MochiPan

Portrait

2011-12-09T23:54:00.002Z

MochiPan loves... Zipper! ジッパー！

2011-11-12T22:53:00.003Z

I haven't properly written about my recent trip to Japan yet, mainly as it is going to be such a huge task I haven't quite worked out how to handle it yet! But I can say that one thing I did while I was there was to stock up on magazines.

If you've never seen a Japanese fashion magazine before, they are AWESOME (get down to Japan Centre or Mitsukoshi dept. store and have a look! They cost about three times as much here though.... boo!). Compared to British/European/US magazines (which are pretty much all the same if you ask me) Japanese fashions mags are stuffed full of photos of clothes and outfits, and street shots, and items, and all sorts of funky things... with HARDLY ANY ADS. Also, Aside from the mildly entertaining and worrying pages at the back that advertise cream to make your nipples pink, or gadgets to give you eyelid creases, they don't have loads and loads of articles about how to make yourself thin, youthful, attractive, sexy, fix your relationship, blah blah blah blah, (Ok, they have a few bits about losing weight but to be fair my Japanese isn't good enough to read them so I spend all my time looking at the abundant pretty pictures!). They focus their energy on giving you what you really want, lots of interesting ides for clothes, and lots of pretty things to see!

I'm not scanning in any interior pages as I don't want to infringe any major copyright thingies, but what I did do was spend all of today doing an 'homage' to one of my favourites - Zipper! It's awesome. I love it. So I did my own version of the cover of the December issue!

Tokyo Fashion

2011-09-17T21:17:00.005+01:00

I've been so busy recently, I've hardly had time to write on here! I can't even think what I've been doing, but I feel like most of my time is spent studying Japanese at the weekends. I'm not complaining about that, as it's all by choice of course, but I do wish I found it a bit easier. I keep forgetting things I've learned a while back, some really obvious things, and I am not sure what I can do to remember everything. Still, I'll be patient with it and keep going I guess!

I've managed to squeeze in a couple of doodles this weekend though! Yay! Although, still not sure about what I'm doing really, but I guess I'll keep going. All comments are seriously welcome!

Some other highlights of the week would be adding Tokyo Fashion to my twitter feed! Now I get to see some awesome clothing throughout the day, which is very inspiring for me! I'm really not into fashion as such, I really don't give a toss what is in fashion and what isn't, and celebrity culture bores me rigid, but I LOVE the way some of these girls (and boys) in Japan just put on something new every time, they aren't afraid to push boundaries, or risk looking daft. But the funny thing is, they never look daft! I wish I could look cool in a granny nightie in the middle of the day, but if I tried it I think someone would definitely call the police.

If you are interested in Japanese street fashion you should definitely check their site out! Their tweets make my dull commute much more colourful and inspiring!

Stripy Socks & Bloomers

2011-08-27T13:31:00.001+01:00

I'm not very good with colour, so I've only coloured her rosy cheeks!

Cutie in legwarmers

2011-08-18T20:31:00.001+01:00

It's August today, but it's so chilly and rainy outside, I could do with a nice pair of woolly legwarmers on this evening!

MochiPan loves... 'The Handmade Marketplace' by Kari Chapin

2011-08-17T20:48:00.005+01:00

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been reading a book which was really motivating me to improve my sites and my shops and what I do, and as I've finished it now, I can reveal that it was 'The Handmade Marketplace' by Kari Chapin.

If you are like me, you never seem to have the time to read through all the fantastic emails from Etsy on how to make the most of your shop, and how to improve your marketing, your logos, spread the word about your products etc. etc. Every time I get an email or see a new blog post from Etsy on selling tips (and other craft sites of course, not just Etsy) I think 'Oh, yes, I must read that when I have the time, that looks really interesting' and then. I never find the time.

Well, I got a nice Waterstone's voucher for my birthday from my work colleagues, and as I was in the amazing Gower Street branch last Sunday I thought I'd have a little mooch in the craft section to see if anything caught my eye. This book did, and within seconds of spotting it, it was in my greedy little paws and I didn't want to put it back on the shelf.

To be honest, the first thing that attracted me was the cover and the size, which just shows I really do judge books by their covers! I love the design of the book - with simple and sweet illustrations, and a quirky typeset- and it's a miniature book, probably the right size to fit in most handbags. A quick flick through the book told me that it was written by someone who knew the online (and offline) crafty circle very well, and although it isn't a hugely detailed book (which explains the size) it had a great general covering off all the ins and outs of the craft business.

I've been carrying it with me on the tube to work and back for the past couple of days and I've read it through once, and then gone back through it taking notes. It's a little bit like a refresher course. As I said, it doesn't go into great detail so don't expect it to answer all your questions (for that you'd need to read all those Etsy emails I suppose) but it covers all the basic areas - most of which we tend to forget in the day-to-day making and doing and listing of craft items - and reminded me of gaps in my blogging/selling that I knew were there but had been avoiding looking at for months.

I'm now armed with a list of things I want to do to improve everything, my selling sites, my products, my blog, and even my attitude to what I'm trying to do. I found myself saying 'Of course! I can't believe I've been doing it like that for so long, when I could be doing it like this.'

I liked the tone of the book too, it was like a lovely gentle nudge in the right direction, it was written in a personal style, but without flagrant self-promotion, and I loved the way Kari could tell the reader what they should do without being patronising or taking on a lecturing tone. I also loved the way she brought in the voices and stories of other fellow crafters and bloggers, to show that there are lots of us all in this together, and if other people have found success or happiness selling their crafts, then we can too!

Girl with Yellow Tights

2011-08-15T21:25:00.004+01:00

I wish I could look this cute in yellow tights!

Another sketch from a month or so ago (when I didn't have my scanner!). It's a bit blurred because the sketch is very close to the ring bound part of my sketchbook so I couldn't really get it flat on the scanner!

Back to work today, I made the commute more bearable by taking a little craft book along with me in my little Octopus Lunch Bag. Reading that on the tube made the day a little brighter for me. More about the book soon... I might do a little book review on it when I'm done! It's a good one!

Blog Housework

2011-08-12T16:47:00.006+01:00

Sometimes when I'm stressed I do housework, sometimes when I'm not so happy about my work I tidy my blog... so that's what I did today. I have a new banner, new buttons on the right (linking to Twitter, Facebook, Etsy and Folksy - I hope they work!) and something I've been meaning to do for a long time, I've given my little icon a facelift too.

I don't remember exactly why I chose this image to be the face of 'MochiPan' - I suppose she represents the part of me that doesn't have a desk job - her hair blowing in the breeze. She looks serene, amused and free!

The original drawing is a few years old now and I wanted to change her look without really changing how she looks - if that makes sense! So, I got the old picture up in Photoshop and then put a new layer on top and started drawing on that. It's a bit like tracing with paper, only I was doing it on my Mac with my new Bamboo tablet (which I highly recommend by the way! - it reacts to pressure so if you press firmly you line is thicker, and if you just gently brush the tablet it gives a thin, wispy line. It also doesn't jump around as you move your hand over the board either).

I noticed as I went along that if I removed the original beneath it had some really interesting results. So I saved each stage as I went along to show the progression of the drawing on the top layer. I actually really like somewhere around stage 2 or 3 myself!

Curly Lady

2011-08-11T16:22:00.002+01:00

Another sketchbook scan, from a while back, but only just got around to getting on the computer. I don't quite know why she is so wonky - maybe she has a bad back like me today - too much sitting hunched over a desk! Still, she has pretty clothes and cute ankle socks, so it's not all bad (^u^)

Girl with Teddy (and yellow socks!)

2011-08-10T19:10:00.004+01:00

Had a bit of a weird day today, didn't get enough done, but feel like I haven't stopped. I haven't done much but everything feels like it's a mess! Maybe I just need to go to bed with my teddy bear!

The sweetest 'Thank You' cards...

2011-08-10T08:57:00.000+01:00

More from my Mum's card business. These are some of her 'Thank You' cards, I bought a few to say thanks for my birthday presents. Aren't they sweet?!

She has a Frillybee Folksy shop...

... and a Frillybee Card website too!

A Birthday in Paris

2011-08-08T12:47:00.009+01:00

At the end of July, Mr. Li and I went off to Paris for a birthday treat (we both have our birthday on the 2nd August) and we had a bit of a whirlwind tour of Paris in three days! I think we pretty much saw all the bits we wanted to see, although there were a few Patisseries on my list that we either didn't have time for, or they were closed.

I always like to indulge in a little 'Cake Tourism' when I'm away! I was sorry to miss out on Stohrer, for example, which was open when we walked past it on the Sunday and we agreed to come back the next day to try their eclairs, but when we returned they had closed for two week's holiday! I was so disappointed! Luckily, although we couldn't afford Pierre Herme or Laduree macarons, and we couldn't find the time to visit Lenotre or Dalloyau, we did manage to find time to go to Cafe Angelina, famous for Mont Blanc cakes and their speciality hot chocolate.

