Will this dream of mine happen?

My wall is almost maxed out.
 

I am halfway though making this lovely wall art decor - Celebrating Puerto Rico. Each mask was inspired by the town's flag.

I'm excited that soon I'll see my vision come to fruition. I dream of having an art exhibition one day.

If you enjoy seeing my handmade artwork, please support my efforts here: 

SybariteStudio.Etsy.com

Welcome your love and support. Thank you.

Celebrating Puerto Rico Postcards

 

I'm thrilled to announce the availability of postcards on my sybaritestudio.etsy.com store.

Here's a quick video of them:

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A post shared by Sybarite Studio (@sybaritestudio)

Life's Challenges, Reset, and more

 

Well, from my last post earlier this "Missing Puerto Rico"... I was able to be back on the island of Puerto Rico.  Sadly to say it was not for pleasure instead to help my parents.   My father was in hospital and my mother needed help.  The challenge was getting there safely and waiting to make sure I could travel.

First time traveling to the island where I arrived at night.  Pretty neat seeing the island all lite up from the air....

After several weeks of helping my parents, I left them in good standing.  I'm grateful to my sibling for helping out or else most of the task won't have been completed. Our parents are better today than they were in April.  Grateful and thankful to all the people out there who help my father to recover.  More so during this most unusual period of time --  one word, "Pandemic."

Upon my return home, at the airport as I walked to my gate, I passed several stores but one totally caught my eyes... You can see why....

Look at the sign, it says, "Isla Del Encanto" (English... the Island of Enchantment)
So true, I left this magical place feeling inspired and energized. 

Once home, I took a few days to recover.  Exploring my garden and discovering all the blooming flowers.  This sunflower is just beautiful.  I just had to capture this moment.

Meanwhile, I reassessed the work I left unattended when I left to Puerto Rico.  One project that I had in mind for a long time but had yet to actually address it was to create my own workstation.  Thus, I looked around and saw the opportunity to create one... 

I cleared out my new space and painted it with a vibrant light color to reflect the light in such a tight space. Next up, I went through the recycled materials that I had been saving up for a raining day... After sorting thought it, I found the ideal shelves.  Here I'm installing it.

This small room is coming along... moving my equipment and setting things up... that's gonna take some time to clean, calibrate my equipment and organize my materials.  So far, it's coming together nicely.  

Everyday, I look at my mask creation and think of my recent visit to Puerto Rico, I'm re-energized again.  I can't wait to have this space up and running.  I can't wait to get back to making my mini-Vejigente Mask.   I have many ideas that I want to bring forth.  I want to celebrate Puerto Rico.

The above photo are my original masks that I proudly display on my wall.  I'm having fun creating shapes with them.  Below are the ones I have at my office.  By the time I'm done designing them I'll have most of my wall filled.  It's seventy-eight towns. 

Finally, Thank you fans for your support and kind words.   Every time I receive your in kind messages and reviews, they are greatly appreciated.  Once more, Thank You.

Missing Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is a magical place.  Some people call it "The Enchanted Island" while others call it "Paradise", but one thing is for sure---- all who visits and leaves Puerto Rico misses Puerto Rico.

As a famous song says, "En mi Viejo San Juan" (In my Old San Juan) which was written by Noel Estrada.  He wrote it for his brother Eloy who was deploy in 1942 to Panama during the WWII.  Noel's brother had written to him how much he missed Puerto Rico -- that feeling of nostalgia for his motherland is what inspired Noel to write the song.   You don't have to be Puerto Rican to relate to the lyrics of missing your homeland and the desire to return. 

