Blog Bling: Vintage Japanese Cabochon Charms

11/13/2010 in brushes & shapes,clip art,freebies,graphics,kit #1,marketplace

Clip Art:  Vintage Japanese Cabochons

These Vintage Japanese Cabochons are my favorites. I cleaned them up as best I could — though many of them are still discolored, chipped, and dusty. They are very old, but their imperfections and oddities add to their charm.

Clip Art:  Vintage Japanese Cabochons

The funnest part of publishing a download set is that it gives me a chance to explore the right side of my brain. Although it takes me a while to finalize the example images (up to 2 days sometimes), I do a lot of playing and experimenting with colors and layouts. Many times, the end result is unlike anything I could have imagined — the outcome is often the culmination of many happy accidents. Then again, using these charms as embellishments is pretty easy work, especially when you’re listening to The Lightning Seeds.

If you want want to make shipping tags just like these, I also made use of these resources:

And these fonts:

I want to thank Allison for teaching me how to type with Japanese characters — thanks Allison! :)

Below are download links to 11 free PS brushes and 11 high res premium clip art.

Download Options (terms of use):
OPTION 1
FREE VERSION
11 PS brushes
D O W N L O A D
OPTION 2
The Marketplace
11 cabochons
BUY A LA CARTE – $9.00
OPTION 3
Blog Bling Kit
As part of a BLOG KIT
BUY – $28.00

{ 13 comments }  

1 melina bee 11/13/2010 at 10:39 pm

you’re killing me with your amazing brushes. do you sneak into my dreams at night and steal my favorite things? I’m okay with that.

2 Allison 11/13/2010 at 11:12 pm

Aww you’re welcome! These are adorable : ) Did you make up that little poem about sleigh rides? I love it… <3

3 Miki 11/13/2010 at 11:16 pm

Oh, I didn’t know what cabochon meant; and I’m half Japanese, haha! They’re cool!

I’d better go to bed; it’s past 3AM. Nite, nite!

Miki.

4 avalonne lou summers 11/13/2010 at 11:19 pm

Katrina, your blog is genius. You are the best at HTML, CSS, software, internet stuff. You are my hero!!! Let’s meet before I go home for Christmas!!! :)

5 Janine 11/13/2010 at 11:52 pm

Yet another GORGEOUS creation that makes me squeal out loud:) Thank you!

6 Reeve 11/14/2010 at 6:38 am

SO freakin’ cute!

7 Melanie 11/14/2010 at 8:07 am

Thank You! I just found your blog and I think it is fabulous!

8 Yoshimi 11/14/2010 at 10:40 am

Hello. I am Japanese, but I’ve never heard or seen Japanese cabochon in my life. In my opinion, they don’t look really Japaneezy. And, I hate to mention, but the Japanese translation on the left is totally doesn’t make any sence at all. Oh, what the heck, it doesn’t really matter, huh? Just wanted to make it look Oriental with the foreign writing, right? It’s looking pretty anyways!

9 keren 11/14/2010 at 12:45 pm

everything is too amazing for words!!
thank you for all your hard work!!

10 Chic 'n Cheap Living 11/14/2010 at 6:12 pm

Love the look! Btw, Katrina, I wanted to mention that I talked about your sequin clusters in my weekly roundup – hope that’s cool (because I thought they were cool!)
Worthy Reads Roundup

11 Katrina 11/14/2010 at 11:02 pm

@allison: oh, i wish i could take credit, but they’re lyrics from the lightning seeds.

@miki: cabochon is a french word and it means: a polished gem. sometimes the term is applied to carved resin or plastic.

@yoshimi: yep, these are japanese cabochons (you can call them charms if you like) and i’m happy to introduce them to you. as for the crude japanese translation — you’re absolutely right — my japanese is bad.

@Chic ‘n Cheap Living: thanks!

12 Laura Bee 11/15/2010 at 1:33 am

These are lovely. This is probably a silly question, how do you use these brushes? Can point me to a post or resource that shows this? I have Photoshop Elements. Will these work with that software? I can open the file but then can’t figure out how to get to the artwork.

I love your blog! Thanks for the constant inspiration.

13 Henway 11/15/2010 at 5:47 am

Those Japanese Cabochons look so stylish! Thanks so much for sharing these. Great timing with the holiday season coming up.

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