Their Mont Blanc cake did look amazing, and it tasted good, but actually it wasn't the best I've ever had. The hot chocolate however, was definitely worth it. It wasn't too sweet but it was amazingly rich. It had the consistency of melted chocolate but definitely wasn't sickening, and had a sort-of fruity taste to it. It came in a jug which was then poured into your cup along with a dollop of cream.... soooooo goooooood!

Other highlights include the museum we stumbled across on the walk to the Eiffel Tower, the Musee du Quai Branly which has a permanent display of cultural artefacts from the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia, but also has the most amazing vertically planted exterior wall!

The whole thing has been planted with moss and ferns and must have some sort of a vertical watering system of pipes, as it was an extremely hot day, but the moss was cool to the touch (and there was a drainage channel all along the bottom of the building).

We also had some good luck with the Eiffel Tower too. The last two times I'd been to Paris (Mr. Li had never been before) I'd seen it during the daytime, but I thought it might be nice to see it at night. It was August so of course the sun was setting really late, but somehow we timed it perfectly, and the lights came on just as we walked up to it. We took a stroll underneath (but not up it - we both don't like heights!) and through to the Champ de Mars behind (we had arrived from the side of the River Seine) and as we turned round and took a few moments to take in the sight of it lit up beautifully against the sky, it suddenly began to twinkle! A huge 'Oooooh' rose from the crowds around us! It was such good timing, as we didn't know this light show was going to happen at all! I didn't capture it very well on camera but just imagine the whole thing covered in giant, twinkling, fairy lights. We still don't know if this happens every night at 10pm or what!

Near to the Seine, there was a small fair going on, and although a lot of the stalls were standard market wares that youd find in pretty much any city in Europe, there was a lady selling vegetable soaps. I had to treat myself to one...

Barbapapa flavour! She told me that Barbapapa is candyfloss! I peered around her stall to the food stand behind, and the man selling candyfloss was doing so under a sign saying 'Barbe à Papa' - which must mean Daddy's Beard! So, I guess the character in the book was named after candyfloss, and I just thought it was a made-up word! So, I learned a new word in Paris! It's actually a very nice soap to use, very gentle on the skin and didn't dry me out like most soaps do. The smell will always remind me of Paris now.

We spent quite a bit of time in the Tuileries, sometimes just sitting in the sun and drinking, or drawing, or writing. They have park chairs that anyone can use without having to pay a fee (like you do in London parks). You can pick them up and move them to whichever spot you like and then just watch the world go by. We enjoyed watching this old-fashioned 'Merry-Go-Round' for a while, I loved the colours and the fact that it was in such a lovely setting, amongst the trees in the park by the Seine.

If you walk through the Tuileries towards the river, there is a new bridge - the Pont des Arts (we think it is new, as it was on one of our maps but missing from our other one!) which has lots of padlocks on it, with people's initials on. We weren't sure exactly what it meant, but we decided to take the risk and add to it ourselves. We bought a padlock from Galeries LaFayette (we probably could have gone somewhere cheaper but we were there looking at their toy department so we thought we'd use it as a one-stop shop), wrote our names on it (I also carved it, just in case the ink was washed away, I wanted to make sure! hehe!) and we put it on the bridge and each threw a key into the river below. You can just see it in this photo along with all the others!

Another highlight was our mini pilgrimage to the 'Les Deux Moulins' cafe that 'Amelie' worked in! Okay, so she never really worked there, but it was used as a set when they made the film, and has a beautiful art deco bar still. It wasn't as busy as we expected it to be, so we were able to get a seat straight away and a well-earned cup of tea (sorry, it doesn't matter how long I am in France, I still need to drink my tea, not coffee!).

Continuing with the 'Amelie' theme, we did of course visit Montmartre, where we found this lovely lady playing the accordion just around the corner from Sacre Coeur. I loved the effort she had gone to, with all the flowers and her parasol. I don't think you can see in the photo, but she also had little antique French toys, and postcards she was selling out of floral suitcases.

No holiday for me is complete without a visit to a children's toyshop or bookstore of course, and we did this mainly in Galeries LaFayette. We found these wonderful displays in the toy section, there were about six of them, all with different toys in. I only got photos (terrible, blurred ones, unfortunately) of the Playmobil and the 'Littlest Pet Shop' displays. They looked like such fun to do, now that would be a fun career - 'Hello, yes, I'm a toy display technician'.

I had my birthday presents bought for me in the children's section. I got this wonderful book by Magali Le Huche, I love the art in this, the details and the colours (the purple skyscrapers looks great with the lime green title), and the way she uses the space on each page differently. There's a real attention to detail, and care taken to make it balanced and attractive as well as well-drawn. I couldn't find a website belonging to her, but you can see some more of her books here.

And of course I had to get something BARBAPAPA! There were so many things in the shop! I wanted all of it, but I settled for this tin, because I needed a new pencil tin, and this extra large size suits me just fine!

Well, there are my highlights of Paris, I hope it was interesting!

Mushi

2011-07-23T22:10:00.000+01:00

Mushi - (literally "worm" or "bug").

The word 'mushi' is used in a number of idioms to describe emotions or feelings. When a person is depressed, he is said to be "possessed by the mushi of depression" (fusagi no mushi). When a person is in a bad temper "the mushi is in the wrong place" (mushi no idokoro ga warui). When a person persists in anger, it is because "the mushi in his abdomen has not calmed down". When a man is suddenly tempted to have an extra-marital affair, it may be explained as the result of "the mushi of fickleness" (uwaki no mushi). If a child has violent temper tantrums, the mother may take the child to a shrine to have "the mushi of tantrums (kan no mushi) sealed off".

It might be that the Japanese, in their traditional reluctance to hold an individual responsible for impulsive behaviour, attribute such behaviour to an external agent, the "mushi", which has made its way into the body. The mushi can always be "sealed off" and the victim can return to the community without too much guilt.

"Keys to the Japanese Heart and Soul" - Kodansha, p.105

Doodling with my Bamboo Tablet

2011-07-07T23:25:00.000+01:00

This isn't my usual thing, but I am trying to get used to using a pen and tablet instead of a mouse. It's very hard to get used to! So, as a result this doesn't look like anything I'd normally do, but I guess it's interesting!

Messing with Photoshop

2011-07-07T21:16:00.001+01:00

Green Tea & Whisky + Photoshop + Vanity = Fun Times! (and burnt dinner)

Dreaming at my Desk

2011-07-05T22:56:00.001+01:00

Mainly about Japan and food..... Mmmm......

MochiPan loves... Emitown!

2011-06-29T21:11:00.004+01:00

I was in Forbidden Planet with Mr. Li a couple of months ago, browsing the arty, alternative graphic novel section – while he was rustling through the comics - and spotted a book called ‘Emitown’. Now, as I’m sometimes called ‘Emi-chan’ or 'Emi' by my friends, I thought ‘oooh is this where I should live?’ and it pretty much leapt off the shelves into my hands. I’m very glad it did! It has been very inspiring and entertaining!

In a nutshell, it’s a sketch diary, and a pretty awesome one at that. It doesn’t claim to be anything it’s not, and I get the feeling that the author (Emi Lenox) felt a little shy at first to be ‘putting it out there’ but I’m really glad she did, and I know I’m not alone. Her style is lovely. Her sketches are in two-tones, and two styles – her work is part-cartoon style (everyday random thoughts and occurrences), and part-arty/serious style which is often (always?) accompanied by lyrics from songs she has been listening to (okay, that bit I’m just guessing, as I’m sure I recognised a few!). I’m not a huge comic buff, so I don’t know all the terminology and whatnot, but coming from a purely open-minded and un-biased comic book background, I just love reading that book! So much so, that now I’ve finished the book (which covers about a year from May 2009 to 2010) I’m catching up to the present day on her blog .

I started to feel a bit like a stalker, but then I figured that the reason I keep wanting to read is that I got a bit fond of her as the book went on. I guess I can see a lot of myself in her so it’s quite comforting to read. I don’t want to make huge judgements about Emi based just on what I’ve read and tell you all exactly what she’s like here (plus you can find out for yourself by buying her book or reading her blog!) but I can say that there were lots of little moments where I thought ‘yes, I’m like that too, I’m glad it’s not just me!’

The best thing about diary stories is also that you get to see people develop and learn and grow. Even when I choose fiction books I’m not all that into the big plot-driven stories with dramatic climaxes and weepy endings. In fact, I prefer stories which just meander along with everyday life, with it’s ups and downs and characters who learn and admit their faults, and take joy in learning from life and changing and trying new things. That’s what ‘Emitown’ felt like to me.