Here's a nice video that further explains the story behind this amazing and most beloved song:

Link: En Mi Viejo San Juan

The first time I visited Puerto Rico I was a child.  I remember it well because it was the first time I flew in an airplane.  My mother was nervous because on the flight to San Juan Airport, the airplane encountered turbulence; I had no idea what that was or what it meant but it was fun.  I thought it was like a roller coaster. Cheerfully enjoying the ups and downs while my mother held onto the armrest.  Finally, we landed and one thing that stuck with me ever since was the cheer that Puerto Rican did soon after the plane landed.   They clapped with joy in celebration to be back home.   Seriously, every trip I've done to Puerto Rico on every landing there is this ritual... I love it.  It's so cool.  Awesome, I found a neat video of this ritual... enjoy: 

Link: Aterrizando Bonito y Suave con Victor Manuelle

Over the years, I've gone back to enjoy not only the beauty, adventures, but also the family and friends. Puerto Rico's richness is found everywhere from the Rain Forest in El Yunque, the desert like forest in Guanica, west coastline ideal for surfing, beautiful beaches all around, and finally, the interior has a vastness of lush Mountains, Waterfalls, Forests and Lakes.  

Furthermore, adding to the richness of Puerto Rico is it's people, culture and food.  Looking back at moments I can't help but to miss this magical place.  

I used to hike to the highest point and absorb the view.  Here's one of the views:

and here another view:

There are times you can experience the following weather: Foggy, Sunny, Rainy, Cold and Hot; all in one day.  That's Puerto Rico for y'ah, but it doesn't last long... usually it's sunny and warm with a soft breeze.  

I enjoyed sightseeing the old San Juan...the old buildings full of color along the coast and the sound of the waves hitting the rocks was a delight.  

I took so many photos and I'm glad because it's gonna be awhile before I return.  Life has a way of changing your path and for me, it's been a long time since I last updated this sight.  During my absence a few years back Hurricane Irma and finally Hurricane Marie just battered Puerto Rico and left those living there struggling.   The damage that Puerto Rico experience was unimaginable as I watched the news and desperate to connect with my parents who decided to retire there years ago. It took several days before I even knew they were alive and okay.   Ever since I've done everything in my power to help them.  I'm sure anyone who has a loved one out there has done the same.  Even now help is still needed out there.   As I watch the news and talk to friends and family I feel at a loss.  

And for a long time I felt a need, a desire to do something and as I learn more about Puerto Rico, something was manifesting within me.   I wanted to celebrating every town in Puerto Rico and then it hit me, why not celebrate each town by creating a mini-Vejigante Mask wall art.

It took me a long time to figure out how I wanted to do this.  I started to draw again and play around with the design, look, and feel of these mask. After weeks on end, one day I lost myself into my creations and began to feel it--- I felt the love for each town and was inspired by their flag.  The first town I made was San Juan, Puerto Rico.   

After I hung it on my wall, I was even more inspired and determine to create my own collection. The first batch I made included the following towns:  Ponce, Arecibo, Lares, Utuado, Adjuntas, Ricon, Caguas, Vieques, Dorado, Abonito and Aguadilla.  

I stepped back and was in awe at how beautiful they looked.  Gradually, I continue to design and handmade each mask.  

It takes me a few days to make one since the process is takes time.  I prefer to have quality work and take my time to ensure it looks good.  Here I am cleaning the edges:

As usual, I end up cutting myself in the process. Those tools are super sharp which makes them ideal for this work.  So far, I have made about half of the towns in Puerto Rico.  

Funny thing is as I worked on my own project, others started to encourage to make them available online, which I have.  I have made them available at my SybariteStudio.Etsy.com store.  I'm humbled by the wonderful response I've received.  Here's one:

and another that appeared on my facebook page:

With every feedback, I'm encouraged to do more.  I'm feeling the love for Puerto Rico.  I'm learning more and more especially the Puerto Rican's passion to honor and remember their family roots... To read their story and to connect the younger generation to the older ones with a common love that celebrates their hometown is why I'm "Celebrating Puerto Rico"

I'll continue to work on these mask...my goal being to have all of them all designed and available for you, too.

You can't find it when you need it leads to making your own.

During a family visit, I wanted to teach them a new game -- actually one of my favorite party games -- called Tripoley.  I searched all over my home looking for this game and realized that I didn't have it anymore.

