DECO Clay Craft Academy - Blog

Spring will come...

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to announce that the Japan DECO office will have an exhibition of featuring our Spring Collection in Tokyo.
It will be at the Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi and will feature my mother's newest figurines and Spring flower arrangements I have been working on since late last year.
It is finally close to completion!  We will also have many DECO pieces on display, including Chenli's beautiful flowers! We will have many instructors’ finish products for sale at this event. The show will start from 2/1-2/7. If you are near, please stop by. My mother will be there doing demonstrations...

As most people, I love spring flowers! Chenli and I have been working on spring flowers in between other projects. We made so many varieties of flowers for this event!
We enjoyed so much trying out these new creations and we hope you enjoy them too!

My mother is here in Hawaii with me to work on the renewed DECO Modeling course projects. Classes will be offered at the end of March in Japan and everywhere shortly after... This is a great experience working with her, I learn so much each and every day. She really works magic with clay! We are so excited about the new Modeling Course and really feel this will be so much fun for everyone!

Aloha,
Yukiko

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

We anticipate a really exciting year in the DECO clay world with lots of news to share very soon about some exciting new products and opportunities…

Last week we traveled to the East Coast for meetings and trainings.  And, while we were so close, we stayed a few nights in the Big Apple. I really love this city! There is so much diversity in culture and interests in each and every neighborhood.  We were fortunate to get tickets to the first live show for 2012 of the Martha Stewart Show!
The show was all about healthy living and offered some great advice on how to begin the New Year right. If you missed the show, you can still view it here.

The weather was really nice for this time of year with Saturday being almost 50 degrees! We walked all over the place until our feet were sore…

It seems that around every corner there is something interesting and makes you want to explore more. Most of the time we would just grab little bites from here and there as not to fill up and miss the chance to try something else. While walking in Central Park we came across the ice skating rink and with some persuasion, I talked Tim into going on the ice with me.

I think he actually ended up enjoying it very much… I know I did :)

The time in New York went so fast and now back to the studio to work on flowers.  I’m so filled with ideas and will share these soon!

Aloha, Yukiko

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Happy Holidays everyone! All of us at DECO CLAY CRAFT ACADEMY wish you and your loved ones a warm, happy, fun-filled holiday season.

Thank you for all your support! It's been an amazing year for DECO, and I thank you for all your support along the way. Hats and gloves fun time in NY!

We were so happy to see Aya, Troy and Amy drop by today!

She is getting so BIG!  Thank you for coming to see us!

Yukiko

Only a few more days... Santa is on his way...

Christmas is just around the corner… are you ready? 

As with most years, it has been pretty busy with getting ready for holidays season and teaching classes here at the studio.  The seasonal projects are coming out great with everyone making so many beautiful things!  I have also made Dragon which is the zodiac animal for 2012.  This has become a New Year’s tradition here and it all started with a little mouse 5 years ago… Couldn't find all of them, but here are a few...


We had a nice dinner the other night to kick off the Holiday Season… Thank you for the nice friendship and great food!


Also, the DECO Head office in Japan is now busy preparing for an exhibition of spring flowers at the Mitsukoshi in Tokyo this coming February.  I am working on some new spring flower arrangements to display.  I am so grateful for all being able to have so much help from Chenli. It has been wonderful working together on this and we have so much fun trying all kinds of new flowers.  We will share some photos of these soon…

This time of year, Tim and I edit and design the annual DECO newsletter; we normally send this out to over 15,000 members and instructors in Japan and abroad.


There are so many pictures this year and much exciting news to share…  We will be sending this out to instructors at the beginning of 2012.  If you would like to receive a copy, please let us know.

My Checklist for Christmas:
Decorate the house and trim the tree – check
Wrap the presents – check
Sending out Christmas cards – check
Snow on the ground – maybe not…

Wishing you a bright and delightful holiday season!

