Bonsai Update

It's been a bit since I've posted anything about my little bonsai trees.  I was on a waiting list for a bonsai class offered here and in the meantime have been trying to "wing it" myself with books and a few little trees I'd found at a local home improvement type store.

I was finally able to join the class back at the end of October.  When I signed up, I was told that the instructor would give a couple of plants to start with.  My first class, he gave me eight tiny bonsai and a pretty ceramic pot!

During the first class, I learned about using wire wraps to train a tree to grow the way you want it.

My very first wired tree, wired and styled mostly by the instructor

I also learned a bit about pruning, styling, and why moss is bad.  (but I love moss!)

In my second class, I did my first transplant, moving a baby tree from a temporary plastic cup into the ceramic pot I'd been given during the first class.

I learned about the care of a newly transplanted Bonsai, they should be in "ICU" and very carefully cared for for a couple of weeks afterwards.

At the second class, I also bought two more (tiny) pots from the instructor.

In the third class, I did some plucking of fall foliage, and another transplant: of the azalea that I'd pruned and wired in the first class.  It now lives in the tiny blue pot that I'd bought in the previous class.

I was also given my own shaped bamboo stick - an important tool that can't be bought, only made - and during class I did the finishing work on it (sanding and smoothing/shining).

Also, one of the other students brought in a box of ceramic bonsai pots and was selling them for only $2 each.  I bought several of them.

I learned that the brown pots are un-glazed and that they aren't unfinished, as I had thought.  I was told that it is believed any evergreen (pine, juniper, etc.) should go into an un-glazed pot.  I don't have any evergreens in my tiny forest yet, but I do want to have some, so I bought the brown pots too.

Unfortunately the next class is this Saturday, the same day as the winter vendor show I've been (madly) preparing for this week.  I ordered two bags of soil and also asked the student who had the pots last time to bring me a few more of them.  Hopefully I'll be able to slip away from the vendor show to pick up my soil and pots.  I've been wanting the special soils for a little while now.  Since I now have plenty of pots and a bit of know-how, I should hopefully be able to do my own pot changes and get the rest of the little ones into better homes.

As for the trees that were my real starters, they are doing okay.  My favorite, the Chinese Elm, is in winter mode, having dropped all of its leaves - just like the full size trees outside.  I wish I'd gotten pictures of it in fall foliage, they were bright yellow and very pretty.  Alas, time got away from me, so I don't have a pretty autumn picture, just the winter phase:

My other one, still unknown type, still has its leaves.  I'm not sure if it's an evergreen or just slow to shed.  I'm thinking it might be a type of evergreen.  I will most likely take it to class at some point and see if they know what it is.

I'm enjoying my miniature forest and looking forward to doing more with them.

Airbrush? Airbrush!

Okay, so I've been hemming and hawing, back and forth, about getting an airbrush - for years and years.  Jeff's dad is an (amazing!) artist and I've picked his brain a few times over the years - and sadly forgotten a lot of what he's told me - as far as his advice on airbrushes.

I've looked at airbrushes many times and stood there contemplating if I should take the plunge and get one to try it, but I've  always decided not to.

Today I went out with a friend to look for some display options for our vendor table on Satrday.  One of our stops was at a thrift store, where I found this!

An airbrush for $10...  seriously??

Cautiously (and skeptically), I opened the box.  Surely it was used, maybe even missing pieces... still, for $10 maybe it was worth getting as an experimental tool.

After removing the instruction book, warranty card, and parts catalog, I saw this:

It is apparently brand new.

My friend even pulled out one of the tubes and she pointed out that the parts inside are still packed in cotton.

I closed the box and only then noticed that it is a Paasche.  I've heard of them.  So as an added bonus, it wasn't an off brand, "Bob's Airbrush" or something, haha.

Okay, SOLD!

Even better news: It has the instruction book, "for beginners"  Yep, that's totally me; I've never airbrushed anything in my life.

Whee, I'm excited!  We even have a small compressor already that we use with the laser...

I'm pretty sure I remember Jeff's dad saying that a dual action airbrush is better.  This one is a single action.  However, for $10 I now have a brand new airbrush to experiment with and see if I'll like spraying things or not.  ;)

Herbs, Spices, Paints

For a while now I've kept my paint on a lazy susan style holder.  I've been thinking of trying something else though, because it takes up a lot of room on my perpetually crowded desk.  It also ends up being just another place that I pile stuff when things get messy...

I've seen a lot of neat ideas for storing/displaying craft paint - particularly over on Pinterest.

When we were unpacking our household stuff here, we came across our spice rack and Jeff decided to throw it out.  All of the spices on it were old, so they were thrown away.  However, I laid claim to the wooden spice rack, thinking it would make a perfect paint holder.

It does!

It's been kicking around for a while, but last night I decided to finally put it into use.

My original idea for it was to hang it on the wall, just to the left of my desk.

However, I think I like it just were it is, tucked in on my desk.  It doesn't take up much room (certainly much less than the lazy susan) and this way my paints will be right in front of me when I'm sitting there.

I had also originally thought about painting it, but it matches my desk just the way it is, and who cares if my paint rack says "Herbs & Spices"...  ;)

In other studio room news, I'm going to be getting another DVD shelf, to use as a ribbon holder.  (the first one I bought is serving as a rubber stamp holder)  The cardboard box ribbon holder that I made is turning out to be rather flimsy and I think a proper shelf would be much better.

I'm slooowly getting the room squared away so hopefully I can MAKE more things in there.

