Kanzashi Chrysanthemums

So sorry it has been such a long time since I have posted (again!.....what's with that?)! Helen has had a lot of heavy lifting at work, and I've been sleepy, but I've also been practicing bottle cap hockey....you can see in the photo that I am absolutely dominating my game! Anyway, Helen made a couple of new chrysanthemum shaped flowers, and I thought I would write an article about it. I know, I know, it is NOT chrysanthemum season!

Helen's chrysanthemums are somewhat less formal than the ones that other kanzashi artists have been
making. In a way, they're really not true kiku chrysanthemums at all, but just large pointy flowers with something convenient in the middle. Such a sellout. Most chrysanthemum kanzashi will have several layers of these pointy petals. Here are some REAL kiku.


First, a Kanzashi Temple piece, large, dark, mysterious, and complex....

  

....and next, a simple and elegant snap clip by Wisteria Gardens ....

Next we have a brilliant and flashy piece by KatyaFantasy ......

.....and a complex assemblage from deepwinter ....

.....A luscious comb from MizuSGarden .....

.....and one of our favorites, a colorful pair of pastel kiku from Keikonoheya

As you can see, kanzashi chrysanthemums are as varied as real ones.....so many flower forms and colors.

So, back to Helen's rather casual interpretations......here's a black and white little number to go with today's new fashions.....

Buy it here...black dupioni silk, white shantung silk, and a freshwater pearl. Now here's something similar in a crisp raspberry silk satin that Helen got from Susie F, with yellow jade......

Buy this one here , and true to form, here's a pin made from a vintage silk  kimono Helen got from Suzanne C., sewn with a freshwater pearl.....

Buy it here .

So, in the end, Helen's chrysanthemums look pretty stylized and really don't resemble the real flowers, but you know, nobody much seems to care, and kanzashi is all about being stylized. So, enjoy.

New Bridal Kanzashi

It's Polar Vortex II here in the upper Midwestern US! Helen cancelled everything for today to stay in and make stuff, woohoo! Predicted lows for tonight? Somewhere in the -17 to -20 degrees F. range.

So, Helen has been working very hard for the last couple months on her latest project, the Bridal Trunk Show at Third Coast Style , Milwaukee's newest boutique. Third Coast Style is dedicated to selling the work of Milwaukee designers, and is located in our downtown's Fashion District. The trunk show goes from February 12th to March 2nd, and features the work of 14 designers.

So, I just wanted to show you some of these newer bridal things that you may not have seen yet. First, here's a large cream and beige kanzashi rose that Helen made from some silk charmeuse she got from Patrice....

....and here's a sort of stylized lotus of shantung silk that Lannette gave to Helen a while ago.....

Here's the bridal peony Helen just finished today, from ivory habutai and green moire....

......and reminiscent of the peony, here's the newest version of Helen's Yorkshire Rose.....

Finally, something older that I haven't posted here before, but is something of an achievement of Kanzashi engineering, as it coaxes a teardrop shaped crystal bead to stand on its end.....

There's plenty of other stuff, of course. Less rewarding than creating the designs is coming up with effective display, which is the next project. Let's all wish Helen some luck here, as it is not her strongest ability!

New Bobby Pin Design

So, Helen has been serving an awful lot of masters, lately, and is very distracted. On the one hand, it's great to be needed and active! On the other hand, it can be pretty stressful, what with the Problems Helen and her colleagues are dealing with.

Anyhoo, I wanted to show you Helen's fun new bobby pin design. Take a look!

Aren't they cute? We are unsure of the fiber content, as Helen got this bright pink chiffon remnant from longtime dressmaker Susie F, but it might be silk. It sure works well with this petal shape. Helen used vintage faux pearls for the centers. Buy 'em here . We're thinking about what other fabrics and colors Helen can use for this design.....maybe they would be good bridal hair accessories.

In other news, our friend Joana now has a fabulous licensing agreement for some of her work! Some of her whimsical fashion illustrations now adorn phone and iPad cases. Check 'em out here .

Lastly, Helen now has a new place to sell some of her wares. Third Coast Style is a beautiful new store in Milwaukee's fashion district. Here are some of Helen's new Christmas-y silk pendants, which will be in the store starting mid-November....

Note the blood trillium in the upper right corner. OK, so gotta go. Helen has a lot of work to do, and I'm working on staying warm.