Yukiko

"PARADISO DE LA FLEUR"

For the DECO 30th anniversary event, I made several pieces to display. The main display was made to fit a large wall space. I was so busy with a long list of other very important projects which kept me from focusing on this piece until a couple months before the show.  This was a huge amount of pressure and needed more time! Even though it was not ready in time to be published in the Anniversary gallery book, I still didn’t want to give up on this. Most of my inspirations came from Hawaii and the beauty of nature and the things I create every day.  So it was pretty easy for me to decide what to create and I knew this would be big task and would take so much time to complete; especially since this was such a huge event!!!
The title of this piece was "PARADISO DE LA FLEUR" (in English, Flowers in Paradise).
The meaning of Paradise to me is the beauty of nature with all the flowers, birds, blue sky and trees.  I made as many flowers as possible and assembled them in and around large white frames intertwined with tree branches and singing birds.

I thought it would be nice to add some famous poetry of nature to capture the feel I was going for and decided to silkscreen these on the canvas.
With all the support of so many I was able to complete these pieces just a couple days before the show started…
Thank you so much to everyone who helped me realize my dream and visions for this show! Without you, I could not do what I do! I have been wanting to share these photos of all my creations for this special event in the blog for a long time. I hope you all enjoy them!

Yukiko

A day of Thanks...

I hope you all had a heartwarming Thanksgiving!

I just got back to Honolulu in time for this favorite holiday and decided to have quite time with Tim. We attempted a home cooked meal this year… I have to admit that Tim is really good cook. He is so talented many things and when it comes cooking seems to always have it under control… He made a super tasty Turkey this year! Yes, I know I am so lucky!

We had a stuffing cook-off to see who’s got the "stuff" to make a great stuffing… Tim went for an oyster stuffing and mine was sausage & many greens.  I must say, they both came out delicious. The judging decided it a tie! I also tried pumpkin mélange pie from a recipe I found from Martha Stewart Living November issue.

I tried couple recipes from this magazine for this special day, and without fail, Martha came thru for me!

It has been very busy this year and this Thanksgiving was just wonderful chance to slow down to remember all the good things we are thankful for.  It was just nice to be home and enjoy the simple gratitude of this day… Thank you!

When Tim got home from Japan, he noticed that the Monarch butterflies had found their way the crown flower he planted. They love this plant and the caterpillars basically eat the whole thing.

When he arrived there were over a dozen of these amazing creatures in the Chrysalis phase of development and after a few short days had emerged to spread their wings and claim the title of “King” of butterflies.

When I saw the photos, I couldn’t believe how pretty they were!

All of this nature around us is such an inspiration and joy.  Each and every moment, we are thankful for these gifts.

Thank you!

Yukiko

DECO 2011 Seasonal Kits

Can you believe November is here and nearly 1/3 over!!! I can’t believe how time goes so quickly…

Before I left Russia we were preparing our tradition of Christmas & New Year’s project Kits.

This year, we have assembled this "vintage feel" flower arrangement for Christmas with Hellebore, Roses and cute little berries. This kit can also be decorated by making a seasonal figurine, so many possibilities make this a great gift idea for Christmas giving. 




For the New Year we have Camellia, Daffodil, Dogwood and Plum flowers assembled and arranged using a beautiful long bamboo style container and finished with pine branches.

We are so happy with the way these arrangements came together and are using them as table centerpieces this New Year.

These kits are available from both the Tokyo and Hawaii DECO offices. Contact us to reserve your kits today and to schedule classes.  We will also be offering lessons on creating this year’s zodiac animal, which is the Dragon.  Supplies are limited, please contact us to reserve yours today…
 Please visit the news page of the DECO website to view available items.

During the next 10 days I will be in Tokyo offering instruction on the final project in the Curriculum 3 lessons; were we will be teaching Peonies and Dahlias. To be honest this was a huge challenge and even with all the difficulties I am so happy with the end results! I love creating these flowers huge flowers so much! Chenli is teaching these classes at the Hawaii studio this month and I will be back to Hawaii at the end of November....

Arigato!

Yukiko

DECO in Moscow, Russia

We just returned from 7 days in Moscow… During the trip we held DECO Curriculum 3 classes with the final day of a figurine workshop by my mother. It was our first time to visit Moscow and was such a memorable and rewarding experience. We were able to meet with more than 30 DECO certified instructors form all over Russia, Ukraine, Norwary and Kazan. 