Motivation Monday - Love Is

I've been neglecting my blog lately, I'm not even sure why, I guess I just wasn't "feeling it".  Truthfully I haven't been feeling much lately, it's been a bit of a rough time for me lately and I can't even say for sure why.  Maybe it's just the holidays, they can be a complicated time, and these will be our first on the other side of the world.  I am missing family and friends more than I might normally, knowing we are so much farther away now.

I really do enjoy blogging though and I want to get "back on the horse", so to speak.  My goal is to get back to daily posts and try to finish this year strong, the way I began it.  It was a small thing I suppose, but I did feel I'd accomplished something by doing daily posts for a few months straight, haha.  

With that in mind, here in Japan it is already December 1st, but I can still make a Motivation Monday post and share some pretty pictures and words with all of my friends back in the States.  ;)  I hope you had, or are having, a good day and that this week is a good one.  :)

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A few of these pictures have to deal with encouraging and loving others, something that I feel strongly about.  I am forever grateful to anyone who has ever encouraged me, particularly during dark times, and I really hope that I do well with encouraging others too. 

Quiet to Chaos

I'm running late on wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, but I hope you all did have one!  We ended up being a part of, and eating, two Thanksgiving dinners.  The first was a big one for Jeff's work - a week early - and another, smaller affair, with some friends on Thanksgiving day.

Things have been mostly quiet here on the creative front, I've been quietly chipping away at some small projects - and neglecting my blog.  :(  However, things are about to get a little crazy.  (That's how it goes sometimes, huh?)  I had a sudden realization the day before yesterday: the Winter Vendor show is...  a week away!  I was almost horrified when I realized that.  So what did Jeff and I do yesterday to prepare...?  We played Minecraft.  All.  Day.  No, not at all what should have been done, but it was fun and a good break for both of us from all of the "adulting" that we need to do most days.

Today, I plan to run the laser and cut out more items for the show.  Also, I have a pile of craft things to finish, including these ornaments:

Tiny cross-stitch snowflake and trees, they still need stitching done and then finish work.  They will each be approximately one inch square, stitched on 18-count cloth:

I think I will actually try the snowflake again on a darker fabric, and/or fill in around it with dark stitching.  I haven't decided yet.  It is pretty, but doesn't "pop" at all on this beige fabric.  The trees will have trunks, decorations, and snow falling.

Next up are a tatted wreath and tree, they still need finish work and decoration.

The wreath will have a tiny red ribbon bow on it and the tree will be trimmed with sequins and seed beads.  It will also have a trunk that I haven't put on yet.  I have several of each, waiting on finish work

I had made a ton of tatted ornaments two years ago and put them in all of our Christmas cards.  There is a third design, a white snowflake.  I still have some of those from the last Christmas tatting marathon, they'll be up for sale too.

Also, I have the herd of Stablemate ornaments that I'd started.  Most of them have their initial base coat of paint and just need to be decorated.

Plus, I'd like to make some Christmas cards, possibly some jewelry, and, and, and...

On top of all of the making, I also need to decide on how to set up our table and display everything, decide on pricing, make signage, do some (last minute) social media promotion posts, and, and, and...

Whew!  I've got a lot of work to do over the next few days.



This all reminds me of a certain saying...

(And this was yesterday, only instead of napping... Minecraft.) 

A Few of My (New) Favorite Things

I was born in Colorado and though I've traveled around and lived in several different places since leaving there, I've spent most all of my life landlocked.  Aside from a few visits to the ocean over the years, I've never spent much time near it.  The ocean... scares me a little.  It's so big, mysterious, and unfamiliar to me.  I do think it is beautiful and fascinating, but I was uneasy about living as close as we are to it now.  It's about 3 miles from our house to the Pacific, as the crow flies.

Here's a sign that we spotted our first time at the beach.  That didn't help me!

Jeff and I have made several trips to the Pacific side and walked along the beach.  During the day and also at night.  It was creepy for me at first, but I started to get used to the crashing waves and the sight of the endless water.  (though we went out in the dark once after a typhoon had passed by and the height and violence of the waves scared both of us, on "our" beach that we'd come to know and recognize in normal conditions).

Our biggest reason for returning to the beach was to look for the glass fishing floats that we'd learned about.  We did end up finding 5 of them in one trip, after a storm had gone by.

Since then, Jeff has found one of the big glass floats.

It has been interesting, finding treasures from the sea on our beach trips.  However, the real reason for this post was to share a few of my new favorite things:

Sea glass, driftwood, and rocks.

The above picture is part of my "haul" from a trip to the beach last week.

While we were at the beach, I was telling my friends here that I've always wanted a rock tumbler, but here I don't need one!  Not with so many beautiful rocks already perfectly tumbled and polished by the ocean and deposited on the beach that we went to.

I've been collecting small pieces of driftwood with the idea of using them as bases for custom model horses in the future.  I think it would be really neat to make a series of horses that are standing on pieces of driftwood from Japan!

(imagine a beautiful custom horse instead of this OF - haha)

The newest of the favorite things is sea glass.  I think it is beautiful.  I don't have any set ideas for it yet, but right now I'm just collecting as much as I can.  I've seen tons of beautiful ideas for using it in crafts, home decor, and so on.  Of course the idea of recycling/upcycling what is basically "trash" is highly appealing to me.

With the possibility of finding some more of my new favorite crafting materials, I find that I'm actually looking forward to going to the beach now.

Motivation Monday - Be Flexible

As always, I hope everyone has a great week...