You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Suiseiseki’ tag.
This year I’m taking part in the 20th anniversary edition of Artomatic. Unlike previous Artomatics, this one will be a virtual event due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Trying to provide a direct link to my Artomatic exhibit is a challenge due to the way the website is designed, which I already griped about in this blog. I decided to write a separate post focusing on what I currently have on display just in case you don’t want to deal with the horrible interface of the official Artomatic website. I’ve included the size and price of each item. Purchasing information will be posted at the bottom of this post.
Desire
Acrylic on canvas
9 inches x 12 inches
23 cm x 30 cm
Price: $125
Robot in the Park
Mixed media (circuit board, rubber superball, tin, plastic 8-ball, string, glass beads, sticker, and acrylic paint on canvas)
5 inches x 5 inches
13 cm x 13 cm
Price: $50
My Little Pony
Acrylic on canvas
10 inches x 10 inches
25 cm x 25 cm
Price: $100
Souseiseki and Suiseiseki from the anime Rozen Maiden
Acrylic on canvas tote bag
15 inches x 10 inches x 5.5 inches
Price: $125
Fashion Show
LEGO Minifig and acrylic paint on canvas
4 inches x 4 inches
10 cm x 10 cm
Price: $10
Unfortunately the Artomatic website has a limit of just five art pieces, which is a far cry from the real-life shows where we were only limited by the amount of space we had in our area so we could fit as much art as the space could hold. I can change the graphics and descriptions so if I don’t get much response to what I have now, I’ll probably swap them in a couple of weeks for other art that I’ve done.
Artomatic will run until August 20, 2020. As for purchases, I am only accepting payments through PayPal. If you live within a five-mile radius of my home, I will provide free contactless delivery to your front door. For addresses further than five miles I will ship Priority Mail with the U.S. Post Office. To begin making a purchase, contact me via email at kimstark61 at gmail dot com.
UPDATE (August 9, 2020): I have received no notices from anyone regarding my work. In an effort to increase interest in my exhibition, I attempted to swap out what I currently have on display with more art only to discover that the Edit button that used to be there has been completely removed. So it looks like what you see in this entry will remain as my official Artomatic exhibition until the show officially closes on August 20, 2020.
UPDATE (August 20, 2020): Today is the last day of the virtual exhibit. I haven’t gotten any sales or attention from what I displayed. I’ll admit that I haven’t attended any of the virtual workshops or other virtual events at this Artomatic mainly because I was busy with other things going on in my life. This year’s virtual Artomatic was not quite the same as being there in person but I gave it my best shot so I’m not going to let it bother me at all. I’ll probably check out some of the prerecorded workshops that took place this year at a later date.
Even though today is Thanksgiving Day, there has been a trend among the big box retailers to open their doors on the actual holiday itself. This is definitely a change from the old days when most businesses were closed and even the few that were opened on the holiday (such as supermarkets) would close their doors by 4 p.m. so their employees can spend the holiday with their families.
Now the big box retailers are not only forcing their employees to either spend less time at home or skip Thanksgiving entirely but they are also trying to entice their customers to give up more and more of their holiday time by having hot doorbuster deals on certain consumer items.
You can spend less time with your loved ones or eat Thanksgiving dinner unusually early so you can put on your coats and step out in the usual cold November weather while fighting other like-minded shoppers to grab some consumer items.
Or you can do the alternative. You can stay in your warm home surfing the Internet and go holiday shopping in my online Etsy shop. You don’t have to worry getting into the car and the online shopping experience is so quick and convenient that you can just order something quickly then go back to preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. Here’s a sample item that I’m currently selling online now that you can buy while you’re wearing your pajamas or casual clothes.
This is a customized one-of-a-kind tote bag that I painted by hand. To learn more about how I created this bag, you can read the post I originally wrote on February 14, 2013. If you’re looking for unique holiday gifts, you can order right here.
