Japanese Craft Books – Japanese Sewing, Pattern, Craft Books and Fabrics

Book Flip Through – Needle Felted Kittens (plus GIVEAWAY!)

February 2, 2019

Today’s review is another Japanese craft book that has been translated into English by Nippan IPS. It’s really amazing and I’ve never seen the likes of this level of artistry before. You really have to see it to believe it! The book sample was provided by Nippan IPS and they are also generously sponsoring a giveaway prize which I will talk about at the end of the post. Let’s have a look at the book first!

The title of the book is called Needle Felted Kittens, by Hinali, a needle felting artist. Hinali is a self taught needle felting artist who started felting in 2011, and participated in exhibitions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. After her creations were shown on TV, they quickly went viral and she’s super popular on IG. You can follow her on her Instagram account @hinali_felt for all of her felting creations. There are even some videos of her making the felt kittens and it’s really fascinating to watch!

The book starts off with a photo collection of needle felted cats that Hinali has made over the years. Then there is this page called Hinali’s cats, which I thought was a series of photos of her cats in real life that inspired her to make such life-like cats, before I took a closer look and realized they were actually needle felted cats. Hmm.. or are they are real cats? I can’t tell!!!

So how does one go about getting started on making such life-like cats? The book begins with the most basic techniques, and introduces you to all the materials and tools you need, how to blend wool to create different colors. There are even detailed photos to show you how to to hold a needle and prick wool correctly. Really beginner friendly.

There are also additional tips for creating very fine details, including how to create a cover to stop pricking your own fingers (those of you who have tried felting must have jabbed yourself before – like me! :P) as well as creating a longer needle to reach hard to reach areas.

There are also tips for cutting wool tufts, a Q&A section about very frequently encountered problems during felting and how to resolve them. I would say this is a very very detailed book with lots of hinali’s own needle felting techniques that will help you create not just kittens, but any other object you want to create.

The book then progresses to the projects you can make from this book. And the projects cover a variety of cats with different fur patterns and poses, so that you create your very own variation with your own cat! The projects include

Orange and white tabby kitten (in a sitting down pose)

Scottish Fold Cat (half-sitting up)

Tortoiseshell Cat (sitting catloaf style)

Tortoiseshell Point Siamese Cat (sitting) / Tortoiseshell-and-White Cat (lying down)

Cats with just their Faces , Cats inside Frames

Each of the project comes with really detailed step by step photos, plus all descriptions of the steps in English, so there is absolutely no problem understanding it!

If you are a cat owner or lover, or just want to try your hands at making one of these lifelike needle felted kittens, how about a giveaway?

GIVEAWAY

Want to learn how to make your own felted kitten? You might have a chance to win a copy of this book –
NEEDLE FELTED KITTENS by Hinali
generously sponsored by the publisher NIPPAN IPS!

This giveaway will run on my Instagram account only. Hop on over to take part!
IG page – https://www.instagram.com/japanesesewingbooks/

The giveaway will run for a week from today till 9th February (Sat) 0900hrs (UTC +8)

WHERE TO BUY

Can’t wait for the giveaway and want to buy own your own copy? Needle Felted Kittens (in English) is available on Amazon.com (Aff link)

0 Comments

Book Reviews Japanese Craft Books

Book Flip Through Review and Giveaway – Pom Pom Animals

November 19, 2018

Today’s book review is not a sewing book but a craft book, and it is oozing with so much cuteness that you will not be able to resist!

before I start, some back story about how I came to discover this book.

I received an email one day from a very nice lady called Yumi from Nippan IPS.NIPPAN IPS is one of the largest exporters and importers in Japan. They represent a lot of Japanese publishers and specialize in books on fashion, art, architecture, photography, hobby and travel. You can see their book catalogues on Issuu.com and it’s really exciting to find another source of Japanese books that have been translated to English!

Yumi told me that they have some very interesting Japanese sewing and craft books that have been, and will be translated soon. So she asked if I would like to take a look. I think the answer was clear! 🙂

So the first book I am reviewing today is called Pom Pom Animals, and yup it is literally making animals out of Pom Poms. If you think that the results will look like what you get from doing arts and crafts in grade school, well, be prepared to be amazed!

The author of the book is Tsubasa Kuroda, a.k.a. trikotri (her IG account has lots of cute pom pom animal pictures!), born in 1981 and graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts. She started working on pom-poms while working for a handicraft store, and now creates accessories and small handcrafts. She’s been selling pom pom animal kits for a while, and this was her first published book in 2016. Since then she has released 2 other books on pom pom animals as well.

