The waiting game!

So the kokeshi doll are waiting for their owners to contact them so what are they doing in the mean time?

Of course play a little bit of computer games.

They discovered that they were rubbish at playing games because they couldn't co-ordinate themselves quickly enough, nevermind.

After the failure of the game playing they decided to meet their neighbours that live down the hallway.

They may look scary at first but the robots where quite nice and they got on very well!

Kokeshi Dolls

Kokeshi dolls are little wooden dolls that you can buy in Japan and it is a love/hate sort of thing.

I find them cute but I can see why people get freaked out by them. I think it is a similar thing with porcelain dolls. I find them a little creepy because I am imagining them watching my every move.

Anyway lately I have caught the needle felting bug and my latest work is kokeshi dolls. The first one is called Primo.

She is a tiny little kokeshi doll only 6cm tall!

However this morning I woke up and thought wouldn't it be great to make some that look like my friends.

Well the first friend I did was Lyuba from http://funkymakeupjunkie.blogspot.com/. She love stripes so her kokeshi doll is stripy!

She is also made about cats as well so on her otaiko I put a little kitty.

I posted this one straightaway and Liz asked if she was going to get a mini-me. How could I refuse?

She loves black and red so her kimono has those two colours flowing through.

She also puts her hair into braids normally so her kokeshi doll also has them.

Then Arian said he would love to see a Naomi (his wife) one. So after looking through her flickr album I found the perfect picture to use as reference.

I love how the hair turned out!

Of course now I have a little gang of kokeshi doll and here they are having a little girly chat about kimono and kitsuke.

What do you think they are talking about?

Yorkshire Cosplay Con - 2 July 2011

I was suppose to post this ages ago but my mind has been a bit slow recently so I have only just got round to posting this now.

Anyway, there is always something daunting about using the local transport links of an unknown town and the 2 July adventure is in Doncaster. Getting to Doncaster was easily enough, Sheffield is only a stone throw away from Doncaster so trains were regular but the buses hmmmm I wasn't so sure on. So after following the signs for the bus interchange, wandering around for the correct stand and then fiddling around for the correct change, I'm on my way to the Dome.

Pretty uneventful but with a hint of fear that you are going the wrong way I managed to get to the dome without too much hassle.

The venue itself was quite nice and the convention took up 3 of the conference rooms available.

Katie from Japan Craft was kind enough to give me some space on her table for my kanzashi and for that I helped her run her stall when wanted to see her daughter cosplay.

So my impression of the event. It was an intimate convention where people came to make friends and show off their costumes. No one was taking it to serious so it was a relax atmosphere. The main age group was under 20's so Ebony (Katie's daughter) loved it. However if you were a serious cosplayer I think you would have been disappointed. There were stalls selling manga and anime but although we both sold some items and we attracted plenty of interest there wasn't the purchasing power that would exist in a major convention.

However there was a lot of interest and I can see this organiser arranging a much bigger event if a larger venue was found.

Whether it would be suitable for my craft remains to be seen.

My my time does fly!

So 2-3 April was Kitacon 3 for me and my kimono buddies!

As always we made plans but it didn't quite work out however we got our stall setup in time and it was time to trade.

For our first time, I think we didn't do to badly! Lots of lessons have been learnt and the next time we will be better organised.

Here are some photos of the day from my friends' cameras since I didn't get a chance to take pictures.

This is picture is just hilarious. Tom was such a laugh and doesn't he make a lovely oiran.

And as Hong was all dressed up wa-lolita style we thought we would have fun.

For some reason I can pose as a man really well (who would have guessed)

And here is April showing Lyuba who is boss.

January Kimono de Jack

A new year and it is time the kdj gang met up again in kimono fashion. This time we will be visiting the 30 years of Japanese fashion exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London.

We hope to be join by a guest however illness prevented him from travel so could not come. If you are reading this, get better soon!

So my day started earlier, 6.45am. Well early for me because I have been getting up around 8.00 for the past few weeks as I don't go to bed well past midnight. This time I was determine nit to miss my train and arrive 20 mins earlier. To aid my speedy kitsuke I wore my black tsuki obi although I'm not sure if I got the front the right way up?? Nevermind. I teamed this obi with a nice dark green wool kimono and the accessories with red since my obi has red on it. It is a safe option really but unless my hair is tied and pinned in an interesting manner then I find it hard to dress flamboyant. The obi-jime is interesting as it is braided strands of stiff leather. I won it as a lot and been dying to coordinate it but it is quite dark. However it appears to stand out against the black obi so I had to wear it. There was a little kitsuke malfunction, one of the strings that holds the belt closed came off so not only the obi-jime is holding the otaiko part but also keeping the belt closed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything stays together.

Coach A the quiet coach, why does it never live up to it's name? The passengers were not overly rowdy but they were not quiet. Especially if you can hear a conversation from the other side. At least I should be great full that it wasn't like my last journey when I had football supporters swearing and shouting for an hour before someone told them to keep quiet.