The night before the start of the first day of Otakon I took a plastic grocery shopping bag and reused it in order to pack a few extra things to bring to Otakon with me. I had heard of various meetups that were taking place and I decided to pack a variety of small items just in case I happened to run into a meetup already in progress. The items were a mix of tiny Asian ball-jointed dolls, My Little Pony figurines, and a couple of Japanese-imported Arpakasso plushies I purchased at previous anime conventions. The below photo shows what I brought. The figure in the foreground is Derpy Hooves. In the back are (from left to right) a small pink Arpakasso plushie, Rainbow Dash, Orient Doll Ji, Soul Doll Kimmy, Soom Mini-Gem Uyoo, Bobobie Sunny, and a larger light beige Arpakasso plushie.
I didn’t get any opportunities to open the bag on the first day but on the second day I found one meetup where I could display what I had brought.
Anyway, I had every intention of checking out this panel titled "Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland’s Effect on Anime & Manga" even though it was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. (which meant I would’ve had to get up really early for the commute to Baltimore). But then I woke up in the middle of the night with total muscular pain throughout my whole body. I tried shifting around in bed but it was no use. I finally had to get up and take some ibuprofen before the pain finally stopped. As a result, I overslept so I not only missed that panel but also another panel that was scheduled for 10: 15 a.m. that I wanted to go to titled "Nintendo: Entertaining Since 1889." I was so tired and stiff that it took me a while to get my body into gear so I could do something simple as to take a hot shower (which helped loosen my tight muscles). I also decided to put on some compression socks that I originally purchased when I underwent my hip replacement back in 2008 and I suffered from edema in the immediate aftermath of that surgery.
I arrived at the North Linthicum light rail station where I saw these cosplayers.
By the time I arrived in Baltimore I managed to miss the scheduled 1 p.m. showing of a video that I really wanted to see titled Beijing Punk. I managed to get into the Baltimore Convention Center through the front doors because the line of people waiting to register and get their badges was way smaller than the last two days.
Once I got in I went up to the 400 level of the Baltimore Convention Center where I found one of the many Asian ball-jointed meetups that were being held throughout Otakon weekend and they were all organized through the Den of Angels forum. I’ll admit that I had my trepidations about attending because I still remember this bizarre incident from last year when, at the first meetup I attended on the first day of Otakon 2012, these two women came up to me, claimed that I had posted a photo I took of a bag that belonged to one of them on my own Kim’s World of Art website five years earlier, asked me to remove that photo, then walked quickly away before I had a chance to ask them any questions (like "Do I know you?" or "What photo are you referring to?"). While the other doll meetups I attended last year were all free of similar weirdness, I was still unnerved by that incident.
Fortunately the meetup I attended on the second day of Otakon 2013 was free of such weirdness and everyone present were pretty nice and friendly. I also got a chance to take a lot of photos of gorgeous dolls while I took my own dolls out of the plastic grocery bag and displayed them in public.
Fortunately the meetup I attended on the second day of Otakon 2013 was free of such weirdness and everyone present were pretty nice and friendly. What was cool was the willingness of one meetup participant to help another meetup participant re-string her doll after her doll literally fell apart during transit. (That’s why some of the photos include doll parts.) I also got a chance to take a lot of photos of gorgeous dolls while I took my own dolls out of the plastic grocery bag and displayed them in public.
It turned out that the 400 level terrace was a very popular place to hold meetups so there were usually many of them going on at the same time. In addition to the Asian ball-jointed doll meetup, there were also meetups for Star Trek,…
Dr. Who,…
and furries.
In addition to the meetups, a group of cosplayers (including one dressed as Santa Claus) were playing cards in the same area.
When the Asian ball-jointed doll meetup began to break up, I headed down to the lower levels. I wanted to visit the Artists Alley but I found the best way to reach it is through the Dealers Room, where I took this photo, which is a bit on the NSFW side.
I didn’t spend much time in the Dealers Room because I really wanted to visit the Artists Alley and I didn’t get a chance to do so yesterday because my feet grew very tired and sore after all that walking in the Dealers Room. I finally made it to the Artists Alley, where I ran into someone cosplaying as Luke Skywalker standing next to R2-D2.
The Artists Alley focused on aspiring artists and crafters who sold a variety of handmade items including drawings, jewelry, plushies, hats, lolita dresses, and self-published zines.
