tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40666530476730822282024-03-13T07:50:44.595-07:00Covered in Glitter and Screamingvisual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-56278484292075092062024-02-10T22:36:00.000-08:002024-02-10T22:36:44.815-08:00Illustration pen pal: octopus card My illustration pen pal loaned me another Griffin and Sabine book, and I returned it with a handmade card. This one plays around with the format, and features an octopus holding a message in a bottle.Process video:I ended up making several of these, but I think I want to go back and adjust the design a bit. I love the look of the suckers being cut from the front piece of paper to reveal the visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-56582733888684502252023-06-09T06:04:00.003-07:002023-06-09T19:07:36.572-07:00Stencil and Hand Painted SignI was commissioned to make two stencils (2 feet wide and 4 feet wide) and to hand paint a 2' wooden sign.DesignI ended up combining characteristics from three different versions of the fraternity crest design to make the client's ideal version, and then I converted it to a single color graphic with added support bars for when it was cut out of the final material.Reference images from https://visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-57702318583730059552022-09-05T06:29:00.001-07:002022-09-05T06:31:36.104-07:00Waterfall CardsI made two waterfall cards with very different visual flavors.Both are adaptations from one of these tutorials from Mixed Up Craft, but with different proportions so I needed a few prototypes to get all the math right.The first one was for a sakura-themed baby shower. Nearly everything on my friend's registry was already spoken for other than a gift card, so to give that a more personal visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-9485007896732165332022-07-16T17:46:00.001-07:002022-07-16T17:46:44.304-07:00Holiday Cards: KokeshiMy holiday cards for 2021 were inspired by Japanese kokeshi dolls, modified from the version I made for a pen pal earlier in the year. SO excited to finally have an excuse to use some of this gorgeous handmade Japanese paper! I'd had my eye on that green pattern since the first time I laid eyes on it. Bonus, I also found good holiday colors (for Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year's) and a pattern visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-33267804096026528432022-04-16T19:51:00.005-07:002023-06-09T23:33:45.025-07:00Mystery Gift: Kitty GlitterMystery gifts are my way of thanking some of the donors to a fundraiser I did some years ago. I ask for a theme, and then I make a thing in as much secrecy as I can manage and send it to them.This gift's theme is Kitty Glitter, for someone who loves her tabby cat, her garden, cherry blossoms, and things that are pink and sparkly.Here's the short version of how it was made (30 seconds):And here's visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-69105377518212840832022-04-01T06:33:00.000-07:002022-04-01T06:33:39.102-07:00Silk and Pearls AnniversaryEvery wedding anniversary is associated with specific items. The first year is the paper anniversary, the 50th is the golden anniversary, etc. A few years back we started taking photos of ourselves with those items. The traditional items for the 12th anniversary are silk or linen (traditional) or pearls (modern). Husband has a (probably) silk brocade jacket, so that set the formalwear tone. visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-72611886371477949232022-02-13T23:46:00.004-08:002022-02-13T23:49:16.340-08:00Amabie costumeIn 2020, a fairly obscure yokai called Amabie started to trend on Japanese Twitter with #AmabieChallenge. There are variations to the story, but the legend says that a mermaid-like creature with long hair, a beak, scales, and three legs or fins emerged from the sea in the late 1800s to give a warning and advice. It predicted six years of good harvest and then a pandemic. To stave visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-39571259910598858032022-02-13T04:53:00.001-08:002022-02-13T04:53:00.225-08:00Illustration pen pal: kokeshi card holder My illustration pen pal loaned me another Griffin and Sabine book, and I returned it with a card holder inspired by modern kokeshi dolls.Processthe process almost always starts with a sketchSome math was done to determine how big the finished doll should bethen the sketch was traced and I used a grid to enlarge the sketch to the final sizeusing the new drawing, I split out the visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-4529914487747531862022-02-04T22:34:00.001-08:002022-02-06T22:13:19.973-08:00Illustration