Sunday, September 9, 2012

Knowing When to Quit



Helen likes to invent new kanzashi petals. She had the highest of hopes over the last few days, that her new filigree petal, while not the easiest shape to get right consistently, was going to make a nice flower. And why wouldn't it? Here's a small one:



Isn't it lovely? What could possibly go wrong? Helen made 12 of these in black, a little larger than the one pictured, and set about gluing them this morning. That's where she ran into trouble. In a flower of 6 petals, connecting petal #6 to petal #1 created a distorted shape and just didn't work. Disappointed, Helen threw out the rest of them, made a pair of ume (plum flowers) snap clips that she had planned on making with some tricky kimono silk and snowflake obsidian beads----


---and called it a day. Buy 'em here https://www.etsy.com/listing/109118774/black-flower-hair-clips-kanzashi-silk You know what, though? She's got another invention to try out, eventually. Here's one...


Ooh, that's some dry skin! Anyway, it's possible that other people have made this one, but Helen came up with it on her own. Here's another that Helen has successfully used...


....and here it is in the center of a flower....


As you can see, it works quite well with dupioni silk. A slightly different version of this flower is for sale here. But what about today's petal? Ditch it forever?Try it with a different fabric? Try gluing it in a different way? Any of these are possibilities. We'll just have to see.

3 comments:

  1. Very interesting blog post! I like how you combined the two different petal styles in the final black flower. Don't give up on the first petal - I think it's lovely!

    :-) Joana

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Joana! I like it too. I think Helen just needs a little distance from it before she can figure out the right thing to do with it.

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