While I was in the Artists Alley, I looked in on the progress of this giant work of art that Eric Maruscak of Pepper Ink was working on throughout Otakon.
I wanted to go to Video Gaming room but it became a challenge to do so because the security would block off certain stairs or escalators in the name of crowd control. I found that walking around outside then going back inside the Baltimore Convention Center was the quickest way of going to the Video Gaming room. While I was outside, I took a photo of the bleachers that were recently set up in advance of the upcoming Grand Prix of Baltimore, which will be held on Labor Day weekend.
I managed to re-enter the Baltimore Convention Center where I found these cosplayers.
After much maneuvering around the security’s maze-like crowd control efforts, I finally made it to the Video Gaming room.
There were a variety of video games that were all on Free Play. However getting to a video game console was difficult because nearly all of them were occupied with small lines forming behind the current players.
The one video game I was able to reach wasn’t working and one of the Otakon staff told me that he thinks that someone had beaten the game and the game became inoperable as a result. One interesting tidbit about this busted game: it used a vintage pre-Wii Nintendo controller. (I’ll admit that I didn’t realize I was holding the controller upside down until a few days after Otakon ended.)
I managed to try my hand at one of the pachinko machines because they were less crowded (I had never used one before and I couldn’t find instructions in English on how to play one so I just shot the metal balls at random and I have no idea if I did well or not) but that was the extent of my hands-on experience. The proceeds from the pachinko machines went to a charity called AbleGamers and I was given three free unopened packs of Magic the Gathering cards as a "thank you" gift for paying to play pachinko.
There were smaller less-known video game companies who were showing demos of their latest video game.
Even though it was the Video Gaming room, there were plenty of card games and board games as well. The non-electronic games were just as crowded and popular as the video games.
There were plenty of cosplayers in the Video Gaming room.
After a while I left the Video Gaming room and just took pictures of cosplayers in the hallways and outside the Baltimore Convention Center.
After my earlier failed attempts at attending workshops and panels, I finally managed to get to one scheduled Otakon event but I had to really go through all kinds of obstacles to get there. I saw the English-dubbed version of this feature-length anime titled Wolf Children. I hadn’t originally planned on seeing that movie until I saw a description about it in the programming booklet while I was eating the dinner that I had brought with me while sitting in one of the comfy chairs in the hallway. I thought the plot of the movie sounded interesting. On top of it, when I pre-registered a couple of days ago I had a choice of a variety of designs for my badge (most of which were anime scenes) and I picked this one design because I thought it looked really cute. When I looked at my badge and saw "Wolf Children" on it, I thought it would be really cool to see the movie behind my Otakon badge.
I know that crowd control can be a challenge for a really big convention like Otakon but there were times when I questioned some of their methods of crowd control. The event I wanted to get to was held in a room that was located on the lower floor of the convention center and I was on the floor directly above that room. Normally one could take either the escalators, the steps, or the nearby elevator to get to the lower floor. I had no argument with reserving all of the elevators only for people with major disabilities. But access to the steps and the escalators was also closed off. In order to get to the lower floor, I had to exit the building, walk around the building from the outside until I hit the front doors that led to the lower floor, then re-enter the building. I have no idea why people had to leave the building in order to get to the lower floor.
Once I got to the lower floor there was this scrum of people that I had to literally push my way through in order to get into another line so I could get into the theater showing the film that I wanted to check out because the synopsis intrigued me. In this case the term "line" could be used very loosely. It was almost like you had to pick a large group at random then endure more waits as the security alternated between letting each group get into a more organized line that led to the doors where the movie was being shown. There were so many people trying to get in that the movie ended up starting a half an hour later than originally scheduled. At least the room was very large so there were plenty of seats for a giant crowd like the one that I was a part of.
The movie was worth the wait. It’s got a similar "human female student meets fellow male student who’s a supernatural creature" story to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series except I thought that Wolf Children was way better than Twilight. The main female character, Hana, faces (and eventually overcomes) all kinds of obstacles that would’ve brought Bella Swan to a total nervous breakdown. The animation is incredibly beautiful and the story was very well written. I saw the dubbed version and I thought that the dubs were done very well. It’s too bad that a film like Wolf Children doesn’t get a wider theater distribution because I think that movie would definitely hold its own against the likes of any Pixar film.
