Izzy Features Onenonly88

While Piki is making button flower bouquets (when she should be working in the shop!), I decided to add a little extra flavor to Piki's blog! Not that I find it boring or anything...hehe O_o...

We stumbled on a felted foods shop (Shh, don't tell anyone, but Piki is a sucker for felted foods! They're so yummy looking!). We got in touch with Margaret, the owner of Onenonly88! (do you know how hard it is to type with only two fingers on each hand!? Piki should have given me at least four!). She specializes in felted foods and is located in Taipai, Taiwan! So sit back and enjoy this short interview (I'll just scamper off before Piki finds out I hacked into her blog >_>)!

You can visit Onenonly88 here: www.etsy.com/shop/onenonly88


Izzy: Tell me a little about your creative process? About yourself?
Margaret: I get my ideas from books and online searches. I work around pastel colors, especially purple and turquoise, and shapes. My favorite shape is a heart! I studied at Academy of Art University in San Francisco while majoring in Illustration. When I was living in San Francisco, I worked in a greeting card and a photo frame company as a designer.


Izzy: Do you find color to be a large factor in creating a finished felted piece? If not, what would it be?
Margaret: Food and flowers all have certain colors you can’t stray too far from when trying to make something look realistic. Hard thing is...certain countries have so many different types of food. To create felted food that appeal to different cultures that is both eye catching in color and pleasing to look at, is fun and challenging!


Izzy: What inspired you to create felted foods? Does it stem from other interests you have?
Margaret: I have always loved doing crafts...I started making quilt and cross stitches after seeing a book about making cakes from felt a few years ago. I decided to give it a try because it looked like a challenge to make things appear realistic.


Izzy: I see that you have a lovely felted tea set! Are you planning on branching out your felted pieces to objects?
Margaret: I have just opened my 2nd shop selling felt fabrics: www.ilovefelt88.etsy.com. I am working on instructions and patterns for some easy to make items like felt alphabets, number sets, and felt embellishments. I am also working on my 3rd shop! I just can’t stop making things!! Hopefully it will be ready in about a month: www.beyondpaper88.etsy.com. Origami Lotus and more :)


Izzy: What is the most challenging aspect in making felted foods?
Margaret: All the small pieces that need to be cut. I spend most of my time cutting. Sewing is the fun part since its relaxing! Finishing the piece is exciting; you begin to see what the final product is going to look like.

I’m always thinking about new ideas, trying to make something that no one else has made before. Hard but fun :)

I do the best I can, basically strive to be the best at whatever I decide to make.
Making people happy is more important than making money. I get excited when I wake up every morning to see what I have sold when I was sleeping (I'm located in a different time zone). I can't wait to find out what I will get to make today :)

-Izzy

New Projects! =D

Hello all! I know I haven't been blogging as much, sorry XD. Anyway, I have been enthralled with a few projects, so I haven't been completely wasting my time =). Above are three new dolls apart of a collection of 31 dolls all together. They will have the same body shape while exploring different stitch techniques. The stitching part took forever to do on each doll =O!

Here they are again, hanging out in the back yard =). We have two benches in the yard. I'm not really sure if I should sell these dolls in the shop. My mom says the dolls remind her of little brownstone buildings XD.

I am not sure what to name them, surprisingly. He was my favorite to make with plaid fabric! The knot stitch here took me a couple of hours to do.

I love her! =D She reminds me of a witty character. I used a chain stitch to make it seem as if a bee flew into her ear. You can enlarge all the pictures to get a closer look.

OMG. This doll took me FOREVER to stitch! She has around 73 individual star stitches next to a chain stitch on top of plaid fabric (I have a thing for plaid =P). Phew, it came out great though! The star stitch reminds me of flowers. She is one of the calmer personalities in the group.


Her name is Olive =). She was the first doll to inspire the 31 dolls collection. I might redo her so she can have a similar shape to the other dolls. I used a knot stitch here to make leaves and flowers on her body.


Aside from those cute critters, I have been exploring kanzashi flowers with fabric! They are pretty easy to make and I found a tutorial online using google. I'm planning to make three flowers in red, white, and yellow to match the kimono I shall be wearing for the Cherry Blossom Festival in May =). The fabrics on the bottom are going to be used to make the next batch of dolls.


Ah yes, and this is the cabinet I completed a few weeks ago. I sanded, stained it three times in peach, and then painted a free form design in copper paint. I liked the single color, so I decided not to add anything extra. It came out great!

The next things I'm planning to make are bare beaded bracelets, since I don't have any in the shop. Until then <3

-Piki

Richmond Town

Another trip! This time in Staten Island's Richmond Town! It's a historic town that preserves the past history of the island. It was pretty fun =D.


The whole town is pretty much buildings with historical significance. I got to check out the tin shop, the wood shop, grocery store, and a few houses. Pretty much all the buildings were set up to look like how it used to be back in the day. Even the people were dressed up in period clothing XD.

They have a lot of small spots to rest on. I have a fancy for cobblestone and stone walls. They are so attracting to take pictures with.

When we were visiting the wood shop, my niece gave this elderly man a stick...and they started sword fighting together. O_o...The amazing skills of both warriors was too fast to catch on camera XD.

Here is some lovely stacks of wood. Sometimes they'll give demonstrations around the town of tinman working, women making thread, and metal burning.

This is one of the period houses, which was closed unfortunately. But it looks like a lovely house, no matter how run down. Not sure why I look a little angry here. Oh yeah, the sun was glaring in my eyes.

This was my favorite spot! Its much more removed from the rest of the town! I love how all the buildings look abandoned. There's a type of nostalgia attached to it.

Behind me is a small mill where the water pumps through. Me and my niece just ran over to the hey to play around in. It was a really nice trip, aside from my second niece screaming from her carriage XD.

Aside from my fun trip, I thought I throw in a couple of purchases I made the past couple of weeks. These are handmade wooden tree branch buttons I picked up from the etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/WoodenTreasures. I'll be using them for my new doll collection =).

I recently started getting into plants. This is a small air plant tucked into a shell! Air plants are basically plants that don't need dirt to grow. Just add water and sun! I'm waiting for more air plants I purchased to come in, so excited =D. I ordered this plant from http://www.etsy.com/shop/TortoiseLovesDonkey. The little plate it sits on is a Japanese styled try to hold soy sauce in. I picked this up at a oriental shop in Chinatown =). I love that place, awesome ceramics!

-Piki