Actually, part of the reason this book had to come home with me from the bookshop is that I do a sketch diary myself (have done for a few months, but I’ve not put it on a blog and may never do so!!). I can’t stick to a normal diary, and neither can I do proper, serious sketchbooks. Doing a little doodling in my book about the day I’ve had (which combines words and drawings in whatever quantity and proportion the mood takes me) seems to suit me much better. Doing something too religiously just NEVER works.

One day, maybe I’ll have the nerve to do something similar!

p.s. Emi, if you are reading - Coffee also makes me nervous and anxious, yet I just keep on chugging it! I always tell people this and they just look at me a bit strangely… so it’s good to know it has the same effect on someone else!

MochiPan loves... The Borrowers!

2011-05-18T13:13:00.005+01:00

I also love Studio Ghibli (no surprise there, I expect!), and I am so, so, so, excited because I have tickets to see 'Arrietty' (Ghibli's take on 'The Borrowers' by Mary Norton) at The Barbican in July! I've been waiting for it to show in a UK cinema for such a long time now and it is definitely going to be the highlight of my cinematic year!

I think it might be my favourite Ghibli film already (even though I haven't seen it yet) as 'The Borrowers' is one of my favourite children's books. I really hated that awful US 1997 film with John Goodman as it was nothing like the original story. It had no charm and completely lost all the beauty and practicality and cleverness of the original book. And although I expect Miyazaki (who wrote the screenplay) and Yonebayashi (who directed) will have played around with the original story too, but I have a feeling they'll do it with a lot more sensitivity and skill than whoever directed that awful aforementioned film.

I do remember a BBC version of the Borrowers years ago, I think in 1993, with Ian Holm as 'Pod'. THAT was amazing. It was magical to watch as a child, imagining all the little items from around the house that might be 'borrowed' by miniature people under the floorboards for all sorts of ingenious uses. Bizarrely, I've just noticed that I'm sitting at work wearing almost exactly the same dress to the Arrietty from the TV show (see below), except that mine is Black and White polka dots. Clearly, my fashion sense was influenced a lot by this show without me even realising it!

I read in the intoduction to the original story that Mary Norton was a short-sighted child, and that she was always concentrating on the tiny things she found. While other children watched hawks in the trees, she was looking at a tiny ladybird on a leaf, for example (a made-up example, but you get my point!) She actually explains that it was this fascination with the small that led to her creation of the Borrowers and their tiny world. Now, I'm very short-sighted and I always preferred detailed and miniature over large and dramatic any day of the week, so I think that just about explains why I love these books. I'm now re-reading her stories- a 1966 omnibus version which has lost its cover at some point over the years, but I think it originally looked like this...

The illustrations are so beautiful, and although my boyfriend is protesting, I'm secretly taking down design ideas in my head for my future home... haha! Seriously, I would love a bath made out of a giant pate tin, and to drink tea out of giant thimbles.... who wouldn't?!

Just look at those huge safety pins!

Testing Post!

2011-05-07T08:55:00.001+01:00

Hello all, this is just a test post to see what happens when I try to use blogger from my Blackberry! I'm hoping this will work and then I'll be blog-mobile! So far it looks like I can't upload pictures onto a post (the normal picture icon is missing from the edit page?) So perhaps I have to try and find a blogging app?

Anyway, test over, and I'm going back to my tea and Zipper magazine! Have a lovely weekend folks!

MochiPan loves... Trees!

2011-04-28T09:18:00.004+01:00

The Easter weekend was a bit of a tree-themed weekend for me! Not that I'm complaining as I do love trees (and yes, I have been known to hug them!).I went back up to Worcester (home town) for the Easter weekend, and as usual we (Mum and I) took a leisurely drive up there through the Cotswolds and various other pretty places, stopping off at Batsford Arboretum for a cup of tea. This time we took tea in a flask, and packed lunch sandwiches, but they do have a cafe with a lovely view over the garden centre. It's a great place to buy plants, and I bought my lovely little Acer from there a couple of years ago. It's also a much nicer place to stop over than a motorway service station!

My next tree-themed event was a visit to a friend who was living in the area called 'The Arboretum' in Worcester! There are lots of tree-themes in Worcester anyway, the road we (this friend and I) grew up on was an Avenue too!

On Easter Monday, Mum, Gran and I went up to Bodenham Arboretum, north of Worcester, where I took the following pictures. I tried to find trees with nice patterns or textures and I was spoilt for choice. I'm going to make some apologies for my camera work again, some of the trees looked glorious in the sunlight but didn't come out so well on my photos. I also discovered I have a huge smear over one edge of my lense (not sure how to go about cleaning that off!) so some of my pics were accidentally in soft focus! However, here are just a few extracts...

Not exactly along the tree theme, but on the way home we stopped for a toilet break in Bicester, and wandered into the Oxfam there. This is my charity shop find of the week - a miniature jug with pretty crinoline lady on it. The flowers were picked from my Mum's garden, and I have put some other ones into a flower press (also from a charity shop) as I had a sudden urge to try old-fashioned flower pressing! Not sure what I'll do with them when I'm done though...

MochiPan Loves... Yusuke Nakamura

2011-04-09T22:54:00.004+01:00

I was looking for nice wallpapers for my new Blackberry, and I stumbled across a site called Anime Paper - which hosts lots of lovely images for people to use on their desktops, and lots of other lovely images just to look at and go 'Oooooh'!

There's a lot of the usual Manga - schoolgirls showing their knickers etc. - but there are also some lovely, lovely images too! One of my favourite artists on the site was Yusuke Nakamura. I've now got the lovely image above as my Macbook wallpaper, and there are more that wouldn't fit on a screen but are just lovely to look at....

Having fun with my Octopus Fabric!

2011-04-09T22:38:00.003+01:00

Some things I made recently!...

MochiPan does baby clothes!

2011-03-20T12:05:00.006Z

Firstly, I have to apologise for the quality of the photos of this dress! I don't have my camera with me at the moment and had to take these with my photobooth on my Macbook. It doesn't have a focus on it, so the pics of this little dress are pretty crappy! I'll take better ones once I am reunited with my camera soon...

I designed a little octopus/squid print on Spoonflower, and had it printed out onto a simple cotton. I thought that it would make a cute little girls dress, but was a bit hesitant to try out a new dress pattern using all the octopus fabric, so I instead decided to just use it on the bodice, and used a simple blue polka dot cotton for the skirt part. I think it works quite well!

Although it's hard to make out, there are four pink buttons on the back, and when I sewed these on I actually preferred the back view to the front! But then, I do love dresses with buttons down the front. Unfortunately I didn't have any spare buttons left so I put a little bow on the front. I think I've said this before, but when in doubt I always put a bow on! Instant cuteness! I think for future dresses I will think about sewing buttons on the front. I have to make sure they are sewed on very firmly though, and maybe only for older girl's dresses, as I will have nightmares of babies pulling them off and choking on them otherwise... I think if I start making and selling baby clothing I have to look up all sorts of safety regulations etc. and it's all a bit daunting!

I also made a little bib out of the 'Bunny and Kitty' print I used for a changing mat earlier last year. I had a little piece spare so I made a really quick and simple bib using a technique borrowed from Sew, Mama, Sew! although I modified the pattern a little (I made it smaller, as the fabric I had left was a smaller piece!). It really is unbelievably simple to make, you could easily churn out 10 of these in a day, no problem!

I've found lots of lovely 'crafting for babies' blogs over the weekend... I don't have children but a lot of friends are either new Mums or expecting, so I have lots of gifts to make over the next few years (until I have my own to make for!) so although I'll take commissions if they come my way (do let me know if you have any!) I think I'll hold off making them in bulk to sell on Etsy/Folksy for the while as I'll be busy making for friends!

Here are a couple of the blogs I discovered and enjoyed this weekend:

Sew, Mama, Sew!

Made by Rae

Japan - how to help

2011-03-13T08:29:00.003Z

I want to write something about the troubles in Japan at the moment, to show support for a country I really consider my second home. I've been watching a lot of the news since the first earthquake struck and it really is heart-breaking to see the devastation caused by the quakes and the tsunami. Watching the waves destroy all those homes and lives in real-time and yet not being able to do anything to help is frustrating. The helplessness we feel in the face of the forces of nature is something that will never go away, but the strength and humanity of those suffering, and those involved in the rescue efforts, is all we can counter with.

Japan is a strong nation, and for a while it seemed they would not ask for international help. For the first day or so I kept checking the UK Red Cross website but it kept saying help had not been requested and they could not doing anything until it had. Finally, the situation was shown to be so serious that Japan Red Cross started to ask for help, and if you are a UK resident and want to show support then you can donate towards the rescue efforts HERE

Get better soon Japan x

MochiPan loves... You Byun, Petit Sauvage and Mr. Li!