Kanzashi Morning Glory

Helen and I love kanzashi morning glories! We've been admiring them for years, and Helen has tried to figure out how to make one the traditional way, with absolutely no success. We have observed two distinct petal shapes that other artists use for asagao, or morning glories. Here's an example of one....

....it might be hard to see, but it's a rounded petal that creates a trumpet-shaped flower. We think it's just so beautiful. You can buy this one on Etsy from JagataraArt here . Now, here's an example of the other petal shape, equally as beautiful....

This is also available on Etsy from GirLinKimono ; buy it here . Well, Helen even found an online tutorial for one of these, and couldn't make head or tail out of it. Not wanting to just give up, Helen made up her own morning glory petal. The goal was to look something like these...

                                                      ....and here's what Helen made.....

And guess what? Helen's new petal, while unorthodox for kanzashi, is pretty easy, so here's your tutorial! First, cut a 3-inch square of fabric and fold it roughly in thirds, like this...

....now, fold that in half...

.....now, pinch in the center, like this......

.....and fasten it with a bobby pin, or something.....

......and now stitch it, or glue it....whatever you usually do to make your kanzashi petals. Helen's sewn version looks like this on the back....

OK, now glue 5 of these together, leaving no space at the top. A variation you might want to try, is to sew or glue the petals in reverse, so that the smooth side is the front of the flower. We haven't tried that out yet, but we're thinking about it. Let us know what happens if you do it, OK? 

 

Nerdy botanical note: the above photo of flowers is a Google image generated from the keywords morning glories. If you search for asagao, you find photos of similar flowers, but the leaves are quite different; they have 3 lobes, not something you find in the Americas at all. So, we're assuming the Japanese asagao is a different species from what we look at in our neighborhood.

So, Helen made the above comb for herself. She's got some plans to make something similar to sell, from a rich, royal blue vintage kimono silk, and I don't know, something green for the leaves. We'll keep you posted!

Review from Christine

Just a quickie, tonight, I guess. Christine posted her very lovely review of some of Helen's work a few days ago. Read it here . Also, Christine sent Helen some of her beautiful photos, such as this one...

(Logo by Christine). A new version of these clips is posted on Etsy here . And this one. These little ume, or plum flowers, are listed on Etsy as a snap clip pair. Christine requested these on ponytail elastics, as she wanted to wear them with her braids. Helen thought it was a cute idea.....

This is a made-to-order item, which you can find here .

Anyhoo, at this moment, Helen is laboriously and slowly experimenting with something. Necessity is the mother of invention, as is making up something of your own if you can't figure out how to do it the way everyone else does it. All shall be revealed when Helen finally finishes her project. For now, we have high hopes.

Dog and Pony Show

First, I'd like to say thank you to all the people who have been inquiring about my health. I'm gaining weight and I have much more energy for playing than say, a year ago. Also, during a recent summer cold snap, a mouse came and visited us. I had a blast with this mouse at about 4:00 in the morning, sometime last week! Helen thought something in the house had fallen down. We were having so much fun and making such a ruckus  that I didn't eat him/her (not sure) until the next day, when Helen encountered the mouse, screeched, woke me from my nap, and carried me to where the somewhat worn-out mouse was hanging out. We had a little more fun and then a snack. I had the snack.

OK so, Helen was recently invited to sell her wares at something called the "Walk for the Animals", an event benefiting the Washington County Humane Society here in Wisconsin. I think that's all wonderful, except that you know who's going to be walking....a bunch of dogs. And worse still, Helen has been making kanzashi for......dogs. Seriously, I don't know what to say. She's making brightly colored cotton flowers on ponytail elastics to attach to dog collars....or wear with your ponytail. She is making fabric flower centers using her styrofoam molds....something she figured out a number of blog posts ago. Very useful, because once they're glued, you have to work hard to pull them off! Even a dog would have problems losing these flower centers. OK, let's look at a few of her favorites.

The challenge of designing these seems to be in figuring out which fabric will do which petal shape without getting squashed by, you know, a dog rolling around on the ground, or something. Also, since Helen doesn't want to spend a lot of time on each one, she has limited herself to 6 petals per flower. Here's a delicate little number in a pale pink dotted Swiss....

...which can be purchased here . And here's a fun floral cotton that J9 gave to Helen...

...buy it here...A different sort of shape made from the last of a beloved cotton print....

