I know February is always a shorter month, but it still feels like it flew by super quickly, even with an extra day! It probably doesn’t help that I ended up getting COVID during Valentine’s week. I am grateful it didn’t last long for me and I didn’t get fatigue except for the day I had fever & chills, I think because it’s my second time getting it, so I think maybe my body has a little more immunity, but it did make things a little difficult for me since I was quarantining for about 2 weeks to keep Taka from getting sick while he’s already dealing with his healing collarbone. Anyways, I have been working very hard behind the scenes (as always) on both new non-club designs, vending, grading, and past due artwork for the original pin club >_<

Pretty Winkers: SG

I have had folks asking for this both online and in person whenever they see the other Ghibli designs and finally I can say “Yes, there are Howl’s Moving Castle designs.” I kinda hate answering that question because to be honest, while Howl’s was the first Ghibli film I actually really enjoyed, I also feel like a lot of people love it simply because it’s a love story and more aEsTheTic than other Ghibli films. I didn’t actually care that much for Princess Mononoke when I watched as 12 year old, and I didn’t see Totoro or Kiki ‘til I was 18 or 19 so I think I thought they were too childish at the time.  Of course, as I rewatched all the Ghibli films in my late 20s I could understand the underlying context or storylines in the films and have come to especially love Kiki as a coming of age and “gosh adulthood is hard and sucks” mood, as well as Mononoke for its commentary on industrialization, modernization and the relationship between humanity and our environment. All that to say, I still absolutely love Howl’s Moving Castle, but I do wish other films would appeal to the masses more.

Anyway, ranting aside, I am really excited to share with you that I plan on doing multiple iterations of Sophie & Howl for this collection. First up is brown-haired hat shop Sophie. Yes, I realize I forgot to make one of her eyes winking, so that will be rectified in the vector! Sophie’s mouth will be a little more smiley, but still shy as I want her to be proudly admiring her work like the scene of her looking in the mirror. In the background is her work table with tools and ribbons and flowers. I wish I could see her work station in real life! :p Also, I’ve already drawn up Blonde Howl, so I’ll be vectoring him in advance for April as well!

Yokai Club

March’s yokai is one of my favorite: Tengu. In the past we have designed Tengu’s servants, a Karasutengu pin, which I have only a few left of each variant before it’s retired. Tengu is typically portrayed as a red-skinned bird man with a long nose and there are a couple different lore behind them. One lore is that tengu are an analogy for men in power, often monks, who take “holy” roles to be revered by people because they like the attention or praise, but often their hearts are not pure because they pursue godliness for themselves rather than acting as servants to the kami or gods. That said, they do possess more supernatural abilities and can sometimes be benevolent, saving or protecting people, though often in hopes of praise.

The other lore is that they are the spirits of fallen soldiers who were arrogant in their past life. It is said that tengu were also the teachers of the legendary folklore hero, Minamoto Yoshitsune, and his soldiers.

Interestingly enough, since my first exposure to Tengu, I’ve been drawn to them which I find odd because truth be told, I have a unique nose

with a strong bridge I have always hated. I also don’t particularly like birds, and Tengu is a gosh darned birdman! 🤣 And the first natural area I truly fell in love with in Japan was Mt. Takao which is protected by the tengu, Naigubu.

And although they just closed down one of the only authentic Japanese shrines in the US which is only about 1.5 hrs from Seattle, last year, when I took Taka for new year in 2023, I had not realized it was also a shrine that deified and revered tengu (and also lots of frog imagery). I hadn’t been in about 7-8 years, before my first real exposure to Tengu, but that’s when Taka and I realized that perhaps Tengu is my protector. I’m not that spiritual and neither is Taka, but he says that in Japan they believe there are certain kamisama that more or less choose the person and that’s why some people feel more akin to certain kami or creatures/gods/etc.

In this same vein, since I was little, I always loved shishi, the protection lions in front of shrines, businesses, etc. My father brought a set of them back and posted them up at my grandparents’ house after he was stationed in Japan for a year when I was born. I always loved how ugly (which I don’t think they are ugly now, but like fierce!!), but cool they looked. Perhaps that’s why I also like Tengu, he’s both kinda ugly, but also very cool!

My first real tattoo were a pair of shishi on my feet after my father passed. Since your feet take you everywhere you go, I wanted them as protectors. And although the Kanji used in the Shishido family name is not at all the same as that used for lion, it seems to me that perhaps there is a link that drew me to Taka? Haha probably not, but who knows, right? Taka also told me his family have always liked shrines with Shishi, but they were more avoidant of shrines protected by kitsune or foxes. His grandma was a devout buddhist and didn’t trust kitsune, which is interesting because I also have never felt much kinship to the kitsune shrines. I don’t hate them or feel cursed by them, but I don’t feel anything special towards them either.

So maybe there is something to the things we are drawn to? What do you think?

Pretty Winkers: SM

And for the final designs for March, we have icy Viluy and sweet Motoki! I do think Taka was referencing the manga more than the 90s anime for Motoki, which I do think the Manga/Crystal Motoki looks a little younger than he does in the 90s anime. So I’m probably going to soften him up a little more to give him a more mature look. Although he’s not much older, I do want to give him more of the 90s anime look, probably just by changing his mouth slightly. Viluy I will probably make a subdued Japanese snowflake pattern or possibly fractal pattern, I haven’t fully decided.

Also, for those of you who filled out the Side Character survey last month, the most popular side characters y’all wanted to see were: Heavy Metal Papillon, Sailor Lethe & Mnemosyne, Sailor Phi & Chi, and Princess Kaguya. I still haven’t decided if it will be a possible club reward or preorder, but I’m leaning towards preorders for those. There are a few others I’ll consider pinning, but those would be the most likely!

In other news…

Finally, I also wanted to let you know that I’ll be going to Japan in April! Originally Taka and I were gonna go to Japan for March to celebrate his 40th birthday as well as to celebrate our 5 year anniversary, but with him missing nearly 3 months of work or more if he doesn’t feel strong enough by April, he wants to dive right back into work in April when he should be able to work normally again. Since April is a pretty dead month for me as far as sales (Thanks IRS making everyone broke), I decided I’d go to Japan for 3 weeks. I’m really looking forward to my trip as I’ll be taking a kintsugi (gold joining) class, wagashi classes, sachiko (embroidery) classes. If I can find a kanzashi teacher, I’ll try to take one of those too. I’ll mostly be sticking to Tokyo and day trips from Tokyo and staying close to where Taka and I used to live. My goal is to explore new areas, see a few of my favorites, and learn new skills, hopefully renewing my creativity.

Before I leave my goal is to get all my designs finished up through May/June, any past due artwork for originals club, and of course as many pins as I can to y’all. I imagine all the factories will be shipping me a bunch of stuff that we’re waiting on around late March. So just wanted to let you know my gameplan and I look forward to sharing new designs with you this month as well as my adventures when I go off to Japan! Thank you all for your support, excitement and encouragement!