I wanted to go home at 12:00, Tissue Calligraphy Workshop

Sunday, May 10th, clear skies. Perfect weather for a tissue calligraphy workshop. Here is the report on the event.

I tried not to think about being nervous because I felt like saying it out loud would just make me more nervous. But while setting up the venue before the 10:00 start, I only had positive feelings, thinking, 'Both the participants and I are going to have a great time.'

I wanted to go home at 12:00

Even so, around 12:00, two hours after we started, I really wanted to go home.

Before 12:00.
Participants from a laughter yoga workshop I held previously and a local postal worker happened to be nearby and stopped by.

They expressed their gratitude and told me, 'I'm so happy to see you.' They said, 'It's amazing that you're taking on so many challenges.'

Words that I would usually brush off with a 'Oh, stop it' really touched me this time. It was a gift. Even though I'm almost fifty and still constantly getting lost and stalling, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, realizing that this is okay.

Two hours in, I was full and my heart was full. I felt like I had fully enjoyed the tissue calligraphy and seriously thought about going home.

Thank you all for participating!

In the end, 27 people, from children to adults, participated. Everyone seemed to have fun writing.

It goes without saying, but I was moved by the fact that the words and pictures everyone wrote were all different. There is no right or wrong in being different. Only each person's heart knows what they are writing.

A few episodes from the day

The charm of tissue calligraphy
Started at 10:00. The first customers were two staff members from the coffee booth. They kept praising it, saying, 'This is amazing,' which was a great start. They were moved by the concept of 'writing on something as ephemeral as a tissue.'

Left-hand master
An acquaintance who happened to be passing by participated.
They showed off some tasteful characters written with their left hand. I praised the good parts, saying, 'This stroke is the best!' They replied, 'This booth is just a place where you get nothing but praise, isn't it?'

Their dad will definitely be happy
Cute sisters. Since their father was running a food truck, they drew the food truck's character and a portrait of their father.
Something like this would definitely make a dad happy!
(I'm not posting the photo because the shop name and the sisters are in it.)

I want to draw what I like!
A boy who loves fruit and sports. When asked, 'What fruits are there?', I suggested, 'How about kiwi? Or cherries?' He made an incredibly cute tissue. I want to use this for wrapping paper or something.

Other tissues I want to use as wrapping paper

Mistakes aren't really mistakes
A child asked me, 'How do you write 'smile'?' and I taught them. The words they wrote were, 'Smiling face, crying face, any version of myself is a good self.'
After saying, 'Oh, I messed up! The character for 'good' is upside down,' they added, 'But it's correct if you look at it from the back.' What a way to think! 😍 Both the front-facing self and the hidden self are 'good'.

Thank you at the end!

If I could pin 📍 the important events in my life, I would definitely pin this pop-up shop.

Now that it's over, I can admit that I might have felt a little embarrassed. When a colleague asked me the day before, 'What are you doing for your workshop?' I couldn't bring myself to say, 'A workshop where you write characters on tissues...' (Well, maybe I just wasn't confident I could explain it well.)

The first participants (two people running a coffee stall) told me that writing on tissues was a wonderful idea, and I realized, 'Maybe it's okay if not everyone understands, as long as the people who get it, get it.'

I felt like I had spent so much of my life realizing such an obvious thing. At the same time, I had a feeling that a new version of myself was beginning, and I felt strangely excited.

The ramen I went to eat for dinner tasted better than usual.

Thank you very much!

Acknowledgments

Maiton-san, thank you for the instructor certification. Thanks to you, I had a time that was silly but precious.

Regarding this article, here is the article Maiton-san wrote for me ↓
'These are people who would never have been reached if Nennen-san hadn't taken action.'
Thank you for those happy words.
I'm glad I took action, for the sake of those who participated. And above all, for my own sake.

3.7-san, thank you for supporting me with the announcement poster!

To everyone, everyone, everyone who kept me in their thoughts!! Thank you so much.

Let's keep writing on tissues!

#TissueCalligraphyTest
#TissueCalligraphy
#WhatAreYouTalkingAbout
#66WeekWritingChallenge