I am Loved!

You love me! You really love me!

200 of you decided to officially display that love on Etsy. For that I am really honored. Thank you all so much!

I have to ask though, who is #200? I want to give a little something to him/her in appreciation =D

New Item: A Gingko Leaf

I can't believe I've spent all of my literate life spelling this plant's name wrong.

Anyway, I just listed a new painting, Gingko Leaf. A Chinese symbol of wealth because of the leaf's color and resemblance to ancient Chinese currency. The yellow of the art board I used and the flecks of silver on it really called to me.

Shop Updates: Black and White

Hope everyone's having a good weekend so far. I've been spending the day with my washer/dryer set trying to get piles of clothes cleaned. While waiting for the dryer cycle to function I decided to unveil my new shop banner and avatar set.

I know, black and white, right? Usually I'm a very colorful person. I did find something refreshing about black, white, and a dash of red. It's like wearing red shoes with you favorite little black dress. A classic twist to a classic outfit.


The chrysanthemum piece I made with my old brush finished off much better than I expected. I've used it everywhere, as you can tell. Of course if you want the piece for yourself, you can buy it here for $25 (+s&h). ^_^

I even used it for my layout for Fantazya's 2011 Calendar. See?

I Made a Treasury!: Even Spring Gets Chilly

Things at work aren't all sunshine and rainbows at the moment. It's just rain, and cold, and wind, did I mention rain? I'm patting myself on the back for keeping my emergency weather supplies in a small nook of my work area. The supplies? An umbrella, a rain coat, and a scarf. The weather in the San Francisco Bay Area can change literally at any moment, so don't get caught without having these items ready. Congratulations to all who are featured and the alternates!

Click here to visit the 'Even Spring Gets Chilly' treasury

I Made a Treasury!: Chinoiserie

In my college days I took Asian Art History class to fulfill my humanities requirement. (That sounded like a lot more fun to me than 'Intro to Anthropoligy'.) It surprised me to learn a lot of what I considered "Asian" art are actually European and American interpretations of ancient Chinese art. It was a huge trend back when the mythical East was considered a magical land, not the other side of the world. Genuine Chinese art and earthenware sold like hot cakes with the rich. Enterprising artists did their best to mimic this popular style. Hence the French term for the movement, Chinoiserie. It's "like Chinese", but that doesn't mean it is Chinese in origin. Congratulations to everyone that made it in the listing and the alternate candidates!

Click here to visit the 'Chinoiserie' Treasury

Aftermath Notes - Etsy Meet and Greet in San Francisco

The Cinco De Mayo San Francisco Etsy Meet and Greet came and went. Shoutouts to the members of the San Francisco/Bay Area Street Team, as they were out in practically full force.

I met all sorts of sellers and talented artisans who really have their act together. Their ambitions and drive to get out there and open up to more potential customers is awe inspiring. All the groups were talking shop, about materials, business cards, local craft events, and what have you. Small world when I learned one of the sellers, KimonoMomo, is actually going to be a dealer at my old anime convention haunt FanimeCon. I used to attend and staff that convention in my college days. Ah the sweet memories.

The Etsy admin/engineering team are a bunch of cool dudes. It's nice to hear they're opening up an office in San Francisco. As much as I love Etsy, they do have a huge NYC/East coast bias for events (ahem VIRTUAL LABS ahem). That was one mighty long (and windy) Q&A session though. Tough to hear answers with transit lines and loud conversations outside.

I'm really looking forward to more events like this. There's only so much you can promote online. I felt like I made an impact when I told my stories and showed off my portfolio to real people.

Cinco de Mayo - Etsy Meet and Greet in San Francisco!

I may have lost my mind in doing this but I've decided to attend the official Etsy Admin Meet and Greet in San Francisco.


