[iwillfly525]

Hi. I’m looking for papers, embellishments, etc specifically for Japan. Although I would also be interested in other Asian countries like China, Thailand, and Cambodia. I looked the kimono set you have, and I have to say it looks like a typical Westerner’s idea of Japan. Please don’t take any offence if I was only spending a one week vacation in Japan, I’d love it. However, I’ve lived here for several years and something that stereo-typical will never ever be put in any of my scrap books. But in your defense, at least you don’t have the wrong English translations with kanji or have something labeled as Japanese when in fact it is Chinese (I find this all of time…and it’s my pet peeve). Are there any plans in the works that any sets like that will be made? Any idea where I can find something like this (I’ve looked on other sites and struck out)? I was just wondering because while it took me a few years of looking, I was final able to find some good stuff for real scrapbooking, but I haven’t found anything for digital scrapbooking. Thanks for the help.

[varanda]

I lived in Japan for nearly four years when I was a kid and loved it. People seem to get Japan and China confused all the time. What would specifically appeal to you for scrapbooking?

Lori Cook has some brushes, and embellishmenats and ScrapSimple paper templates called Asian Tranquilty, which seem to be more Japanese than Chinese.

Let us know what you want.

[Crueltyfre/Lori]

I hope these work for you. I had a Japanese friend check the words I did and they passed her test, lol. I think it was Kanji (actually, she sent me a few fonts and right now I can't remember if that's the one I went with or not, lol). I tried to make it usable by many, so the designs might be a bit "cliched" for you, but I hope not.
Lori

Asian Tranquility Brushes
Asian Tranquility Embellishment Mini
Asian Tranquility Paper Templates

[varanda]

Okay, I made a collection mini called Sachiko. I literally could spend weeks just creating sets with a Japanese influence, there are so many possibilities.

This is the tip of the tip of the iceberg, so let me know if it works for you at all.

I'll also make the papers into a set of ScrapSimple Templates so you can make the papers any colour you want, but that might not happen until next week, I have a full plate!

I tried to make this collection appealling on several levels so I used a variety of photos in my LOs from the American flag to traditional geta. And I think it will mix really well with Lori's products, too!

[momentousangel]

I truly adore all things Japanese, especially dd's grandmother, . I've had a few ideas as far as creating some kits on my own that are pretty much inspired by dd's grandmother. Haven't worked on them for a while now, but the Asian Tranquility items are really wonderful. I love them all and they all work so well for Japanese layouts.

[iwillfly525]

Thank you so much. That is more of what I was looking for. I’m very impressed that you made them so quickly. I love the sachico mini set. The other stuff looks great too. One of the kanji is Chinese (it’s the kanji for good luck printed in a fancy calligraphy…but it is correct…I just haven’t seen it used in Japan, unless it was on something with Chinese influence). I’ll be in China next month, so it works for me. The other kanji and hiragana look great to me. Thank you so much!

Is there any way, you could make some torri gates, geta (traditional shoes), geshia, kimono, tea ceremony chawan (tea cup), Shinto symbol, and a Buddhist symbol. I’m looking for some embellishments that I can use in my day to day pages. I study a lot of traditional arts, so these would be perfect.

My credit card number was stolen when I was in Thailand 2 weeks ago (the joys of travel). But once I get a new one, those sets will be my first purchase.

Thanks again.

[varanda]

lol, twist my arm!!!!

i'm in heaven making this stuff, just hope we can find many scrapbookers who need Japanese related products or i shall have to come up with some brilliant all purpose sets to offset my penchant for doing unusual stuff (like my Kwanzaa Collection).

i love the research and interpretation part. and i drew geta for this LO: Geta so i can easily build more----and kimono and geisha? a passion of mine.....oh i am from another era, if i could be anything, it would be a geisha during their heyday.

thanks for giving me the opportunity to indulge myself....as long as i get the rest of my work done, lol!

[HisThao]

Valerie, I love seeing you get giddy about doing what you love! You're like a young girl free to play!! I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Some of the patterns can be integreted into non-Asian themed layouts. I think if you make it, there will be people who will have a need for such kits. Even if someone's never been to Japan or China, the kit can be used to highlight his or her interest in Asian trends and culture, such as home decor, foods, fashion, history, etc. There are lots of uses for kits like this!

[heart*scrappin]

ditto Thao.

