Bath Time Frog

This is David (15 mo.) using a Little frog hooded towel. I hope bath time is a little more fun with the towel.Thank you Ben for sending me the four adorable photos and allowing me to use them.

Happy holidays to everyone. Have a safe and joyous time with family and friends.

Frog.

This customize created towel has a larger hood and uses the Dino towel's green. Currently I will just do larger hoods by request.

It was another year of interesting craft fairs. I am partially glad I did not sign up for more shows/ fairs. I have not really started on Holiday shopping and plans. Half the month has flown by again with out my realizing.

Flower

I'm not sure why I used pink and white when I made the original Flower hat. Especially since there are several combinations that would work. I got a request for a black hat with a white flower.

The thing with custom orders is, if I want to see a particular item in its completed form or if there it is something that requires making a new pattern or recalculating dimensions, I seem to forget for a moment that I have prioritized list of Things-to-do that I try to follow. The white flower on the black hat is quite striking.

Reindeer...

I'll be at Aliiolani this coming Saturday(12/5) in the cafeteria again.

I've sketched this over and over again. Pondering the color combination... the antler shape... etc... There are different shaped little antlers scattered in my work space. I had antlers pinned onto the mannequin head so that I could see how they would stand up.

The time in between the end of the year craft fairs that I attend leaves me little time to create and make new creations. But I really wanted to have these available this year.

Moo, moo, moo...

I finally took the time to make a black and white cow. I decided to use the stumpy horns. To make it different from the brown and white cow, I made one ear white and one ear black. Both ears have a inner ear color of black. The horns are an off white color.

I was at Aiea Elementary School this past Saturday. The day started off on the cooler side but soon became hot. There was a slight drizzling rain that made the day humid.

The next craft fair I will be at is in Kaimuki. There is a craft fair at the NBC this weekend, hopefully I will have time to go as a shopper.

Ivory cat.

I made the cat in an off white color that I will call ivory.

What is it?

I just realized I did not post my pink(melon colored) towel here. I created to be a pink/ melon colored cat. People have guessed it to be other animals. The bunny is another one that people tend to say it looks like a dog. Which is one of the reason I am hesitant when people ask me what it is. I feel it is the imagination of the individual to see what they want in the things I make. This is one of the reasons I stay more on the abstract side and not add details like eyes.

Because of the inquiries I decided to stop procrastinating on making a dog towel. I was trying to figure out the type of ears and how to make the coloration different than the other towels. Kent suggested making the ears one color and the rest of the towel another. I happen to like floppy ear dogs, so I gave it beagle like ears. I'm thinking of making one in all dark brown to be more like a dachshund.

Pock

Aliiolani this past Saturday was interesting. The weather was not as cold as I would like. It rained a bit but all that did was make it a little more humid. The cafeteria is on the cooler side and my table was close to the doors where occasionally there was a nice breeze.

I have two hats that I have not had the time to post about...

Mouse

A mouse in gray. The mouse was sitting in pieces as I was still debating on making it light brown or gray. Then there was the shape and size of the ears. I went big with the ears with a slight fold to give it some dimension.

Chicken

I had the same issues with the chicken, color of white or brown. And the shape and size of the comb. I went with white and a small red comb.

Monkey

This last picture is of the monkey hat. I've been using the picture of a small size monkey which does not fit on the mannequin, this will be the updated picture. I've also decide to change the look of the ears. It will no longer be dark in back and light in front. The ears will be all light colored on both sides.

*I almost forgot to explain my title. I grew up with chickens. And I have always thought they said pock pock. I know people will usually say cluck cluck or bwak bwak. If you have the chance listen to a chicken, and see what you think. *grin* *pock pock*

Craft fair at Aliiolani November 14

I'll be in the cafeteria at,

Aliiolani School(6th & Waialae Ave.)

Nov. 14 8 a.m- 2 p.m.