pen pal: puzzleMy illustration pen pal loaned me another Griffin and Sabine book, and I returned it with a letter and a puzzle.I already had a mandala design from a workshop years ago, so I started there. I made some tweaks and printed it out to decide what the colors should be like. Thanks to radial symmetry, I could get four different looks on the same sheet.Top: white background, rainbow shapes on left visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-13567253658136750812021-12-15T02:34:00.001-08:002021-12-15T02:34:00.194-08:00Illustration pen pal: fossilMy illustration pen pal loaned me another Griffin and Sabine book, and I returned it wrapped in multiple layers of tissue paper so that opening each layer was like digging through the layers of the earth.Outer wrapper (shovel, address, and postage)Organic layer (grass)TopsoilSubsoilReference -> sketch -> finalThe book was cleverly hidden under the fossil layer of tissue papervisual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-88366164494854384182021-12-12T02:29:00.004-08:002021-12-12T04:34:35.236-08:00Illustration pen pal: anglerfish box My Griffin and Sabine pen pal sent me the first book to read, and this is the box I made to return it.The box design went through several rounds of changes and it didn't end up perfect, but overall I am very happy with it This is the first time I've used a magnetic switch – the light only turns on when the lid is opened.Concept sketchFirst trySecond tryThird try, bottom halfThird try, top visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-88994293379646190642021-11-15T00:09:00.007-08:002022-02-08T01:38:03.464-08:00Illustration pen pal: Torii gate and Amabie postcardOut of the blue, I got a postcard in the mail from a friend. One side was a beautiful landscape he created with pen and watercolor, the message on the back described a book called Griffin and Sabine, a lavishly illustrated and interactive book about correspondence between two artists, and he invited me to respond in kind.I couldn't possibly say no!I wanted to respond with a Japan-inspired visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-39806239172150590062021-05-28T00:38:00.003-07:002021-05-28T00:38:31.857-07:00Black, red, and booze all overTo celebrate Husband's birthday this year, I made a card, a booze tower, and whisky caramel cupcakes.CardKeeping with a black/white/red motif, I designed the words Happy Birthday into the outline of a tumbler with red card stock whisky and tracing paper ice cubes. When the card is closed it appears full, when the card is open it appears empty.TowerI probably looked like a madwoman in the store, visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-38760233149214864442021-04-29T19:57:00.000-07:002021-04-29T19:57:36.703-07:00Pop-up pen pals: L-word cardI found tutorial videos for this card and a square envelope and made my own. For the design, I started with the words "Live Laugh Love" and kept going with other words that begin with L.DesignI did some math so that the folded shapes would be the right size to be mailed with regular postage within the US and rounded down so each segment was easy to measure, then made a template in visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-11982909781273669842021-02-11T04:41:00.003-08:002021-02-11T04:46:03.057-08:00AmabieIn 2020, Amabie started to trend on Japanese Twitter. Amabie is a Japanese yokai that was fairly obscure until last year. There are variations to the story, but essentially a mermaid-like creature with long hair, a beak, scales, and three legs or fins emerged from the sea in the late 1800s to give a warning and advice. It predicted six years of good harvest and then a pandemic, but to stave visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-32441506668910884592020-11-14T01:47:00.002-08:002021-12-15T04:52:36.850-08:00Steel AnniversaryEvery wedding anniversary is associated with specific traditional items. You might have heard that first year is the paper anniversary, the 50th is the golden anniversary, stuff like that. A few years back we started taking photos of ourselves with those items.This year is our steel anniversary. Given the dumpster fire that 2020 has turned out to be, we went for a post-apocalyptic warrior visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-30916237477020418672020-10-22T21:54:00.000-07:002020-10-22T21:54:22.832-07:00MYSTERY GIFT: Artoo Nouveau Magic Mystery gifts are my way of thanking some of the donors to a fundraiser I did a few years ago. I asked each donor for a theme for the mystery gift, which gives me both complete creative control and a starting point, and I love this model.For this person, when I asked for a theme