2011-02-19T12:20:00.006Z

Well, I could have called this post 'MochiPan loves... her boyfriend because he has such impeccable taste in Valentine's cards' but I think that might be gloating a little too much! I'm not big on Valentine's day and neither is he, but he never fails to do exactly the right thing every year to put a grin on my face and a little spring in my step. Forget huge, dramatic sweeping gestures, fancy schmancy dinners, expensive bouquets and jewellery, it's the little things that make me happy...

So, I was surprised with good-quality, yummy chocolates and a beautiful card. He seems to know exactly what I will like and it's the thought that he takes to find and choose something just perfect that makes me go a little bit gooey in the middle.

My card featured this design by You Byun, an illustrator who grew up in Japan and Korea and is now based in New York. Her work is absolutely gorgeous so go and take a look right now!

I think this particular illustration is called 'let's clean the winter' which is so sweet and perfect for this time of year! I'd like to clean the winter up today too as it is cold and drizzling a little today, but I guess we'll have to wait a little longer... I have my broom ready though!

The card is being printed by Roger la Borde, under the completely lovely imprint Petit Sauvage, and I think these are stocked in most good card shops. In their own words it is,

"...the result of the Roger la Borde's passionate commitment to hand drawn illustrations and the desire to champion idiosyncratic design."

The collection is gorgeous so you should check them out! It's made up of a lot of unusual and original illustrations, and they are all printed on FSC cards with vegetable based inks so nice and organic and earth-friendly too! What more could you possible want from a card...?

Things and thoughts

2011-02-03T22:31:00.003Z

Some things I did:
Some things I thought:

Icky Cold Time

2011-01-31T18:50:00.013Z

I've been a bit ill for the past few days. I feel frustrated - so many things I want to do! I'm not a very good invalid (is anyone?!) as I keep making myself get up and do things, but of course that doesn't help much... booo!

I wrote a big piece last night about being ill, but it was all moaning and I deleted it today. I know everything could be much worse, and this is just a little bug, so I couldn't justify publishing it. I hope everyone reading this is well, and if not, happy at least!

Winter (and all these colds and bugs) will be over soon....!

MochiPan loves... Kitty Crowther

2011-01-28T18:48:00.003Z

Wow... just thought I'd share with you one of my favourite illustrators, Kitty Crowther. She does mostly French and Dutch children's books so I haven't been able to get hold of one myself, but one day I will!

She seems to have been influenced by the Moomins, and I can see that in her work. It' so charming and innocent!

I particularly love this cover for 'Le Grande Desordre' simply because this is often how I feel! I love the depiction of all the little creatures scrambling around causing mischievous disorder all over the room, while the girl is slumped, exhausted in the chair in the centre of it all. Who hasn't felt like this sometimes?! It's quite dark but so endearing!

I have faith in you, little one!

2011-01-27T20:56:00.007Z

I've re-listed a lot of items in my shops recently, because I can't bear to give up on them! Especially this little one!

Buy on Etsy or Buy on Folksy

I know at some point I should probably give up and say it won't sell, but I just keep on telling myself that it's all about waiting for the right person to find my shop! haha! I'm quite unusually optimistic about that, I guess.

Strangely, with the little 'baby goat badge' when I look at it, I don't associate it with myself any more (even thought I drew, coloured, scanned, printed, ironed, sewed, photographed and listed the little bugger) I just think;

'awwww look at that puddin' face! Dressed up in a cute little goat outfit!"

... and it doesn't seem like anything to do with me any more....

Night night everyone!

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

2011-01-25T21:04:00.005Z

It's nearly time for Chinese New Year... out goes the tiger, and in comes the bunny!

To celebrate, I thought I'd pick a few lovely rabbity items from Etsy and Folksy to share... let me know what you think!

First up is a gorgeous little Bunny and Moon Card from Folksy Seller Daisies are our Silver. I absolutely love this illustration, and the way the little bunny is looking up to the moon as if they are old friends! I think this is extra fitting for my theme, as the Chinese Calendar is based on lunar cycles (I think!!)

Next up is the irresistable Etsy wonderland of Pocket Carnival with this lovely organic Bunny Toy. This bunny even has a cute owl jumper on!(Aaaahh... again we have the lunar theme, what with owls being night-birds.... too wit too woo!!!).

Here is a beautifully calm Rabbits on Marshmallow Tree print from Etsy seller Kristiana Parn. This shop is stuffed full of beautiful Bunny art, and these pieces have wonderful natural colours!

Next up is a super-cute bunny-lover from Etsy seller Badbird with Big Bear Loves Fluffy Buns. How cute and gentle is this bear!!

And last, but not least, is this absolutely adorable little felt Basket Bunny from Etsy shop The Barnyard. I just love how he is perched on the handle, as if he is scrabbling to get up to see what you are up to! So, so cute!

Have a great rabbit year folks! x

Dream Coloured Tarte Tatin Time!

2011-01-23T10:42:00.005Z

I have been watching a super-cute anime recently called Yumeiro Patissiere (Dream-Coloured Patissiere) which is basically a cartoon all about baking cakes and pastries and anything else sugar-filled and cute!

It is AWESOME.

So, I thought I'd try making a tart (never made one before, you see) and I used a Mary Berry recipe. In a nutshell, you chop your apples and soak them in lemon juice, then make a caramel sauce with brown sugar and water and the remaining lemon juice from you apples. You pour the caramel into the bottom of the tart tin, lay out the apple pieces on the caramel, and then plop the pastry on the top. After it's baked you turn it upside down and voila!

It was very delicious :)

My Poor Minnie

2010-12-05T12:36:00.002Z

Just a quick post to say that my lovely little Macbook Mini (Minnie) is very ill at the moment. I have checked her into the 'Mac Store Hospital for Poorly Macs' and she is being looked after at the moment. Prognosis is good (but expensive!) so she should be back with me next week.

In the meantime, no photos, no regular posts, no new items to list on my online shops!

MochiPan and Minnie should be back up an working soon!

x

Mermaid Lavender Bags

2010-10-31T17:27:00.004Z

Apologies for yet another 'new listing' blog. Im just trying to get my shop filled in time for Christmas! (plus, I need to earn something to fund my own Christmas Folksy splurge! hehe!)

These are some stocking-filler sized lavender bags with my 'Mermaids on Mopeds' design... hope you like them! At just £2.50 each they are a good price too!

You should be able to click on the picture to go to my shop...

More substantial blog posts to follow.... I promise!!!!!

Kana Pencil Cases

2010-10-23T14:54:00.011+01:00

Yay! I made some more MochiPan goodies!

Very pleased with these. I had this idea about a year ago and only just had time to make them, and I love them! I have to keep one for myself I think...

Japanese Alphabets (Kana) Pencil Cases! When learning Japanese, you normally begin with 'katakana' and 'hiragana'. So, I thought it would be really useful to have a pencil case with them on, so when you are in class and you can't quite remember a character, help is at hand! They also make a really cute alphabet pattern...

Japanese actually has three writing forms. The two Kana are phonetic (i.e. each character has one individual sound, like in the English alphabet).

Katakana is used mostly for words adopted from foreign languages (like 'television' - terebi - テレビ) and hiragana is used for other Japanese words (like 'hello' (on the phone) - moshi moshi - もしもし).

Japanese also uses characters called Kanji (which came originally from China and are often very similar) which can have different sounds and can be used for different words (like tea - cha - 茶). However, if I made a pencil case with Kana on, it would be big enough to fit the whole of London inside I think!

I designed the pattern, and then had it printed by Spoonflower, so the material is great quality, and can't wait to get more things printed. I'm thinking about doing some less cutesy kana purses, something boys wouldn't be too embarrassed to own? Let me know what you think... I'm also thinking about doing some black and red ones, with little skull charms!

I've made five of them so far, and they will all be up on Folksy and Etsy for sale. Let me know what you think!

New Blog, New Shop, I need another week off!!

2010-10-10T19:02:00.003+01:00

Other than making idea jam (see below post!) I spent the entire week off work setting up another Etsy shop so I sort of feel like I spent most of it working. But it was fun work! I can't wait to do more!

The shop is more specialist, as it's clothing for 12th scale dollies. I'll be hopefully adding accessories and toys and other things (all Blythe/Pullip sized) to it as I go, and I have some big ideas for special costumes I'm going to make too!

I spent way too long on trying to get the design right, and I'm still not sure it's as perfect as I want it to be, but packaging up the goods was very satisfying to do...

I trained to make costumes for humans, but it's soooo much more fun making them on a tinier scale!! Not to mention quicker and cuter...

The Etsy shop is here, and the Blog is here.

All feedback welcome! x

Idea Jam

2010-10-08T10:12:00.003+01:00

I know I spend a lot of time moaning about the lack of, or overabundance of, creativity in my poor, exhausted head, but bear with me on this one as I had a fun idea in the end!

