Making My First Wood-Carved Brooch

Preparing a gift for my mother-in-law

Last week, my husband suddenly said to me,

My mother's birthday is at the end of this month, so please take care of the gift.

What? You should prepare it yourself,


I retorted immediately.

The thing is, I have absolutely no sense for gifts and am terrible at choosing them.

I'm a bit off-beat, so I don't know what's considered a safe choice 💀. I'm afraid I'll end up giving her something she doesn't need.


On top of that, he even specified that it shouldn't be sweets, but an actual object!

I was depressed for a while.
I know very well that she treats me incredibly well and has taken care of me, but...

Finding a wood-carved pet on social media

That was when I happened to see the work of Mio Hashimoto on social media.

Wow, it's so cute! I want one!

That's it, I'll make a brooch of their pet cat that lives at my in-laws' house 😻

I only had one week, so there was no time to hesitate.
It was a spur-of-the-moment idea, but I immediately started gathering materials.

Day 1

Gathering the materials was exciting.
Alright, let's do this!

I realized something once I got to this point.

How do you carve something three-dimensional?

(My spatial awareness is a bit weak)

It's finally starting to look rounded.

My husband peeked from behind and asked, "Is that a bear?" which annoyed me, but it does look a bit like a bear 🐻

Day 2

I continue, feeling anxious as it is mistaken for a bear.

Looking at the book, I tried to get it as close to the example as possible. I especially adjusted the bear-like ears to look more like a cat.

Day 3

This time, I will make my husband call it a "cat."

Husband: "This is a cat."

He acknowledged it.

Day 4

I will paint it to look as much like my in-laws' cat as possible.

My in-laws' cat is a brown tabby, and since my own cat is also a brown tabby, I used them as a reference. Good job!

Finished

The impression changes a little in natural light.

Oh, I'm so relieved. I almost gave up, but I managed to get it into shape.

I'd be happy if she wears it on her bag or something.

My mother-in-law's reaction

I got a LINE message right after I sent the gift.

[Today, I went to the hair salon to get my bangs cut, and when I handed over my bag...
The stylist saw the brooch I received and said, 'That's so cute!'
So I told her, 'My second son's wife gave it to me for my birthday! She made it herself!' and she was so surprised.
'You're so talented! It really captures the cute vibe of the cat,' she said.
I was so happy!]

She's such a kind mother-in-law...
I'm so glad I made it!

It's hard to decide what to give as a gift, isn't it? I wonder what everyone else does. I'd love to know for reference.

#Birthday #Gift #WoodCarving #MioHashimoto #Cat