Please visit the DECO Facebook page for even more pictures and stories:

My mother and I couldn’t believe how the instructor base has been growing in this area of the world! Thank you so much for everyone who came to attend our classes and also stopped by to say “Hello”. We had so much fun meeting so many wonderful people and being greeted with such warm hospitality during our entire stay. 

Thank you so much to Olga Petrova and her team for organizing these workshops and all their support! We were treated to so much great food and friendship and can’t thank everyone enough for all you do!!!

To assist in the language barrier we had the assistance of Irina who was able to communicate in Russian, Japanese and English. This gave us a chance to have great conversations and to share many wonderful stories. Thank you so much Irina for helping us to bridge this gap!!!

After four days of workshops we received a special invitation to visit Zosya Volkhonskaya and her students at their class location.

In total there were more than 30 students, as well as family members. Everyone had prepared such amazing food and drinks for all to enjoy together with the warmth of everyone’ s hospitality. Thank you so much for making our experience in Russia unforgettable! 

After workshop, we also had a free day to see some of Moscow’s most famous places. There is so much to see and do and we truly enjoyed everything about Russia!




I just noticed that today is November 11, 2011 and I am writing this blog entry at 1:11. That’s a lot of 11’s!

See you soon!
Yukiko

10th Hawaii DECO Anniversary surprise party

Yesterday was such a nice surprise!  Everyone threw a 10th Hawaii DECO Anniversary surprise party for me at the studio where  I was greeted with a shower of sparkling confetti as I entered and enveloped in heartfelt hugs, leis, and presents.

Many longtime friends and members that I haven’t seen in while came to celebrate this special occasion with me.  The studio was so cute with all the pastel colored party balloons and streamers hanging from the ceiling.  There were even HUGE white paper Peony too!! 

Tim and the DECO staff put hard work into bringing me to the party without suspicion (especially since it was a Sunday); but it was clever idea to have Tim “take me out to lunch” while Marlo called unexpectedly to meet for an emergency situation at the Studio – those troublemakers! (Smiles)

The food was also very tasty – Tomato Pesto and Barbecue Chicken Pizzas, miniature fruit tarts, cream filled cannoli, fresh salsa and chips, and a few other yummy entrees; but my most favorite dish was the barbecue chicken pizza…so delicious!! All the food was catered by a natural foods company so it was healthier than most fast foods and the taste was great! 

I enjoyed the food, presents, and atmosphere; but the BEST part of it all was the company.  It touched my heart to see so many people coming to celebrate this “almost forgotten” occasion – thank you!!  TEARS OF JOY!
This 10th Anniversary party was fun, exciting and unexpected; but also reminded me of one important lesson – time flies by fast, so enjoy and make every second count.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

Yukiko

...everlasting gratitude!

A few weeks past since the completion of the 30th Anniversary exhibition, but my memories of the great times are still clear and fresh!!
It was such an enjoyable and successful experience all thanks to everyone’s help and participation.  Amazing to see so many willing to help and join us in celebration – everlasting gratitude!

I would like to mention one of our newest publications to the DECO Collection – Our first ever theme inspired “Bear and Wreath” book, the newest addition to our repertoire, has great pictures of many Instructors’ projects - so many cute ideas to look through!! 
This book has over 350 pages showcasing the artistry of each participant with its own theme from sunny tropical to romantic vintage, cute to the most mysterious, and East to West influence – so exciting! I feel that we able to capture the essence and personality of each Instructor through this publication. Congratulations to all who participated!

The following is a list of awards: BEAR Project Gold medal goes to Takako Hikita, Silver medal to Eriko Watanabe and Bronze medal to Yumi Miyata. In the WREATH Project the Gold medal goes to Ryuko Nitta, Silver medal to Atsuko Kido and Bronze medal to Naori Ikeda.  Great job to ALL the participants of the BEAR & Wreath book! You all deserve a gold medal!

Many new items such as the “Bear and Wreath” book will be available soon, so please check back occasionally for updates.

As you may all know, the year is almost coming to an end…!!  Time flies by so fast (especially when you are having this much fun)!  Oh’ yea, this means our Christmas and New Year’s Kits are on the way; arriving at the beginning of November. 

Please stop by the studio to say “Hello” and I will keep everyone posted on these exciting upcoming projects!!

Yukiko