I made an album for my dd 3-4 yr ago while she spent a year in SK teaching. She loved it but has no idea how hard it was to find all the oriental influence paper, embellishments, etc. for a whole album! But it was fun too - shopping on Ebay, I found origami kimonos & lots of things ... one thing she mentioned that she wished was in the album was LOTUS - they were plentiful in a park she frequented. I've also seen cherry blossom branches, magnolia & peach blossom too in Japanese designs, am I right? ... just thinking and throwing out design ideas. She also enjoyed exploring the Buddhist temples, so those symbols would be very useful. All this talk makes me want to do it over - digital! LOL .... J/K

[iwillfly525]

Thanks a bunch. I think there a good demand for real Asian stuff (or maybe I’m just biased because a good number of my friends have chosen to leave their home country for the Land of the Rising Sun). I have been scrapbooking since grade school as have friends from back home. We have all been talking about making the switch to digital and our number one argument against it is we can’t find good materials for vacations since that is when most of our photos are taken (granted their locations aren’t in Asia). I started playing around with going digital about 6 months ago and I still have yet to switch. I’m guessing it will take me about another year before I’m ready too because the collections you just made are the first Asian one’s I’ve seen that I’ll buy. And I have to have enough of a collection built up before I will switch. However, if you keep making great stuff like that, it might not take me a year to make the change. Granted I still have to get better at Adobe Photoshop 7.0 too. Your tutorials are a huge help, I just need to learn how to do it by heart without having to go back and look at them all of the time.

While I’m fascinated as well by geshia, I don’t think I could have been one. They didn’t have any control over there lives. And unless they were in the top ranking geshia they worked very hard, very long hours and few made enough money to pay back their debts and buy their freedom. I don’t think I could have been a women living in Japan even 30 years ago, I’m too much of a feminist (I still struggle “playing the women’s role” at my workplace even in present day Japan…probably doesn’t help that I’m the only non-Japanese person here). If you don’t mind me asking what did your parents do that they lived in Japan? Can you still speak Japanese?

[varanda]

Well, that's good to know because it's an amazing source of inspiration. I have a friend who is Chinese as she has been doing some research for me, but I'm not there yet.

I lived in Japan from the 1st through 4th grades. We lived off base in Saitozaki and then when my mom became pregnant with my youngest brother we moved to Hakata AFB, though it has since been renamed. My mom never worked outside the home once she married my dad. Yes, I am from that era. We were there in the early 60's. They though my mom put a blonde wig on my head as my mom, dad and brother had brown hair. They were always saying kawaii (sp?) (means cute) and touching my hair in a manner that was bold and shy at the same time.

My dad worked for the OSI, the predecessor to the CIA, he was an investigator and I don't know what he did, he doesn't speak of it. And I never learned Japanese, only a few words.

(I do have to admit that when I see a crowd of Japanese people I get as close as possible so I can just listen to them speak, and look at their clothes, especially their shoes. It just makes me feel at home, in a weird way. I try not to act weird, lol, and scare them; but Japan seeped into my pores and it feels very familiar.)

And I remember all too well that discrimination against women when we were told we caucasians had the perfect Japanese family: the oldest a girl and then 2 boys. The theory was that I was there to assist my precious and more valuable brothers as their handmaiden (yeah, right!) and that if one brother died, my parents would still have a son (which just frosted my young sense of equality, lol) as clearly females were devalued.

The part of being a geisha that I would enjoy (certainly none of the things you mentioned as I'd certainly be too headstrong: a feminist) would be the devotion to art as they were the embodiment of living art from the way they dressed to their dancing and music and conversation skills. Every thing about them was to capture that elusive perfection of beauty----a simplicity yet layered in dimensions of time, the seasons, colours, style. And I never mind working hard.

So you're on, I'll make more stuff if you make the switch---but you know what? The stuff we all make here prints out like a dream, you can paper scrap with it and be totally blown away by the textures and details, in fact, it looks better printed!

[iwillfly525]

That’s cool. Do I just print them like I would if they were picture? I hadn’t thought of doing that. Thanks for the great idea. I was thinking of doing my travel sections in digital and my pages of daily stuff/things that happen around my town in a traditional scrap for the photo album I’m making this year. What do you think of mixing the two formats? The other problem I have is that I use a creative memories 12x12 album. However, it’s not an exact 12x12 because when I use 12x12 paper I have to cut about 1/8 of an inch off of one side. Which I suppose I could cut the 12x12 digital page. How would I put it into my book? Would I just use the same adhesive that I use to put my pictures in when I’m making a traditional scrapbook? And that leads me to my next problem. Where do I have them printed at? (I can’t have them printed in Japan, I’ve gone to 4 printers here and been told the same thing, they can only print on standard Japanese sizes and none of them match up to the US standard 12x12…well then can do it, it will just cost me about $30 a page). A couple of my friends back home have tried having pages printed at Kinkos (spelling?), Staples, and Office Max, but they haven’t liked the quality. I can print a good quality 8x8 page on my printer at home. But I love the 12x12 size (plus 8x8 will look stupid in my 12x12 album). Can you recommend a place on-line that does good printing? Sorry of all of the questions. I think it will be a gradual switch for me.

