Japan in the Springtime

I'm back from my trip to Japan and working to get back into the swing of beading. I'm working on writing a couple of beaded bead patterns before the big push to get ready for the Bead & Button Show. In the meantime, I thought I'd share a few photos from my trip. We were lucky to visit Japan while the sakura were in bloom, which I've always wanted to see, and I certainly wasn't disappointed:

Sensoji Temple in the Asakusa area of Tokyo

A reconstruction of a former Japanese palace administrative building at the Hikone Castle museum. Rather cold on a rainy day.

At the Genkyuen Garden in Hikone on a rainy day

The Okunoin Temple grounds in the Koyasan mountains, the center of Shingon Buddism, an important Buddhist sect in Japan.

A maiko at a photo session in the bamboo grove of the Arashiyama district of Kyoto, along with the inevitable throng of onlookers.

Fuji-san on a rare clear day, taken from the Tokaido Shinkansen.

The Nishinomaru Garden on the grounds of Osaka Castle, with its blossoming cherry trees illuminated at night.

Osaka Castle and illuminated cherry blossoms.

Full bloom at the Expo '70 Commemoration Park just outside Osaka.

Hanami parties at the Expo '70 Commemoration Park

Sakura close-up!

One of several couples getting wedding portraits taken while the cherry trees were in bloom.

With my hubby at Koshien Stadium, the home of the Hanshin Tigers and the most fanatical fans in all of baseball. A Tigers game at Koshien is an experience, to say the least, and if you're into baseball I definitely recommend checking it out.

I also got a chance to feed my washi addiction while in Japan, but that's a subject for another post.

Travel Notice: March 29 - April 11

I'm traveling to Japan to visit my sister from March 29 through April 11, so I'll be unable to ship any jewelry or kit orders during this time. My Etsy shop will be on vacation mode for the duration of my trip. You will still be able to place orders for kits via my website, but they will ship out on April 12. So, if you have your eye on any possible Easter gifts, please place your order before March 29. 

Fortunately, since the patterns on my website are available as PDF downloads, you can still order and download these patterns while I'm away. I'll have somewhat limited e-mail access while I'm traveling, but if you have any questions about a pattern order, just e-mail me anyway and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Patterns and kits for the Sakura Charm, Circle Starburst, and Balloon Box designs will continue to be available at beAd Infinitum.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing my sister, and I'm fortunate to be visiting Japan around the time that the sakura trees will be in bloom (and not during the miserable heat and humidity of the Japanese summer). I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures! In the meantime, here's a picture that I took the last time I visited Japan. It's of the Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavillion) in Kyoto:

Origami Interlude: Washi Masu Boxes

I have a confession... I love washi paper.

OK, that isn't the confession. When I visited Japan in August 2010, I bought several full-size sheets of the most gorgeous handmade washi from the heavenly Morita Washi and Ito-ya stationary stores.

The confession is... Since visiting Japan a year and a half ago, I hadn't folded anything from these papers. I'd carefully unwrap and drool over them from time to time, as a jewelry maker would with a collection of one-of-a-kind lampwork beads; ogling them, brainstorming how to showcase them in the perfect piece of art, but, not actually using them in jewelry... Er, paper crafts.

The problem is, I'm visiting Japan again in less than two weeks, where I will surely purchase more Washi paper. So, it was time to fold something out of the papers that I already have.

I still have visions of cracking open one of Tokomo Fusé's books and folding these papers into one of her gorgeous geometric origami designs. But in the meantime, I was running low on the masu boxes that I use for jewelry purchased from my Etsy shop. So, I carefully cut the washi into squares alongside matching colors of card stock for a new stack of jewelry boxes.

Folding washi is like sewing with silk; it's easy on the fingers and is very forgiving of an errant crease.

The downside with washi is that it's not very stiff, so when I use it with masu boxes, I reinforce it with an extra layer of card stock in both the top and bottom halves of the box. The extra layer fits inside the blinz base (after Step 2 is completed), and is also a square piece of paper measuring √2/2 (about 0.7) times the length of the outer layer.

I love modular boxes too, but the simplicity of the masu box really brings out the print of the washi:

Plus, they're really easy to fold, and in great numbers:

What's your favorite kind of jewelry packaging material? Do you prefer jewelry pouches, or jewelry boxes?

New Balloon Box Beaded Bead Kits

Two new kits are now available for the Balloon Box beaded bead at beAd Infinitum. The first is in this gorgeous deep blue palette which I've named Pandora Sapphire:

The second is in a Turquoise Patina palette, because, even though the beads are glass, everyone can use a little turquoise: 

Both kits can be found on the beAd Infinitum Patterns and Kits page, and include the full pattern, a needle and plenty of thread, and all the beads necessary to complete the project. 


