etegami invitation cards

One of the Red Bubble groups I belong to is doing an Invitation Card Challenge. I was struck by the fact that I'd never done an etegami invitation card! In fact, the only invitation card I can remember ever making is a Hen Party invitation printed from a lino block carving. And that was decades ago.  At the time, having a small baby made it difficult to get together with friends. So I decided to invite them (with their babies if they had any) to socialize at my apartment.

For the invitation card challenge, I made the etegami posted here, and then tested it on the members of my Etegami Fun Club group on Facebook. The image itself passed muster, but many of the responders told me they understood "hen party" to mean a bachelorette party, which made the phrase "baby chicks are welcome" seem out of place. I checked the dictionary definition of hen party and it says "a social gathering restricted to women," but bachelorette party seems to be the most commonly listed interpretation. I guess common usage has changed over the generations. What do you think?

UPDATE: Guess what? This card won the Invitation Card Challenge I submitted it to. Yaaaaay!

new hens on the block

This simple etegami was inspired by a photograph I found on studiololo's blog. It shows some hens with beautiful plumage, and the caption explains that they are the newest hens on her friend's farm. I was initially attracted to the lovely feathers, wondering if it was possible to reproduce them in an etegami. But as I continued to observe the photo, my mind built up a whole background story in which these hens played a central role.

The appearance and the posture of the hens made me think of certain young urban mothers in Japan who move into a new neighborhood. These young mother hens are very fashion-conscious. They are desperate to fit in with the popular mothers of the new neighborhood. They wear their full make-up and their jewelry even to meet the kindergarten bus.

In order to make a smooth adjustment into the new community, they have to learn (without being told) all the subtle rules of the playground, and the kindergarten bus, and garbage pick-up, and the "pecking order" of the women's community. It would be enough to make me move to the South Pole. But I have always ignored that stuff, because I am accustomed to not belonging and I can live with it. To many young mothers, though, it's a huge thing. Women have lost their sanity, attempted suicide, even homicide, because of the stress, and this phenomenon is often depicted in Japanese TV dramas.