I totally understand the blond hair thing. I have to wear my hair in a ponytail all of the time or children play with it. My parents lived in Okinawa on an AFB in the 70’s for 3 years. But it was before I was born. I grew up on there stories of life in Japan and for as long as I can remember I just knew this is where I was meant to end up. I started traveling to Japan during the summers when I was 14 and once I finished university, I moved. (I remind my parents of the fact that it was them who gave me my love of Japan and who encouraged me to travel to Japan as a child every time they ask me if I’m ever going to move back.)

I study a traditional dance the geshia lean/learnt. When we have our stage performances they make me wear a black wig to hide my blond hair (if the Japanese have long enough hair they don’t have to wear a wig. But if theirs is short or died brown, then they have to, too.) And I wear the white make-up and beautiful silk kimonos. The make-up artist always has to redo my eyes a few times, but they always look slanted them they are done. My teacher jokes (at least I think it’s a joke) that I need to wear color contacts to get ride on green eyes. I sent my mother pictures from my last stage and she couldn’t pick me out. So I think I have the best of both worlds. But if time travel were possible, I would love to go back and spend a day watching the geshia in the heydays.

[varanda]

I always wished I had black hair and eyes, blonde hair and blue eyes never cuts it with a kimono! And those asian eyes are so beautiful. I used to illustrate ESL textbooks for Japanese students and I was instructed not to make their eyes too small! That's why all their cartoons have those big stylized eyes. They want a western style eye and don't seem to realize they are perfect already.

I have an Epson 1280 so I print my own 12x12 and am very happy with the quality. I print on 13x19 paper and just trim the edges with an exacto knife and straight edge (Design training 101) but Ro (our CEO) swears by Canon and it prints to the edge. Maybe I'll get one of those someday. They make heavyweight paper that's great for scrapbooking.

Are printers reasonably priced there? When we were there it was THE place to purchase electronic equipment, how about now?

And mixing and matching is my favorite: we call it bi-scrapping! Use the same adhesive. Maybe someone here knows of a good online place.

If you PM me your mailing address, I'd be willing to send you a few printed samples of Sachiko. Don't know how long it'll take to get there or how much it'll cost, though----I'll check it out next time I'm downtown and get the details.

It'd be fun to see you in your dance costume. I have to hunt up a halloween picture, we wore kimonos (yukata) that were handmade for my folks when we were there. I wore a black wig and my geta, but those blue eyes still ruined it!

[deannayh]

Quote

'iwillfly525' date='Jun 1 2006, 06:37 PM' post='44019'
That’s cool. Do I just print them like I would if they were picture? I hadn’t thought of doing that. Thanks for the great idea. ...

YES. But you don't have to print on just photo paper. You can print on any scrapbook paper you have. Just remember that the color of your paper, even slight color, will effect how the colors look when printed out.

Quote

...What do you think of mixing the two formats?

PERFECT! THis is how I do it!! I am a combo scrapper.

Quote

...The other problem I have is that I use a creative memories 12x12 album. However, it’s not an exact 12x12 because when I use 12x12 paper I have to cut about 1/8 of an inch off of one side. Which I suppose I could cut the 12x12 digital page. How would I put it into my book? Would I just use the same adhesive that I use to put my pictures in when I’m making a traditional scrapbook?

Once you print out the paper, treat it the same as you would any other scrapbook paper. die cut it, ink it, distress it. fold it, glue it, etc.

Quote

...And that leads me to my next problem. Where do I have them printed at?
...I can print a good quality 8x8 page on my printer at home. But I love the 12x12 size (plus 8x8 will look stupid in my 12x12 album). Can you recommend a place on-line that does good printing?

I think that printing the pages out in 8x8 if that is what you have is just fine. Use what you have. You might just pick up an 8x8 album on sale somewhere if you really want the whole album consistant and make it easier on yourself.

As far as where to print 12x12's? Well there has been lots of discusion here about that in THIS thread.


hope that helps,
deanna

[iwillfly525]

Thanks deannayh. I think I'm going to try some bi-scrappping to start with. I'm still on the look out for more Japanese stuff, so if anyone sees any let me know. I just e-mail SBtoShare to ask about shipping rates to Japan. So hopefully I'll be in business soon.

[varanda]

I'm slowly printing out some papers for you, just seem to have a full plate, but should get something in the mail to you by week's end.

[iwillfly525]

No worries. Thanks for doing that for me, its greatly appreciated.