DECO Clay Craft Academy - Blog

"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