it turns out, in 2012 i had even less time to blog. i started a new full time job, and am now in the final stages of dissertation writing. craft project time was (and continues to be) at a premium. but at the end of the year, and especially around christmas, i threw myself into making a few things. above: paper snowflakes on the shoji doors in my apartment. i love these--thinking about leaving them up all winter.

some christmas paper crafts, plus decorations from the 100 yen shop.

actually, this was the first project of the christmas season: paper cut out light covers (lights from ikea).

chrismas mantle (tiny felt tree from muji; the tiny paper chain was a fun project)

and a new teapot and calendar for 2013. in japan, new years is a quiet holiday, spent with family at home, eating, visiting the shrine. starting out the new year with a clean house from top to bottom. this year i actually did the oosoji (big new years cleaning)! now just to see if it sticks.

ikuta shrine in kobe

2013 is the year of the snake (image from crictor, modified ;-)

i dont really like snakes, but i always loved the illustrations and the story of crictor the boa constrictor.

happy 2013 to you and yours!

hopefully it will involve crafts...once i start it's hard to stop.

today is the 11 month anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in tohoku on 3.11.2011.

as i have mentioned here before, by main work/study in japan is related to disaster recovery, and in the past 11 months, i have been focusing on the tohoku area, trying to think about how i can contibute, by volunteering or more related to information sharing. actually i started another blog, as a kind of information resouce about the disaster and recovery, here:

http://recoveringtohoku.wordpress.com/

up until now, my interests in disaaster recovery and crafts have been pretty much separate. but as we are approaching 1 year, and i have been thinking more about liveilhood recovery in the tohoku region, i keep feeling that they area connected -- the handmade and craft aspect of livelihood recovery -- and feeling like i can perhaps do just a little bit to connect them more in this blog.

and just as i was wishing there was an etsy store to sell products made by folks in tohoku...i found out that there already is!!!

the handmade support project etsy shop is doing just that! and selling bags and japanese slippers (those are the one's in the image at the top of this post) made by disaster survivors from minami sanriku as part of the funbaro project.

and, not only are they selling the projects on etsy, it's part of the larger funbaro project, and they received sewing machines to support economic independence. how awesome is that!!

so support these folks! either by buying from them, or spreading the word. and if you know of other crafty projects that support japan's recovery, please let me know, and i would be more than happy to share them.

jo at jojoebi is organizing a wonderful project to create some handmade lovelies for folks living in temporary housing.

it's easy, you can make a house or two and send it by feb. 21. for all the details visit jo's blog:

http://jojoebi.blogspot.com/2012/02/little-houses-project.html?spref=tw

although japan follows the same zodiac calander as japan, and this is the year of the dragon, actualy japanese new years is january 1st.

this is the stamp i carved for my new years cards this year.

as for this website, i'm going to try to be a bit better of updating it at least a little more regularly!

best wishes for a great dragon year.

painting by dosanko debbie

the lovely jo of a bit of this and and a bit of that invited me to participate in the september new skills festival she is hosting on her blog this month, and i was honored to join! my felt ninja tutorial will be up on her blog next week. it was a great motivation to get a tutorial together and share it, something i've been thinking about doing but has been on a very back burner for long time. also i've been thinking of new ninja projects...

since march, i've been spending a lot more of my online and offline time and energy in directions related to disaster recovery--which is my field of study and research, and my primary reason for being in japan.

i miss the time that i used spend reading craft blogs, but i have to be practical (and i have been squeezing in some crafting-for-myself time when i can, which is a great feeling!). finding balance is something that i am continuously working on, and i suspect is an eternal project;-) for now, i feel like i have figured out a situation that works for me, continuing to run the felt cafe japan shop on etsy at a slightly slower pace, but blog posts have been few and far between!

but through jo's new skills festival, i discovered the beautiful work of debbie, who paints traditional japanese etegami (literally picture-letters). i love her work, and the emotion that she conveys through it. especially the earthquake series.

today, as i'm getting ready for a 1 week trip to china that starts tomorrow morning, there's a large typhoon moving across japan, and this umbrella feels especially fitting for today, as the winds just broke my umbrella this afternoon.

but actually it's a reference to the famous peom of kenji miyazawa, who was from the part of japan that suffered the tsunami.  the poem is called "ame ni mo makezu" which means ''be not defeated by the rain." it's a powerful message about how to live, and has been widely used as inspiration for rebuilding after the tsunami. (link to wikipedia)

david sulz's translation:

Be not defeated by the rain, Nor let the wind prove your better. Succumb not to the snows of winter. Nor be bested by the heat of summer.

