Janice M. Chau

I've been making woven paper fish to prepare for an activity I will be hosting next week. We're going to be making fishing line bookmarks.  The bookmarks will be a reminder about our communities and this quote: "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.   Teach a man to fish, feed him for life." Part of this project is also cultural.  In Pacific Asian countries it is very common to find weaving and crafts with palm or coconut fronds.  Here are the two tutorial videos that I used as my references. Woven Paper Fish Tutorial from azulchromis Woven Palm Frond Fish I didn't have a paper trimmer so i used an Exact-o knife and scissors to cut the strips from DCWV Border Stack Textured Yardstick Brights   This was really good training for cutting straight lines, but after all the paper i cut, for efficiency I will be investing in to a scrapbook paper trimmer from Fiskar. For the large fish I used 12 in. x 3/8 in. strips. For the small fish, I cut the exi...

Congratulations Ted and Eunice! May you continually grow and be deeply rooted in your new home. Before 10 August 2013 Photography:   Caroline Yoon Photography Home Sweet Home

These are a few centerpieces that I've done in the past.  I am always approached about creating centerpieces with a very limited variations of use of flowers to keep cost down.  So the methods that I have used are in mixed medium.  I tend to gravitate towards the mixture of  nature and ornaments made from scratch. I personally feel like centerpieces at any special event tells a story, sets the ambiance, and sets the style of the event, yet you don't have to spend an arm and a leg to get a very imaginative, creative, and charming sculpture.  I love bringing in enchantment and whimsy into the room. I truly do appreciate the sustainability, upcycling, and the similarities in mediums, and useful resources.  (e.g.paper was once a branch).  Here is what I've done in the past. Oikos 20th Year Anniversary Januarty 2009 Adult Reception Table Pieces Children's Reception Table Pieces Photography:  Regina ...

This Saturday, I was able go and help renovate more of the church I attend.  From a previous post you may see that we did decorative birch trees with yellow in the nursery ( Kaleo Nursery Phase 1 ).  Yesterday, we went into the foyer, our small little transitional room to the sanctuary.  Our thoughts were matching the large stage wall to the foyer.  This time around the foyer was the guinea pig experiment for the large stage wall. The small team that I am working with have been set on using a merlot wine color for these areas.  But, honestly, its daunting to use such a dark color when our entire church is painted white. EVERYTHING  (walls) are all WHITE from the previous leasers of this building.  We have office blue carpet and office blue chairs.  So its very sophisticated feeling, simple, and lacking Kaleo style and personality.  Today's goals included painting this mini foyer, sanding and staining the hard wood shelf, and lastl...

Here is the last blog post of 2012.  It's a tad of a throwback from a previous blog in October. Origami Ornaments for Samodi Wedding .  In addition to the origami ornaments, we cut paper lanterns from STARDREAM Metallics Cardstock Silver 105lbs. paper, Cricut scrapbook cut outs of different random pairs, tissue paper snowflake doileys, and used baby's breath flowers combined together to create a random, picnic like, fresh, and whimsical centerpiece for their wedding.  The idea was to find imagery that would tell the stories of how Samson and Jodi spent their quality time together.  (just a side note, they literally traveled by train and planes to see each other since they taught English in two totally different cities in China).  Her special request to me was that each centerpiece would be random, colorful, but attain the main wedding colors of purple, pink, and grey.  She also requested that each on look individual and different, but have the sa...

MERRYYYY CHRSISTMAS from the studio!!!!!! This past weekend I had a spontaneous DIY project request from dear dear friends of mine.  The request was for a gift for him to propose to her with yours truly included in being part of the plotting.   THE CONCEPT of the PROPOSAL He called me on Saturday night; ironically that phone call woke me up from K.O after a wedding I had just attended. He said I want to propose Monday,Christmas Eve are you free.  She would love it if you would be there.  So naturally, my answer was YES!  I have known her for 6 years now, and she's been through the thick and thin, the negative and positive attributes of each season of my life.  SO YES I want to be there when she says YES! We put our heads together, and the concept went form an empty box to filling a gift box with something that she wants but can't find.  The story behind that is that she gave me a gift in 2010 that I wanted but could not find. (it was a De...

I've been working on origami ornaments for Samson and Jodi's wedding. There is no particular theme for their wedding, but they are Chinese American, have been living in China for the last 4 years, and got to know each other over several Chinese holidays, as well as flying kits in the park.  They will also eventually move back to China.  So paper kits and lanterns seemed appropriate as they are going to be soaring high as a newly weds. One thing that is special about this couple is that they met in Thailand (the land of smiles), and they both have been immersed into several different cultures such as:  Hawaiian, Japanese, Mexican, Texan, Californian, The South, Thai, and of course Chinese.  Within all these cultures the use of color, paper, print, and quality time have shaped much of their character. Their wedding colors are grey, pink, and purples.  But I figured, that splashes of other colors wouldn't hurt.  Here is just a sneak peak of what...