DIY Chinese New Year Decoration : Beautifying the Mystic Knot "如意结"

Hey Folks,

Here's a great kick-start for the up & coming Chinese New Year!

I have decided to place my bets with the great auspicious Mystic Knot which had been my all-time favourite ...

The Mystic Knot which is also known as Endless Knot or simply known as "如意结" in Chinese is something that I hold near & dear to my heart when it comes to home decoration and even fashion accessories.

 

It is represented by the infinity sign drawn 6 times and symbolizes an endless amount of good fortune & is believed to neutralise negative energy coming towards one's way.

 

The Mystic Knot is also one of the 8 auspicious symbols found in Buddhism and is a common sight in temples.

 

My idea of beautifying a ready-made mystic knot had been inspired by the existing décor at shopping malls.  I'm sure many of us might have a strong urge to bring back one of these pretty-looking décor for the Chinese New Year! 

Unfortunately, it isn't for sale ...

I started scouting through search engines for more ideas.

Finally, I got inspired into doing something similar with a mystic knot after I chanced upon this photograph which was taken by a blogger at The Heeren during the Chinese New Year 5-6 years ago.

This is my version which I made using a ready-made Chinese New Year decoration that was faulty at the centre and ready to be discarded by a retail store selling such décor.  The bright red loops made up for part of the mystic knot all around the sides & there were a huge gaping hole at the centre where some decorative object was missing.

The store was kind enough to let me have it as they couldn't sell something that was faulty.

I was worried that my idea of attaching these flowers at the gaping hole would come to naught and bought a red solid looking mystic knot made of red velvet from China Town as part of my contingency plan.

For a brief summary on how I DIY-ed the floral arrangement using the Mystic Knot, please watch my video titled "Blooming" the Mystic Knot as shown below:

 

I'm sorry that some of the photographs weren't able to show how pretty the Mystic Knot looked against the wall as there were backlighting issues & my walls were painted with a glossy paint that deflected lighting.

 

As such, the real item when seen in person looked a lot more saturated in terms of colour vibrancy just like how it is seen in the photograph below :

 

(Tips :  U could purchase a mini décor of your choice & tie it like what I did to the bottom of the larger Mystic Knot which would normally come with its own pair of red tassels.  I have decided to omit using its gigantic red tassels as it's too much of a cliché.  Hence, I decided on trying something new by tying a miniature décor of my choice at the bottom to give it a customised outlook.)

 

And please do pardon me for any grammatical errors of the caption shown in the video ... It was too much of a hassle to make amendments & reload the video all over as it is very time consuming to do so.  Sorry about the eye sore with grammatical errors!

 

May this 2014 be a prosperous year for all.  Gong Xi Fa Cai !


 

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part IX) : Black Kitty & an assortment of other fortune cats

Hubby Dearest was in love with a black porcelain cat that was already sold out by Siri Paradise.  Typical of fortune cats which were modelled to protect its owners, it emanated a quiet elegance with a subdued feline gracefulness.

Isn't its glossy black coat beautiful looking?

Since Hubby Dearest top choice was already out of stock and we were wondering which part of our home could accommodate such a huge black cat, we had decided to settle down for a miniature version that was both adorable & space-saving.  Isn't he cute looking?

 

We had named him blackie for simplicity.

Jacy from Siri Paradise had thrown in a Japan imported black lacquered display stand which my newly acquired black kitty "Blackie" is seated on with the red felt fabric that came with him.

Jacy had also showed me a calico version of Blackie which you could see here in the photograph below:

However, Hubby Dearest was so taken in by Blackie that we stuck fast to our one & only choice.

We have also taken a photo shot of both cats standing side by side to each other - Happy posing!

Apart from our earlier couple figurine (which was fitted in royal outfits), which we placed in our living room, we bought another version of the couple cat figurine.

Unlike its earlier royal counterpart, this version was cast out in glossy porcelain & trimmed in gold accents.

It was a dainty looking little treasure and we wasted no time in placing them in our bedroom... where they lived happily ever after like any couple in a fairy tale!

I also bought this pretty & cute looking porcelain cup fashioned in the form of Maneki-neko 招き猫.  It was too pretty to be used.  Thus, I have stored it away for the time being until the opportunity arises for me to bring it out for use.

You could guess why I found this cup adorable... The Cup was so "well-dressed" from top to toe, and all the way to the back of its "body" - not forgetting the stubby looking tail and other pretty details such as the Sakura flower & Mount Fuji, which are auspicious symbols of Japan.

Jacy had also brought with her a huge galore of other Maneki-neko 招き猫 which you could have a quick glance by watching the You-tube video that I have created below & I hope that all fans of the Maneki-neko 招き猫 would enjoy it!

 

 

Due to time constraints, I have singled out to feature this pretty Japanese imported  Maneki-neko 招き猫 here in my blog.  It doubles up as a coin bank.

 

 

It's holding onto a stack of miniature Japanese currencies which are printed very nicely on both sides.