....a one-of-a-kind item you can buy here if you can't wait for the show in a couple weeks. And here's a group of other lighthearted, happy-go-lucky things, perfect for dogs....

Note the solid colored black and white flowers; these are dupioni silk, for formal occasions, like weddings. In fact, Helen came up with a way to make kanzashi "bow-ties" also to attach to ponytail elastics, especially for very masculine dogs' formal occasions...

It has been a fun project, and less time-consuming than other kanzashi perhaps, but still pretty time-consuming. Helen is thinking about duplicating some of her favorite designs, but at least she doesn't have to spend time experimenting anymore. Until the next exciting new, fun fabric turns up, that is to say.

So, if you are anywhere close to Jackson, Wisconsin on August 17, 2013, come walk in Jackson Park with whatever pets you have that like to walk (I'm not going anywhere near the place) to support the Humane Society and to see Helen's dog flowers (also lots of other fabric flower accessories for humans)!

Daffodil Kanzashi

It's certainly not daffodil season anymore, but Helen has had daffodils on the brain recently. Someone bought one of her kanzashi daffodil bridal head pieces, and Helen had an idea to replace it with a different one, so the synapses began to fire. The final result springs forth from a long line of daffodils.

First, here are some other ones, just for fun. This first is one of Helen's, and some of you may have seen it before. Helen made it from a delightful buttery yellow linen...

Buy it here. Let's look at some other interpretations of daffodil kanzashi (and there are many more than I can post here). Here's a lovely one from KanzashiCore...

We especially like the botanically correct addition of the strap-like leaves that daffodils have. Read the article on the KanzashiCore website here. Next, let's look at a beautiful multi-flowered hair stick assemblage from Mizu's Garden on Etsy. As you can see, these colorful daffodils are made using entirely different petal shapes than the previous two...

...and finally, let's look at a set of cute little hair clips from JuLVa on Etsy. Here, the daffodil leaves are cleverly represented by lengths of cut ribbon...

So, this brings us to Helen's new daff. Some time ago, Helen's cyber-friend Lannette sent her remnants of a beautiful, barely off-white dupioni silk, left over from construction of a wedding gown. Helen has used it a few times for various projects, and was drooling over the thought of using it for a bridal daffodil comb. She just had to figure out what to do about the center....the solution turned out to be a petal shape that Helen invented a couple years ago. Here it is....

Freshwater pearl in the center. Buy it here.

So, once again, you can see why kanzashi is so appealing to so many artists---visions of the same flower can be expressed so many different ways. The limit is our imagination.

Plum Flower Kanzashi

 

It's February, and things can happen, like furnaces malfunctioning. That happened to us the other day, and the furnace guy said he would return with the part he needed to replace the next day. When it became evident that the temperature was going to drop significantly, Helen asked her friend Rebecca if we could stay at her house, just across the street. Rebecca was very gracious and we all had a fun time socializing in her living room, and of course, I explored the house some. Early the next morning, Rebecca went off to teach, the kids went off to school, Helen went to train with her weightlifting coach, and I went off to have a good nap in one of the secret hiding places I found. Many hours later, the humans were in hysterics because they couldn't find me! When I got up, they acted like it was a big miracle, but instead of welcoming me with squeals of delight and a big bowl of food, Helen crammed me into a cat carrier and hustled me across the street to our house, telling me how worried they all had been. Just what is the big deal?

Anyway, as I was saying, it's February, and that is the month for ume, or plum flower kanzashi. I would say that the ume are perhaps the most iconic of the kanzashi. They have just 5 rounded petals and are so lovely in their simplicity. Let's take a look at some.

Here's one of Helen's snap clip pairs.....simple little silk flowers with onyx bead centers....

Buy 'em here. OK, let's look at a few other artists' use of ume. Lilyashes from Kanzashi Temple on Etsy has made a graceful large assemblage of chirimen silk ume with wonderful leaves and shidari falls.....

Kitty Kanzashi on Etsy illustrates that ume don't have to be small in this beautiful wedding hair piece...

 

....and Random Cat Girl on Etsy demonstrates a kind of colorful layering with this lovely comb...

 

 

....and I can't resist showing an example of the wonderful effect of ume made from printed fabric, as Helen demonstrates with another one of her vintage kimono silk snap clip pairs...

 

 

Buy 'em here . OK, so we could really go on and on, as kanzashi artists are creative people who might well make more ume than anything else. You get the idea. In any case, it's a good way to get through February.