What I discover – I love to explore

“I am fragile”

I wish that I was as strong as I sometimes believe that I am, that I was as happy as I sometimes appear to be and that I had the energy level I actually require to make it through the day without a nap.

Even though, I feel so much better than I did about a year ago, it is still hard work. Luckily for me, it is not “all day every day” anymore. Over the past half year, I have learned to truly enjoy things without having to “waste” all my energy on this.  I now know what it feels like to walk around with a smile on my face and how your cheeks can start to hurt while doing so. Creativity started pumping through my veins again and my surroundings are stimulating me again. I love spending time with my friends, my pets and  my family. Most nights I sleep well and wake up fully charged and ready to go. I wake up “early” and spend my mornings with my coffee, my coffee stains (maybe something for later) and listening to music. Even going to work can’t get me down anymore.

All this makes it even harder for me to admit that “I am fragile”. Even though things are “great”, there are still moments when I let my guard down and little “things” still sneak in and knock me off my feet. There are still times when I cry my eyes out. However, I can now place where the pain comes from about 99% of the times.

Today just happens to be “one of those days”… and it sucks!

“I am fragile”

My first story in  the “what I discover” section will be about Ume Toys. The reason why might not be as obvious as some might think.

The mastermind behind Ume Toys is Richard Page, who tells the following about himself on his website:

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Hi my name is Richard Page a creative professional whose background is founded in graphic design as a team lead working for global brands on projects across all delivery platforms. UME-Toys came to life as a joint effort with my daughter (You&Me) to serve as an outlet for our ideas. Always a keen doodler I began to turn my sketches into finished resin collectables. In 2014 I won the prestigious Clutter Designer Toy Awards for best resin toy with his cute GeekWok character. Never content to sit still I’m always keen to learn new skills and techniques and get involved in projects big or small. If you’d like to have a chat please get in touch.

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Many of the people I know are aware of the fact that I love Star Wars and some might even know that I have Ewok tattooed on my forearm. What most people don’t know, is that the source of the image is a resin designer toy from Ume Toys. When I asked Rich if he was okay with me getting his Geekwok tattooed, he drew me a sketch and e-mailed me a hi-res picture. Bertina, at Swallow Ink Tattoo, used this sketch as a stencil when creating the tattoo. Small fact: The Swallow Ink Tattoo website will soon feature in the “what I create” section.

I have “collected” quite a few Ume Toys resin figures over the last few years. Most are Geekwok variations. Last year, I even won a one of a kind clear Geekwok in a raffle.

Although I am thankful for the above creations, this is not why I feature this story. I am most thankful for a creation that I never got to buy (Still feel a little sad about this). A few years ago, Rich created an interpretation of Soundwave (as pictured on the right). After seeing the figure, I just had to search for “Soundwave” on Google and I “discovered” an image of Masterpiece Soundwave. Until that moment, I never even heard of Masterpiece Transformers and expected to find vintage G1 toys. It looked awesome! Buying the Masterpiece Soundwave “toy” was the start of my Transformers Masterpiece “collection”. For the first time since my childhood, I got back into (playing with) transformer toys. Now, many months later, both my Ume Toys collection and Masterpiece Transformers collection, put a smile on my face on a daily basis.

Please give Ume Toys a visit at some point, links over on the left. Maybe we’ll be able to share stories sometime in the future.

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