I've just had a week off work, as I had some annual leave left and I had been promising myself a week off to stay at home for some 'Emily Time'. I was soooooooo excited about it as it meant I would be able to catch up on some of the things I've been carrying around in my head for weeks. Sitting at work, thinking of things to do, and then getting home and having no time to do any of it is a bit frustrating! My long commute means that by the time I get home there's just about enough time to eat, wash and sleep, and then back to work again!

I've demonstrated this in a completely un-scientific graph... hehe!...

The problem is that as soon as I took time off my brain went a little CRAZY!!! Suddenly all these ideas went ping-ponging around inside my head and I started to have a little melt-down.

It's really hard to settle down to do one thing when you are in the process of trying to develop four or five other ideas inside your head. I then started to panic that I wasn't going to have enough time to do everything. I was supposed to take this week to combine 'making things with relaxing' and I have done a little of the former and none at all of the latter. Although, anyone who knows me will not be surprised!

Funnily enough, the boyfriend has spent the past week with a new project in his head. He has been coming back from work and chattering away to me about it and not being able to sleep as he is so excited. He's not normally like this. I tend to rely on him to be the calming, steady half of the relationship, so it's freaking me out a bit! He told me that he feels like he has so many ideas he can't relax properly and he feels sick a lot and feels stressed because he can't do everything he wants to do. I said "Welcome to my life, baby!".

So, the meltdown I had at the beginning of the week was because the contents of my head looked roughly like this;

Too many things bouncing around and flying about I didn't know where to start and kept leaving unfinished bits all over the place.

I had to find a solution!

I sometimes write lists, but then I ended up making too many different lists.... so I needed something bigger!I can't even remember why I thought of this as my brain feels like cotton wool right now, but I started writing down the ideas on pieces of paper.

I needed somewhere to store them, so I climbed up onto my Mother's work surfaces and pinched one of her pickle/giant jam jars (I will replace this, if you are reading Ma!) and put them in there, and what Jam Jar would be complete without a nice label, huh?

Now all I need to do whenever I get an idea is write it on the slip, fold it up, and pop it in the jar. It feels much more therapeutic than writing them in a notebook as they get locked tight inside in there and they can't escape and buzz around my head any more, until I have the time to start something and then I can pick one out and begin. it's fun, and exciting, and it may not work, but for now I feel a lot better! Phew!

p.s. feel free to do the same and let me know! I got the jam labels from Martha Stewart' website but there are lots of free ones around on the web. If you want a copy of my ideas slip just let me know and I'll send it over!

MochiPan Loves... Frillybee (and my Mum!)

2010-10-06T09:26:00.006+01:00

Frillybee is fairly new to the Folksy site, but the lovely lady who designs and creates these AMAZING designs lives and breathes creativity 24/7 and has spent a lifetime being an artist. I should know, because she is my Mum!

I'm shamelessly plugging her most recent designs here because I can do it with absolute sincerity. She is hands down one of the most talented artists I've ever come across, but she remains almost completely undiscovered. I nearly fell off my chair when she showed me her most recent work and it still confounds me (and everyone who knows her) that she isn't making a living doing this!

She's away on a much-deserved holiday to Scotland at the moment so she left me in charge of her shop, which means I am free to write this without her catching me! I'm hoping that she'll come back inspired and will be able to make more and more of these beautiful works of art.

Please let me know any feedback you have and I will pass it on to her. Do you think the designs would work as prints, wrapping paper, etc. etc.?

Please check out her shop if you have time, and have a quick look around. I'm hoping to persuade her to put more of her things on there soon so do keep popping back!

Some people say to me that they can see where I get my artistic talent from, but I always think that if I'm even half as good as she is then that's enough for me!

xxx

BlytheCon UK 2010

2010-10-04T10:14:00.006+01:00

I forgot to take my camera!!! I couldn't believe it but I was so wrapped up in trying to remember to bring dolls and outfits and competition entries and my ticket that I forgot I'd need to take photos during the day!

Luckily lots of people there had cameras so I can see all the photos on the Flickr group site... phew! Mind you, my camera is really playing up at the moment and all my photos are coming out really grainy and blurred no matter what setting I use, or what lighting there is! I can't afford a new camera but I can't seem to fix the problem!

So, all I have to show today are a few crappy photos of my entry to the fashion design competition...!

I just used a plain calico and painted it with fabric paints and then embroidered on the top with fairly simple stiches. The house is a print onto another fabric that is then appliqued onto the skirt. It's a circular skirt so I did the embroidery all the way round the back too. I added a little green lace around the bottom to make it look fancy.

I won 3rd prize! I was soooo surprised! I won a goody bag of materials, which were kindly donated by Seamstar and Volksfadenwhich I am so happy about! Now I can make more things! Woo!

One of the fabrics in this photo was bought from a stall while I was there - the one with the cute deer on to the left came from Little Venice.

I also treated myself to a little pack of cards from Hilary Wagstaff a.k.a MoshiMoshi because I loved the illustration style. As they have such disproportionate heads and eyes I find it's very difficult to draw Blythe dolls without making them look scary or losing their cute appeal, but Hilary has managed to make them look great!

The whole competition was organised by the lovely Shelley from HauntsHold, so a big thank you to her!

The first Day of Christmas.... Selling!

2010-09-19T17:44:00.005+01:00

It's nearly the end of September, so I'm actually behind a lot of retailers with getting my Christmas stock online, but it still feels too early! However, with a 6 month period of selling on Folksy for every item, to get my money's worth it's best to get them on early I suppose! (Especially as I completely missed the boat with these last year!).

So, I listed these today:

Anyway, hope you like them! I'm now considering making these designs into gift cards, but need to get a feel for how popular they would be by the response to these I suppose...

I also learned some new html code today, the secret to making a link from a picture (so when you click on the picture it takes you to a webpage). You have to have an image somewhere online - as you need to use the image location (usually you can get this by selecting 'copy image location' when right-clicking on it once it is uploaded somewhere), and you'll need the link the page you want to send people to, including the "http://" bit.

Then the code is....

If I've got it right, clicking on this picture below should take you to my Shop!

Hope it works for you!

BlytheCon UK Photography Competition

2010-09-18T07:57:00.007+01:00

There is a photography competition for Blythecon, and I thought it would be fun to enter. My camera is pretty useless, but I figured I'd go ahead and do it anyway...!

The theme was 'Blythe and Your Country'. I briefly toyed with doing her country (then I could do a cute little kimono!) but then realised that it was just me trying to get out of a bit of hard work. England doesn't have any particularly strong folk culture, except for Morris Dancing (oh damn! I just thought of that! I should have done that!), and as Fen is turning out to be a bit of a tomboy I thought she'd like to trying taming a wild dragon!

Fen St George is a peaceful knight, so rather than slaying the dragon, she tempted it with sweeties and then made friends with it. After posing for the photo we let the dragon back into its natural habitat to return to nature and peace. Bye bye dragon!

The castle in the background is papercraft, which can be found here. I bought the Applejack (who is supposed to be Fen st George's faithful steed!) My Little Pony from eBay!

I kept crocheting the dragon on the tube to work and back every morning and evening, and you wouldn't believe how much of a talking point crocheting on London Transport is! Normally people just stare blankly into space in a grim silence, but when they asked what I was making and I told them it was a dragon I got a few puzzled expressions....

For the chainmail, I cut out the bodysuit pattern pieces in some normal lycra tights, and then painted some old fishnets silver, and basted them together. Then sewed it up.

Turning it inside out was difficult, but I have discovered that one of the most handy tools in any workshop is a nicely rounded wooden chopstick! That was fantastic for turning the legs out.

After I put the chainmail on her, Fen looked so 1970s I had to take a picture... haha! I actually sewed her into it for the photo shoot as I'd run out of patience to start fiddling around with fastenings (plus the only velcro I have is bright white).

The tunic is just made from a very thin shirt cotton (like the type we had as school shirts) and the cross is red felt ironed on with bondaweb. The belt is just a piece of felt sewn in a loop (it was getting very late and I was tired at this point!)
Again, she is sewn into the tunic too! I wasn't sure what to do with her hair, so I just went for a cute Heidi style.

MochiPan loves... Blythe!

2010-09-17T07:05:00.000+01:00

The obsession with dolls continues! I bought a Pullip doll earlier in the year (see post below somewhere) and a few months ago she was joined by a Blythe! Blythe dolls are more recognisable and popular than Pullips, so you may recognise her signature wide-eyed gaze.

She came from Japan originally, where Blythes are now produced, but mine came via Hong Kong from a relation of my boyfriend, who sent her over during the summer. The wait for her to arrive seemed long, but when she finally got here my boyfriend had to sit through a whole evening of squealing and bouncing up and down with excitement! That particular mix of happiness and 'awww cute!' was something I hadn't felt since Christmas Day circa 1990 or so! A great feeling.

