新年快樂! Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Hello, and Happy Chinese New Year!!

My parents were in Taiwan this year, so I was unable to spend it with them. And my brother was too busy with other stuff to hang out with me... So I didn't spend Chinese New Year with him either... Haha.

But! I still had church family and friends to spend Chinese New Year with. And for that, I was extremely grateful and blessed. Good food and good company, what more could I have asked for? :)

Its the year of the snake! :P Next year it will finally be "my" year again... the year of the horse. I think the horse was my favorite animal growing up because it was my zodiac animal. Haha. I didn't really have a favorite animal, so I always used horse as my default answer. Haha

Anyways... On to other crafting business.

Yes, that's right, I have more to share. :)

Sometimes I find it very amusing that I'm making all these Valentine's gifts when I actually have no idea what its like to be in a relationship. Well... the relationships I know about are between family members, friends, and God. Haha. But anyways, that's besides the point. I think I watch enough dramas and read enough stories to kinda get the gist of it. Haha. XD

This is the last "sculpture" that I made for Valentine's Day. I made some keychains, but I have yet to put those up. Perhaps they can still work for couples, even after Valentine's Day has passed. In any case, let's get to it.

I always had this idea of using these square boxes to create a picture or a scene in. I originally purchased them so that I could be able to ship my keychains in a manner that wouldn't make the package too fragile. They are actually gift boxes that I got from the wedding section in Michaels. I got it cuz it was a large package of them that were on clearance. ;) My favorite. Haha.

Anyways, I contemplated making an actual background scene, but decided against it because it was too much work and I was too lazy. Haha. But I still wanted something to fill up the background (and not just be plain and silver), so I just put in a simple 3-blocked "I <3 U."

Its kinda similar to my previous post about the bears in a glass jar, except, this one was a surprise kiss. Haha. XD Like I said, I really liked the idea of using wire to create balloons, so I added them in this scene as well. I kinda like how the base turned out in this one as well. Normally, I mix every single color by hand (except for black and white) and I try to mix it so that each shade is evenly distributed throughout the entire block. But, I got a little lazy when I was mixing the base color, and I decided to let the other color run through the base, which created small patterns throughout the base. And effect I was rather pleased with.

Its kinda funny, but whenever I make couple items, I feel the necessity to put a pink or red (or any other "girly" color) bow on the female character... just for clarification sake. Haha. I recently started putting eyelashes on the girl to indicate which one was female. But, for this one, because her eyes were open, it was too difficult to add eyelashes, so I ended up just adding a bow. Haha.

Checkitout on Etsy!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/122610776/kiss-cuz-i-love-you-in-a-box

The base, as well as the cover, is removable. Although, in all honesty, I don't really know why it would be necessary to take the item out of the box. If anything, it would be for the purpose of looking at the sculpture closer and in greater detail? Haha. I don't know. :P

So, there you are... the final item I created. I don't have much to say on this one, cuz I think its rather straight forward. Plus, I have no stories to share about this item. Haha.

I think that's what makes blogging difficult for me. Because I don't document very well, the post that I put up is merely a lengthier description of the photos I put up. Which, I don't know if people are interested in listening to. Haha. Oh well, its not like you guys are forced to read my blog. XD Haha.

Anyways, next time I'll be posting up something that may turn out to be a very, very lengthy post. Haha. I foresee a large number of photos. Haha. Yep, I'm going to try documenting my crafts from now on! :P Haha. Don't get your hopes up though... cuz I highly doubt I will be able to maintain this kind of patience with extensive documenting.

We shall see.

:)

**Chuu!!

Hello, World!

Today, I'd like to share one of my creations... that I actually like! Haha. XD

If any of you guys are confused or are even remotely interested, "Chu" is the Japanese onomatopeia for "kiss." Go read more manga or watch more anime. You'll see. :)

Remember this "Sneak Peek" picture? ;)

After a few failed attempts to create something other than animals... I decided to revert back to my comfort zone... of bears! Haha. I think I really need to learn how to make other animals look cute. :P Or perhaps learn how to make cute looking humans. But that's something I'll attempt when I have more free time lying around. Haha.

This time, I actually have pictures of the process I went though!! I never have pictures of the process. Well... I shouldn't say never... but it is quite rare. :)

I usually make 6 separate pieces when making bears:

        - 1 head (includes eyes)

        - 1 body

        - 2 ears

        - 1 tail

        - 1 face/nose area (includes mouth and nose)

This time, however, because I needed the bears to show expression, hold stuff, etc., I had to also make arms and legs separately. Which turned out rather nice, in my opinion. Here is what the bears look like, before I add the eyes, nose, and mouth. Again, for the white/transparent part, I used transparent clay, which turned out less white after I baked it -- not what I wanted. :( But that's okay. Lesson learned!

Ahahah... you can see how my nail polish is slowly dying... XD

It was a little hard to figure out how to place the two
without having the ear of one bear be in the way of the other bear

I was a little worried when making these two bears because I wasn't sure how it woud fit into the jar. Having two figures in the jar takes up quite a bit of space, so I had to gauge it correctly before actually making the two bears. Also, I had to make sure I would be able to glue everything on the base properly, and still have the two bears far enough apart to make it look "un-awkward." Hah. That was an awkward way of putting it. :p

Anyways, I actually think I like the unbaked version as opposed to the baked version. But, that's okay.

I was actually extra proud of the "LOVE XO" letters at the bottom because I took the extra effort and went online to search for... you guessed it... scrabble tiles!! Haha. I didn't want to just slap on any sign that read "Love," so I, very cleverly (Yes, yes, this is where I insert an applause for myself), made it out of scrabble tiles. Again... I used the transparent clay... so the result was a little lighter than I wanted. Should have added more white into the mix (Whyy? Whyy didn't I believe the package when it clearly stated "transparent"??). :(

All in all, I was fairly satisfied with the result of this project. Here is the final product:

I'm kinda sad that the glass jar distorts the imagery of the sculpture,
making it look slightly funny...

https://www.etsy.com/listing/122108554/sealed-with-a-kiss-in-a-glass-jar?ref=v1_other_2

So yay! After two "ehh" attempts at making something to sell in a glass jar, success! I got really excited about the idea of using metal wire to hold up balloons... so I tried that again with another project. Haha. I'll be posting that one up soon as well. I'm really glad I actually used white for the balloon and not transparent. Haha. XD

In other, random news... I watched the Superbowl in its entirely for the first time in my LIFE today. Haha. XD 

Granted, I spent a good portion of the time sitting in the very back of the room, and my line of vision was covered by people (for a good portion of the time as well)... and I was drawing most of the time... hahaha. I still watched it! :P I'm not a huge sports watcher, and not at all into football. Its not that I don't understand the game... I'm just not into watching football. But I guess it was rather exciting watching it with a group of friends. Towards the end of the game I finally put down my drawing book and ventured closer to the TV. Haha.

As I got more and more invested, I became more and more anxious about the game. I'm from the Bay Area, originally, so I kinda naturally rooted for the 49ers. Plus... they made a preeetttyyy, darn good comeback after the power outage ended. 

Annnnddd then...

They lost. 

:(

Haha. It would have been pretty epic if they won. But I realized that I get way too invested and into these games. Haha. XD I can see why people can get really into cheering for a sports team, and I can imagine myself getting overly competitive. Haha. I would not be very encouraging and sweet (That's a strange word to describe myself with...) if my team were not winning. Haha.

Anyways. That kinda has nothing to do with crafts or arts... but I thought I'd share a "Joy's first..." moment with you all. 

:)

More postings to come soon!! :)