Les Filles

{Voila} Washi Tape Inspirations

Project #2: Guest Books/Table Numbers

One of my earliest inspirations was a Guest Book/Table Number that I found online at Martha Stewarts which just fit so nicely with our warm and whimsical theme.  Allowing guests to be seated first before signing the guestbook is nicer than being rushed through the front door.

Japanese washi tape is essentially decorative masking tape.  Taro tells me that "washi" means paper and the tapes feel light and paper-like, really easy to use.  Look at all the awesome projects that can be created with this stuff.

We purchased these rolls (6m each) for 1050 yen.  These tapes can be purchased in the US at this store.

One of my favorite stores in Tokyo is called Muji - they sell everything from stationary to household items and international food products.  It prides itself on providing low prices and no brands.
Taro's explanation: Mu = nothing and Ji = brand. 

We purchased these 5-pack, kraft paper notebooks for our guestbook/table numbers at Muji for only 189 yen.  That's about 37 yen per notebook.

Inside of each book will include (1) the dinner menu, (2) the evening's agenda, (3) spaces for photos and sign-ins, and (4) an envelope for marriage advice.  The remaining washi tape will go to decorate our gift bags with this stamp that looks similar to our invitation design.

{Voila} Origami Inspirations

Taro found a specialty origami center in Tokyo where they have a plethora of beautiful papers in different sizes, colors, textures, and more.  We're making origami cranes for our name holders but the cheap paper (Koma' brand) has a blue that is just not working with our color palettes.  

Taro found a rich navy blue paper at the store in a large size and they offered to cut the stock for us. Each sheet created about 11 smaller size papers.  The store's workers really enjoyed hearing about our pan-pacific romance and took the time to make sure we found exactly what we needed.  

We visited the top floor which had the paint color workshop for the origami paper.   The beautiful designs you see on certain papers are painted directly on by the gentleman.  These papers were much more expensive than what we could afford, but so beautiful to look at. 

Some brushes are made from sheep hair (softest, most cover), some are horse hair (a bit stiffer, made for more controlled painting), some are striped in different shapes and sizes to create different patterns on the paper.

Here, he's painting one side of the paper with the vat of glittering gold paint.  The yellow base makes the gold a warmer tone.  If he wanted to dye the paper thoroughly, he dunks the entire paper in the big silver vat to the left.  The origami dragons are created with multiple interlinking origami pieces.  The finished pieces are brushed with gold.

A finished crane: 

Once completed, the cranes will be the nameholders at the table for each guests.  Taro's mom has graciously offered to fold all 250 pieces for us -- we're quite grateful since it takes us so much longer.  Once she's done, I might add a bit of gold like the inspiration dragons above.