Simasen! Konichiwa!

My cousin, Ate Glady, is back from Japan! Me soooo happy for my loots! ^_^ OMG

Thick and fibrous handmade papers 

A bundle of plain washi

Bookmarks she made. She sells them at her boutique in Japan!

Awesome patterns! 

Scraps of washi with beautiful prints <3

Beautiful details!

 I wish I could go to Japan someday. For now, staring at these lovely papers will do. <3 Thanks again, Ate Glady! ^_^

Love in many folds

February came with much love and excitement. Zen & Khea were united on February 2, 2013. Zen is the brother and only sibling of my college friend, Iona. On the previous post, I showed you the table centerpiece we made for the wedding of Iona and her beau, Ed. Three years later, it was Zen's turn, and I was fortunate to become part of it. Japanese orchestra was the theme, Khea is a musician and a teacher and Zen...was named Zen hahaha, that should explain it.

I was tasked to make a sample of an origami (I always have to Google the right spelling for this..)  boutonniere. Origami has long been my hobby, one of my first loves in art. I share this interest with my college friends thus the birth of Washi Wear (which was also on the previous post). Sadly, we had to stop production, but plans of reviving it is still there. Going back to the boutonnieres, making tiny ones took a lot of time so Iona chose to go for bigger ones (see Zen's boutonniere). During the bridal shower, she was helped by Khea's sister, Jam (my new found soulmate, because both of us wants a Tarzan themed wedding) and Atty. Cha (the maid "of your honor", as Boombee would call her). I wish I could post a picture but I can't find one, but I can assure you that no Magic Mike was harmed during the shower. Lol.

Photo by Emprez Rivera

There were lots of things unique in their wedding. The bouquet, for one, is the bride's violin adorned with flowers. The couple's term of endearment is 'hunny bunny' so they requested for bunnies instead of flowers for their bridal car. And voila! With styro balls, rubber foam, ribbons, wire, and a bit of elbow grease, I made the bunny couple on a swing surrounded with sakura branches and origami cranes.

Photo by Vito Arnel Villanueva

I wish Boombee was there during the cramming day, but she had to do the laundry (haha..too much information ba, Boom?) But she came on the wedding day, of course! She's the make up artist! Boom's Beauty and The Bee has been buzzing for quite some time now and I was happy to see her in action.
A lot of manpower was needed that day, and we didn't run out of it. Both families' nanay, tatay, ate, kuya, tito, tita, cousins and friends contributed to the celebration. Witnessing the union of not only the man and the woman but more so their entire families was a wonderful experience. It was a reminder that a wedding can't be measured by the beauty of the decors, the length of the buffet table, nor the number of beads on her gown, but the love of two people, so great it joined two families and strangers together. (Wow. This ended too mushy.. lol)

Thank you Iona, Emprez and Khea for the pictures!

Pass The Glue

I love working with my college buds. I think I miss it so much that the first title I had in mind for this blog was "Pass The Glue". Thinking it over, it started to sound like a scrapbooking club or something that has to do with working with other artsy people. The things I'll feature here won't always be collabs so I scrapped the idea. Working in groups gives more benefits for me. Questions like, "Is the color to bright?" and "Is my font too small?" can take so much of my time when I try to figure it out alone. Truly, we are designed to share life with others. Gen. 2:18. 

I had the best classmates in college. They're the best critics, they tell me what's nice or what's wrong with my work and vice versa... the best thing? We do that without drama. Kung balbon, balbon! Walang paligoy-ligoy. 

balbon

/bal-bon/

Adjective

In english, hairy.

In Ma'am Rita's language, ugly, slouchy work

Ma'am Rita, like all of our professors in college, taught us that no good design comes out of 'I don't want to hurt your feelings' type of critiques. Listening to others is essential to (design) growth. I think that kind of upbringing we got from our 'parents' at the university made us good partners and encouragers of each other. From 'rakets' when were young...

Sorry, Sir Mel! This is the only picture that has you in it!

..business ventures after college..

..to the wedding of our very own, Iona (aka Mama Ions) ^_^

...and recently, the wedding of Iona's brother, Zen and her beautiful wife, Khea. (Pictures are on the next post)

Being based in different areas, we have all gone in separate ways. We got friends living from north to south. Working apart from them is also a blessing, I'm sure they would agree on this too. There are things you won't learn in your 'comfort zone'... but I feel that in no time we'll all be back to work together again. And it won't be too long 'til we hear "pass the greccooo!" :)

Thank you Jinel, Boombee and Andrea for the pictures.

They got hitched, we got quilled!

Working for The Goldfish Pool is so much fun. My first assignment? A 3-foot tall quilled monogram for a couple. My boss/friend, Abba, designed a neat wedding invitation for them, adorned with quilled blue and yellow paper. They were so happy they wanted monograms for the reception to match the invites. Lucky for me, I got the project! It has been a while since I last visited Marikina to buy rubberfoam (our chosen material). I went with my beau so he could help me with directions.. I mean with the weight. Hehe.

This was actually part of our Valentine's date. :P

The last time I quilled was when I taught at a summer art workshop last year in Georgia Academy Antipolo. And it was just three stems of flower. So I image searched quilling and found a beautiful one with ombre colors. The store only has shades of blue but only one shade for yellow. So we got those and two little bottles of adhesive. (If you need more details about the foam, just post a message and I'll gladly help you.)I created a base, the two letters made into blocks, where the quilling are glued to.Strips of foam were used for the quilling. Unlike paper, foam can't be formed/pressed without gluing it on the base as it springs back to its original form. Drawing lines on the base helped in positioning the strips but I wasn't so up tight in following them. I drew tight swirls but wasn't able to follow them because it was a bit tricky, and sometimes I don't want to follow my own plan. Lol. 

Making the monogram and hanging decors took 36 hours plus. We mounted them on the arch provided by the caterer of the reception, luckily there were screws right where we need them to be. It was really a blessing to have worked on this project, did I mention that this was my first wedding project that was not a favor for a friend/relative? ^_^ Cheers!
By the way, I also made a cake topper for them. ^_^