Since the movie started a half an hour late, I ended up arriving at this workshop that I wanted to check out late. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get in at all because over the last few Otakons, the conventional wisdom is that if you want to guarantee of even getting inside the door, you should arrive at least a half-an-hour early. If you want to guarantee of getting inside the door and getting a seat, you should arrive at least 45 minutes-1 hour before the start. But, amazingly, I was able to get inside and get a seat with no trouble at all. The workshop was titled "Introduction to Deleter Neopiko2 Marker" and it was a hands-on demonstration of the Japanese-made Neopiko2 markers that many artists use when creating manga. I was very impressed with the quality of the markers and I felt that they were way superior to Sharpies. (FYI, in case you were wondering, I didn’t do that drawing below. It was originally a black and white photocopied drawing and I only colored it with Neopiko2 markers.)
After the workshop ended I did a little walking around the Baltimore Convention Center. For once I was actually at an anime convention past sundown and I noticed that one of the hallways of the Baltimore Convention Center was bathed in this really pretty blue light that reflected on all the people walking down it.
While there were a few late night panels and events that intrigued me, I was totally exhausted. The good news was that the compression socks I wore the entire day helped my feet alot and I was able to physically last longer on my feet than the day before. However, even with the compression socks I had hit a point where I couldn’t take Otakon any more so I decided to leave. As I was on my way out the door I took this one last photo of Otakon’s second day.
I’m participating in two simultaneous art shows in Baltimore. This weekend I’m displaying two of my pieces in the Art Show at the annual Otakon anime convention, which is currently held in the Baltimore Convention Center. One is a canvas bag that I originally painted for Katsucon earlier this year but it failed to sell, even though I thought I had put up a decent minimum bid. This time the bag will be available for the minimum bid of $25. The bag is based on two characters from the Rozen Maiden anime and manga series known as Suiseiseki and Souseiseki.
The other piece is one that I have been working off and on for the past month or so. I took a My Little Pony Design-A-Pony Princess Luna vinyl figure that I found on sale in Target and did a total mash-up that’s a cross between My Little Pony and the video game Robot Unicorn Attack. The resulting figure: My Little Robot Unicorn Pony Attack.
It even comes with its own robot dolphin cutie mark.
I’ll write more about how I created this piece in detail at a later date.
Both pieces will be available for auction until 12 p.m. Sunday. The Art Show is sharing Hall E with the Artists Alley, located on the bottom level of the convention center. Click here for more information about the Art Show.
The other Baltimore art show I’m participating in will run through the end of August. It’s called the Station North Salon Show and this show is being held in eight different venues. Three of my pieces are currently on display at Joe Squared pizza parlor.
The Scream of Nadya "Octomom" Suleman
Desire
Stop and Smell the Roses
The last one is on display at the Chicken Box and it’s definitely NSFW. (It’s my lampoon of the recent Anthony Weiner texting scandal.)
All of my pieces are available for sale. For more details about the show, check the official website.
I had gone to the Katsucon anime convention in the past but it must have been at least five years since I attended the last one. (I remembered I attended the last one when it was still held in downtown Washington, DC instead of its current home in National Harbor, Maryland.)
The past few weeks I slacked off on doing major decluttering of my home because I decided to try participating in my first anime convention-related Art Show. (I’ve been to previous anime conventions but I’ve never submitted anything to the Art Show.) I purchased a blank canvas bag and did this two-sided painting of the Gardener Twins Souseiseki and Suiseiseki from the anime Rozen Maiden. (You can read the February 14, 2013 blog entry for more details about the painting of this bag.)
Even though I preregistered over the Internet (I was able to get a weekend pass at a discount) and it entitled me to pick up my pass the day before the convention opened, I wasn’t able to make it on Thursday because the pick-up time conflicted with my weekly support group meeting for people who are separated or divorced. (Since the meeting fell on February 14—Valentine’s Day—the group was holding an "Anti-Valentine’s Day Party" instead of the usual meeting and I really wanted to go to it.) So I woke up early and got to National Harbor as soon as possible. Luckily there was a separate line for preregistrations and it was shorter than the line for those who were purchasing passes at the door so I didn’t have to spend too much time waiting in line.