One of the great things about Blythe dolls is that you can take them apart (with care!) and customise them. It seems a shame to do this sometimes, but I do absolutely prefer how she looks now post-makeover. Previously she had a sort of luminous bile green eyeshadow, which just wouldn't match anything.

It does seem a little weird to be 'playing with dolls' as an adult, but it is absolutely irresistable. I can't seem to walk past her on the shelf without the urge to try a new hairstyle, or change her clothes or put her in a new pose. I'm not the only one either. A quick search around on the web (particularly sites like Flickr) will reveal thousands of fans and owners of Blythe.

This year there is even the first Blythe Convention in the UK (something that has been going on in the US for a while). Yes, you read that right, a doll convention, and yes I am going! It's going to be in Oxford and there are competitions, workshops and stalls selling clothes and accessories. I will be going with a mixture of excitement for myself, and fear for my budget!

Kitties and Bunnies Changing Mat

2010-03-07T12:28:00.004Z

I thought I'd share what I've been working on recently. It had to be a secret as it was bought by my cousin, for another cousin of mine (her sister) as a christening for her baby daughter. I was asked to design the material, with the help of Spoonflower of course, and as the baby girl in question is called Kitty, I thought it had better have some kitties on it! The bunnies are there to keep the kitties company!

The photos are quite poor as I just took them late at night once it was finished, but they'll have to do! It was actually more complicated that I thought it would be, but a really satisfying result!

Where have I been?!

2010-02-19T21:22:00.004Z

I can't believe it has actually been this long since I posted something, but lots of changes have gone on recently and I just haven't been able to get down to anything productive in a long time. Not only did I fairly recently start a new job (with less time off to make anything) but I've also just moved house. Today is the first day in a fortnight or so when I actually had a desk to sit down at to write anything.

MochiPan has a 2010 plan, you see. MochiPan needs a home, so I've moved back to my Mum's in order to save up for a deposit. It meant leaving my gorgeous boyfriend to go back to his old place in order for us both to save up (we had until recently been renting a 'love-nest' from a friend of ours). However, New Year hit, with the usual 'what am I doing with my life' torture, and we realised that we needed to sort ourselves out and plan for the future, instead of living in our little rented love-limbo.

So, it'll take us a year or so of being apart in order to save up, but it will all be worth it in the end! Fingers crossed! Therefore, MochiPan is on a budget, and although nothing has been produced to sell on Folksy or put on my illustration sites, I'm hoping that will all change shortly. I have to cut down on things which cost money, but thank god doodling and sewing can be free! As I don't like to have a blog post without a picture, I'm going to show you my last splurge before my budgeting set in... I think you'll agree she is super, duper kawaiiiiii!!!

Archive Work (2000) - Moody Tutu

2010-01-20T19:50:00.001Z

I guess this is from around 2000, I don't even remember when I drew it, but I remember liking her instantly because she is so moody... haha!

New Illustration Blog

2010-01-19T23:31:00.003Z

I have a new illustration blog now. I felt that I needed to keep this MochiPan blog strictly MochiPan - the side of me that likes the cute, and the crafts, and I thought it would be best to keep the rest of my illustration work and anything related to it elsewhere. So if you want to visit it, please click here. I'll be adding a picture link to it on the side shortly, but right now it is getting on for midnight and I don't want to turn into a pumpkin, so I'd better get to bed I think!

1999 - Sixth Form

2010-01-19T22:29:00.001Z

This was drawn in 1999, while I was at Sixth Form, studying my A'Levels. I's a bit mental, but most of the stuff we do at that age is, right?

I've got rid of my 'illustration blog' and I'm importing some of the pics from there onto here, so some of you may have seen this before :)

Experimental Mood

2010-01-17T23:14:00.003Z

I'm not really sure what I'm doing at the moment. I'm feeling very experimental and not sure where it's all going. I re-vamped the blog because I wanted it to be more neutral, as I'm feeling a bit like a change of tempo. This has always been the problem, I can't sit still long enough to develop one particular style, and I keep experimenting with new things at such a rate that I never get particularly good at anything! I'm not in a 'cute and kawaii' mood at the moment, and feeling a lot more serious. Still, at least I'm doing something, and it's very enjoyable to be itching to draw again, even if I do feel like a total, self-conscious, amateur. Actually, my style reminds me of when I was doing my A'Levels, which is worrying, because that was about 10 years ago, and that means I haven't actually developed much since!

Cheating on Photoshop

2010-01-16T19:27:00.004Z

OK, so it's not really cheating, but it feels a little bit like when you play around with the filter gallery, instead of trying different techniques with your hands. However, it's really fun to see the different results. Here is one pencil sketch which I simply scanned in as it was, followed by a few different 'photo-shopped' variations. I think I might prefer the first filter more than the others... but this calls for a bit more experimentation I think!

Fri-Doodle - Grrrr...

2010-01-15T20:21:00.007Z

Ok, in a bid to be a bit more disciplined with my illustration, I'm going to try and do a doodle every week, and put it on this 'ere blog every Friday. So, to start us off.... here's my very weird Lion/serpent thingamijig. Not quite a Tiger, but Tiger-ish for the New Year (tenuous I know, but never mind!)

UPDATE: Decided to move this to my illustration blog! It fits a bit more there I think!

Pencil Love Graph

2010-01-15T17:28:00.004Z

I decided it was high time to give some loving attention to my pencils today, and as I was sorting them out to give them a nice new year sharpen it occurred to me that their varying lengths said a lot about the colours I use more than others... so I decided to get all technical and make a highly scientific graph to show which were more popular than others! Welcome to my 'Pencil Love Graph'!...

Doodlers Anonymous Tee!

2010-01-11T22:17:00.008Z

Check out the fantastic website Doodlers Anonymous! The site for all those doodles you've been doing on your Post-It pads at work, on the backs of envelopes, and in the margins of your schoolbooks and anywhere and anytime you felt the uncontrollable urge to doodle!

I submitted my super-doodled T-shirt and you can click here to see it in the Doodlers Anonymous Gallery!

Blog-hunting and my New Year's Resolution

2010-01-08T08:39:00.006Z

I've been rooting around on various people's blogs this morning, as I am stuck at home with a throat infection and no train service, and I came across quite a few lovely things. I started off on one of my favourite blogs, called "Squid Bits". I always find Jess from Squid Bits so inspiring because her productivity levels put me to shame, and her illustrations are so cute and yet with a great sense of humour. Her ideas are always very original and refreshing too (seen any other illustrations of sasquatches recently? I think not!). While I was there I thought I'd have a go at raiding her Blog Links... which I'm still in the process of doing, and I came across a really fun one called "I Like Characters" which is basically a place for the collection of created characters (mostly illustrated but some are in different mediums too). What a fun idea! So I subscibed to that! I'm thinking about submitting something sometime in the future too.

While I was there I found a link to these gorgeous books or 'Chubby Books' on the website "Pink Ghost" and I immediately wanted ALL OF THEM. I do really, really love books. I work for a children's publishers, and my last job was as a children's bookseller. I might even go far as to say I am obsessed with books! I love all books, notebooks, sketchbooks, reading books, picture books, novels, fiction, non-fiction, love it, love it, love it! And these chubby books are simply gorgeous, they probably feel gorgeous in the hands (nice and smooth and chunky and just waiting to be held!! Ok, so I'm strange, but I even love the smell and feel of books!) and they are filled and covered with gorgeous illustrations. Click here to take a closer look...

But alas, I can never own one, because my New Year's Resolution ( I just stuck to one this year, it's a biggy, and I don't think I could handle anything on top of that!) is to save up vast amounts of money (haha!) to buy a flat in 2011. I'm putting away about 3/4 of my salary every month which means I have very, very little to spend on anything else. Unfortunately, that means I can't buy any more books!!!! Tragedy!!

As with everything else I see and automatically want to buy, I've decided to try and make them instead. Every time I see a cute diary, or calendar, or toy, or... well... anything, I'm going to try and force myself to make it instead, from materials to hand. I'm hoping this will eventually cost less, and if I am spending all my time making things, I'll have less time to go out and find more things that I want... I'll let you know how that goes!

MochiPan loves... Handmade!

2010-01-06T17:29:00.001Z

This is a bit of a re-hash of a comment I left on a Folksy forum a while back, but it's a good explanation of how I feel about Handmade v. Mass-produced items...

I prefer to buy handmade because I think that creativity is completely undervalued in our society. I feel like there are so many talented people out there, but we never get the chance to see their value because you can't see them on the high street. I think creative people are by nature quite shy and introverted, and mostly it's only the loud confident ones who can sell their designs/goods to design companies/shops, and they might not necessarily be the most talented (ok, I'm bitter!) I think Folksy is a great place for everyone to show their work in an equal environment in a really accessible way.