 

 

 

This cat figurine is also wearing a red bib with a golden tone bell that's moulded into its chest as shown in the photograph below:

 

 

 

 

 

 



 



Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part VII) : Fujisan --- The Golden Opportunity Cat

From the very first time I set my sight on the Golden Opportunity Cat, I knew that he was mine.

 

Once again, I acquired this Maneki-neko 招き猫 from Siri Paradise with a wide smile plastered to my face when I place him next to Koban, another of his senior & hopefully, would serve as his mentor.

I observed that the porcelain tone of this cat isn't as white as compared to Sakura & Le-Petit's.  He had a sort of light grayish undertone to his white porcelain.

Nevertheless, the pricing was a lot lower than the rest of products I have bought from Siri Paradise.   As such, it's value for money given the quality as you could see in the upcoming video clip I did for the cat.

The auspicious symbols are of great significance to those of us who have career ambitions in mind.  The brinjals, fish, golden flower petals, etc ...

As such, I was very happy to have him at home.




In view of the many Maneki-neko 招き猫 at home, I ran out of ideas in naming him.  After much contemplation, his name was inspired by the symbols of Japan's great Mount Fuji on both sides of his chubby body - Fujisan.

It was said that Mount Fuji got its name from the word "immortality", which surprisingly is written as 不死 and read as pu-see in Japanese.

There were also other auspicious symbols, such as the brinjals & fish, found on Fujisan which had me sold on him when Jacy of Siri Paradise first showed him to me.

And Fujisan is also outfitted with a gold-tone bell at the collar, which my Maneki-neko 招き猫would never be perceived as complete should it be without it (bell).

Fujisan is fashioned in a crouching position such that he was pouncing onto a gold-tone bell which was in fact sewn onto his collar.

I was surprised to learn from Jacy that this bell isn't just there for decorative purposes.  It signifies golden opportunities knocking on his owner's door and grabbing them at every chance when they come rolling our way!

Before penning off, I would like to share the following photographs on Fujisan :

Isn't Fujisan a darling?  ( ^.^ )

By the time I pen-off this write-up on Fujisan, I'm already panting with exhaustion & exhilaration.  With Hubby Dearest overlooking from the back of my shoulder and shaking his head ...

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part VI) : Couple Cat Figurine

I first spotted this couple cat figurine on taobao.com while I was surfing through the internet few weeks ago.

I didn't realise that Siri Paradise has this item until Jacy showed it to me during her visit to my home.

 

永浴爱河 (Yong Yu Ai He) was what Jacy said to me when she showed me this pretty couple cat figurine.  It's a Chinese idiom for conjugal bliss which meant "to bathe in a river of love forever".

 

We "glorified" the couple cat figurine by placing it right amongst our wedding photographs that were displayed in photo frames of all sizes.

 

 

We also did a video clip of this couple cat figurine by placing it on a revolving platform. 

It's my second video but I'm a bit disappointed by the outcome because the video looked a bit blurry.  *sigh* :( 

I suspected that it could be a result of editing & conversion into a file that's acceptable on Youtube that compromised the video quality ... The video clip which I recorded using iphone looks really sharp & clear though.
 

Anyway, here are more photographs of the couple cat figurine :

Stay tuned for my next write-up on the Golden Opportunity Cat! 

Coming soon in the next episode of Maneki-Neko ...

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part V) : Solar-powered Cat --- by Kimura Ohshido (from Siri Paradise)

I bought this solar powered cat on the same day as Le Petit from Jacy of Siri Paradise.  It's another high quality Japanese craft from Kimura Ohshido in Japan.

 

 

 

It's a cute little thing that's great for those of us who had a soft spot for small & kawaii (adorable) stuff such as myself.

 

I did a video clip on this solar powered cat.  However, it seems amateurish as it's the first video I have created.  I'm hopeful that my video editing techniques would be more polished in the near future.

 

Here comes my humble video (^.^) ...

 

Jacy had mentioned to me that the supplier claimed that the solar powered cat is going to last forever.  I'm hoping that it lasts too as it's such an adorable-looking thing to fall in love with & laugh at it each time I set eyes on it!   ( ^ . ^ )  ... And it's also because of the somewhat hefty price tag that came with it too ...

 

The cat's ticking tail derives its energy from a mini solar strip (I think it's known as a solar cell) that's found on solar powered calculators which are commonly found in stationery stores.

We were very surprised that this item has a very sensitive mechanism such that the cat would start wagging its tail in an upward motion swinging from side to side under natural light.  The windows are more than 3 meters away from the solar powered cat's location & yet, the cute kitty cat would start ticking its tail like a metronome for musicians.

I observed that the cat would start wagging its tail gradually after 7 AM in the morning & start picking up its speed within half an hour, maintaining its "wagging speed" all the way past 6 PM in the evening.  That's a good 12 hours of tail swinging every day! ;)

As you could see from the photograph, the product is certified to be made in Japan with a set of serial numbers.