Be strong in body. Unfettered by desire. Not enticed to anger. Cultivate a quiet joy. Count yourself last in everything. Put others before you. Watch well and listen closely. Hold the learned lessons dear.

A thatch-roof house, in a meadow, nestled in a pine grove’s shade. A handful of rice, some miso, and a few vegetables to suffice for the day.

If, to the East, a child lies sick: Go forth and nurse him to health. If, to the West, an old lady stands exhausted: Go forth, and relieve her of burden. If, to the South, a man lies dying: Go forth with words of courage to dispel his fear. If, to the North, an argument or fight ensues: Go forth and beg them stop such a waste of effort and of spirit.

In times of drought, shed tears of sympathy.
In summers cold, walk in concern and empathy.
Stand aloof of the unknowing masses: Better dismissed as useless than flattered as a “Great Man”.

This is my goal, the person I strive to become.

the umbrella print, and many others, are for sale here, and originals in the dosanko debbie etsy shop

here's how to make this little felt ninja. the techniques used are a combination of wetfelting and needle felting. materials needed: wool roving, in red, white, and a dark color (black or brown). 8" of a linen or waxed cotton or similar heavy thread. large needle, hot water and dish soap, scissors (optional). total time 30-45 minutes.

Part 1: make a felt ball

the first step is to make a felt ball. You will need wool (called roving--the fluffy kind, before its spun into yarn), hot water, and dish soap.
take a bit of wool, by holding it in one hand and pulling gently with the other. You want a long bit of wool will all the fibers going in the same direction.

starting from one end, wrap the fibers into a ball. wrap them as tightly as you can.

you can keep adding fiber if you want a bigger ball. after felting, the ball will be a little smaller than it is now.

put a little hot water and dish soap in a bowl. dip the felt ball into the soapy water.

 roll it between you hands. what is happening right now is felting--the little fibers on the wool are becoming locked together. the hot water makes these fibers open up, the soap makes them slip around more easily, and the friction from you hands makes the fibers move  and interlock with each other.

you can continue rolling the ball between your hands until you are satisfied with its smoothness. the fibers should be tightly locked together, and of course you shouldn't be able to unroll it
note: if your early attempt doesn't work out the way you expected, it might be easier to just try again with a bit more wool rather than trying to fix a ball that is lopsided or lumpy.

rinse the soap out.
make one more ball--one will be the ninja's body, one will be the ninja's head.
let them dry. (if you are impatient, you can skip this step and proceed with them still damp, but it's not ideal). air drying is fine, if you throw them into your clothes dryer they will become even firmer and smaller.

Part 2: ninja face!

For this part, you will need a felting needle, and also hot water and soap, and a tiny amount of wool in each color: red (if you are making a red ninja), white, and dark (black or brown).

take a bit of white wool, and lay it on top of the face ball where you want the eyes to go. I usually choose the smaller ball for the head and a slightly larger one for the body.

take your felting needle, and gently stab through the white wool into the red ball below. similar to when you were felting with hot water, soap, and friction, the tiny barbs on the felting needle (be careful--they are sharp!) and accomplishing the same effect--locking the little fibers of the wool together. using a felting needle gives you more contol, but takes longer. so it's perfect for the detail of the ninja's face.

continue to stab the white wool into the red wool ball, paying careful attention to the edge of the white shape (oval) you are making for the eye area. make sure to keep the white wool where you want it.

once you have the white wool attached in the middle, fold one end back over towards the middle.

continue to stab the white wool with the felting needle, being careful to define the edge of the white area where you folded the wool over.

fold the other side of the white wool over towards the middle.

keep stabbing!

 until you have a white area for the ninja's eyes.

take a very small amount of the dark color wool and lay it over the place you want to put an eye.