Finally, a special thanks to everyone who commented on my Winter Illuminations Necklace. I'm happy to report that my sister is well and relatively far from the disaster area in northern Japan. If it is within your ability, please consider donating to the American Red Cross to help with the disaster relief. 

Winter Illuminations Necklace

I completed my piece for the latest round of the Artbeads.com blogger program, this time in a "Winter Enchantment" theme:

To be honest, I was somewhat wintered-out after finishing the Wintery Mini Ionic Polyhedra set and my Ice Queen necklace last November, and I thought that I couldn't possibly think up another icy, wintery design before suffering from brain freeze. So I turned to another interpretation of wintertime:

Photo © Peggy Holsclaw 2011 

In Japan, several of the parks, shrines, and temples are lit up in the evenings during holidays and seasonal events (their Fall Illuminations are particularly spectacular). My sister Peggy is currently living in Japan and took some beautiful photos of the Winter Illuminations in the bamboo forests of Arashiyama, a district on the outskirts of Kyoto.

Photo © Peggy Holsclaw 2011 

Photo © Peggy Holsclaw 2011 

This photo really spoke to me: something about the combination of silvery bamboo leaves with the intense blue bamboo stalks communicates a fresh crispness without being overly cold. I used light sapphire AB Czech pressed glass lentil beads to mimic the shape and shade of the bamboo leaves, dark indigo AB2X Swarovski crystal bicones for the intense blue color, and a collection of black, hematite, and silver Japanese seed beads to complete the design. After a couple of attempts I created this beaded bead design, which is a cousin of the Double Pagoda beaded bead:

I made five of them total, and paired them with additional Cosmic crystals complete the necklace:

Finally, for a limited time Artbeads is kindly offering a 15% off everything coupon code to such awesome readers such as yourself. The coupon code is ZZ-DESIGNER-0211, and is valid until the end of the month. 

What wintery-themed pieces have you created this season?

Full disclosure: The swarovski crystals and Czech glass lentils used in this necklace were received as a gift from Artbeads.com. No payment was made for the review of these products.

Japanese Seed Beads, In Japan!

For our honeymoon a few months ago my husband and I traveled to Japan. Why Japan, you might ask? Well, we had always wanted to go there, my sister is currently living in Osaka so we could visit with her while we were there, and we wanted an adventurous trip to a place different from what we were used to.

But my visit would not have been complete without...

...A visit to a Miyuki bead store! 

My favorite Japanese seed bead manufacturer, Miyuki Co., ltd, operates three retail stores in Japan. The employees at their Tokyo branch kindly allowed me to take pictures after I asked them (in Japanese! For the curious, it's "Shashin o totemo ii desu ka?" Props to my sister for the survival Japanese lessons!), however the Osaka branch was decorated with "no photography" signs so I didn't even try to take photos there. 

The Tokyo store is three stories tall, with the first floor taken up entirely by Miyuki seed beads:

A big difference between these stores and the Californian bead stores that I've been to is the storage and display of the seed beads. While their Delica beads are sold in 5- and 20-gram boxes, the rest of their seed beads are displayed in rows and rows of individual jars and are sold from these jars in carefully-weighed out 8-gram increments. This display makes the whole place look like a candy store:

Here are some fringe drop beads in their respective jars, in one of my favorite cobalt blue colors:

While this display was quite impressive, I think that it actually made it easier to stay within my shopping budget. Language barriers aside, it's easy to pick a pre-packaged tube of seed beads off the shelf in a Western store and take it up to the counter to have the sales clerk ring it up. While the three young women helping me at this shop were quite efficient in weighing, packaging, and labeling my bead purchase, I would have felt somewhat uncomfortable to ask them to weigh out 30 different kinds of seed beads. 

This store must sell over 100 different kinds of kits:

They even have some geometric kits!

I loved the different kinds of beadwork that they had on display. Check out this loomed lamp cover and the purses in the background:

But the cutest display was definitely this little French-beaded flower garden right next to the register:

So, did I break the bank? Actually, I was able to restrain myself :). I was mostly looking for seed beads which I haven't been able to find here in the States, and I found that this selection was quite small; 99.9% of their stock is also readily available at retail bead stores the USA. In fact, I was surprised to find that both the Tokyo and Osaka stores were not yet carrying the new Tila and small 2.8 mm drop beads which had just started to appear here in the US.

I did manage to find some dichroic-lined seed beads in shapes and sizes that I haven't previously seen. Here they are in the 10° triangle size:

Finally, just to show that we visited other places in Japan besides bead stores, here we are at the Shitennoji temple in Osaka:

And at the Kinkakuji temple in Kyoto:

So, in conclusion, it's relatively easy to go bead shopping at Miyuki's Japanese retail stores without spending your entire vacation budget. Just... Don't ask about my washi shopping spree...