Hi Everyone! I know I posted one project today already, but this one was so small and I ran it at the same time, figured I’d get it out there. This one I created with the intention of sharing, though it would have been more timely if I’d have had the idea before New Years. Anyway, here is a very simple, two layer Daruma doll, about 1.5", does stand on it’s own but a third layer could easily be added for stability in the back, or a loop at the top for a key-chain, etc. The face part on mine I did with colored pencil, the top layer is red and gold Sharpie. Right click and save as on the second pic.
So what IS a Daruma? A Japanese ball-shaped paper-mache doll that is used for goal setting and motivation. The Daruma initially has no eyes, and when you set a goal, you paint in one of the eyes and place it where you see it frequently. And when your goal is achieved, you fill in the other eye. Thusly, you draw motivation from the Daruma to work on your goal, essentially because his sight is dependent on your success. Kinda fun, figured it was worth trying, now I just have to figure out a goal…
Thanks for taking a look, enjoy if you decide to make it, and until next creation, Happy Forging!
Honestly the only Japanese text that I remember is “post office”, and that’s only because I was there multiple times a day sending stuff back home… and it is literally the simplest thing to remember - a capital T with a line over it.
The fun thing about daruma is that when you knock them down, they roll right back up.
福 means fortune or good luck. It’s a common New Year’s symbol. Lunar New Year is February 1st, so this will be fun to slip into my kids’ red envelopes, thanks!
I got to go one time, for two weeks, between Junior and Senior year of highschool, with Sensei and kids from class (studied Japanese all 4 years in HS). First week we vacationed in Kyoto and got to see a lot of the historical stuff (temples, etc.). Second week we went to Tokyo and stayed with host families and actually went to school with the host family’s teenage kids, so got to see what high school in Big-City Japan was like. They made me an honorary captain on the volleyball team because I was the tallest, and in return I took them out and taught them all bowling. Sadly, it was 20+ years ago, before digital pictures on the phones (I think I still had one of those blue Nokia bricks), and my rolls of film got damaged or something, as I have NO pictures. But I threw away socks and underwear to make room for bringing back STUFF, so I guess that made up for it?
That is so cool! I’ve never heard of these before.
So what do you do with it after you reach your goal? (Do you save them and collect them or something?) Over the years, I can imagine you’d end up with many of them. Do they always have the same colors, or do you make them all different colors?
I do believe you may find this site of much interest, I did. Apparently you send it to a local temple to be burned in a blessing bonfire. I learned something new, too!
