Happy New Year

Nezumi, gold
Originally uploaded by origami3d_cranes

2008 is the Year of the Rat in the Chinese Zodiac so I decided to make some pieces representing the new year. This kanji represents the Japanese word "Nezumi" which means mouse, or rat. I ended up doing this character in both silver and gold. I also made an ACEO (art cards, originals and editions) of a little mouse for the same reason.

To kick off the new year I will be at the New Year's Ohana Festival at the Japanese Cultural Center in Moilili. It will be held on Sunday, January 13th. This will be my third year there. The craft fair is actually across the street from the Cultural Center, on the large baseball field, and they will also be having food booths, kids' activities, and a stage -- they usually have dance performances, mochi pounding demonstrations, and taiko drumming.

It's a lot of fun. Last year there was even a shuttle that ran between the Center and the University of Hawaii, because the parking structure next to the Stan Sheriff Center was open to festival-goers, which is great because the street parking in the area is pretty limited.

If you're in the area that day, stop on by and say, "Hello!"

Creative Challenge # 77

Winging It
Originally uploaded by origami3d_cranes

It's been a long, long time since I participated in one of these challenges in the Etsy forums, but I'm glad I took on this one. The challenge was to be inspired by the word, "Flight."

"Winging It" was inspired by photos I've seen of Japanese cranes dancing and flying in the wild.

It contains 139 cranes.

Swap Meet -- Update on What Actually Happened

Swap Meet Set-Up
Originally uploaded by origami3d_cranes

Here's the photo of our swap meet booth -- before the wind really kicked up and played havoc with all of our set-ups. Our spot wasn't so great . . . only one other booth on our row as far as the eye could see, so we missed out on a lot of the foot traffic. It was great practice, though. And we did manage to educate a few new people (including one very nice man who bought something from almost every one of us-- and he also took some of the buttons and stickers that Etsy labs sent us to promote the site) -- about the handmade movement.

It was a lot of fun, more of a learning experience than anything else. I don't think any of us are ready to abandon the idea after only one try, and if nothing else, we learned how to set up a group booth!

Etsy Hawaii Street Team -- Swap Meet Sale!

Well, it's finally happening this weekend, we're going to the Aloha Stadium Swap meet on Saturday to spread the word about Etsy (and maybe sell a few things). Martha from AmorDePlata has made a wonderful sign, I hope to have pictures of everything afterward.

We'll be there from about 6 am or so, won't know the exact location until we get there. And there's a University of Hawaii football game that evening, so the swap meet will be closing at 1pm to clear out for the tailgaters. If you're in the area, stop on by and check us out!

3DCranes is Now on IndiePublic.com

After hearing so much about this site through the Etsy forums, I finally took the plunge and made a page. Indiepublic is a social networking site, kind of like MySpace for artists, designers, and people who like the "independent" arts. Personally, everything I've heard about MySpace makes it sound kind of scary, even though it's another promotion tool frequently recommended in the Etsy forums. I like IndiePublic, though, I received several welcoming messages within 24 hours of creating my page, and I now have more "friends" there than "contacts" on Flickr. Go figure. Oh, and I've already found a few of my fellow Hawaii Street Teamers there : Isabella Smiles, Keala Legacy, and Puppets and Pals.

I'll be running a separate blog on that site, and trying to keep some of the photos different from what is found on the Flickr site. Now, if there were just a few more hours in the day, so I can spend more time online as well as creating . . .

Speaking of creating, I've just listed my first new "art" piece for my Etsy shop in some time. And here it is:

So Many Things to Talk About, So Little Time

That could have been the theme of our latest Hawaii Street Team meeting. I guess that's just what happens when people have something in common -- something they love! This photo was taken near the end of the meeting, and a few people had already left. From left to right: Keala of Keala Legacy Creations, Martha of AmorDePlata Jewelery, Kathi of IsabellaSmiles, and Angela of AMK Stitches. Missing from the photo are: Barb and Earl Sasaki from SasakiCreations and Wendi from YarnConfections.

This is the very cool bookmark I got from Wendi. I know it's not the best photo (my fault). It's made from a very thin yarn, includes beads, and is "gently hand washable" according to her tag. Hmm . . . looks like I may have found something for a couple of impossible to shop for people on my Christmas list after all . . .

We discussed how to better promote our shops and Etsy, of course, and it was interesting to hear all of the different perspectives. I was able to drop off my contribution to the thank-you baskets (boxes?) that Kathi was putting together for Cindy Cha -- the reporter from the KHNL interview, and for the Etsy admin in New York -- their gift was our thank-you for putting the story of our interview up on the Etsy newsletter, the "Storque."

For Cindy's thank-you, I included one of my origami crane star ornaments, in the turquoise/silver combination. I chose that one because it closely matched a bag that Angela had brought to the interview, one that Cindy kept admiring.

For Admin, that was a little more effort. I know the theme was kind of "island stuff" like macadamia nuts, coffee, that sort of thing, but I wanted to make something a little more special. I had a little left over orange foil origami paper from my graduation leis, so I made "Etsy orange" crane star ornaments. The color scheme was inspired by the Etsy.com logo, orange with white lettering. I used the silver rhinestones and a thicker, white ribbon instead of the 1/8" silver or gold rattail ribbon I usually use on the ornaments.

The "Etsy Orange" ornaments got such a great response at the meeting, I've made up a few extra that I will be listing in my store, eventually. For now, though, I'm waiting to hear when the Admin gift actually ships out -- I didn't want to post the listing, or photos of their "gift" until around the time they receive it. Not that I think they're going to come across this blog . . . lots of Etsians have blogs. But you never know who might see something you put out into the wide, wild world of the internet.

What's in a name?

Red, Pink Purple Bouquet -- Top
Originally uploaded by origami3d_cranes

Not much, I hope. I can't seem to think of a name for this particular combination.

This is the first wedding bouquet I've made in some time. I was having trouble finding the right ribbon color to use. Then I managed to convince myself I really needed a name for it before I could complete it. When I listed it on Etsy, I just included all three main colors in the title -- taking the easy way out.

The bouquet is the same size as my other hand-tied bridal bouquets, and contains 265 origami cranes. I'm planning to add more color combinations soon, hopefully they'll come along easier than this one.

I'm also finally getting to work on the matching bridesmaid's bouquet for the all-red bouquet I listed last month.