Once I picked up my pass I immediately headed to the Art Show where I entered my tote bag. I had put it in a display case but I also posted photos showing both sides of the bag since the display case could only show one side at a time. Here is what it looked like after I hung it at the Art Show.
By the time I got my pass and hung up my tote bag at the Art Show I was feeling hungry because it was around noon. In order to save as much time and money as possible, I opted to bring my own lunch, dinner, and sodas in a giant Wegman’s insulated bag from home. (The bag was pretty heavy to carry around at times until I consumed the food and drink.) So I sat in a chair in the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center lobby and ate my lunch. I have to admit that the entire large complex was pretty fancy. Here is a shot of the Convention Center atrium.
The only major snag that first day came when I realized that I didn’t have enough battery power in my cell phone so I couldn’t issue as many Twitter tweets as I wanted. I had a car charger but it would’ve meant going to the parking garage, finding my car, starting the engine, letting it run for up to a half-an-hour while my phone recharges, then go back to the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center. I found a Best Buy Express vending machine and I found that there was a battery recharger on sale for my cell phone. I sucked it up and charged $40 to the credit card to get that item.
So while I was eating lunch I decided to recharge the cell phone with the new battery. It worked for a while then it stopped recharging. I read the manual and found that the battery needed to be recharged and it didn’t have much juice left. The battery didn’t come with any wall adapter and I really didn’t want to pay more money at the Best Buy Express vending machine to get one so I basically dealt with a cell phone with low battery power for the entire day. As a result I ended up making tweets about the day’s events the following morning. I kept on taking photos with my cell phone until I lost battery power entirely.
Once I finished eating lunch I shopped around in the Merchants’ Room. I did mostly window shopping because I’m currently in the process of decluttering my home and I’m trying to be conservative in spending my money due to my husband suing me for divorce. There were plenty of things on sale and if you weren’t careful, you could easily go broke buying all kinds of stuff that you really don’t need to survive but they looked irresistable.
This one statue on sale made me feel old. It’s Kimberly from the early 1980’s video game Space Ace. I remember when I used to play that game in the arcades. If the statue hadn’t been out of my personal price range, I would’ve been tempted to buy it because of both the video game and the fact that she shares the same name as me. (LOL!)
The next three photos are from the most bizarre booth I saw in the Merchants’ Room. The military-style armbands promoted tolerance of same-sex relationships by using terms like Yaoi and appropriate symbols. But the hats reminded me of Nazi hats from World War II and there was even a giant swastika against a psychedelic background on display in the background. That booth had me scratching my head.
I read on the Den of Angels forum of a series of Asian ball jointed doll meetups that were going to happen during Katsucon. I was on the fence about being able to make any of those meetups so I decided to pack my smaller 1/6 and 1/12 scale dolls just in case because they are lighter and easier to carry than my larger dolls. (I’ve carried some of these larger dolls around at anime and doll conventions in the past and it turned out to be such a pain to lug them around.) I slipped these small dolls in a plastic bag then put them in the large Wegman’s insulated bag. Here are the dolls I brought with me to Katsucon from left to right: Orient Doll Ji, Soom Mini-Gem Uyoo, Soul Doll Kimmy, and Bobobie Sunny.
I arrived at the meetup right at the 2 p.m. start time. The Asian ball-jointed doll meetup went off pretty well for me with no drama. Everyone was pretty nice and I got a chance to see some gorgeous dolls. Here are the photos I took of that meetup.
After the Asian ball-jointed doll meetup I walked around and took photos of cosplayers and people carrying various plushies until my cell phone battery finally died.
Someone cosplayed as Merida from the Disney/Pixar film Brave.
This cosplayer was in a wheelchair yet was still able to rock it in this awesome looking costume.
This cosplayer in the next photo appeared as his personal fursona Azure.
Here’s Belle from the Disney film Beauty and the Beast.