SBC @ NBC October 2009: Day 2 & 3

Towel display

I'm placing day 2 and 3 together because I find that the three days are actually all blurred into one. Or maybe it is just that my memory isn't as good as it once was. *sigh*

The second day was +10 hours at the Neal Blaisdell Center. I met many interesting people. A few people were dressed up for Halloween. I also saw shoppers that I remembered/ recognized from last years craft fair. I had some repeat customers, thanks for coming back and shopping at Little frog's pond.

The day went by quickly as I said "Hi" to people, and I watched as their faces changed to a smile. Those smiles really make the day go by faster. I did get a few people saying to me "it's too hot here," or gave a 'you're crazy' look. But as I've said before I use my hat or scarf instead of a jacket. The air conditioning in the NBC would have made me cold if I wasn't wearing my hat. But it seems most of the shoppers were feeling hot walking around.

Last year I didn't see the almost empty room, since I had an easy pack up and was able to leave right away. This year as I was waiting with my last load of stuff, I got to see the curtains being taken down. And the +200 vendors leaving. The room seemed vast in its emptiness.

All the booths packed up and leaving

SBC @ NBC October 2009: Day 1

This is my second year at the Season's Best Craft fair at the Neal Blaisdell Center. The day did not seem as long this time, because this time I had an idea of how time can stretch out longer than it is when sitting in a booth. It also helped that I knew where I was going since I was in the same booth as last year.

I actually do not remember much of the first day, just that it was a whirl wind of packing up things and trying to fit everything in for transportation. I also had a bunch of other things that I just realized the day before that I had not done. Like redoing my Photo book.

Yawning frog

I got a new picture for my collection and photo book. What a cute frog. Couple months old in an Extra Small hat.

OPEN: Little frog Web Store

Little frog Web Store is no longer closed for construction. The store uses PayPal. It is also in the process of being expanded. Any hats, towels, etc. not seen can still be ordered by email. Also custom designed hat orders can be made via email or phone.

Thank you Kent! For all the help in getting the Web Store working. HTML, DW and all the other things used to make a Web Page is not as easy as most people say.

End of October

I'll be at NBC this weekend. Hopefully I have the fair hours correct.

Neal Blaisdell Center

Oct. 30 5 p.m.- 9 p.m.

Oct. 31 9 a.m.- 7 p.m.

Nov. 1 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.

October seems to have flew by. This year my items will be packaged. My brother bought me clear bags while he was in Japan. I've been looking for something to package my hats in. I wonder if I had mentioned it to him or he just read my mind.

I also will have a new item. I made a stocking stuffer coaster. If you are looking for that little something to add on to a gift or something to stick into a stocking. Below are just some of the colors and prints that will I have.

"...Toothy..."*

Custom dragon and shark

I received photos in my email inbox! Thank you Kelani and Kehanu for these pictures and for becoming Little frog hat owners. Hope you had a great time paint balling.

When people mention paint balling to me, all I can think of is the time I went paint balling and got shot on the palm side of my wrist. I had on long sleeves, but the impact was strong enough to break my skin. Which left me bleeding and with a fairly sore wrist. So please be careful out there.

* This blogs title is taken from a comment by Winky(I have assigned him a new nickname, we will see how long it will last or if it is rejected.) He called these hats toothy... which they are. When I hear the word toothy it makes me smile. Thanks Winky!

A horse of course...

Horse(front view)

I was looking through my hat photos and came across this. This horse was created after much pondering on which colors to use. I made it with brown, black and tan. It has been a while since I have seen a horse up close, so hopefully I have captured the shape of the ears correctly.

Horse (side view)

I went with a light color mane because I wanted it to stand out. This is the first one I made, and I am still not sure if I want to decrease the strands in the mane or not. It has been packed away for a while now. I think it is time to take it out and rethink the design, or maybe just create more like it in different sizes.

Bear... hood.

I just realized that I posted a picture of the bear hooded towel, but did not write a blog about it. I only made two of these bears. Using the same color as the monkeys I decided to try something different.

I am still debating on making more of these. There are four ears that I was going to use that are sitting on the side because I decided I wanted a different shape and color combination. These big ears remind me of a mouse. I guess it could be a big brown mouse. I will just leave it up to the viewers imagination...

