Mor Nu Thingz

Helen's summer was packed with new kanzashi, and she is glad to have had the opportunity to make so many new things! One thing she forgot to tell me about in time for the last post was a little collaboration she did with her friend Lannette. Lannette designs mostly bridal gowns in Southern California, and she creates flower girl dresses, too. She sent Helen some lovely plum, lavender and ivory satins, and asked for flowers for the dress's sash and a complementary hair clip. Here's what Helen came up with....

....and here's the dress!!! So pretty....

What else? A new chirimen silk necklace, (buy it here)....

Next, new lapel flowers! Helen has been posting these on the Instagrams, and has been getting a good deal of approval from men's fashion retailers and bloggers. Seriously! Here's a plaid dupioni silk one with a goldstone bead (buy it here)

....and an ume-shaped vintage kimono silk with a faux pearl here.....

.....a red and gold Chinese silk brocade lapel flower that Helen's friend Valerie bought on Etsy.....

....this fall colors linen one here.....

... this red chirimen silk flower here

and a black tie silk one that I can't figure out how to show you, but you can see it here.

Now, Helen has two things to announce. First, she is partnering with a friend who is a marketing professional, to sell most of her new flower lapel pins on her friend's website (yay)! They have just barely started this process, so I won't send you to any links yet, because there's nothing online to see at this moment. Helen is just thrilled that she has the support of a knowledgeable (and impressive!) person to sell these things, because selling is the Supreme Challenge, and Helen is an orchestra musician, so who do you think has the better chance of marketing this stuff successfully? More when we have something to show you!

The next thing is that Helen figured out a New Thing for kanzashi flower centers, and she is going to do a tutorial for me to post soon. She promises.

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.

Christmas Kanzashi 2013

Season's Greetings to all, and as usual, there's not much time to post today, but I thought I'd show you a couple new Christmas pieces that Helen has made for her Etsy shop.

First, one of Helen's many cross-cultural creations! A pair of kanzashi bobby pin flowers made from a small remnant of the vintage Liberty of London cotton print, "Ianthe". Helen had no idea that Liberty of London, or Liberty Tana Lawn, was A Thing, but it is. Helen showed the fabric to J9 over her Thanksgiving visit, and J9, a fabric connoisseur, got all excited. Here's the pattern, a very art nouveau looking thing....

.....and here are Helen's more abstract looking bobby pins, complete with vintage faux pearls....

Buy 'em here . Next, here are some snap clip flowers that Helen made from a small piece of Japanese linen that Suzanne C. gave to Helen. Very Christmassy!

Bigger pictures are here , where you can also buy them. There's another Christmassy sort of thing coming down the pike, but we need to reserve that one for another post!

Meanwhile, J9 convinced Helen to try a rotary cutter, which is fairly standard for kanzashi makers, but which Helen had resisted for years. The good things are that it can be a more accurate than shears and that it allows you to skip the step of marking your fabric. The down side is that Helen is having a little trouble getting the hang of it. We think that she has already managed to dull part of her blade, because of rubbing against her rulers, or something. The wheel seems to skip, and some fabric shredding is going on. Any tips from you more experienced rotary cutter users are much appreciated!

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.

 

 

 

More Styrofoam

This one's just a quickie. Some months ago, Helen waxed on and on about ways to finish your kanzashi flowers. She came up with a hare-brained EZ method of creating a flower center from styrofoam covered with the fabric you've been using. Here's a little example of that first one she did:

Not bad for an amateur. Buy 'em here https://www.etsy.com/listing/115257962/blue-brown-flower-hair-clips-kanzashi Now, I'm going to give you a tip, if you're interested in doing this little trick. Shape your styrofoam center with a pair of scissors....not the good ones for fabric, but some less good ones. The ones you use to cut paper. The scissors just seem to give you enhanced control, and the shape might come out a little more regular, if that's what you're into. Here's Helen's latest:

Here, she has covered the center with the reverse of the fabric, a nice effect you can try, too. Or buy it here https://www.etsy.com/listing/120101754/red-flower-brooch-or-hair-clip