Thus started my journey to find that game, I drove over to local stores and they didn't have any available. Okay, cool, I'll drive over to next town and see if the toy store has it... to no avail.  Okay, let me try the next town over and drive to the bookstore and see if they have it at their board game area -- yet again, to no avail.  I hit several stores searching for it and every time I struck out.

I returned home and searched again for anything remotely like this game. I finally found a plastic  version, that was close enough.

We managed to play the game.  The kids took awhile to learn it since they had never played Poker or Michigan Rummy, but soon after they were getting quite good at making poker faces.  We had much fun.

After their visit ended, I thought of ordering the game online. I searched for it and found them but it was mostly retro board games and the quality of the game was "there".  After talking with Ron, we felt that it was better to make our own version of this game.  We have the skills, tools, and materials to make it.   Ron took on the part of making the wood design and cutting while I focused on making the inlay design, painting, and assembling the final board.  Here's our first prototype:

We spent days talking about ways to improve it.  To make it more special, more unique, and then we had an "aha" moment -- why not give it a more casino look?

Yeap, that's me hard at work making this lovely Tripoley handmade card board game.  Of course, I do wear a mask when working with any type of adhesive.  We take pride in the work we do.  Here's the finished Tripoley card board game:

Do you see the kitty?   Upon closer look you'll see that I'm a kitty lover... couldn't help myself.

Of course, that meant more work, but the end result is impressive. We wanted this design to last and look amazing in person.  I posted two photos of it in Instagram.  Here's one of them:

And soon after I had people approaching me to make one for them.  Since then I've made a few more and have it available at my Etsy store:  Sybarite Studio / Handmade Tripoley Card Board Game

A special " THANK YOU " for my fans.  Your support makes a world of difference.

Barnes and Noble Mini Maker Faire Show & Tell

Last day of the #BNMakerFaire Nationwide, we've had so much fun doing the Show and Tell.  As part of the Central Texas Makers, we brought with us many of our homemade projects to this event and we're having so much fun.

Here's a picture or two:

This child is having so much fun play game on a Raspberry Pi tiny computer. Can you believe it, it has over 300 games of several different game console.  Remember the Atari series, Game boy, Nintendo and much more.

Another example of how Raspberry Pi tiny computer is being used is the next photo:

We have a Raspberry Pi running the PiAware software. This uses a SDR (software defined radio) to pick up aircraft transponder information. With the PiAware software, you can see commercial aircraft in the area, with their real-time location and destination. The data get fed to the FlightAware website, which is then used to map flights across the world. One of the benefits of feeding data to FlightAware is that you receive an Enterprise license (which normally costs $90 a month) -- which you can use to get detailed flight data -- real time -- from around the world. If you are interested in aircraft, it's a very inexpensive way to get into flight tracking.

Another fun thing we did is the Electric Cigar Box Guitar... people loved playing with it:

Guest visiting the #BNMakerFaire today enjoyed playing the handmade electric cigar box guitar and many other cool and interesting #maker #project display by #CentralTexasMakers member Ron and Evelyn Nelson
Posted by Central Texas Makers on Saturday, November 7, 2015

It's our last day but it's gonna be awesome. Look forward to seeing y'ah.  Happy Making Day.

Welcome Pixzle IT! - Party Game to the Pixzle.me family

We are ever so excited to bring forth our latest creations... Pixzle It! - Party Game. 

Post by Pixzle.

Pixzle It! - Party Game 

We've been hard at work preparing for this event:  The Holiday Market presented by ATX Artisans happening November 30th, 2014 at the Holiday Inn Midtown, Austin, TX. Here's their flyer:

Post by Pixzle.

Holiday Event information 

We'll have at our booth the following: the Pixzle Petite Kits, Pocket Pixzle, Pixzle Play and Pixzle It! will be available.  Join the fun, enter the giveaways and participate in the ATX Artisans's Silent Auction:

Post by Pixzle.

Butterflies in the fields

Upon finishing my elegant butterfly collection, I needed a way to display them.  At first I thought to make a giant butterfly in which I can display my collection on, alas, when I make a small version to work out the idea, in theory it seems possible but in practice, NOT!