Jacy has other designs of solar powered cats & dogs which are a lot larger in size & in a stand-alone design up for grabs.  Not as dainty as this version that I bought but still worth buying especially for avid fans of  Maneki-neko 招き猫!

Ganbatte! 頑張って !

__________________________________________________________________________

Disclaimer:

Kindly note that this blogging article is created strictly for the purpose of sharing my humble & objective views of products sold by the aforesaid company.

 

I am not affiliated to Siri Paradise or Kimura Ohshido mentioned in this blogging entry. 

 

Reader's discretion is therefore sought when viewing this thread and making any purchases with the sellers.

 

Thank you for your kind understanding.

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part IV) : Le-Petit

Shortly after I acquired Sakura whose featured in my preceding blogging entries, I was struck by the beauty of yet another fortune cat with a distinctive hallmark of purple wisteria flowers on his body as illustrated on the website of Siri Paradise.

Although I told myself that Sakura would be the last kitty cat I would acquire for our home as I'm quite a neat freak myself & dislike cluttering, my resolution melted at the sight of this new cat ... I started rationalising my purchase in favour of this adorable & petite cat since he is smaller than Sakura in size, wouldn't take up much space, blah blah blah ...

And I was even more convinced that I was buying from the right seller as I had very positive vibes about Jacy, the owner of Siri Paradise just by receiving her first response via email for my enquiry about the new cat (which I did eventually purchase from her).

Jacy is very frank about the origin of the porcelain Maneki-neko 招き猫 I was enquiring about - I was a bit dumbfounded that she had been so generous in sharing her knowledge & expertise about Maneki-neko 招き猫 with a potential buyer (referring to myself) whose a total stranger to her.  Such transparency coming from an entrepreneur is indeed a rarity today.  And I am so grateful for making her acquaintance through Maneki-neko 招き猫.

As I was still nursing a swollen ankle, she had been kind enough to make a home delivery without imposing any extra charges for transportation.  She had also been very polite in asking for permission to show me other items from Kimura Ohshido during her visit to my home.  Non-obligatory as she's assured me ...

Now let's get our focus back on our newly acquired Maneki-neko 招き猫 from Siri Paradise.  Although he is smaller in size as compared to Sakura, he too has sakura flowers but in a lighter shade of pink, long sprays of purple wisteria and other flowers adorning his white porcelain body.  An emblem of good luck & wishes that came with the cat ...

You guys must be wondering why I referred this cat to a "he" and not a "she" since flowers are always associated with femininity.  Well, my interpretation is such that since his head isn't decorated with flowers, then he could be a he-cat.  A little brother to Sakura.

After much contemplation, I decided to name him Le-Petit, which is the masculine version of La Petit in French.

The photographs attached below shows logos & "trademarks" on Le-Petit :

Apart from the Japanese wordings that are engraved on the side of Le-Petit, the gold-tone bell with heart-shaped holes in the form of an opening at the bottom shaped like a  double-edged oar is another signature accessory that came with him :

The Photograph attached below shows a photo-shot of Le-Petit with details of Kimura Ohshido's history & Japanese crafts printed in Japanese language on the reverse of Siri Paradise's name card.

 

 

Le-Petit is in fact a snow white & light coloured cat when seen in real person.  The photographs below would show him in his coat of pristine white porcelain, adorned with floral themed intricacies.  And associated with femininity. 

 

Perhaps the creator of this style of cat had refrained from placing flowers on top of its head like in Sakura's case as it'll be overdone up since its body is already embellished with plenty of flowers. 

 

However, I'm sticking to my guns and calling Le-Petit a male cat.  Hah! :)

 

 



 

 

Here are more photographs of Le-Petit, beautified further with the use of our camera and pilxr.com's editing tools :



As the saying goes that old habits die hard, I hate to admit that I'm currently obsessed with fortune cats and got myself other Maneki-neko 招き猫 products from Jacy of Siri Paradise ... much to the resignation of Hubby Dearest even though he was equally in love with our brood of fortune cats.

So stay tuned for my other upcoming blogging entries on Maneki-neko 招き猫 ...

さようなら (Sayonara) for now!

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part III) : Sakura --- Candid Camera

Sakura is currently seated right on my desk & I can't deny the fact that she is indeed adorable looking and too eye-catching to be neglected by anybody seated at the desk or standing nearby.

 

She has received lot's of compliments from visitors with her plump figure & those colourful auspicious symbols adorning her white porcelain body.  The pretty smile on her face makes me smile & laugh at times.  Kawaii!

 

I had taken several snapshots of Sakura and used Pilxr.com to edit a couple of them, playing around mostly with the tone of colour for these photographs...

 

 

 

If there are any new photographs of Sakura that are worth uploading after fanciful editing, I would be uploading in this blogging entry.

 

So for those of you who are interested, please stay tuned for more photographs (if any) in the near future...

 

ありがとう! (Thank You)