But more about this book. This book was originally published in 2016, and very highly rated on Amazon. Lots of pictures and diagrams to follow and it shouldn’t be hard to follow even in Japanese, but guess what? Nothing beats having the book translated to English, and now it’s been done by Nippan IPS!

This book includes 45 products made of wool. You will also need some other simple materials like eyes and felt to complete the look.

There are soooooo many cute animals in the book that I’m just highlighting some of them here, because I will leave the rest for you to browse in the book flip-through video.

This was the first one that caught my eye, it really looks innocent (as described) doesn’t it? 😛

Literally lol-ed at this combination. It’s like a cat being caught trying to steal bread – it has this startled look, and it’s so small and cute, just the size of a little bun.

If you are not a fan of keeping real live pets, these are a great substitute! They are completely fuss free to keep and add so much color to the room.

Some more hidden pets…

you might think they are only good for display, but in the book there are instructions on how to adapt these pom poms, by adding a backing and brooch pins, to be used as decorative accessories.

Now you must be wondering, the pom pom animals look so life-like and realistic, it must be difficult to create right? Well, I wouldn’t say you are wrong, because you do need some artistic sense of balance to trim the pom poms into shape. But the instructions give you a very clear and precise method to the forming of the different colored layers. Straight down to the number of rounds you need to wind, as well as the angle you should wind it at. Here is an excerpt of the section on how to read the instructions.

Then more detailed pictures follow – there are a few animals which are demonstrated in full detail, the rest of the projects are basically variations in color and placement of the different layers /

I also found a YouTube video of an interview with the author – Tsubasa Kuroda and if you want to see more of her cute projects.

So by now you must be wondering, like I first did when I received the book. My kids and I were gushing over the cute pictures but could we actually make one ourselves? It seemed highly impossible. My kids requested for ME to make many of the animals, they couldn’t decide which one they liked best because they were all so cute. I asked THEM to make it themselves since they were just idling at home (School holidays have started). But they just rejected the idea, saying that they will never be able to make it as well.

I asked a friend to help me buy some pom pom makers – they are available in some craft shops in Singapore, but I only managed to pick it up from her about a week later. My kids jumped into making pom poms. They made like a box full of fluffy balls, but no one attempted the animals. So I asked my #2 to make me a white pom pom and said I would try the simplest bear pattern.

Ok so do you want to see what I made? Erm, it looks nothing like the ones in the book. I was trying to make a simple bear, since it was my first time and I had no idea if I was able to do the shaping. And so after I mustered up enough courage to make the first snips into that perfect ball of wool (it’s just a ball of wool!) I gathered momentum and went around snipping furiously. It was really therapeutic to hear the scissors go snip snip snip. Had to go slow and inspect it from all angles, to prevent over-zealous trimming… but it was not too bad!

Luckily I have some felting wool and my felting needs so the nose was quite easily done. I had some sew-in eyes too, but I felt they were too big, so I used simple black beads. I might have sewn them in a little too tight though, I thought the eyes were not so clear from the front view. But maybe a bit more trimming around the muzzle might help. All in all, I really surprised myself at what I could do! It was really simple to follow, just need a little patience.

From this angle you can see that it needs a bit more trimming around the sides, he still looks a bit scraggly….but I think I will leave it at that.

Then my eldest got inspired and she chose a harder project. Tadah!

So you can see, if you follow the instructions, it is not impossible! Just have to try…. If you are asking me to, is it necessary to have a pom pom maker? Not really, but it really helps. I’ve made lots of pom poms as a kid too, using two pieces of donut shaped cardboard but it is a lot easier to wind 400 rounds on each half because the pom pom maker is designed to open up and let you have full access to each semi-circle portion. They are not that expensive too and if you are keen on making a whole zoo of pom pom animals, this will be a great investment!

Do you feel like making these cute animals all by yourself? To get you kick started, we have a giveaway just for you!

GIVEAWAY

Would you like to make one of your own? You might have a chance to win a copy of this book – POM POM ANIMALS by trikotri
generously sponsored by the publisher NIPPAN IPS!

PLUS I will also send you
a set of 4 Clover pom pom makers (35/45/65/85mm)
all the sizes you need to make the pompom animals in the book!

This giveaway will run on my Instagram account only (due to FB’s confusing maze of rules).

IG page – https://www.instagram.com/japanesesewingbooks/

The giveaway will run for a week from today till
Monday 26th Nov 9am UTC +8hrs).