Archive | April, 2012

EGGS! GET YOUR EGGS HERE! R2-D2?

12 Apr

Star Wars Eggs? Yes Please.

My cousin from Australia/Hong Kong is studying abroad at my mum & father’s house. I went home for the weekend to see her, Merika, and the rents (slang for parent).

I ended up doing the stereotypical things when most “children” go home: had my dad look at my car with me, went shopping for a spring dress with my mum, helped my younger cousing study for the SATs and ACTs (mmm, math)… and went to Jo-ann’s with Merika to buy some cloth & flowers for the upcoming Penn State Belly Dance Club’s Hafla.

The best part though, was buying all the materials to dye eggs; a fun activity “meant for my younger cousin” (really Merika and me). Sadly, by the time we finished all the errands Saturday night, we were too tired to make the eggs! Haha! But I did end up making this one instead on Friday (a bit of Saturday).

Photo Credits Here

In high school my friend Angie showed us seed bead eggs. They were so pretty, my other two friends Booboo, Lolo, decided to hop on the train. Booboo’s mom, Lisa, was excited that her daughter & friends were about to take on a tedious craft- meaning no more running around screaming. I think she actually drove us to the store, and paid for some of the materials! Haha! It’s actually quite simple to make, all you need is:

*A hollow Egg

*Glue

*Paper plate

*Seed beads

*Tooth pick

*Time

First, you need a hallow egg. You can either make two small holes on each end and blow out the yoke, or you can use a syringe to hollow it out. You can buy one on Amazon for 6$- well worth it (I’d pay 25$ for this little tool, it’s so useful in making a single egg or dozens!).

Next, you can either look at a photo of the design you want, OR you can lightly sketch in pencil on the egg.

Afterwards, you put some glue on a paper plate. You then “paint” with the tooth pick a very light layer of glue on one end of the egg. You then can pick up some beads with the same tooth pick, and place them on top. Make sure they lay flat, ie that you can see all of the centers/holes of the beads.

TIP: You will want to make a “honey comb” pattern with the beads as this fills in the blanks best. This might skew lines a bit.

TIP: You will want to start on an end of the egg, as this will cause the whole chunk of beads to stop shifting as much.

Then, you just keep beading away! I like to pick up multiple beads at once with my tooth pick, put them on the egg, and then push them around into place. The glue dries clear, so why not? (other than you might add more glue than needed?). I used this technique and made my egg in prolly ½ the time Angie and Lolo did.

Booboo on the other hand used a different technique after a few hours- she just dumped a whole bunch of glue and beads into a bowl and rolled the egg around. Haha, done. She then made ballon/string/glue baskets with Merika- that was a hot mess.

The R2-D2 is the 3rd egg I have done (one was a PSU paw print, the other was a set of crosses). It took me about 6-8 hours(?), I’m sure with a simpler design I could get it down to less. My first egg, the paw print, I think took me 2-3 days since I was putting one bead on at a time for most of the time. It was also a simpler design.

The other eggs I made did look “more filled in” as we used “expensive” Japanese seed beads from a Hobby Lobby, they were all even in size. The ones that I used for R2-D2 were from walmart, and the sizes varied (why some shapes are skewed).

TIP: So instead of buying the $1.50 beads, go for the $3.00 beads and you’ll prolly like the look better- unless it’s just the backside anyways!

I was hopping of making a Totoro, the Triforce, Companion Cube, DOMO 😀 The list is endless.

Thanks for Reading!

Cheers,

Ayla

P.S. Like Cute things? Check out THE EGG SONG. mmmmm, hot springs eggs! Just like Japan?

English version of the Original Korean Site: http://www.iloveegg.com/eng_index.htm

WDC Highlights: The Cherry Blossoms Festival & Art Of Video Games Exhibit

7 Apr

MMMMMM… Cherry Blossom & Video Games

Irish-Domo likes Cherry Blossoms too

                This past weekend we had a little “Antipode” meeting in DC for the 100 year anniversary of the Cherry Blossoms & to see the new “Art of Video Games” exhibit in the American Art Museum Smithsonian.

Some friends, Merika Lo, Reni aka Cooking Mama 1, and I met up for Dim-sum Saturday morning at the 7 corners intersection. Next we hoped on the subway to downtown for the blooms first, but sadly “the peak” was a little less than 2 weeks ago- and it rained since then. There were a few here and there, but we did see tons of tourists next to the bright pink & white dog wood trees taking photos. (hehehehe) A few years ago when Termariel and I went to Japan, we did get to see some starting to bloom in Kyoto and Tokyo.

Termariel in Tokyo (left) and Kyoto (right)

Japan can still be super chilly in mid-March. Surprisingly in Akihabira (Tokyo) they were more in bloom than at Nijō Castle (二条城, Nijō-jō). One, if not the, favorite animal of  Termariel  is the elephant, and she was ESTATIC to see this guy. If I get to go back to Japan, I hope to go around the time of the Cherry Blossoms blooms again. I heard, if you plan it right, you can start in the south, and slowly work your way North to hit all the “peak days”. I’d love to photograph the blooms, as well as Cosplay in the blooms- Including Kimonos, Anime Costumes, Video Game Costumes, and maybe even a Sakura Belly Dance Costume. The gardens Yes, Ayla DID have blue hair ^_^                                         & cities in Japan all very picturesque.


We wanted to wear our Kimonos this past weekend, but the weather called for rain & we also were given heads up about the blooms being gone.

We did see many girls wearing fake sakura/cherry blossoms & pins. Turns out we go the last 3 pins from the ranger station- they had over 74,000 !_! Merika did find this little guy though 

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The American Art Museum/Smithsonian in Chinatown is now holding the “The Art of Video Game” Exhibit. It’s an interesting take how the “art” is not just the game but also the story & interaction the player creates with the game.

It was SUPER busy there (it opened mid-March), but it’s running all the way to September (I’m going to go back). 😀 They had times lines displaying games from each era and how the games & concepts have evolved through out the years.

If you want to be part of the exhibit or support the museum, you can donate 10$ (or more) and get your name placed on their “Extra Credit!” list.

Of course I had to represent as soon as I heard about it last year.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Ayla