Pet Bottle Helicopter...

I spotted these on my way home from the supermarket the other day - There was this rather neat chopper, which is what caught my eye initially....

But then I noticed there were some planes in the garden too....

A little thank you gift...

Di's mom gave Ebi-kun some 'spends' which he used to get this cool water colour painting set, brushes and paper from The Tate Modern. He decided to make a little thank your gift and experimented with his new materials.

First he did a wash and let the paint dry. Then he used my copic pen and drew a picture, not really sure what his inspiration was! Then after that he coloured (painted) it in. 

He also had some birthday money so other goodies he treated himself to were a load of Horrible History books, loom bands, souvenirs from the different places we visited - mostly books or notebooks and the such like. He wanted a Harry Potter wand but at 49GBP I had to veto it. I feel that the HP shop at Kings Cross was sooo overpriced. 

He had fun though and plenty of great souvenirs!

Andy Warhol - 15 Minutes Eternal

Monday was the last day of school break and since we had everything ready I thought we should do something fun. I checked the listings for things on in Tokyo then remembered that most museums are closed on a Monday - bugger! BUT, then I spotted the Andy Warhol Exhibition on at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi - perfect!

The only drawback is the trip there, it takes about an hour and a half and we have to get on a commuter train (which means getting badly squashed). I don't know how people can do that day in and day out - truly awful experience! Ebi-kun wasn't impressed either.

We spotted the Ebisu god as we changed trains, obviously we had to take a photo! Such tourists! 

We made it to the museum just before it opened. I was a bit confused with the tickets, they had set up a special Andy Warhol Cafe, which I thought would be fun to go to but it is in the observation deck and you need an extra ticket to go to the observation deck. Anyway, it turned out that the section where the cafe is, you don't need to pay extra for - just in case you decide to go and are confused too! You also get to see the views without the extra charge!

The Mori building is 54 floors and the gallery is on the 52nd, that is quite a long way up!

You are not allowed to take photos inside the exhibition so you'll have to use your imagination a bit. It was really well done, thoughtfully laid out and the English explanations were great - obviously not done by google translate! I can't say I am a big Warhol fan but I do appreciate the influence he had in modern art culture and it was really interesting to learn more about him and his thinking.

The exhibition is mixed media, so not only his art and sculptures they have a room with video footage that he took and another where they re-created the silver studio where he worked. There were interviews on video and they had The Velvet Underground playing (he was their producer) Ebi-kun was not a fan of their music, he said that it sounds like someone being murdered!

I made Ebi-kun a quiz sheet to take round with him, I will do a separate post on that but it definitely helps to make the exhibitions more meaning full when he has to figure out the answers.

Once we were done, it was lunch time so we eventually figured out where the cafe was and that we didn't need to pay extra to go in! The floor was artificial grass which was fun and there was copies of his artwork on all the tables. They also have an installation of his rain machine set up.

The menu is very limited, we decide to get the lunch set and share it. It was a burger, (cold) fries, signature Campbells soup and a drink…

And we decided to sit at the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, an amazing vista, the skyscrapers in the distance are Shinjuku, we could see Mount Fuji too but only just. It is such a big city, it goes on for miles and miles!

I must admit, the thought of what we would do if there was an earthquake crossed my mind more than once!

For dessert we tried the Warhol Parfait. I have no idea why but Ebi-kun is going through a phase of 'The Fonz' thumbs at the moment!

I think a close up of the parfait in all it's glory is needed! It was very sweet, and a good job we decided to share or I think we would have both been sick! It did get us to wondering what kind of special food would we have in out imaginary artists cafe - I feel a project coming on there!

After lunch we decided to explore the area a bit, we found a map which had all the different outdoor art sculptures on it, so we went on a hunt to find them all. We missed 2, I think and decided we had had enough and headed home - before the trains got too busy.

Great day out, highly recommend the art show, perfect way to finish the holidays!

**edited** We made a great time capsule inspired by this day out, check it out HERE

SLAM, CRASH, BAM!

You know I am about making learning fun, well we had a load of fun with this crafty language lesson! We started off with a sheet with the word onomatopoeia on it, Ebi-kun had to get out the dictionary to find out the meaning and then he brainstormed more words that were onomatopoeic.

