Sometimes Simple is Best

My challenge as a jewelry maker is remembering that sometimes my materials can speak for themselves.  I can get so caught up in the challenge of folding something fabulous or winding wire into interesting shapes that sometimes I forget that just showing the paper is all that’s really necessary.

I finally remembered that this week, and decided to try a few simple styles with my most beautiful chiyogami in simple basic frames.

The frames came from Fusion Beads, my favorite source for collage and resin blanks.  I tried antiqued silver and brass for this project, because I think the aged look sets off the organic, exotic feel of the Japanese paper beautifully.

The paper is my best and favorite–in glorious shades of teal and turquoise, orange and yellow, and iridescent silver and gold (a one of a kind paper that i’ve never seen outside the shop in Asakusabashi where i found it last summer).

The biggest challenge is, for me, always the resin.  I know there are loads of crafters out there making all kinds of gorgeous things with resin, but for me, it’s torture.  I make 4 things before 1 works.  It’s a nightmare.  But then, when it works, it’s gorgeous!  What to do?  it’s a conundrum.

Well, at least til I found Magic Glos, a UV-curing resin.  One part, so no mixing, and a 30 minute cure under a UV light (or sunlight) instead of 3 miserable days with resin.  For ADHD jewelry makers like me, this is a godsend.  Here it is on brass.  What do you think?

 

I Will Wrap Your Gifts for You. Japanese Jewelry Boxes From the Paper Demon

You love giving gifts, but you hate wrapping gifts.  I get that.  Wrapping gifts is stressful.

That’s where I come in.  I wrap your gifts for you.  I send you hand-folded Japanese jewelry boxes, hand-folded Japanese gift boxes, and hand-folded Japanese gift bags.  All created using traditional origami box folds, and all made from eye-poppingly gorgeous imported Japanese chiyogami paper.  Lacquered jewelry boxes also available.

The PDJ Hand-Folded Origami Gift Bag with Japanese Bead Zipper Pull Extra

Two of the sizes available--2 inch and 4.5 inch

The flat box--6 inches; other sizes available.

And all complete with coordinating ribbons and handles, and optional Japanese imported cute doo-dads for customization.  Custom size orders also gladly accepted!

The PDJ Heirloom Gift Bag is like enclosing your gift in another one of a kind gift.   I start with heirloom quality chiyogami paper.  Each of these papers comes with a story.  All chiyogami papers are replete with history and symbolism.  This paper in the photo, for example, is the Hinadan Pattern.  It is the pattern traditionally used to decorate the doll display for the Girls’ Day Celebration in Japan.  This pattern has been used and loved by Japanese girls and women since the 18th century.

With optional zipper pull from imported Japanese bead

The bag shown is 4 inches high.  (Custom size orders gladly accepted ) .  It’s finished with metal eyelets and handles of imported mizuhiki cord from Japan, in your choice of colors.  The one pictured here is sparkly red.  Green, white, silver and gold also available!

Inside view

If you want, you can add on an optional zipper-pull or pendant dangle made from an imported Japanese bead like this one, embossed with a glorious chrysanthemum pattern.  Goldfish, fabric beads, geisha hair dangles and other one of a kind items are available.

You need these.  You really do.  You want to impress her.  Christmas is coming.  Do you really want to wrap all those gifts?

(Special Introductory Pre-Christmas Price:  $4 for small boxes, $6 for heirloom gift bag; $4 for regular gift bag)

 

Fall is my Favorite Season

Fall, now THAT is a season of inspiration.

It’s my birthday season, for one thing.   I share a birthday with Joan Jett (yay!) and Andrea Boccelli (yikes!)  and Thomas Felton (cool! [he’s the diabolical Draco Malfoy on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone!])

Being a Virgo on the cusp of Libra makes for a slightly schizoid combination of the fiery and the anal–pretty useful for a jewelry-maker!  I wonder how that works out for Joan Jett?   I’m not seeing a lot of Virgo there…

But I love Fall for a whole bunch of other reasons too.  Sure, Spring has its adorable pink blossoms, and Summer has its gardens in wild profusion…. (and Winter has its icy glitter…. or, in Oregon, its sodden gloom, which I suppose is inspiring in its way [we shall soon find out…])….

