dear elijah,

your mama is still horrified by the idea of putting her hand into a beheaded and skinned dead bird. so there will be no turkey dinner for you this year.

as a compromise, your mama asked santa to give her a super power to make ‘maximum team power duck headgear’ free hand. she had been thinking about how to make this headgear since you were still in her body. in her mind, ‘beheaded’ and ‘bird’ parts are all covered. so it’s basically the same thing.

i hope this headgear will keep your head warm all winter and you find it somewhat festive. it’s a festivus for the rest of us.

best wishes,

yuka-mama

tonight is the opening of a group show called, “the ornament show” at J Flynn gallery in costa mesa, california.

these are my ornaments. the red ones are called “severe pain pin cushions”. i created these severe pain pin cushions last year. they are the only somewhat useful toys in my useless toy collections. for one thing, they come with a wrist band. they are for sale at J Flynn gallery as well as in my online shop.

in addition to my useless toy collection, i made this “milk head-chan” (centre) for this ornament show. this is the character shows up in my matchboxes. i hand-stitched her face. i wanted to make her as ugly+cute as possible. i think this ugliness will brighten the holiday spirit even more. this is available at J Flynn gallery. please contact J Flynn gallery, if you are interested in them.

UPDATE

OC register’s art critic’s blog on ornaments…

they are all handstitched freehand. “severe pain” is written on their heads in kanji. the heads are attached to a wristband, so you can wear them on your wrist. i didn’t cut a buttonhole yet, so you can adjust the wristband to your size.

i handstitch pretty much everything i make. i like the work but sometimes it causes shoulder pain and boredom. so i thought i should give this pain to something else. that way, i can stay painless!!

i made an original version about six months ago. the first batch looked pathetic. but this time, they gained power. they all look like they’re really in severe pain. only one exception: the orange one is smiling, so he looks like he’s enjoying the pain. well, that’s good too.

this severe pain pin cushion will help keep your sewing time happy and pain-free. for sale as soon as my shop is ready…

*UPDATE* now you can buy this severe pain pin cushions in my online SHOP.

it was serendipity. the pink jeep cherokee and maximum team power duck, they’d got to be united.

i found it at value village in saskatoon. i went there the night before the spencer book photoshoot to look for roller skates for goro chan. i was on my way to the sports section. something incredibly pink caught my eye. it was the pink jeep. it was so beautiful just sitting quietly on the empty shelf. i rushed to the jeep and grabbed it. i had to have it. i knew it was just perfect for the maximum team power duck.

i really enjoyed taking these scenes with the duck and the jeep. they just look perfect together. it was already late at night after taking photos all day long for the book. i was exhausted. but hey, to be able to capture the secret life of the useless toys, it was definitely worth it. i had so much fun carrying this jeep around in the city and the parking lot. even though i’m actually too big to get in, i felt like i just got my ride pimped up!

say no more.

that’s correct. maximum team power duck has “power” glued on its chest. i cut letters out freehand and used a gluegun to attach them.

it wasn’t such a great idea to use a hot gluegun, though. those letters were thin and floppy. i burnt my fingers badly.

but it was worth it. because it shows clearly how powerful maximum team power duck is!

when you’re alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go midtown.
midtown, things’ll be great when you’re
midtown, don’t wait a mitute more,
midtown, everything’s waiting for you.
midtown (midtown), midtown (midtown)
midtown (midtown), midtown (midtown)
(repeat and fade out)

“danger” is my middle name.
don’t confuse me with regular, happy-hopping bunnies.
i don’t hop, i loom…

this is goro-chan. he is an amigurumi dog, but he acts like a lone wolf on wheels. when spencer gets in trouble, he is lucky enough to be helped by goro. goro takes him for a ride in his rollerblade.

i took these photos just outside my apartment building here in saskatoon. students were walking by on their way to university. most of them ignored me.

it was hard to get the action shot of spencer and goro in the rollerblade. there’s a can of coconut milk behind the rollerblade, holding it up. you can see the shadow in the “whee-ee-ee-ee” photo.

thanks, coconut milk.

for the goro superstar closeup, i just held him up against the blue sky with one hand. it’s hard to balance a rollerblade with an amigurumi dog in it, using just one hand and holding it from the wheels.

but i think it’s worth it in the end.