Between konbini and countryside
Exploring Karuizawa and little wax projects
It rained nearly the entire weekend and yet our new mountain getaway was exactly as I hoped. My boyfriend and I picked up the keys to our house in Karuizawa and spent a few days setting up and indulging in my brother’s cozy cooking.
Karuizawa, a charming mountain resort town two to three hours north of Tokyo, first captured my imagination on a solo trip a few years ago. I loved the gentle buzz of the local boutiques, excellent restaurants, and outdoor activities. At the time I certainly never saw myself being able to spend extended time up here.
Nature and the slower pace invite a calm that Tokyo rarely allows. Watching the rain, I doodled ideas to begin a lazy morning. I brought only a pared-down selection of wax-working tools, leaving my metalwork equipment in Tokyo, to encourage a more intentional way of creating.
I’m already looking forward to more weekends spent quietly sketching and carving wax to the sound of birdsong, flowing water, my dog’s play, and, inevitably, the UFC thanks to my partner echoing in surround sound… :)
Current projects
Recently I am interested in making metal objects. Now that my figurine of my dog is off to the caster, I started a sardine napkin holder. It will be silver and the plan is to have a small stone set in place for the eye.
I enjoyed making a little wax crab and kitsune mask. From the photos it’s difficult to tell the size, but each are just a bit larger than a pinky nail. These were good practice in building up shapes with a bit of carving in soft wax.
For my last project of the week, I started a snake ring as an experiment in layering hard wax over soft. I used soft wax to quickly make the rough shape and then melted hard wax on top. I want to see if this layered method will allow more detailed carving while still allowing for my preferred start of building up a design (instead of carving it away from a larger block).
Non-jewelry related moments from Karuizawa
