Well.

I love my job.   Some might call me lucky.  And they’re right.  And wrong.

Lucky isn’t the right word.  I have other words that describe better my career path:  confused, curious, confident, uncertain, ignorant, inexperienced, intuitive, trial and error, practice, perseverance, unconvinced,  hopeful, giving up, and failure.    I have a resume of work experiences that include ice cream server, restaurant hostess, architecture technician, landscape design assistant, construction worker, walking tour guide, construction management, visual artist, faux finisher, mural painter, ESL teacher, mother.

Here’s the thing.  If I hadn’t had all of those previous experiences, I might not have ended up where I am today, which is feeling comfortable in knowing that I am doing what I love and that I am good at it.   It’s a journey.  Everything’s a journey.

That’s life.

by Fabricio, age 6

Three headed monsters go as far back as Greek mythology where Cerberus was a three-headed dog that guarded the gates to the Underworld.  I’m not sure where Fabricio got his inspiration from, but his drawing turned into a really cool softie.

by Gabriela, age 6

One afternoon, Gabriela was found by her mother, drawing a picture of the main character in the children story, “The Little Moon Princess” by YJ Lee.   Like Fabricio, Gabriela is starting to use visual sources to develop her drawing.

by Marina, age 5

 And Marina drew this for her aunt after a visit to New York City, of the two of them shopping.   What a lovely memento of a fun experience with a loved one.

PS.  I published this post, but forgot to add that  I am fully booked with orders for the rest of 2013.  Check out the Softiemaker Showcase, a directory of independent softie-makers around the world who offer the service of making soft toys from children’s drawings.  

This is my family.  You can see my husband’s hand trying to block mine while our boy has managed to grab a handful of tickling material in his small fist – my husband is under attack and giggling away.

Actually, this is my family, 8 years ago.   It’s a cliche that we all exclaim at some point:  ”Where HAS the time gone?”   Well, I’ll tell you.  It folds and disappears into our children while we are not looking.  Whereas my husband and I still look about the same, except with a few more grey hairs, the boy has gone and transformed himself!   In fact, our boy is now a completely different person, even technically, with all his cells replaced by new ones.  His face has changed along with his personality.  He has outgrown some fears and acquired new ones.  His sense of humor is different.  Even his hair is now a very different colour.  It’s as if the little boy in the photos was a guest, who came for a lovely visit with tickles and laughter, and then left.  Once in a while, I miss him.   And sometime in the future, I’m sure I will look back and remember another guest, a ten year old, who came along, singing off-key and who played in our rooms, taught me many things and made me a better person.

by Arcadia, age 6

by Tennyson, age 8

by Bennett, age 7

by Maja, age 4

by Maja, age 4

by Nathaniel, age 5

by Isabella, age 6

by Jake, age 6

by Mhari, age 7

by Julian, age 8

Please note that I am fully booked with orders for the rest of 2013.  Really, I am. But don’t despair.  Never despair.  Just check out the Softiemaker Showcase, a directory of independent softie-makers around the world who offer the service of making soft toys from children’s drawings.   

When the Julian calendar was being developed and reformed by the Romans, they initially didn’t think winter was a period to be included in the calendar. But they later changed their minds, and January and February were tacked on, so February used to be the last month of the calendar, the end of winter and a time of purification (februum is latin for purification). Because it was the last month, it was the month they tweaked every four years to keep the calendar aligned to the solar year (an earth orbit around the sun actually takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds, so this means that a 365 day calendar and nature will eventually get out of sync). Later, it was decided to make January the first month, possibly because that month had a great festival to celebrate beginnings, so February became the second month, but remained the month that contains the leap day. http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0021B-understanding-time-leap-year.php.

What does this have to do with softies? Not much. Except when I am here making my softies, I think about stuff, big and little, not just about softies.

But, here are my softie projects from the month of February. I am very pleased with how all these projects turned out.