Most people in our society seems to be so obsessed with designer labels and expensive items whose only value (as far as I can see) is the price tag! I think there is a lot of 'jumping on the bandwagon', as in... someone, somewhere, decides that something is 'fashionable' and then everyone rushes out to buy it regardless of its aesthetic value, simply because all their friends have one, or because they want to look 'fashionable' too. I think a lot of people (including myself, I have to admit) can get sucked into buying so many things we don't need, because it is all so readily available from the high street, ending up with loads of meaningless things around the house!

I like to try and have things which have meaning, things which have been made by people I know, or whose stories I know, or have some kind of memory attached. Then the object has more value in my eyes, and whenever I look at it, use it or wear it, it has a story and that makes me happy somehow!

Actually, I was at a craft fair recently and we had greetings cards on our stalls, all handmade, and we were sat opposite some fairly mass-produced cards. Now, obviously it is a lot down to taste, but they clearly did a lot better than us. I actually think that most people don't value handmade goods. We had some people complaining about the prices of the cards, even though they clearly liked the design, so I don't think they really comprehended the time and the creative skill taken when making original designs. It actually all made me feel like most customers would prefer mass-produced items, as if they feel reassured that if everyone else is buying it then it must be good. It probably sounds strange to us, but people who might not be creative, or confident about their own tastes (which is a remarkably large amount of people) are often too frightened to get anything out of the norm, or choose a handmade card for themselves, and would prefer to stick to the safe option of mass-produced cards. Which is a shame!

Desk Mess No. 1

2010-01-03T20:26:00.006Z

Pre-Christmas Desk Mess!

It's not that I'm proud of the mess or anything, I just thought it might be interesting to see where I work, or play. I am proud of my Mameshiba Folder though, cute or what?! :D

Earmuffery

2009-12-18T19:47:00.007Z

Who has the cutest and silliest earmuffs in all the land?

... I do!

Who looks ridiculous wearing them, and gets laughed at by builders and still keeps wearing them nonetheless?

... I do!

Craft Fair Premiere

2009-12-06T10:29:00.012Z

I did my first craft fair yesterday and it was a really interesting experience! For starters, I came away a little disheartened because I only covered my table fee by £4.00! So I earned £4.00 for the whole day on top of the £20 fee! It feels like I just gave £20.00 worth of stock away, which makes me sad considering the amount of time spent on it. We were also so rammed in we had hardly any space to move behind the stalls!

But on the other hand, it was a really lovely venue and it was good to see people’s reactions to my stock, even the ones who didn’t buy anything. It was good to see what type of people are attracted to my things, and to which pieces in particular. It seemed like people only looked at the things on the table, not on the display unit I had set up, but my free business cards from Moo went down a treat! I put them in a little perspex tray with compartments I bought from Muji, and my cards just got decimated.

I got a teeny-tiny commission which was nice too, even if I forgot to charge them postage (darn it!). It did all make me think that unless you pick the craft fairs that have the appropriate type of customer, you can do really badly. I think my pieces would probably do better at fairs with younger customers, and a lot of the people at the fair were elderly and quite conservative!

It was really good to chat to other stallholders too. I did a tour round the stalls and said hello to anyone I recognised from Folksy, so it was great to put names to faces. Also, talking to the people on the stalls near mine was really interesting (there was so little space we really had no choice but to get personal! We were bumping bottoms all day long!) and I think we provided each other with a little moral support in the face of rather slow sales!

All in all, I'd love to do another one, as it's really great to meet customers face to face, and to meet other crafters/artists. I think that I will be ore selective in my choice of fair from now on though, just to make sure my goods get seen by the right people!

Folksy Favourites - Edition One

2009-10-25T08:12:00.009Z

Well my lovelies, it is Sunday morning and it is now officially 6.15am (now that the clocks have gone back) and I am awake far too early so I thought I'd spend some time sharing a few of my favourite sellers from Folksy with everyone. Rather than do a theme, for this first treasury I think I'll just pick people from my 'favourite sellers' list and write a little bit about why I like them.. please enjoy!...

Chiyo
First up is Chiyo. Her jewellery is colourful, pretty and girly without being sickly sweet! I absolutely love all of her things and I spend ages going 'ooh' and 'aah' over her bracelets, and adding them to my wishlist, and then looking back a week later to find they've been snapped up! Absolutely beautiful Chiyo!

Treaclezoo
Next up is Treaclezoo. If you are slightly obsessed with Japan (as I am) you will probably have heard of 'amigurumi'... the art of making unbelievably cute things with crochet! Ok, so that's probably not the official definition for it, but that's basically what it is, and Treaclezoo is one of the best crochet-ers around!

Under the Stair Studios
What a fantastic name Under the Stair Studios has! I just love the idea of someone squirreling away under the stairs, making these completely beautiful 3D cards! I gave one to a friend as a wedding card/gift and it was absolutely perfect. I was even allowed to have a dedication written on it for free, how generous and lovely is that?!

Grandma's Miniature Market
Grandma's miniature market sells miniature food!!! I know a few other sellers do this, but I love the range in this store, love the name, and everything looks really well done! I love slightly quirky things, and I also love the have things which don't have any particular purpose but still make me want them anyway! Of course, these would look absolutely lovely in a doll's house, but I don't have any dolls and yet I still want a collection of teeny-tiny fruits and vegetables or an incy-wincy cheese ploughman's!

Christmas.... Halloween..... same thing, right?

2009-10-19T16:24:00.006+01:00

I was supposed to be designing my Christmas cards today. I sat down with good intentions.... and then made a Halloween inspired repeat pattern for fabric! Doh!

MochiPan loves... Making Lists

2009-10-06T13:48:00.013+01:00

I love making lists, and I know that not everyone cares to admit it, but I know I'm not alone on this! Just to demonstrate my list-making skills, here is a list of things I like to make lists about...

Things to do (e.g. have a nap, I have a bit of a headache)
People I need to email because I’ve forgotten to email them. (e.g. ex-students in Japan)
Shopping lists (a good old classic, e.g. sausages)
Places I want to visit (e.g. Bruges, it's supposed to be lovely!)
Things I want to make ( e.g. needlecases, just waiting for some felt to arrive)
Things I want to own (e.g. a fig tree, I want one!)
Things I want to try out one day (e.g. pottery, on one of those spinning thingies)
Lists of possible career changes (e.g. wild-haired campervan traveller)
Lists of people I have a massive crush on (e.g. Tony Leung… mmm… yummy)
Lists of how on earth to not go completely insane (e.g. eat food, very sensible)

I last made a list of “Things to make myself feel better” when I was in Japan.

You will notice that number nine on the ‘Things to make myself feel better’ list is ‘Make a list of positive things’. Confused? Me too, but as far as I can remember, the list saved the day, and I did feel better in the end so what the heck.

SECRET ALERT! I have a naughty secret to reveal, sometimes when I write lists I put down things which I have already done! That way, I can cross them off with a flourish and think to myself smugly “wow, check me out, look how productive I am, I’ve already done two of the things on my list already!”

I used to make lots of lists when I had office jobs. I used to sit and daydream about all the wonderful things I could do when I got home. I’d make myself lists on the back of surplus office documents, fold them up tight and put them in my purse for safe-keeping, and then a few weeks later I’d have a clear out and all the softened, fluffy scraps would go straight into the bin, un-read, and more often than not were simply mistaken for the multitude of lunchtime sandwich dash receipts. I wouldn’t get the things done you see, I would write them down and save them for this magical far away place called ‘spare time’, which would never come, because it seemed to only exist in my mind. At the moment when I made the plans this ‘spare time’ would seem real enough, and I would get very excited making the list, but the minute I set foot in the door, after an hour or two rammed between the armpits of strangers on the tube, all I wanted to do was flop on the sofa and watch a bit of TV or a film to distract me from the day.

My mum loves lists too, I have definitely inherited this trait. She is an amazingly creative person, and the other week she said to me, “…there were times in my life where I couldn’t go to bed without having made something exist, which hadn’t existed before”. In other words, my poor mum didn’t let herself rest until she had brought something into existence every day of her life. I also know for a fact that she keeps a notebook by her bed, to write lists on. She is the List Queen. If I call her up feeling miserable sometime she will say… ‘Well... hmm... have you tried making a list?”

I think ideas (both negative worries, or creative sparks) can rattle around inside of you, and some way or another they’ve just got to come out. If you can’t have a good old moan to someone about something, you can let our trusty notebook take the heat. and if you never seem to have the time to make the things you want to make, sometimes just by writing them down you have created something that didn’t exist before… that’s what I’m going to keep telling myself… now where did I put that list…

New things for October!