There is nothing to report on the train journey. We twist and turned through the Yorkshire countryside which isn't too bad. Seeing the occasional sheep which is very important, you can't have a countryside without sheep!

For once I turned up time 11.00 at London Liverpool street, Lyuba and Hong arrived shortly after me and we made our way to Barbican Centre.

Between trains and tube Tegan was going to be late and Mio (a new person to our group) was going to arrive around 13.00. The three of us waited until 12.00 before we decided to get our ticket and have a look at the clothes. No sooner we wandered round the first corner Tegan appeared. Once we were all together we peruse the exhibition. Then 13.00 came and Mio showed up, we stayed until 13.45 before we decided to find some food.

To summaries the exhibition in a few words the fashion was highly conceptual with some clothes just plain weird. No pictures I'm afraid as it was an exhibition but to put it simply the clothes on show are not really wearable. Once we were outside we took some photos. Hong got most of those so here are some of my ones.

It was so cold and wet that even the seagulls felt at home in London.

Since we failed to see any restaurants open around the gallery we headed towards Carluccio were Hong's boyfriend worked to have some lunch. Yummy, chicken pate and then a panni washed down with a nice cup of earl grey.

By the time we finished lunch it was 15.30 and it was time for Lyuba to take photos. I must get hold of those and included them in a posting. It was freezing whoever predicted the weather to be mild was wrong!

Hong wanted pictures of her coat so here you are!

By now it was time for me to get my train back to Sheffield. Hong was feeling tired so decided to go home, leaving the rest to invade Oxford circus and Haagen Daz. Oxford circus/Road was fine however Haagen Daz was closed for refurbishment. I hope they managed to find somewhere nice to have a treat.

So the 4th kdj is over, our next meeting will be 19th February at Cadbury's World. Until then goodnight.

Busy weekend - Part one kimono demo

I have been hoping that the snow and ice would melt by last weekend so that my little trip to Birmingham was not hindered by the cold.

Well I made it to the train station on time and yep the train left on time however due to signalling issues between Sheffield and Derby I managed to be delayed by 10 minutes and missed my connecting train to Birmingham. Sigh...................................

So much for my careful planning.

However I got the next train which was a twenty minute later and then had a nice chat with a lady on the train which made the hour journey seem to disappear. Strange how a conversation with a stranger makes a journey more enjoyable.

Arrived in Birmingham around 13.30 and found Hong (with her boyfriend) looking a bit tired. Well she has been ill for the past week so I'm not surprise. After another 20 minutes wait for the next train to Blake Street, we all arrived at April's house and accommodation for the night around 14.30.

She has two gorgeous shiba inu, Azuki and Cassey. Azuki was very laid back when we invade our friend's house however Cassey was a bit nervous but she eventually calmed down.

All we have to do now is wait for the remaining guest (Lyuba) to arrive, have a bite to eat and then off for the first event for the weekend.

ETA was 15.00 but when 15.00 came she still has not arrive. So we waited and waited until it was time for dinner. By now it was 17.00 and we were wondering what happened to her, did she get lost in the wilderness of the Midlands? Well we found out around 17.45, it appears she took a wrong turning and was lead astray by her satnav. One should never trust their satnav is the moral of the story.

Fortunately we still had time and after dinner we got our kimono and kitsuke-ware together for the journey back into Birmingham city centre for Birmingham Japan Society Christmas party and kimono demo.

You would have thought with all our adventures that this journey would be incident free but you are wrong. Being slightly unsure of the route we missed the turning however the mistake wasn't as bad as we thought and in the end, it turned out to be a nice if a somewhat unplanned detour to the Brasshouse Centre.

With plenty of time, we got ourselves dressed and by 19.00 we were all dressed and ready for the demo.

Here is Liz looking gorgeous in her green furisode with pretty butterflies.

Hong is sporting a hikizuri which has a co-ordinating dounuki. This made all of us drool because just look at it! The colour and patterns on it are amazing. However we had to fudge it a little because none of us had experience in putting on a hikizuri but Hong spent most the time sitting down so no one saw any mistakes. Lyuba decided not to change and instead become the photographer for night. Hmmm I wonder what pictures she managed to get?

It started off slow but it picked up and we even had two lovely ladies who were more then willing to try on kimono. They are the ones on the left and right, if you are wondering who is the one in the middle well that would be me. I never realised how long my hair has grown and how thick it is when plaited until I saw this photo.

We always enjoy meeting new people and as these two were so enthusiastic we told them about our Kimono de Jack UK get together for the following day. As they say, the more the merrier.

Well time flies when one is in good company and conversation and soon it was nearly 21.00 and we had to be gone by then or we would have been locked in. After exchanging mobile numbers with our two latest members to the the KDJ UK group we hastily packed up and made our way back to April's house for some sleep.

Second Kimono de Jack - Camden

Finally after a month waiting the day has come, the second Kimono de Jack in Camden!

Last time we achieved a total of 5 kimono wearers but this time it appeared we had 8 attending. Excellent our rank grows bigger!