Spiderman poses with a friend.
It’s a unicorn!
According to the comments and messages I got through Flickr, the woman in the next photo was cosplaying as Kougoyku Ren from the Japanese anime Magi.
The last two photos feature a total blast from my own past. Yes, it’s Gumby!
I attended my first panel at Katsucon. It was called "Publishing for the Speciality Market" and I was mildly curious about the topic since I can draw and write and it was supposed to provide tips on how to make an income off of your work. That panel was a definite eye-opener. It’s disheartening to hear that there is only one major distributor of comic books in the United States (Diamond Comics) so if your idea for a comic book gets rejected by this one publisher, you don’t really have any alternatives. As for me, I could see myself maybe doing a web comic or digital e-book in some distant future as a hobby but I found that publishing my own comic book/graphic novel to distribute myself or convince Diamond Comics to distribute to be downright daunting and scary.
Immediately after the first panel ended I attended a second panel called "Bad Anime, Bad!" That one is definitely self-explanatory. I saw clips of anime that have either a) awful animation, b) lousy dialogue, c) poor translation, or d) all of the above. I’ve seen this same panel at other anime conventions in the past and it’s amazing that the guy who runs it always gets new examples of anime so bad that it’s really hilarious.
After watching bad anime, I settled down in the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center lobby to eat a pre-packaged dinner that I brought with me. What was funny was that I had some people sitting near me asked me where I got my dinner from and they seemed disheartened when I said "Wegman’s." (LOL!)
After dinner I managed to attend one last panel in the evening. It was called "Steampunk to Cyberpunk: A History" and it was an interesting presentation that compared the steampunk with cyberpunk sub-genres of science fiction. When that panel ended I was so exhausted that I decided to drive back home. (In order to save money I opted to commute to this convention instead of staying at any of the hotels located in National Harbor.) I had this harrowing commute because it was raining very hard and the streets were so slick that they resembled mirrors. On top of it there were crazy drivers on the road who were speeding on these very slick roads and it was a challenge to avoid accidents. At least I made it home okay.
Starting today I’ll be spending much of the weekend at Katsucon, which is being held at National Harbor from February 15-17. I won’t be blogging very much during that time so if you want to follow me, it’s best if you do it via Twitter or Flickr. For those of you who will be there in person, I will be having this bag on sale that I handpainted myself. (If you want to learn more about this bag, read yesterday’s post.)
A few months ago I made my first foray into customizing a blank tote bag that I purchased at one of those big box arts and crafts stores then donating it to my Unitarian Universalist congregation’s annual auction. The tote bag I customized received rave reviews from my friends in that congregation and someone bought it at the auction that night.
I felt really good about the reception to that tote bag that I decided to do it again. This time I’m going to attempt to sell it outside my UU congregation at an event where I won’t know most of the participants. I’m going to put the tote bag in a special display frame that I got on sale at Michaels Arts & Crafts and offer it for sale at the Art Show that will be among the events that will happen at this weekend’s Katsucon at National Harbor, Maryland.
I’m just doing a little experiment to see whether I have any kind of future creating customized tote bags/shopping bags as a side venture (or maybe even as a full-time venture if reception is totally overwhelming). I figured that trying a bunch of strangers is a good way to find out.
If it fails to sell, I’ll have a customized bag that I can carry around in public. If people ask me where I got this bag, I can hand out copies of my business card and hopefully get some opportunities.
Either way, it’s a win-win situation for me! 🙂
Painting the bag also helped me to take my mind off my current troubles (such as my mother’s ongoing struggles with MS and my husband sending me divorce papers).
Here are a few words about this latest tote bag. Since Katsucon is dedicated to anime from Japan, I decided to do a Japanese anime-themed fan art design this time. I featured two characters from the manga and anime series called Rozen Maiden, which is one of the few anime or manga series that I have even paid attention to. (There are so many anime/manga series out there that I have a hard time deciding which ones I want to try.) I originally heard about this series through postings on the Asian ball-jointed doll forum Den of Angels because this series features living, talking ball-jointed dolls as the main characters. When Tokyopop came out with an English translation of the manga series, I bought the books in order to find out what the hype was about. I also saw the first four episodes of the anime version when it was screened at the annual Otakon in Baltimore but I never purchased any of the anime DVDs mainly because the DVD version is way more expensive than the manga books. (Each manga book volume costs $10 while each anime DVD costs $25.)