Then we hopped onto google and checked out the artwork of Roy Liechtenstein and talked about his use of colour and how that played with the word, why he used specific colours and the use of bold colour. And of course we couldn't resist a bit of the old Batman and Robin, Youtube provided us with some amusing fight scenes to watch. Ebi-kun declared that Batman was a bit rubbish, that cracked me up! 

Then we set to making out own words…

First, draw you word big and bold on coloured paper, use a thick black marker for the outline and think about how the work feels, drawing a font that matches the words. So the word pop might use bubble writing or slash would be very sharp!

Then cut out the word, including the bits inside the letters…

Now stick the word onto a piece of white card…

With the marker draw on some cracks or whatever matches the word that you are using…

Cut it out and the repeat the process with another colour, red in this case…

Ebi-kun did this one by himself…

Then the extra fun bit…take some action photos! we used a bit of card and masking tape to make a handle on the back of the word so he could hold it as I took the pictures…

Electrifying!!!

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***No children were injured in the making of this blog post!

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Grow a Tree

Eric's mission today was all in code. Ebi-kun is loving code breaking at the moment which means Eric I have to keep coming up with new types of code! This code, once it was cracked, was a clue to a hiding place and in the hiding place was a 'Grow a crystal tree' kit. I think this came with a magazine but arrived in the spring! I squirrelled it away until it was the right season.

That is a good money saving tip, after big holidays lots of season crafts are on sale, pick up a few and save them for the next year.

I wonder what kind of code Eric will come up with next…

He's a winner!

Ebi-kun entered an art competition run by Mrs Ricefield. The theme was "launch" to go with her launching her new site, which incidentally is all about art and crafts with kids, so you should pop over and take a look!

Ebi-kun got the first place prize, $50 voucher for Dick Blick, very cool! He was so chuffed, he went to school with the biggest grin ever on his face! Well done Ebi-kun, you deserved it!

The photo doesn't do it justice, it is quite sparkly in real life!

How to make a leaf lamp

We collected lots of treasure at the park which was just asking for some arty crafty making.

We decided to make a leave lamp. 

What you need:

A glass jar

Tea light candle

Parchment paper long enough to wrap around the hat with a bit of overlap x2

Glue

Leaves

Stapler

Lay the first piece of parchment on the mat, spread with glue and stick the leaves in place.

Place the second piece of parchment over the top and make a leaf sandwich.

Make sure there is no stray glue that will stick to your book. Then put a book or something heavy on top and leave it to dry.

When it is dry, wrap the parchment paper around the jar and staple the ends in place. Pop the tea light in the jar and light it then place the paper over the jar.*

*don't leave the candle unattended and be sure that the jar is deep enough so there is no naked flame able to reach the paper.

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How To Make A Monster Box

We decided to give our craft supplies box a makeover. It was easy and fun to do.

What you need:

A box (we used a shoebox)

Kitchen paper

Paper glue 

Acrylic paint

White glue

Cardboard egg carton

Paintbrushes, water, cloth for spills.

Start by covering your box with a layer or two of paper towels, use the paper glue to stick the towels to the box. It may need a little time to dry.

Next, paint the white paper towels the base colour of the monster that you are going to make. We used a slime green colour.

While the painter is drying, cut out three parts from the egg carton to make the eyes. Use another section of the egg carton to make a nose. When the paint is dry, use the white glue to stick the egg cartons to the box.

Now tear some strips of kitchen paper and glue them to the base of the eyes and some more around the nose. You can also add a mouth if you like. Then make three eyebrows to go above the eyes, use the paper glue to stick these in place. Allowed to dry.

Here comes the fun part, first paint each eyeball white. Then add the iris and the pupil, add a tiny dot of white as reflection. Next, paint on the blood vessels start at the top and work down to the base of the eye, allow some red paint to dribble around the base of the eye.

As we used to slime green as the base colour for the monster, we mixed up some dark green to add definition. Have fun painting your monsters face. Allowed to dry.

We didn't have much time, so we only decorated the top of the box, turned on its side it's quite a scary monster. This technique using kitchen paper is a lot of fun and can be used for many different projects, such as the spell book that we made last year.

A quick house building tutorial...