Aslan by Kathy, age 6

Catbot by Annelie, age 11

by Cole, age 10

A fish named Grace by Ava, age 7

by Brianna, age 10

by Chloe, age 3

by Joey, age 5

by CJ, age 4

by Owen, age 4

Body builder Cat by Spencer, age 10

Happy Girl by Tessa, age 4

Colourful rooster by Dillon, age 6

I am taking more liberties in my softie-making, though. There’s a debate on whether the softie should be made exactly as depicted in the child’s drawing. In my humble opinion, I believe the craft artist’s interpretation is as individual as the young person who drew the drawing. Together, two artists collaborate to create a softie, each one contributing ideas and skills. Although the drawing/design belongs to the child, the design of the softie belongs to the craft artist. This also means that there are three people who have to be happy with the end result: the young artist, the craft artist (me), and of course, the person who paid for it.

by Aiden, age 7

by Alyssa, age 5

by Anson, age 5

by Anson, age 5

by Chad, age 12 (Contest Winner)

by Markus, age 18 months

by Matthew, age 3

by Riley, age 3

by Sophia, age 10by Tessa, age 6

by Townshend, age 5

Stanley Brambles

by Tessa, age 6

Unfortunately, I’ve reached my quota for the wait list for this year and I am not accepting any more submissions. If you sent an email and it bounced back with an error, it’s because I closed the wait list. I’m sorry if you didn’t make it on my wait list for this year.

Please check out SOFTIEMAKER SHOWCASE, a directory of other independent softie-makers offering their services of transforming your drawing into a softie.

Wendy Tsao

903 comments!  Using the random picker from random.org, the number 156 was generated, and the 156th commenter was determined to be lisa345amc@yahoo.com.  Congratulations!

Thank you everyone for participating, and for all the very kind, lovely comments you left.  My head is now too big to get through the door.

In the next two days, I will be posting instructions for getting your name on the wait list 2013.

cheers!

Wendy

"Droggy" by Nicholas, age 8

I am almost ready to open a new wait list for 2013.   Child’s Own Studio continues to be a learning experience for me, but I like a challenge!  The thousands of emails I received last year had me thinking hard about how to manage the demand.

I will soon be announcing when I am ready to accept names for the wait list 2013.  Subscribers should get an email notification and instructions on how to get on the wait list.  As soon as I reach my quota, I will close the wait list.  And then I will disappear!  (just kidding… but not really. I really will disappear into my studio to make those softies.)

To test the waters, I am launching another contest for my subscribers.  This contest will not be posted on Facebook.  It’s just between you subscribers (and anyone who visits this website in the next 3 days) You have until January 11, 2013 – 18h00 (Pacific time) to leave one comment on this post. (Please do not post more than one comment – cheaters will be removed!)  One commenter will be randomly selected and win a custom softie by me based on a child’s hand-drawn drawing, with shipping included.

That’s it.  No skill-testing questions. Just leave one comment.  It can even be just a smiley face.

good luck!

Wendy Tsao
Vancouver, BC

*update*  I changed the contest closing time to 6 pm from midnight (what was I thinking?  I’m asleep at midnight!)

I imagine people buy/collect guns for a feeling of power – the other kind – the kind that comes from knowing they can destroy something, bad or good.    I like to think that Child’s Own Studio is at the opposite end of the spectrum of this human condition.

I celebrate children’s art with hand-crafted softies and give young people a sense of the soft, small comforts they can make and of what power they have, with their imagination.  Children need to know this, so they grow up knowing the power of designing, making and crafting all sorts of things for a civilized world.

This is a strange post, but it’s been a challenging month – full of holiday excitement and stress and sorrow.   Today, I will donate 26 Tim Hortons gift cards and home-baked cookies to Covenant House, for the acts of kindness movement in the wake of an unspeakable tragedy.

My shop is now closed for the holidays.  I finished some personal projects, tidied up my studio and it’s now a guest room for my visiting dad.  Please forgive me if I don’t answer your emails in the next few weeks, as I turn my attention to my friends and family.    I wish you a peaceful holiday, and join you in looking forward to a happy new year.

By Amelie, age 7

by Jacob, age 10

by Devon, age 6

by Javinder, age 2

by Christopher, age 4

by Malia, age 6

by Allie, age 6

by Emelina, age 9

by Emilie, age 5

by Veronica, age 7

by Anis, age 7

by Zara, age 5

by Hannah, age 6

by Mackenzie, age 5

by Ava, age 5

by Gage, age 6

by Toby, age 7

by Alia, age 3

by Sophia Grace, 8 and Rosie, 5

by Isabe'al, age 6

by Sydney, age 8

by Kate, age 5

by Kurt, age 5

by Tahlia, age 4

by Rebecca, age 8