stab it exactly in the place you want the eye to be. twirl the loose wool around in a circle with the needle, and continue to stab the needle into the eye.

if you continue to stab the eye, it will become smaller. you can add more wool if you want bigger eyes. if the eyes get a lot bigger than you want them to be, you can pretty easily pull the dark wool off and start the eye over.

after you finished both eyes, the last step for the ninja's head is a headband, needed for super sneaky ninja operations. you just need a small bit of red wool, as shown in the picture.

twist the wool together, and then wrap it around the face above the eyes.

use the felting needle to attach the headband to the head above the eyes.

wrap the wool around to the back of the head, and twist this ends around each other.

use the felting needle to attach the wool all the way around the head.

put a little soapy water on your fingers, and twist each end of the headband.

if you want, you can trim them with scissors.

Part 3. the last step is to put the ninja together. you will need about 8" of a cord or heavy thread, a tapestry needle (or large needle, it doesn't have to be sharp), and your felt balls-ninja head and body.

with a single strand of the cord threaded through the needle, and starting from the bottom of the 'body' ball, put the needle through towards the top.

continue up, taking the cord through the "head" ball as well. make sure it's just a single strand.

next, brind the cord back through, from top to bottom.

make sure to leave a loop at the top, and also to put the needle in a slightly different place and than the cord came up in.

 adjust the loop to be the size you want,

 tie a square knot in the cord at the bottom.

trip the ends of the cord, and pull the loop up a little, which also hides the knot.

all done, ready for stealthy ninja work

recently, i needed to make a bunch of baby presents for friends, and i knew it was time to take the plunge and get a japanese sewing for baby book. this was pretty daunting, because there are so many choices out there! i knew that i wanted one that included the fabulous japanese monkey pants (so so cute) and also some basic projects that i could sew using cute cotton knit fabrics for kids.

after multiple trips to the bookstore, where i would look at all the baby sewing books, and get confused and overwhelmed, i found myself coming back to this one over and over. it had so much variety, and so many projects that i wanted to try.

it has the wonderful cute japanese 'monkey pants', as well as bibs, shirts, dresses, panks, hats, leggings, romper and diaper covers. it also had a nice range of ages, so there are projects for new babies, toddlers up to 3.

full size paper pieces are included as an inset (you will have to trace them since the pattern lines overlap). all instructions in japanese, but if you are familiar with basic sewing you should have no problem. details are shown with step by step photos.

more photos in this flickr set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltcafe/sets/72157627337386337

37 projects total, 108 pages.
isbn 9784529048422

and now that i've tried it out, I have a new copy in the shop!

here are the things i made:

bibs-super fast, super easy! i used a bright tourquise nani iro gauze for 1 side. i love this fabric, so bright and modern.

and some organic cotton striped knit for the other side.

monkey pants!! also pretty easy, and i liked the pattern a lot.

and then i used a pattern from the book for a little shirt, and made up a whale using some of the nani iro. it was really fun to just whip up a bunch of sewing projects--and finally send them off!

i love love love the idea behind the project, which is coming to kyoto!

http://boundinjapan.com/schedule/kansai/

unfortunately i won't be in town, but if you can attend, you should!

in kyoto, the workshops will be at we are one kyoto which looks like a fantastic place in its own right.

i'm off to tohoku to volunteer during the golden week holiday, but today i picked up a few treats for myself at the bookstore. they each deserve their own post...which i hope to get to sometime, but for now, a sneak peak: marimekko mook (magazine/book) (which came with a tote bag!!), sewing for babies book (one step closer to starting those projects i wanted to make for my friends' kids, and the new edition of the kyoto art and culture map (this is a fantastic guidebook for cafes, shops, in kyoto, and yesterday i found out my pottery teacher is in it!).

the talented graphic designer hello sandwich has created this lovely paper bento for japan vogue.

you can download the pattern (in japanese) here: http://www.vogue.co.jp/lifestyle/news/2011-03/29/vogue-angel

after a few weeks away, i am back in japan, and can't wait to eat yummy japanese food (not the paper kind!)

i'm going to be posting a little less frequently, as i will be busy with the disaster recovery (my first 2 day jobs are related to disaster recovery research), but i will be here!