But Fall—well, look at the obvious reasons—the breathtaking colors of changing leaves, the crisp mornings, the excitement of new beginnings….

Of course Halloween is the best holiday.  That requires no explanation.

And turtleneck sweaters.  I know Stacy and Clinton said not to wear them.   But what can I do?   Who doesn’t love pulling on that first turtleneck of the season?

But above all, I love the colors.  I love the  the cranberries, the clarets, and the rusts, the firy oranges, the maroons and the fuschias and the olive greens, the saffrons, and the champagnes.  Set off with pops of robins egg blue and turquoise too.

And it so happens that I have in my collection several sheets of rare handmade washi in the deepest, firiest colors…So, my Fall jewelry bursts out in a mad rush of inspiration—in honor of Libra, in the colors of fire.  In honor of Virgo–exceedingly well made 🙂

Blackbird Singing Pendant in Autumn Colors

Spooky Washi and Antiqued Silver Spiderweb

 

Tokyo Flashback: Blog on Japanese Vintage Illustration

Stumbled upon this amazing post from “A Journey Round My Skull” on vintage illustration from Japan while following some tweets from a new follow on Twitter…. 

I have a thing for Japanese prewar art and design.  This is a spectacular collection.

I’ve posted my favorite images here, but there are many many more!

Check it out!    These all came from the author’s personal collection of vintage books!

How cool is that?

He seems to have a special affinity for Japan—I saw a long list of Japan-related posts.

Can’t wait to check them out!

 

Check Our Chiyogami! New in the PDJ Etsy Shop

It’s been crazy at Paper Demon Jewelry this past month!   Gift bags, giveaways, promotions, 4 local markets, teaching my first series of Japanese Papercrafting classes at the splendid EMU  Craft Center, and a steady stream of orders on Etsy.  Amidst all that, trying to find time to create and perfect new jewelry designs, and switch our entire operations over to all-green mediums, sealers and finishes.  (I’m excited to post on this cool all-natural specialty fiber hardening product I’ve discovered–Paverpol–that comes from the Netherlands!)

But for tonight, let’s keep it short.  I want to introduce my latest items on Etsy.  I’ve been doing a lot with chiyogami/yuzen paper lately.  Actually, ever since my post on the Japanese Paper Place.  For awhile there I was completely entranced with my stained glass, sculptural, and shoji jewelry, all of which played on the color, translucence, and fiber texture of pure plain washi.

But as I explored the hundreds and hundreds of brilliantly colored patterns of chiyogami/yuzen washi at the Japanese Paper Place, I started to feel that maybe I’d abandoned it prematurely!

Chiyogami/yuzen, by the way, is the colorful patterned Japanese paper that so many Japanese crafts are made from.  Here’s how The Japanese Paper Place defines the term:

These wonderfully decorative patterns on paper, known as Chiyogami, are silkscreened onto machine made sheets of mixed kozo and sulphite.  They are more popularly known as Yuzen in the United States.

Originally, Chiyogami designs were developed in the Edo period as woodblock prints by papermakers during the farming season for use as accessories in the house to enliven the interiors. They were based on the bright kimono textiles which the papermakers from the countryside saw on the fashionable wealthier ladies in the larger cities, especially in Kyoto, where the area known as Yuzen had become famous for its sophisticated techniques for dyeing cloth.

Chiyogami was meant to be cut into pieces and made into paper dolls or pasted on tea tins or small paper boxes; still today the scale of the patterns is reminiscent of these early uses.  And still many of the symbols depicted hearken back to auspicious occasions when fancy kimonos would be worn: cranes for long life; bamboo for flexibility; plum blossoms and pine boughs for beauty and longevity.

The striking pigment colours, careful registration of screens and wide range of designs make these papers ideal for picture mats, books and box making.

The range of Chiyogami patterns is endless, and Japanese designers today are tireless in their development of new fascinating patterns.  These patterns are constantly stocked at The Japanese Paper Place.”

Yuzen patterns are the ones that look most like kimono fabric patterns and contain a lot of gold.  Chiyogami are traditionally more repetitive, with smaller scale repeating patterns that are excellent for utilitarian crafts (ie, wrapping tea canisters).