Custom dragon.

Sketch of spikes

I have had requests for dragons before. People seem to just ended up with Dino hats. So when I was presented with a finalized order for a dragon... I just could not resist the challenge and spent the last few days finishing it. I managed to cram in pattern making, cutting and sewing. Luckily during the order process I was already working on the patterns.

Custom Dragon(side view)

And although it is not completely finished I took the final pictures of it. The final hand stitching is of the lining. That will happen tonight or tomorrow morning.

This hat has a lot going on. It has custom spikes that have detailing stitches to create a web look. Two rows of spikes that form a V pattern. And teeth on the earflaps. Even though I thought it would be too much on the hat, I went with what was requested. In the end I really like how it looks.

Custom Dragon(back view)

I'm so happy how it turned out that I really wanted to blog it today!

Dino request

Teeth... I am debating on making this a regular item. I still remember when creating the original Dino hat I was conflicted of what to put on it. I recall going with a simple spike design. Recently I had a request for teeth to be added.

Custom Dino with teeth

I really like how it came out. I wanted the teeth to be a little more chunky, but I wanted to get it done by a deadline and did not feel I had time to redo the teeth. The teeth did get replaced once and I was happy with how it looked on the second time attached. I do not mark any angles for the teeth so each tooth has a different shape. I start with a large rectangle of material and run it through the machine moving it based on what I feel will be the right angle. The earflaps were done a little longer by request.

Web store

I have yet to finish creating my web store. I finally decided on a banner for the store. This time I made sure to mark my colored pencils. The scanner does not always scan the colors like they appear and I spent a while trying to figure out which ones I used for "Pond under Construction" picture.

More sharks...

When I got the request for a great white hat, I envisioned a hat similar to the ear flap ones I make. But the creation(July 30, 2009 post) turned to be a cap with a visor. I recently got another inquiry of a shark hat. So I once again pulled out my sketches and what I had been working on and started to finish an idea that was set aside.

It is not what I had envisioned. Still when I look at it I feel that i see a shark.

I think I got the blog bug. Or maybe I just need a break from other things. I do have a back log of things I would like to write about. I just rather not place it all in a long blog.

Quack

How did August sneak up on me? I feel as if I am still in June.

I remember having ducks when I was younger. Ducklings were so fuzzy and cute as they swam in the water. Ducks can also be mean. I still remember the pain of being bit by a duck. And all I was doing was feeding it some lettuce.

Duck hooded towel

As I fondly remember yellow ducklings, I created a duck hooded towel.

I debated on doing eyes on this towel. I went with my normal philosophy of simplicity and allowing the imagination of the view to interpret my creation.

Shark cap.

I sent a picture of my work to my brother to get his opinion. He told me that it looked scary. But doesn't a shark instill fear in people?

I like how the front turned out. I think if I were to make this again I would change the back a little and the lining would be different.

Chomp chomp!

A few months ago I was asked if I could make a great white shark hat. I sure hope it wasn't an order being placed because I treated it as an inquiry. I seem to get quite a few people with suggestions which makes me think of thinks in different ways. So, I pondered of what would make a person think 'shark' since most of my creations are semi abstract.

I personally think of the famous great white in"Jaws" and the big open mouth full of teeth. But the more I thought about it, different aspects of a shark came to mind. Working with pictures of great whites and a sketch sent in to me, I did create a hat, which I will later blog about.

Right now I am engrossed in hooded towels. So why not a shark robe?

Shark hooded towel

When I first saw this blue I knew I wanted to do something with it, I just didn't know what at the time. Chomp... an idea... a shark! I decided to go with teeth and a fin as distinguishing marks of a shark. This hood was on my mannequin for a few weeks as I pinned and re-pinned.

Shark hood

Chomp... Chomp!

Ideas...

hand painted panda

Funny how images and ideas look different in my head, then sort of mutates onto paper then into creation. I have used pandas in the past, I still have a panda mug I made in high school. There are the panda hats I made. And the hat I made for my cat. So... here they are panda towels!!

