Have some fun getting creative with our new range of washi tapes and stickers!
Here at Zusetsu we've had a tremendous time getting creative with our fun washi tapes and cherry blossom petal stickers! Using a hardback sketchbook we've created some cute decorative pages to remind us of our special days in Kyoto, and the fun we had growing Zusetsu last year!
We'd love our ideas to act as a springboard to help you create your own journal or scrapbook to record and keep your special days and holidays!
A keepsake book of memories is a lovely personal book to gift to someone you love, and you can add to it entrance tickets or little illustrated maps - anything to remind you of the fun you had together! :)
We've decorated our journal by sticking scattered cherry blossom sakura petal stickers, and we've made cute page borders out of strips of colourful washi tape!
Our mini photos are printed on a small Polaroid printer. They make a great addition to a keepsake book of special memories!
We're using the wonderful Tombow brushpens in a range of colours to draw and write with. The brush end of the felt-tip pen is flexible, so you can get different line-weights by putting a little bit of pressure on it as you write. The other end of the pen is a regular felt-tip, and is great for doing little sketches of flowers, hearts, and stars :)
The gentle stick of washi tape means that it can be carefully repositioned. On this page I've also stuck a tiny origami crane that was given to me when I was last in Kyoto.
I bought the set of postcards that show scenes of Kyoto at the Golden Pavilion Kinkakuji. The prints are by Kyoto katazome-dyer, and Japanese National Treasure, Inagaki Toshijiro.
Katazome is a kind of dye blocking method which uses a starch resist. The design is drawn onto persimmon tannin-covered paper, and areas for colour printing are carefully cut out. The starch resist is pasted through the stencil and acts as a colour blocker. When the paste has dried the first dyes are applied, the starch is rinsed away, and the print is dried. Our amazing Kata Kata furoshiki (see below) are made using this process, too!
On the following page I've pasted an entrance ticket for the beautiful Higashiyama temple called Kiyomizudera.
Beautiful Kiyomizudera.
The page is bordered by cute washi tapes, that remind me of my many times lingering in the stationery floor of Loft, and also of the constant delight of seeing cute artwork on posters, subway trains, and packaging in Japan!
Dazzling Eikandou in the Fall
I couldn't believe how beautiful Kyoto is in the Fall. The colours of the leaves set against the bright vermilion reds of the temples and torii gates are absolutely dazzling. I loved to see the star-shape acer leaves floating on top of the ornamental ponds of the Silver Pavilion Ginkakuji, and Eikandou Temple. The pools are multi-layered visual treats of shadows, reflections, and movements as the silver and red koi glide through the green depths.
Eikandou koi pool
So Get Creative!
Below is a photocopy of a beautiful ukiyoe by Ito Shinsui called Tanabata Festival. I thought it would be fun to recolour the girl's kimono and obi sash using our Washi Tapes. I've recoloured the little wish card that she's hanging in the bamboo using our Panda Washi Tape :)
It's easy to do: I simply made a second photocopy of the picture and cut out the kimono and the obi sash. Then I drew around these shapes carefully on some white paper with a pencil. Next, I stuck parallel strips of washi tape right across the shapes, overlapping the pencil edges. I cut these shapes out and glued them to the original picture, and then, finally, I drew around the shapes carefully in pencil just to give it a bit more definition :)
You could apply this same idea to so many objects: greeting cards, bookmarks, the list is endless!
We have a growing collection of stationery instore online - these origami stars have been created using our gorgeous Japanese Chiyogami papers!
Tanabata Festival by Ito Shinsui recoloured with our Washi Tapes!
This is a photocopy of my illustration for our Snowflower Postcard. I've recoloured the little girl's kimono and obi sash using our Butterfly and Baby Blue Eyes Washi Tapes!
Bande Sakura Petals peel off individually!
You can have so much creative fun using our washi tapes, origami papers, and these amazing Bande Sakura Petals which come on a washi tape sticker roll. Why not make a drift of cherry blossom petals across your pages, or stick 5 together in the centre to make cherry blossom flowers!
We would love to see photos of your fantastic artwork! Do send them across! :)
We hope you have enjoyed this article, and if you have, why not take a look at our article How to Create a Furoshiki Cover for a Favourite Book - you can read it here!
Thank you for reading,
Cathy and Yukki
xx
