る予定だったけど、後回し。

あぁ、こんな逃避している場合ではないのに。
そろそろ娘のお迎えだわ。

More DIY Halloween

I had a little Halloween project for Kili and her good friend Tristan today: DIY trick-or-treat bags!

I printed their names with store-bought stencils on a cotton totes and hand-carved bat stamp out of an eraser. They stamped the bats with fabric ink & drew pictures with Puffy Velvet fabric marker. This marker's ink gets puffy and gives the lines embossed look when heat-set.

We glammed them up with some iron-on glass crystals as well! They are made by Tulip and it works really well - they bond to the fabric pretty easily and steadily.

Everything used in this project was stuff I had for ages with no specific purpose - that was good, too! It is always satisfying to find a use for things.

Nice job girls!

Printing T Shirts

Printed some tee shirts today. I used some Japanese organic cotton tees; I love their subtle colors. 

They will be available at babyNOIR boutique in Astoria in July!

Sewing tags on.

Rainy Day

It's been raining since the morning here - I changed my plan of going to Garment District and worked at home instead. I had a lot of small, miscellaneous errands around the house and it was kind of a perfect day to tackle them.

Done cutting & labeling the bibs, too!

There are a lot to think about.

Feels good to ship some warm chai after getting some stuff done. 

I like rain sometimes.