Here are the event details for those interested in going:
Date: 05/05/2010 at 7:00PM (Cinco de Mayo yeah!)
Location: Crossroads Cafe - 699 Delancey Street San Francisco, CA
You can take the MUNI rail line to get there by bus, or walk from the 4th and King Caltrain station. Parking is limited, so public transportation is highly encouraged.
**RSVP only.** Even if you're a 'maybe' you have to be counted. Confirm your RSVP here

I will be coming with business cards in one hand and stuff to show off in the other. It may be a bit excessive to bring a portfolio and art supplies. But when you're surrounded by creative people I noticed these things are called for. If you've never been to this area before you're in for a treat. Hope to see you there! =D

I'm in a Treasury!: Mother's Day Greetings and Gift Ideas on the Handmade Highway

My goodness as soon as I posted my own Etsy Treasury I learned that Handmade Highway featured me in their first Treasury East gallery! Treasury East galleries are permanent, unlike the main treasury and the Treasury West galleries. There I am on the bottom left corner with the plum blossom mini painting =D =D

Today has definitely been an awesome day. High fives all around! :hfive:

Click here to visit the "Mother's Day Greetings and Gift Ideas on the Handmade Highway" Treasury
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bd76bfe4f416d91df10cf85/mothers-day-greetings-and-gift-ideas-on

I made a treasury! Feathers and Wings and Fluffy Things

Etsy opened up a new treasury suite called Etsy East. I, of course, took advantage of it as soon as I could. Congratulations to the members of the Etsy chat team that got their item featured!

Click here to Visit the 'Feathers and Wings and Fluffy Things' treasury I made
(up until Sunday)

Lotus series - 2 of 4

Now up for sale at my Etsy shop.

Artwork - Lotus Series v1 - 2 of 4 - Mixed Media on Plywood



This piece is a big departure from the first one. While the first was very graphic and symmetrical, this piece seemed to grow from the single large paper petal in the middle of the flower. Lighting has once again made the lime green background far too saturated.

Going up for sale - Lotus (series)

After weeks of hard work and putting paint marks on my coffee table I'm officially ready to put these babies up for sale.

It's a pain to take pictures of something that I intentionally made so bright. Too much light and its "Oh God my eyes burn!" Too little light and none of the colors stand out. In my mind it's better too bright than not bright enough.

Here's the first one already up for sale at my Etsy shop.

Artwork - Lotus Series v1 - 1 of 4 - Mixed Media on Plywood

All About Chagami

What the heck am I talking about? Why is there pictures? Where are my pants? Well, read on (Though I can't say if I know the location of your pants.)


'Chagami' is taken from two Japanese words:
Cha - 茶 - tea
Kami - 紙 - paper

Story of Chagami:
I became an avid tea drinker to reduce my coffee consumption. One day I made a large pot of loose leaf tea for party guests. Soon the party was over, and when I began to clean out the dishes, I looked into my tea pot. I had enough tea leaves in the strainer to fit into two hands! Rather than throw them away, I gave the tea leaves a good rinse and put it aside. When the dishes were clean and I looked at the clump of tea leaves I salvaged. I have seen flowers and plants added in paper before, and tea leaves are definitely plants. Aha! The light bulb went off. I broke out my paper mold and began experimenting with using tea leaves in paper making. My first finished sheet of tea leaf paper had the qualities of great textured paper, plus a fantastic tea scent. I dubbed this fantastic creation Chagami.

Chagami Attributes:
Chagami is made from an assortment of recycled paper, cardstock, hanshi (rice paper), and cotton fabric scraps. Small pieces of abaca fiber--or Manila hemp--are sometimes used to add strength to Chagami. The tea leaves are all from previously brewed loose leaf tea, double soaked in boiling water, and finally rinsed to remove any impurities. pH neutralizer is added while the materials are processing so that the finished Chagami paper is acid-free. The wet sheet is hand pressed and allowed to dry naturally. For a more finished look the edges may have been trimmed.