Here are some chiyogami images, taken from The Japanese Paper Place’s website.  The first block are quite modern patterns; the second block are more traditional (don’t stress about the ‘discontinued’ note–the JPP stocks over 1000 patterns and is constantly cycling in new ones and phasing out old ones, and can order anything a person needs, as I found out this past week!  Thanks Nancy!)

Some modern chiyogami

Some more-traditional chiyogami patterns

How can you not yearn to create with these papers?

I mean, the austere simplicity of kozo washi is a fine thing….  But look at these colors! 

So, to make a very long story (with nice pictures) short….  I am working on chiyogami jewelry this past couple of weeks.  And here it is.  Even Chiyogami Gem Pencils for Back to School!  They’re selling like hotcakes–especially the Chiyogami Gem Bracelet.

The Geometric Possibilities of Chiyogami

"All Our Efforts Must Tend Toward Light" inscribed on back

Chiyogami Gem Pencils

Sleek Modern Sterling silver dangle earrings

On a chunky Susan Kazmer Bezel

Chiyogami Gem Bracelet

 

How to Add Backgrounds to Your WordPress Blog

Regular readers will notice my fabulous new wallpaper!  Just how cool is this?  And I did it all by myself, without even once crying or making a frantic phone call to wonderful partner.

I am not expert, but I’d like to share what I learned.  This is for people using WordPress!  I have no expertise to share beyond what I just did!

If you click on your Appearance button , and look at the categories under your “theme”, you will see listed last   “edit css”

If you click on that, a box will appear with some explanation and directions about css and html.

Scroll to the very bottom of that and press enter to start a fresh new line. In that new line, cut and paste this:

body
{
  background-image:url('http://YOUR IMAGE URL HERE')
}

Now, in the place where I have written “YOUR IMAGE URL HERE” you need to enter the url of the image that YOU want to have as background.

Any image can be used.  (I will tell you about cool wallpaper patterns below, after I finish these instructions.)  It just needs to be uploaded into your media section on your blog.  So, just upload an image as you would any image that you were going to use in a post, and at the bottom, you will see that it is given a url.  That is the url that you will enter in the place “YOUR IMAGE URL HERE”.  Make sure that you don’t have any spaces anywhere in this line of html code.

After you do that you click preview, and your site with wallpaper should pop up in a new window.  If you like what you see, then sadly, it seems you do have to purchase the WordPress Custom CSS Upgrade, for $14.97 a year.  If someone knows a way around that, let me know.  After you purchase it, you should be able to go back to your Edit CSS page and a new button will have appeared next to “preview”, which is “save stylesheet.”  Press that, and voila, you’re done.

Now, in my case, after I paid, when I went back to my other window with the Edit CSS box open, I had  NOT been automatically updated to allow me to “save stylesheet.”  So in my case, I had to copy the 4 lines of html code I had entered, close that window, open the edit css window again, and paste it again in the new window.   That window did provide the “save stylesheet” button that comes after you pay.

It worked!

If I can do this, anyone can do it.  Seriously.  I don’t “do” html.

But here’s why I stuck it out:  Because, when I went online to look at free wallpapers, I could not believe the glorious bounty that met my eyes!  In particular I want to share  the best and coolest site for free wallpapers that I found.  It is Patterncooler.com.

From sheer Boddhisattva-like altruism, as far as I can tell, Harvey R, the mastermind behind this site, has created a completely free gallery of gorgeous, lush, original, stylish, and hip graphics patterns that, get this, are completely customizable for color and dimensions!   Why?  Why would he do this?  I don’t know.  He asks for a $1 donation.  I gave him $5.  Everyone should go there now and give him $1.

Here are a few of his graphics:

 

This last one is my favorite, other than the fabuloso one I picked for this blog.  The neo-Japonesque thing he has going on is what I love most.  But the best part is, all the colors and scales are fully customizable.  So this cool grey-green thing that I have on my design here?  I did that myself….

This is the photo of Harvey that pops up when you download one of his graphics:

“Emergency,”  the caption reads, “My wig is not good!  The ads on this site are currently not covering the hosting fees. After you download one of my patterns please consider donating just $1,-or more if you are feeling generous-so that I can afford to keep this site running and buy myself some razors and maybe even a new wig.”

