Kanzashi Bracelet, Part Six

Good heavens, how could 2 months go by with no blog post? I guess we've been pretty distracted. Ten thousand apologies.

Helen is finally starting to get the hang of this kanzashi cuff bracelet business. It has certainly taken long enough. As with many things in kanzashi making, it's a matter of thinking through the geometry.

So, here's the latest bridal cuff bracelet. This one ties on the underside with a ribbon, so that it can fit on almost everyone. It's made from shantung silk that Helen got from her friend Lannette , and it's quite an elegant leaf design...

It actually fits a little loosely on our bracelet model, but it still pretty much stays put. So, here is the whole thing spread out.....

.....the underside sealed up with a ribbon......

.....optional flower that you can custom order if you want.....

....and the underside on our other bracelet model......

....and you can buy it here.

There are many more possibilities for bracelets and necklaces, we have come to realize. Stay tuned! I hope to post more of this sort of thing, and in sooner than two months, too.

Kanzashi Bracelet, Part Trois

Well, it's officially winter, and the weather around here has been annoying, and about to get far worse, from what I understand. Good time to turn our attention to other things, like this new bracelet idea.

Helen's friend Erin loves the color green, and each December, Helen gives herself the personal challenge of making something green for Erin's birthday. Since Helen noticed that Erin had been wearing a beautiful jade bracelet, you know in which direction the new ideas started to go! And since Helen and Erin's orchestral colleagues like to decorate themselves quite a bit for their Christmas concerts, well.....here's the fabric Helen chose, a chirimen silk sent by her Kanzashi Fairy Godmother in Japan.....

Helen used an idea similar to last year's kanzashi Christmas wreath pin....make a lot of skinny pointy petals, and glue them together in groups of three, then glue the groups to each other. Here's what she got:

An abstract sort of pepperminty wreath for your wrist! How do you fasten it? With some snaps.....

                                                    ....on either end....

           ...and a glued satin ribbon protects the underside. Here it is on our famous bracelet model.....

This design is pretty labor intensive, so Helen decided not to put it into commercial production, haha, but you go ahead and make it. You have time, right? Maybe more bracelets coming down the pike, I think!