The image below is a Chagami prototype with samples of popular writing, drawing, and painting media. I write with a heavy hand and am pleased to tell you Chagami is resistant to poking and tearing by sharp pencils points and pen nibs.



Because of the handmade nature of Chagami the size, shape, and color of paper will vary from what you see on your monitor and even between sheets from the same batch. Chagami is hand pressed and naturally dried, so slight warping may have occurred. This will not affect your writing, drawing, painting, or crafting on or with this paper. I personally assure you that all of my work is made with tender love and care, and that the paper is tested for quality.

Links Ahoy: LMCreations

CarlyLM sells an assortment of absolutely wonderful little fabric things. I can't sew to save my life so it's always exciting for me when I find someone who's a talented tailor/seamstress.

It's there were I purchased a new key fob to replace the old one that literally fell apart at the seams. Here is it's sibling.
Lovely Lilac Key fob/Key Ring


To boot I learned that she wanted to have me as a featured seller on her blog. Check out CarlyLM's blog post on me.

Big milestone (for me)

I made my first Etsy sale! Woohoo! Thank you treeforyou!

Soooooooo stoked! *dances* =D

Building a better display

I'm sure everyone has problems with finding a space to take decent pictures for their Etsy items. I'm sure everyone also has problems figuring out what the heck to do with that one blank spot of their house. With my wonderful dad priming the house for a fresh coat of paint I got inspired to do something about the void in my living room.

So here's the blank canvas in my living room. It's a tiny little wall with the kitchen on one side, and a small hallway on another. Last year the living room was repainted to a fun sky blue. While a welcome change from the hospital white I've known all my life it still needed something, yaddaimean?

So let's fix that. First we need a statement piece. Something big, bold, yet cleanly designed, goes with the colors of the room, and has its own story to tell...




...that oughta do it. It's a huge frame that I found in my dad's garage/man zone from his old lithography job. I gave it a good cleaning and fixed the joints where I could. Years of staying in a humid space took its toll though. The wood warped to the point that my leveler couldn't find a straight edge and no corner is can be completely flush. But no matter. When you have an old house in the San Francisco Bay Area you know that nothing in the house is completely level.

With the design I had in mind I couldn't just put a couple of screws and wire the back of the frame. I needed something that can take the weight of a relatively heavy frame. Thank you 3M for your glorious Command Strips.


I got to work with my fancy ribbon and some good ol' fashioned Aleene's Tacky glue. Partway through my crosshatching I realized that the ribbon I used was really translucent. So much so even my camera struggled to take a decent picture of the stuff.

But it's going to take more than stupid gauze to discourage me from getting this project completed. The next day I returned to my craft store and purchased more ribbon, this time in semi-transparent and opaque shades of cream. Rather than just a plain basket weave I'm going to make a gradient basket weave! Genius~~ I returned home and quickly got back to work.

Did I use a ruler or some sort of measuring device to do a proper grid or layout? Nope. When did I remember to do something smart like that? Oh, only after the glue dried. No matter! We shall continue on to the bitter end and see this project completed, warts and all.

I put some reinforcements on the top rows and all the columns.

We're almost done at this point. Gotta wait for that glue to dry up and set the ribbons onto the frame.

We let it rest overnight. Through the power of Internet magic voila! A fantastic piece of art that also doubles as a way to display artwork.

...now to actually, y'know, put pictures on it and list new items in my Etsy shop and such... >_>

いらっしゃい ませ! Welcome!

Hiya! I'm sure you're wondering what's going on here. I'll be using this bloggyspace as a showcase of items I make for my Etsy shop and for friends. Mizu Mikado will also double an in-depth guide to my creative efforts.

"So why bother following this blog if this stuff is on your Etsy?"
A window into my creative process will give you sneak peeks to my stuff before they're even on Etsy. Your creative (and courteous) criticism can help me shape my products. And let's not forget everyone's favorite shopping vocabulary: Exclusive discounts and promotions!