Harvey’s site rocks.  Visit it.  Enjoy the eye candy. Maybe download a treat for yourself and try your own wallpaper (incidentally it worked on Twitter too!!)  And give the guy a buck.

 

Worried Paper Art Jewelry Won’t Last? Au Contraire, My Friend…

Do you love paper art jewelry, washi paper beads, and origami jewelry, but hesitate to buy them because you’re afraid they won’t last?   No need to worry, if you buy from Paper Demon Jewelry.   At PDJ our biggest goal, aside from creating *beautiful* jewelry, is to create *lasting* jewelry.

I am hard on my jewelry.  I sleep in it, drop it into the bottom of my purse, squish it into suitcases…  so, I am determined to create and sell only jewelry that stands up to the abuse it would get at my own hands.

Shoji Chokers, New This Week at PDJ on Etsy.

Take the Shoji Chokers, new this week at our Etsy shop.  These are the product of years of experimentation (following on years of jewelry making and washi craft experience) to be as durable as any piece of jewelry you can buy.

The key is the polymer sealer.  It’s waterproof, so it protects the jewelry against the skin on one side, and against the elements on the other.

But since the polymer sealer can’t be applied directly to washi,  there are even more layers of other sealers underneath. It’s taken years to learn which sealers work, and in what order!    And before the sealers can be applied, the metal has to be prepped, and the washi adhered to it.   Our glue comes specially from Germany, and our sealers come from the Netherlands!  The whole process is a closely guarded PDJ trade secret!!

Right now we’re in the process of switching over to all-green sealers.  We’ll let you know how that turns out soon.

The great thing about all these layers is that each one deepens the colors of the washi and draws out its organic, fibery texture in different ways.  They also interact with the metal in interesting ways, sometimes oxidizing it, sometimes lightening it…  all part of the artistic process!

The end result, a lush, saturated, glossy jewel, glowing with color, feather light, and ready for any weather or wear.

Check them out at PDJ.

(I recommend that Paper Demon Jewelry paper art jewelry not be worn in the shower or swimming.  Chlorine, salt water, and things like that are not the friends of any fine jewelry.)

 

Japanese Paper, in Toronto? Part Two: The Paper Place

As I remarked earlier, who knew that the best place to buy Japanese paper in the northern hemisphere, outside of Japan, was the city of Toronto? And yet Toronto boasts not one, but two superb resources devoted to Japanese paper: The Japanese Paper Place, discussed in a previous post, and The Paper Place.

Today I want to talk about The Paper Place.  First off, check out this screen shot of it’s gorgeous website!!!

Screenshot, Website of The Paper Place

These people clearly love paper.  They get paper.  They get that for paper lovers it’s about the colors, and the textures and the patterns and the prints.  I love how their header has a kind of Hokusai wave of rainbow washi with its fibers all hanging out.

The Paper Place has been located at the same address for 20 years (887 Queen St. West, across from Trinity Bellwoods Park), but it used to be The Japanese Paper Place, ie, the wholesaler we introduced in our last post.  Apparently, and I’m not totally clear on the details (and folks from both places, you are welcome to comment with some history!) The Japanese Paper Place under founder Nancy Jacobi some years ago decided to devote itself to wholesaling Japanese paper and maintaining a warehouse resource center for conservators and artists, and handed over the retail side of things, along with the storefront, to The Paper Place.

From their mega-colorful washi-centric website, to their blog, to their workshops, to their inspiration page, to their online store, The Paper Place, as far as I can see, is just bubbling over with the sheer joy of Japanese paper.

Screenshot of The Paper Place Online Store

And lest you think it’s all about serious artwork (not that you would—does it look like it’s all about serious artwork?), they even carry those adorable Japanese paper animal balloons (I always buy a jellyfish when I’m in Japan).

Japanese Paper Animal Balloons

I am most taken with three things about The Paper Place.  The first thing is the sheer volume of Japanese papers, and the care with which they are clearly selected.  Take katazome-shi, for example.  Katazome-shi are traditional stenciled patterns of washi made using old kimono dying techniques, and are usually in very broad and bold color schemes and patterns that are very distinct and different from the layers of tiny pink plum blossoms, etc. that one normally sees in Japanese chiyogami.    They can be very hard to find outside of Japan.

