Kansignment Kanzashi

 

Well, it's been a looooooong time since I posted anything.......many apologies, as always! Helen's boss has been in town for the last month, which means lots of working with this group , and after months of recording and editing, Helen has finished a new album with this group . And of course, I've been very busy with my own creative work......finding new places to sleep, new things to play with, you know how it is.

So, Helen has been making consignment items, lately. In a way, this can be liberating, as the pieces can be very colorful. Seems to us that it's a little hard to sell multi-colored pieces online because shoppers often search by color, usually just one color. Is it our imaginations? I don't know, but if any of you would like to comment on it, please feel free......

Also, Helen is honored to have been recently invited to sell her wares in the museum store at the new Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend, WI. So, she had to do a little work over the last few very busy weeks to pull together some old and new items for the both the museum and also the Morning Glory Gallery .

So, here are a few of the consignment things to show you, just for fun. First, some pins.....

 

...and a few snap clip pairs......

 

 

....and an earlier pin that got changed around a little.....

 

 

...and a new linen flower brooch made from fabric that Helen's friend J9 hand-dyed....

 

 

....this star-shaped pin....

 

 

.....this....

 

 

 

.....and finally, a new butterfly.

 

 

So, that's most of it. Helen has an awful lot of things to replace in her Etsy store, now, some of which could use a re-design. And some new ideas for necklaces and bracelets to experiment with. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

Buttrflyz

 

 

Recently, Helen's friend J9 gave her a bunch of fabric remnants, and among them was a brilliantly colored silk faille, with colors that Helen likes for butterflies. Months earlier, Helen had promised her sister a kanzashi pin, and this was the perfect opportunity to make a butterfly brooch. Here's what she came up with.....

 

 

We like the good clean lines of this butterfly, but gosh, it was hard to wrestle the fabric into these petal (wing?) shapes, because it was slippery. Helen was also intrigued by the effect possible from groups of skinny-pointy petals for wings. So, here's her second version from the same fabric....

 

 

In this case, the beads are wired on, which was fun and easy to do! Much easier than sewing them...Let's take a look at other people's kanzashi butterflies.

 

Here's one with clever layering and a button body from Scarlet and Maria on Etsy...

 

 

....and here's an elaborate one with beautiful colors and elegant form from kurikami-kanzashi.deviantart.com ...

 

 

A pale green butterfly with a coiled body is no longer available from an unnamed artist on Etsy, but remains in perpetuity at Google images...

 

 

and some of our favorite butterflies ever can be found in the Kanzashi Boutique Flickr photostream, hereabouts .

 

There are many other ways of making butterflies and other insects in the kanzashi style. Many kanzashi artists also combine butterflies with flowers and leaves to make beautiful compositions, such as this one by Kanzashi Temple on Etsy...

OK, so this is becoming overwhelming, and I think it's time to get back to my nap. Butterflies can be challenging because of the engineering problems of constructing the insect's body. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Layered Kanzashi

Kanzashi makers sometimes use more than one fabric for a single petal. There are many ways to do this, but the reason is to add color and texture. Helen www.empressbarrettes.etsy.com has only been moved to do this once, when she had two kinds of fabric (outer fabric and lining) from the same fall colors vintage kimono. The two fabrics together made such a great combination. Here is Helen's mix-and-match snap clip pair, made from chirimen and habutai silk, with gray coin pearls in the centers...

 

 

Buy it here https://www.etsy.com/listing/79138993/yellow-flower-hair-clips-kanzashi-gold

Let's look at some layered kanzashi pieces by other artists, and there are lots of them. Jiaxin Wang from Deepwinter on Etsy www.deepwinter.etsy.com has made a complex piece using layered sakura petals and layered pointy petals, plus beads and jingles....

RandomCatGirl on Etsy www.randomcatgirl.etsy.com  has made an excellent butterfly, using this same technique...

Emily Wright from Cuttlefishlove on Etsy www.cuttlefishlove.etsy.com has not only added color, but also depth to her brooch.....

SoSaucy on Etsy www.sosaucy.etsy.com has created a unique pinwheel effect by layering two different kinds of petals on top of each other....

So that's what I have for you today. I don't know when Helen is going to try to make another one of these. I hope she at least becomes inspired by my blog post to take the plunge. But then, when does she ever listen to me?

When Are Kanzashi Not Flowers?

The anwer is usually, they are not flowers when they are leaves. Above, you can see me modeling the fall leaves pin Helen made the other day. But kanzashi can take many other shapes. The most common one is the butterfly....

...and a couple years ago, Helen made a fleur-de-lis https://www.etsy.com/listing/55770464/fleur-de-lis-hair-clip-bow-gold-satin ...

....and don't forget the flower BUDS https://www.etsy.com/listing/105281943/ivory-bridal-fascinator-kanzashi ...

Some kanzashi artists have come up with wonderfully inventive shapes for their work; for instance, here's a bunny by ~Sarcasm-hime...

....and here are some cranes from kanazawa-syugen.jp

 

One of our favorite kanzashi artists we know only as Alice, from Jakarta, I think. Helen found her wonderful photostream (kanzashi.boutique) on Flickr, and she also has her own website. Here are some of her non-floral flights of whimsy: my favorite, a cats' ears headband http://kanzashiboutique.com/products_detil.php?id=40&pr=Neko-Headband and Helen's favorite, a shrimp http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitrogal13/5862893268/in/photostream . OK, this blogging business is exhausting. Time for a nap.