Basically Rozen Maiden is a surreal fantasy series featuring walking, talking ball-jointed dolls wearing gorgeous clothes that also have a lot of Alice in Wonderland overtones. (There is a character in the series called Laplace’s Demon who looks like a thinner, more sinister version of the White Rabbit. Each of the dolls are expected to battle each other in a match known as the Alice Game. The last doll to survive the Alice Game gets to claim the grand prize, which is to become Alice, who is defined in the series as the embodiment of the perfect girl.)
Since I’m going to hype this tote bag as a recyclable shopping bag, I thought it would be appropriate to feature two of the dolls who are known as the "Gardener Twins" in Rozen Maiden since gardening is a green activity and so is using a recyclable shopping bag instead of getting a new plastic bag everytime you shop. Below is an original still from the anime featuring the twins.
The girl wearing an ultra-feminine dress with white cap that has lace trim is Suiseiseki, whose name translate as "Jade Star", which is appropriate since she wears a green dress. She is frequently seen carrying a watering can. Her twin sister, Souseiseki, has a name that translates as "Lapis Lazuli Star", which is appropriate since she wears blue-colored clothes. She is frequently seen carrying a pair of gardening shears. Her clothes and haircut show her as a tomboy so I initially thought of her as just an androgynous tomboy until I read online that, in the original Japanese, Souseiseki frequently uses the masculine pronoun to refer to herself—which I didn’t see in the English translation. (Hmmmm, I wonder if Tokyopop omitted this on purpose because it wanted to avoid controversy as to whether Souseiseki is really more than just a tomboy doll? If what I read online is correct, the Japanese language original seemed to imply that she could be a female-to-male transgendered doll.) Both twins have one green eye and one red eye. Suiseiseki’s left eye is green while her right eye is red. With Souseiseki, the eye colors are reversed. While I was painting the tote bag, I constantly had a colored printout of both their faces next to me in order to get the eye color placement correct on each twin.
When it came time for designing the bag, I breifly thought about doing a Zentangle background like I did with the last bag I did. But I still felt pretty burned out from the hours I did doing the Zentangles over a large area so when I happened to find a floral stencil on sale at Michaels Arts & Crafts for only $5, I decided that using a stencil would be a better idea than drawing Zentangles. That stencil was definitely a time-saver for me and the results were pretty nice to look at.
When I was shopping for paints I could use in this project (other than the paints I already own), I found this acrylic paint color called "aqua green", which is a blue-green color. I thought it would be appropriate since it is a combination of the two colors that represent both Souseiseki and Suiseiseki.
Here are the close-up photos of each side of the tote bag along with a description of how I customized each site.
For this side (pictured below this paragraph) I initially painted the entire side in aqua green. Then I used the floral stencil and created a plant background using light blue paint on one side and light green paint on the other. I downloaded a graphic that depicted a close-up of Souseiseki and Suiseiseki from the Internet. I traced the graphic on tracing paper then I took what I drew on the tracing paper and I traced it again on the bag using graphite paper. I painted the twins in acrylic paint then sealed the entire job with varnish.
For the other side (pictured below) I initially divided the entire side into two sections. I painted one section light blue and the other section light green. Then I used the floral stencil and added plants in aqua green over the lower two-thirds of the side. I downloaded a graphic that showed a faraway shot of the twins. Not only did it show the full outfits the twins wear but also showed them brandishing their gardening tools (Suiseseki’s watering can and Souseiseki’s gardening shears). I traced the graphic on tracing paper then I took what I drew on the tracing paper and I traced it again on the bag using graphite paper. I painted the twins in acrylic paint then sealed the entire job with varnish.
I’m going to submit it to the Art Show at Katsucon tomorrow. I purchased a special display frame to protect the tote bag while it’s being on display.
Sagittarius Dolly 
You must be logged in to post a comment.