2009-10-06T13:41:00.009+01:00

MochiPan loves... Vending Machines

2009-10-03T12:05:00.016+01:00

I love Japanese vending machines!! This is, I admit, a rather bizarre thing to be obsessed with, but in Japan these mechanical marvels offered me drink-based comfort on a daily basis - any time and any place (almost!). There are so many vending machines in so many seemingly bizarre and random places that you start to take them for granted after a while. I've tucked into various machine-vended delights bought on train platforms, street corners, karaoke bars, public parks, temple precincts, shopping centres, and once I treated myself to a hot, sweet tea from a vending machine atop a mountain, after an trek up to view the Autumn leaves. "What an eyesore!" you may cry out, but some vending machines are so cunningly camouflaged to match their surroundings you really and truly might be hard pushed to spot them (honest!) as beautifully demonstrated by this bamboo model in Ueno Park...

Blink and you'd miss it, right?! And yes, you did read that right... HOT tea! There are magical vending machines which also have a selection of heated drinks alongside their chilled partners. Okay so it's not exactly eco-friendly to have all these machines around, but on many a cold winter's day, when I was slowly dragging myself back up the hill to my one-bed (one room!!) apartment after a hard day at work, probably with a streaming cold and generally feeling very sorry for myself, the holy beacon of the friendly, local vending machine would shine across the street, beckoning me towards the heated selection, whereupon it would lovingly provide me with a hot, vitamin C enriched, lemon drink. Mmmm....

And it's not just humans who queue up to get their daily dosage of vended beverages...

I have a tiny Spoonflower trumpet to play today!

2009-09-24T19:21:00.009+01:00

Yay! I recently entered a fabric design competition on Spoonflower (they run them every month or so but this is the first one I've entered) and the voting started today. There are 70 entrants in the first round and only 12 go through to the final round! I don't mind if I don't win though because out of all 70 pieces, Spoonflower chose mine to illustrate their blog announcing the competition! I know it's not so good to blow your own trumpet, but this is only a very tiny trumpet and I promise I won't blow it for too long! Toot-tooty-toot!

Click here for the blog and links to the voting!

Shackwackiness!!

2009-09-23T16:32:00.012+01:00

I’ve been off work with a bad back for the past couple of days, and I’m beginning to feel the effects of cabin fever kicking in. You know how it is when you’ve been stuck indoors alone for too long, feeling slightly demented and beginning to wonder if you actually made up the whole ‘outside world’ thing after all. I’ve been spending some of my time watching a lot of Etsy podcasts (which I would very strongly recommend to anyone in the Folksy/Etsy circle of things) and a lovely lady, Made with Love by Hannah (to see her video click here) on there was talking about the same thing. However, she used an entirely different, and wonderful word to describe how I’m feeling. Forget Cabin Fever, it’s being ‘ShackWacky’!! What an absolutely fantastic word! It is now my new word of the week! The fact that I actually have a word of the week is sound testament to my complete and utter shackwackiness!

Not only did I expand my vocabulary watching these videos, it also made me feel really inspired. There is such a huge variety of different crafts and businesses going on and it was great to see the faces behind the shop fronts. It’s also reassuring to find such a variety of characters, who all approach their crafts in different ways. It was also great to see all these people in their ‘natural habitats’, so to speak. Some worked from bedrooms, attics and front rooms, whilst others had garages, studios or worked in the great outdoors. It made me think about the kind of place I feel most creative in. It would have to be somewhere quiet where I won’t be disturbed, and of course there would have to be tea-making facilities! You can’t get properly shackwacky without a tea-induced caffeine high now, can you?

Spoonflower Starvation

2009-09-21T12:26:00.008+01:00

Well, I have been incredibly naughty and not at all sensible for the past 24 hours! I spent all last night (as soon as I got in from work) playing around with textile designs to put onto the fabulous website that is Spoonflower! Got ever-so-slightly obsessed with it and ended up missing dinner, and then missing breakfast again this morning while I played around with more designs. The prices are a little steep but it's understandable considering they are being asked to print very small runs of each design, and everything gets shipped from the US. I'm very impressed with the website as a whole, and its ease of use too! All I need now is a nice, shiny, link button to put on here so I can advertise my designs on this here blog! Ok, I think I really ought to calm down and eat something sensible now..... I think there are some Oreos in the kitchen... nooooo!........

Click here for Spoonflower!

A Pencil Case for Danielle

2009-08-10T15:17:00.006+01:00

My lovely friend Danielle made a request for me to make her a pencil case to school with her (she is a teacher, not a pupil!) so I hope this one does her justice! I'll be popping it in the post to her tomorrow morning! I used one of my illustrations on top of bits of chopped up photography. I haven't tried this kind of collage technique before and it is quite fun. I'm pleased with how colourful it looks and was happy that the sun came out for about ten minutes so that I could nip out into the garden to photograph it on the lawn...!

My Kimono Lady and her Kitty

2009-07-20T09:44:00.006+01:00

Folksy Adventures

2009-07-13T11:04:00.007+01:00

I finally did something productive and made a few little bags. The picture here is - I've just realised - a little too tiny to see what's going on but the bags can be seen a little clearer here! -

www.folksy.com/shops/mochipan

If you are on folksy then please drop me a line and say hello!

Figs and Spades

2009-06-05T14:17:00.003+01:00

I’m stuck. Stuck, stuck, stuck, stuckety stuck. I thought that I’d grown out of the ‘ohhh… what shall I do with my life??’ phase a while ago, but here it is back again. No doubt it will rear its ugly head repeatedly until I finally pop my clogs whilst on gumtree searching for new jobs at 95. Recently, I even said to a friend ‘oh I don’t worry about that anymore, it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you’re happy doing it’ but it’s always easier to dole out advice than actually follow it yourself. I’m just telling people what I wish they would tell me I suppose.

I haven’t had a ridiculous amount of jobs, but one look at my CV shows that I’m not really on a career ladder of any sort. I’ve hopped about from ladder to ladder, but as all that jumping is really only safe when you are nearer the ground I’ve never actually got anywhere near the top of any company. I’ve taught English in Japan, I’ve worked for Royal Mail, the British Museum, Waterstone’s, and countless other random jobs along the way, and yet I’m always bottom of the heap in every job I do because I can only get entry-level jobs (although god knows how I persuade people I’m qualified even for those! “Oh yes, my last job was sorting mail, so I’m definitely qualified to be a photographer”). Sometimes I think I am avoiding responsibility of any sort. I’ve been offered promotions in the past which I’ve turned down because it ‘wouldn’t feel right’ taking a job that I really couldn’t give a toss about - surely that should go to someone who really cares? But then, does anybody really care about ‘spendables’ and the cost of pineapples in Laos? I also know that in my current job I could easily climb onto the next rung in the next 6 months or so but again, the novelty of this position is now beginning to fade and I’ve already started looking around for something else, and so it all begins again.

I sometimes like to think it’s all just avoidance of the fact that really my calling in life is to be some semi-nomadic artiste with long, wild hair, who travels around in a campervan making money from being wonderfully and lucratively creative according to my each and every whim. In an ideal world, I’d make £40,000 a year from knitting small animals, doing the odd doodle on tea shop napkins and painting smiley cat faces on wooden Ikea stools. If I could throw in the odd ‘business trip’ to Japan and various other parts of the world in order to find inspiration (and cute little plastic toys in the shape of teeny, tiny cakes) then my life, surely, would be complete.

I like to think of myself as sitting on a goldmine, but not having a spade, not knowing where to get a spade, and not even knowing what kind of spade it is I need in the first place. I’m sure that – just like anyone else on this earth - I’m capable of being ridiculously successful at something or other, but I have no idea what it is. I have had people telling me my whole life how creative I am, and yet I don’t know exactly what it is I’m supposed to be so brilliant at. And if it’s so great, why hasn’t it earned me my pots of gold yet? If Sylvia Plath had her fig tree, then I have my gold mine.

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.” ~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Chapter 7

Come to think of it, if she let me sit in her fig tree for a bit, she’d soon regret it. I’d have a nibble of every single one of the figs and then decide I couldn't’ manage the whole thing, or that one fig was too bitter, or another one was too sweet, and then I’d either get so fat I’d fall out of the tree and break my neck, or I’d just get trapped up there, feeling slightly nauseous (and most probably with severe diarrhoea after all that roughage) for all eternity.

Toss all those figs into the bag, and then throw in my crazy, loud biological clock, which is ticking away like a cheetah’s pedometer, shake it all up a bit with a dash of negativity and you get yourself a lovely mixed bag of panic. I am indeed female, and I do indeed feel the nagging finger of hormones and maternal desires waving in the air just at the edge of my vision all day long. So when exactly do I fit all of that reproduction malarkey in?

And so I continue, taking jobs which in my head are always only temporary until I have some kind of magical epiphany, find my super-dooper magic gold-digging spade, and become the wild haired, doodling, campervan mother-of-three I secretly think I am underneath my Waterstone’s uniform.