Katazome-shi page

The Paper Place has no fewer than 12 pages of katazome-shi patterns, and even a cool page that explains how katazome shi are made (you should check it out).

Second, their blog features all kinds of cool washi-related art like the video of papercutting genius by Maurice Gee that I introduced last time, or for example, these cool washi paper dresses.

dresses made from washi!

And third, hello,  the graphic design?  Genius, sheer genius.  Who does it?  Can I get them to work for me?

There is only one downside to The Paper Place.  I don’t have such a good excuse for “needing” to go to Japan to buy paper anymore.

 

“Prepare to Have Your Mind Blown”

So says the writer for The Paper Place.   And she’s not kidding.  You just wait.  Hang on a sec.

I had planned to write part two of my two part series on handmade and Japanese paper resources in Toronto tonight.   Part two is about The Paper Place (Part one was about The Japanese Paper Place.  Yes I know their names are almost the same.  There is a reason for that.  All will be explained.  Patience, grasshopper.)

But when I was doing my research, like a good blogger should, on The Paper Place’s website, I stumbled on this video.  All they say about it is the having your mind blown thing, and this:  “This video from the New Zealand Book Council is one of the most amazing things we have seen. It takes the art of paper cutting to a whole new level. enjoy…..”

Now, you don’t know this yet, although you will shortly, but if people at The Paper Place are rendered speechless by a work of paper-related art, then that work of art is really something.

So here it is.  “Going West.”   Two minutes and 10 seconds of paper art genius. By artist Maurice Gee.

Thank the New Zealand Book Council for sponsoring this brilliant artist. And The Paper Place of Toronto for bringing it to paper-lovin’ folks’ attention.

 

Japanese Paper, in Toronto? Part One: The Japanese Paper Place

Who knew that the best city to explore handmade Japanese washi paper, outside of Japan, was Toronto?   Turns out, Toronto is home to two amazing places dedicated entirely to Japanese washi paper: The Japanese Paper Place and The Paper Place.    In the next two blog posts I will introduce these two amazing resources.

Today:  Part One, The Japanese Paper Place.

The Japanese Paper Place  imports and distributes Japanese paper to retailers throughout North America.  But it’s much more than that.  The Japanese Paper Place is on a mission—to promote the use of washi paper in the arts and to disseminate knowledge and information about washi paper to artists, craftspeople, and designers around the world.

Bryan Kelley "the River" woodblock print on washi

Here’s what they have to say:

“Washi is not for every artist. Made by hand from renewable plant barks  (kozo, gampi and mitsumata) which are painstakingly stripped and cleaned, it isn’t paper as we know it. An artist can’t easily transfer his or her techniques from western paper to Japanese. But for some, with a particular openness to new materials and a desire to stretch their creative expression, it stirs them to new heights, and encourages them to produce new work that owes its success in large part to the very existence of washi.”

"Snow Flower" Terhi Hursti

The people at The Japanese Paper Place love their artists!  In their gallery of washi art they write that the gallery is an expression of “gratitude for those artists who persevere with a significant material that’s not easy to know; gratitude for audiences like you who continue to show curiosity about its potential; and gratitude for the papermakers in Japan who continue to make this magnificent sustainable resource.”

detail, "Lilies" by Marilyn Lightstone, digital print on torinoko gampi

The Japanese Paper Place hosts amazing talks by washi paper artists, and sponsors exhibits, and even, I think, leads study tours to Japan to paper-making villages.  It also maintains an artist resource center of paper that is basically unobtainable outside of Japan for artists and designers to come and examine in person for their work.   Recently they published photos of golden washi “so rare and expensive that most people never get to see them”

Fused metallics Fusuma paper

As a person who has loved and worked in washi for 25 years now, I was thrilled to discover them.  I haven’t had a chance to visit them in Toronto yet but it’s great to know that I don’t have to go all the way to Japan for some of the best washi and washi information available (and it’s in English–that’s icing on the cake!).  What a resource!