My best mate has moved house this summer and I knew she would have her little boy under foot since they couldn't get him into nursery immediately and like me, she works from home. I decided to send them a pack of goodies to help occupy him as she dealt with setting up the new house and trying to get as much work in as possible.

This was one for the things we included, it is made out of stiff card, a simple house shape with one piece with a slot at the top and the other with a slot at the bottom so they just slot together. I drew on a few things to get him going but included crayons and stickers so he could finish decorating the house himself. 

I even found him some little people to play in the house, left over from the shop. If you have ever looked on Etsy and been shocked at the price of these hand painted people, let me tell you, whatever they are charging, they are probably making 7p an hour from it. I made a whole pile of these - one of my many 'genius' ideas! Loved doing it but when it came to pricing, it was ridiculous considering the amount of time it takes to do them.

Back to the point of the post - the house was super easy to make and of course packs flat, it would be easy to add in a travel bag or have one made up for your mommy bag for when you are having lunch out with friends etc.

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Nameko - the mushroom that is all the craze

It has to be said, Japan loves its mascots! Everywhere seems to have one, almost every company, each prefecture has one - ours is a purple pigeon! There was even something in the news last week about a prison getting their own mascot, heaven knows why!

When I first came to Japan, Afro-ken was all the rage, he was a little dog sporting different hair styles, there have been several others come and go in that time and now it seems to be the turn of Nameko. We were in the DVD/book shop the other day and Ebi-kun spotted this crafting Nameko book, well officially I think it is classed as a book (magazine/book hybrid). Inside are different crafty ideas to make your own Nameko, felt dolls, needle felted, rubber stamps, paper craft and felt badges.

Buy Amazon.com or  Amazon.jp  

He did pick out one of the more difficult felt dolls first but then came to his senses and decided on the plain standard Nameko to get him going. I dug into my felt supple, relieved to have the right colours in my magic felt bag.

I started him off on each section, showing him which stitch to use but basically he did it all himself. Took him about 2 hours, he did a great job and is very proud of himself!

And whilst he sewed I got out the rubber stamp carving kit, I haven't done any for a while but it didn't take me long to get back into it....I see Nameko is going to be taking over! 

Next up is a King Nameko and a needle felted one - watch this space!

What are your kids into at the moment, I can't get my head round cute mushrooms, must be my age :)

How to make your own erasers...

We had a full on day on Saturday, started with another trip to the doc, Ebi-kun had blisters appear on his elbows and chin, Doc confirmed it was Hand, Foot and Mouth disease he still has a sore throat but basically they can't do anything to help it.

Because we had been stuck in all week, we went over to the local prefecture pool, not to swim (not a good idea since HFM is contagious) instead we played ping-pong. Lots of fun, lots of giggling and just what we needed. Then we went to the mall for lunch and Daddy-ebi wanted to go to Uniqlo, I also picked up a new top and Ebi-kun got a bargain t-shirt and an eraser making kit. We knew there was a typhoon on the way so we stopped off at the Ice-cream farm for a medicinal ice-cream before doing the weekly shop. We got in just before the rain arrived. 

Yesterday, Ebi-kun decided to crack open his eraser making kit, I really wanted to play too but was reduced to the official photographer!

This is the set, they do doughnuts, fast foot, candy and cakes too. It was ¥525 and you get the moulds, clay and a box for cooking.

First spray the mould with water to stop the clay from sticking.

For some of the sushi parts you have to mix the colours yourself, this is egg so he just used the yellow provided. You need to knead the clay to soften it up so you can work with it.

Push the clay into the deeper side of the mould and squeeze the top on. When you open it up the excess will have squeezed out, just remove it with a toothpick.

Just do one piece at a time, this is the egg...

And this is the rice... For erasers with more than one colour you need to stick the parts together, dry the pieces first or they won't stick.

Using the box provided, put one piece of clay inside then cover with 1.5cm of water.

Zap in the microwave at 600w for 2 minutes, take it out tip the hot water out, refill with cool water for 3 minutes or so. (probably best if an adult does this)

Taa-daa - sushi erasers! This kept Ebi-kun busy for over an hour and we will use the moulds again with playdoh. 

*NOTE* Make she there is good ventilation when you are cooking the eraser and wash your hands well after using the clay, the chemical residue can have an effect on various surfaces if you don't.