While I was in the midst of working out a solution to this display problem, I had a death in the family which took me away both emotionally and physically.  I dropped my work and took the first available flight out.  

Once I returned home, I one day to prepare for the next show.  During my travel, I talked about my display problem and Lisi quickly suggested why not have butterflies flying about in the field of wildflowers.   Awesome idea and with that suggestion, I started to work on my new display.

I got a wooden panel and primed it white.  Soon after I started to paint the sky, the grass, and then the wildflowers.  Let it dry over night.  The next day I woke up early to finish drilling the holes and setting up the Elegant Butterfly Jewelry Collection.   

I'm pleased with how this display turned out.  Sometimes, you need to be pulled away to find solutions.  Sadly, it wasn't that kind of pulling away I needed or wanted, yet I'm most grateful for all those who knew of my difficulty and gave me their love and support. 

Sparkling Butterfly Collection

A few months ago I gave a gift of gratitude to my friend for helping me spread the word about Sybarite Studio. Since then, whenever she wears the Bat Earrings, she receives lovely compliments.  One day a friend of hers asked if I did butterflies.  My friend informed her that she would pass on the inquires.  At the time I was quite involved with Pixzle.me but had not forgotten the request.

It's amazing how the creative process works. While some may think--"Oh, she's forgotten or doesn't care enough to pursue it" --- far from it; the seed was planted. But as it takes time for a seed to germinate so does creativity.  When you finally start to see the first signs of a plant growing before long it's a flower blooming...that's how art is made...it takes time for the idea to gestate and evolve in one's head before it starts to take on form.  After several rounds, that form starts to take shape and it's like a striking a match, all of the sudden there's the flame, it's there right in front of you, the vision.

Once that vision is in place it's a matter of making it happen, of giving it a physical shape, of defining it through textures and paint, and giving it meaning and love. Without the passion of creating; the dynamics of your work loses all meaning and interest.

I've always loved taking picture of creatures big and small... I started my journey by tracking down my photos of butterflies and turning them into something more.  I let these photos be my inspiration for creating my butterfly designs. I used these designs to cut out the shape of my desired butterfly and then hand paint and mounted the jewelry findings to create my prototypes. Experiment after experiment, I slowly worked out the vision.



After several rounds of cutting out and carefully hand painting the butterfly wings it dawned on me to add some sparkle and seal it. I showed these prototypes, but the one that stood out was the one that had the sparkles.  My goal was to make them into jewelry: both earrings and pendants.  I made a few attempts and kept improving the look and feel until I had the closest desired prototype.

Alas, this version of the earrings was too large and just won't work. Back to the drawing board. So I reworked the design and made this second version.

I shared this on Facebook and it was pleasantly welcomed.  Given the responses for my design I went ahead and ordered all the necessary items to make the #Purple #Butterfly #Jewelry #Collection available on Etsy.  Sadly, I got sick, but it was okay since I had to wait for my items to be delivered.  One night I was so tired of being sick and luckily for me my Kitties in Kittielandia were also up and about then I decided to have some fun with them. What do you think of my models?

Meanwhile, I kept tweaking the design and improving the look and feel.  Once I had gotten my parts, I started to make the real items I wanted to put on Etsy.  As I made each one, I took photos of them and place the finished item away.  Time to edit the abundance of photos I took and narrow it down to the ones I wanted on Etsy. 

I'm glad to announce that first of my Sparkling Butterfly Jewelry Collection is now live on Etsy.   Feel free to share with loved ones, or if you have a loved ones who enjoys butterflies this might be the special gift you've been looking for.

Making Business cards

Amazing how this day is going... went down to the Travis County Expo Center and the energy there is electrifying.  Seeing so many makers is ever so encouraging.  We drove in, unloaded, and set up our display and what not for tomorrow's main event :D Austin Mini Maker Faire.    Can't wait to see what people are making.
 
Currently making Pixzle ‪pixel‬ business cards...pretty cool heh?!?‪