he said he liked magic and Art Nouveau. You may have seen the companion piece I made for this earlier, since he visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-79331189304031623392020-10-06T03:40:00.000-07:002020-10-06T03:40:33.568-07:00Pop-up Pen Pals: Artoo Nouveau Magic cardMy friend and I are continuing to send each other homemade greeting cards that include paper mechanics.This friend is also one of the people that donated to my fundraiser a handful of years ago and was on my list to receive a mystery gift. I asked for a theme, and he said he liked magic and Art Nouveau, so I came up with a design in an Art Nouveau style* incorporating props he has used in his visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-37356930529648015612020-07-26T01:30:00.001-07:002020-09-19T21:15:02.871-07:00Pop-up Pen Pals: Flashlight Slider CardOne of my engineery-crafty* friends got a Cricut, so we lately we've been for-real pen pals with analog letters and low-stakes paper crafting projects. The first exchange was fairly normal letters (although his was miniature and mine was written on shopping list paper because that's all I have for stationary right now), and then he sent me a foam-and-paper creation with a tab-operated cameravisual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-20618217440005502242020-02-21T04:01:00.003-08:002020-02-21T04:01:54.553-08:00MYSTERY GIFT: Dragon costumeMystery gifts are my way of thanking some of the donors to a fundraiser I did a few years ago. I ask for a theme, and then I make a thing in as much secrecy as I can manage and send it to them.
This particular theme was "dragons, dinosaurs, or dump trucks" because that's what was relevant to the child's interests. I went with dragons, because that is also relevant to my interests.
THEvisual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-32082760595541618512020-02-09T14:53:00.001-08:002020-02-09T14:53:31.479-08:00Godzilla Holiday cardsMy cards for 2019 were not just Happy Holidays cards, but also Goodbye cards. Right after Christmas, my husband and I moved from Boston back to Tokyo.
I usually write something for my holiday cards. One year I wrote a poem that drew a parallel between holiday shopping/expectations and living under an overbearing regime, another year I modeled a piece after The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe (2016 was visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-67841446922561569642019-03-03T13:23:00.003-08:002020-01-09T20:19:37.196-08:00MYSTERY GIFT: Horror/PunkI shaved my head for charity two years ago. For a small number of donors I offered thanks in the form of a mystery gift, built around a theme of their choosing. This person's theme was a Misfits album cover, essentially encompassing both music and horror across media platforms.
I started with words, and wrote the ABCs of Horror and Punk. But what do do with it?
Make it a book. Actually, let's visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-90436541591572458242018-11-19T18:46:00.004-08:002018-11-19T18:46:42.345-08:00MYSTERY GIFT: EnsōI shaved my head for charity last year. For a small number of donors I offered thanks in the form of a mystery gift, built around a theme of their choosing. This generous donor's theme was ensō, also described as the zen circle. The final product is made of card stock with gel pen accents and silver paint in the center.
I had a conversation with her once about a number of symbols that visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-29595248611477775992018-11-04T11:24:00.000-08:002018-11-04T12:01:14.559-08:00Farewell Gift: pop up book pageA beloved executive just left my company. He's a larger-than-life, eccentric personality who has had a positive impact on everyone around him and will genuinely be missed.
A few notable things about him so this makes more sense:
avid bicycler, surfer, and kayaker
bicycle helmet looks like a watermelon
has a small dog
loves Mexican food
He and I once shared a moment in which we exclaimed about visual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066653047673082228.post-65310088505231713002018-10-28T12:08:00.001-07:002021-12-12T01:38:35.215-08:00Princess Carolyn (and BoJack)
Making a BoJack costume is easy*: horse head mask, blue sweater with Xs and lines drawn on, gray sports coat, jeans, red converse. Princess Carolyn looks simple, but took a bit more effort. The hardest part was finding a dress with the right cut in the right color.
*I know the mane and face colors aren't exact, if this were going to be a con costume instead of just Halloween we'd putvisual.kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16538617934703658474noreply@blogger.com0