The Sister Stamps Product Launch!

Once upon a time, there were 2 sisters. No, this is not the story of an ice queen and her endearing younger sister, nor of a snowman... but still one of family and the yearning for closeness even though life has separated them to opposite sides of the world. These 2 sisters were pretty close at a young age and although very different from each other, created a strong bond in their childhood. One sister was energetic, smart, was talented in writing and crafting, and learned to enjoy all things around her. And one sister could draw a little.

As life went on, they were led in different directions and carved their nests in different parts of the world... but never lost touch. One day, talented crafting sister had an idea to use artist sister's images to make stamps... and thus, Sister Stamps was born. A venture that, in being so far away, was a nice way for artist sister to connect with all she missed back home. I know, not a riveting telling of the story, but remember, this is artist sister's blog, not that of talented, crafting writing sister.

Many of you out there may already know about the Sister Stamps rubber stamps and are familiar with all the images that my sister had released. But for those of you who don't, most images are Asian or Hawaii-inspired. Therefore, although they may be simplistic and cutesy, they represent home for both of us.

OK, now to talk about the images and adapting them to product.  It was all an interesting project for me as I learned that I had to make my own washi style backgrounds to avoid any legal issues... and try to do my own version of the kanji. But it all turned out to be kind of fun. I will show you in another post regarding my adventures in washi designing... heehee.

Here are a couple of the iPhone cases. The first one is the image "Harumi" and the second is "Misaki".

I imagined Harumi enjoying the beauty of nature and relaxing outdoors, while Misaki was adventurous and always playing... always having fun! The kanji with Harumi means "Beauty".  BTW, the design should fit all the iPhone cases as long as it's iPhone.  So, it can be customized.  I wasn't able to do the Galaxy ones yet.

Now here are a couple of the watches I designed. The first image shows "Akemi" and the second "Miyoko".

You will notice that the numbers are done in Japanese instead, so it may take getting used to them, if you are not already.  Some of you may also notice that I changed Miyoko from the original stamp image. She originally was holding a cupcake, but I replaced it with an umbrella and had her looking out from behind it. I kind of like the sweet, shy quality she has in that pose. Usually I use the kanji "Beauty" with Miyoko and "Friendship" for Akemi, but the watch already has all those numbers to contend with, so I left the words out. I thought "friendship" for Akemi because she makes friends with the little bunny by introducing him to her BFF, Daba.

This last one is that of Miyono on a mug design.

I love the idea of how Miyono is so happy and gets swept up in her dance as her expression of joy.  Even though the setting is more like a Bon Dance Festival, which is the festival where they honor those that have passed away, I still see her as joyful and her positive energy spreads out in this celebration of life.

I have to admit, I haven't designed her much with the lanterns, but this one was done early in the process and I kind of like it now that I hadn't used it recently. Sometimes stepping away gives you a new perspective, right?

And here are a few images from the Zazzle site to show what other products are available so far.

Basically, I just wanted to try and have a few products available for Sister Stamps. I know it seems kind of takai (expensive) and not so easy to get, but it seemed like a good solution,  and I will always try to alert everyone on the sales, which brings the price down to a more reasonable level.  Sometimes they have a 50% off a certain item, but it's usually only for one day (often only 6-8 hours).  And if you sign up for the shipping ($10/yr), it will save you a lot, even on one order because I got killed on the shipping the first order I made (I just ignored the shipping offer when it popped up on screen). See, the other sister is the smart one.

Anyway, don't forget to follow the Denishima_Designs page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/denishimadesigns?ref=hl to stay updated on all new products coming out and any discounts offered in the future!

Alice and The Caterpillar

Yes, I know it's been a while since the last post, but there was a lot of normal work to do and as they say, "duty calls". 

So this time I thought I would talk about the work done on another of the Alice illustrations. Alice and the Caterpillar  has always been one of those iconic images from the story, so... it had to be done, right? I actually started with this image as the beginning of the Alice series and even painted it just to see if I could. I am not a painter, by trade, so it was an interesting challenge for me. It's fun to be able to experiment when it is NOT your profession. No pressure, you know.

OK. So this is the original drawing I had come up with. I had gone back to the original work done in the books for inspiration, but as the makers of the famous animated film did as well, the caterpillar turned out looking similar.

But I went ahead and painted it anyway. Here is the progression below.

Yeah, so I used almost the same colors as the animated film too, right? Guess I kind of had the animated version stuck in my head. But I like the colors and really didn't want to change it so,... there it is.

But, as time went on and I had decided to use this one a little for one of the designs on Denshima Designs, I thought I may want to at least change the drawing a little  so that there is a more obvious difference in the head of the caterpillar.

Well, for what it's worth, right? That's it for this time. Hope you enjoyed my trials and tribulations through this side project of mine and take care 'til next time.