Panda hooded towel

Why did this take so long? The search for black towel materials to work with was always something I have been looking for. I was also hesitant to work with white towels, which is one of the reasons I made a brown bunny instead of a white one. I like the black and white contrast of a panda, and originally wanted more black on the hooded towel.

Panda sketch

I am happy with how it looks. Maybe I will change it later, but for now all white with black ears is what it will be.

Trademark(ed)

Not many posts lately. But I thought I would post this.

What is it? It is one of the two United States Patent and Trademark certificate of registrations that I received. After months of waiting and sending in applications, I can now officially add the ® to Little frog. I wasn't using TM but maybe I should have been.

I chose not to do any of the craft fairs in the first half of the year. But I am looking forward to doing some of the ones that are coming up.

PM blanket

One quality I like about a blanket is softness.  This is a fleece blanket with a satin trim, which makes it soft and smooth.

 

I decided not to do the back in flannel because Hawaii can be hot.  The fleece was printed but looked okay on the reverse side.  The trim is about two inches in width.  I do not recall the size of the blanket,  I think I made it ~50 x 60, but it might have been smaller.

The trim was done over several days because I hand-stitched it and wanted the stitches to be small.  It was the first time I worked with this particular type of satin.  I was careful when cutting in to the yardage, as well as making sure I ironed and pinned it carefully.  I have done embroidery in the past, so I did an embroidered name on the trim using a backstitch.  

Snowy slopes

Yay!  I really enjoy getting pictures of Little frog items being used. Out of the pictures sent to me, I narrowed it down to eight and then looking at how long this blog would get I finally settled on five.

Ears a flapping

Hopefully ears were kept warm while zooming down the slopes in Tahoe.  It makes me smile when I think of the Jack's ears flapping in the breeze.

Pink meow

Snow boarding looks fun.  Unfortunately I have never tried it myself.  The only snow I have ever encountered was up on Mauna Kea.

  

Dwight wearing the Jack

Claudia wearing Pink cat

If you are lucky enough to go up to Mauna Kea(elevation 13,803 ft) when there is snow, you will of course see guys shoveling snow into trucks, with their beverages chilling at their feet.  They will be wearing normal clothes(jeans and a shirt, possibly shorts) and they might have even taken off their jacket or shirt.  People put the snow into their yards and build snowmen that quickly melt in the warm day.  There are warning signs posted about the rocks that can be found at the bottoms of the hills.  Yet, people still ski and even slide down the slopes with their boogie boards.

Shadow of Jack and Cat

I think this is my favorite picture out of the ones sent to me.  If you look closely at the shadow you can see what I think is a single Jack ear flapping in the wind.

Thank you for the great pictures!

Spikes

No ears this time, it is spikes on the hood.  I played around with the way in which I made these spikes.  I am thinking of making the dino hat in the same manner.  

Dino hood

This towel has been in my to be blogged about pile for a little while now,  really nothing to say about it but.. raaawr!  

Dino hooded towel

The other day I was thinking about how as a child we associate sounds to animals, monsters, insects, etc and use the sounds instead of using the names they have.  But as an adult we tend to use the name if talking about the animal, monster, insect, etc.  I think sometimes the sound associated with the thing is all you need.

Rawr.

Adorable kittens.

I got some pictures sent to me tonight, and got the 'okay' to use them. Jordyn(2y 10m) and Jacie(~1 y-o) are so adorable wearing the Certain(one of my custom made hats.)

Jacie

I think out of the pictures I could choose from, this is my favorite picture.  Jacie is playing with her toy, but still posing for the camera.

Jacie

The hat was ordered for Jacie, but Jordyn is enjoying it also.

Jordyn

Jordyn

I hear there is a photo of Jordyn's and Jacie's dad in the hat.  Maybe he will send it in?  Thank you for the pictures and allowing me to use them.

It is nice to see this hat on a smaller head.  I designed it without a model and it has been changed each time I make one.  I am still looking for a child sized mannequin head to work with.