So how did my day go? It started off so well, I got up at 07.00 and began to get ready but somehow my hair was not playing ball and by the time I was ready it was 08.15. In theory enough time to get to the train station but it wasn't and I just missed my train. Oh f$%k!

As you may have guessed I was very annoyed but my partner offered to pay the single train ticket to London for me (which cost £59) and reassured me that it wasn't a problem. So after a bit more reassurance from my partner and being told to enjoy myself, off I got on the train to London.

I have nothing to report about the train journey it was a two hour and 20 minute journey where nothing of interest happened. I mean nothing. Thank god for books and ipod or I would have died of boredom.

The train pulled in around 11.20 and I minced my way to the Northern Line to get the tube to Chalk Farm. That was the easy part, now comes the hard part, locating the Keiko Tea bar in Stable Market. I had a rough idea of where this tea bar was situated but getting there from tube station wasn't as easily as it sounds. There was no signpost to say "This way to Stables Market" so I just headed in the direction that I thought was right. After a few worrying minutes I saw the sign of Stables Market and found the tea bar but no kimono friends.

No they haven't run off, they just wandered to find some toilets and after using the the wonders of a mobile phone I found them. After a few more minutes Elizabeth turned up and we are up to 6 people. Woo hoo one more then last time and we still had one more member to turn up but that will be for lunch.

Now that we are all together we can sample the delights that Keiko Tea Bar has to offer.

So much to choose from but I chose a nice cooling iced lemon and ginger tea. There were cakes as well but I had to refuse since a couple of nights ago I went out for a curry and I didn't want to pig out too much. It was a very nice refreshing tea with the lemon definitely hitting all the right taste buds. YUMMY!

Here is Hong's Matcha latte

And Tegan's hot tea (I can't remember what she brought) with a tasty looking matcha cupcake.

We all decided to sit seiza way which for us was a challenge. I cheated by placing a cushion between my feet and my bum so that I wasn't sitting directly on feet but eventually I began to lose feeling in my toes after a couple of hours.

Of course gave me some interesting photos!

And of course Hong decided to take it easy when things were hurting.

During our tea break we were join by Sapporo who turned up to pick up some calligraphy brushes from April. It is a shame he will be leaving in February 2011 but hopefully we can organise another get together.

We were enjoying the tea bar so much that time flew and soon it was 13.15 and we had a lunch reservation at Sen Nin for 14.00 somewhere. Therefore we finished our drinks and off we went to the restaurant. It didn't appear to look far on the map and I am sure it was only a short walk but it seem to take awhile to get there. Not to mention it wasn't visible from the main road so when we turned into Pratt Street we started to wonder whether Sen Nin actually existed. However we found it and it was very nice indeed. We were the only customers in the restaurant but this was good as it meant we could carry on with our conversations.

We all chose something from their lunch menu, I chose the chicken katsu which was breaded fried chicken and it came with some rice and miso soup. All very healthy and filling. Cynthia turned up after getting a little lost but that is the problem of giving directions in London when you don't live in London (apart from Hong but she doesn't know Camden).

So with our stomachs refuelled we tackled Camden and Stables market again. As we were walking around Stables Market looking for the Gothic Loilta we were asked by a passing photographer for some photos as he was taking them for a book about Camden. Wow what a photo opportunity! So we filled out his forms and got our pictures taken.

Unfortunately the light was failing and all my photos didn't turn out well. Hopefully the photographer will be kind enough to send me his set but I can wait.

After our little photo shoot it was time that April, Hong and I were off but between my own stupidity for the second time of the day I got confused and missed the train to St Pancras. As such I missed my train for the second time!

Yes I was panicking and worrying like a manic and I apologies to April and Hong for my very silly outburst but sometimes I get very wound up by my own thoughts. Maybe I need some anti-anxiety pills or something!

Following April's advice I asked East Midland staff if they could put me on the next train and the very nice girl said yes. Phew my card was spared another day!

I eventually got home 1 hour later then planned and even thought I wore my boots my feet still hurt! Why can't I find a pair of shoes that I can walk around in for more then 6 hours? I don't think trainers will got with any kimono so I better get looking for extra comfy shoes.

So that is another Kimono de Jack wrapped up.

I hope you all are all excited about the next one because this time we are branching out into Birmingham! There will be lots of lovely Christmas goodies to try so I better find an extra long obi.

Second Kimono de Jack Tomorrow

I can't help it that I'm excited about tomorrow. There is nothing better then wearing kimono and meeting a load of people who are also wearing kimono.

Tomorrow will probably be cold so it is time to be creative ones accessories. Clearly gloves and scarf will be needed but I think my ear muffs will be necessary as well. As for shoes, hmmmm I don't think my toes can cope with such cold temperatures so I'll be wearing my tan coloured boots. This way I can wear some nice thick socks and no one will know (apart from you the reader).

I am torn between wearing my cape or ama coat. Cape is heavy but short so my legs will have no protection. My ama coat is long but thin. Maybe I need a longer cape, hmmm something to buy in the future or possibly make if I ever get a sewing machine.