Kanzashi Fairy Godmother

Helen's first-ever outdoor selling event is less than a week away, and she's nervously trying to take care of details, but I wanted to tell you a fun little story of serendipitous luck which has already resulted in some lovely new kanzashi pieces!

Helen's friend Kas has a Japanese-Polish cousin who lived for a while in Japan.  Kas's cousin has a Japanese friend whose son attended an English language program in Madison, WI. Every weekend, he would come to stay with Kas and her husband, and do normal American family type things with them. Eternally grateful, Kas's cousin's Japanese friend has been sending Kas lavish gifts for years. Well as it turns out, the lady makes kimonos.

One day, Kas casually asked Helen if she would like some more fabric for making kanzashi, explaining that she has a Japanese friend who might have some of the stuff to send. Helen said sure. Then they both forgot all about it.

Until about 3 weeks ago, when a beautiful box stuffed with primo kimono remnants arrived in the mail. Gorgeous, colorful chirimen silk, silk linings, cotton remnants, obi scraps, silk that Helen doesn't know what to call or how to describe. Fabric that Helen can use and fabric that she's giving away to her friend Angela. For a kanzashi maker, this is like dying and going to heaven.

Just to show you how crazy beautiful some of these Japanese textiles are, I made Helen take some pictures. First, here's a remnant that Helen couldn't bear to cut up....it's going to Angela....

Photos cannot do it justice. At least, not Helen's photos. Similarly, here's a gorgeous piece that Helen also hates to cut up, but might anyway.....a big pattern with beautiful flowers. Here's a detail...

So. Helen wanted more colorful silk for making pendants,and that is what she received. Here are only the first six long ribbon necklaces...

Buy them this Saturday, August 17th, at the Walk for the Animals, benefiting the Washington County Humane Society here in Wisconsin. We'll be at Jackson Park, in the village of Jackson. All day.

There are so many more possibilities in that box full of fabric, so carefully packed by its sender. It's a silk candy store. Helen is so grateful to her kanzashi fairy godmother, somewhere in Japan, and planning on including a pendant for her in the next care package that Kas sends.

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)!

Kanzashi Bracelets, Part Deux

So, a couple posts ago, Helen was unsure about a bracelet she had just made. She sort of liked it, but thought it looked an awful lot like a hair scrunchy. She asked for feedback from her millions of loyal readers. Helen's pal Joana agreed that it looked like a scrunchy that hadn't quite made it to the ponytail......Helen had been dwelling in Unsuccessful Design Land. Joana suggested checking out some cuff bracelets.

After flirting with the idea of a variety of materials, Helen checked out the lace cuff bracelets that can be found on Etsy. There are many beautiful ones.....some of simple tatted lace, some shabby chic ones using a few different lace fragments, some with button closures, ribbon closures, chain closures....lots of beautiful things. None with kanzashi.

So, after lots of tries, Helen came up with something we think is sort of sexy. It is a simple lace cuff with a kanzashi flower and some tiny leaves, with a ribbon closure. Here are some pix:

Thanks to Helen's friend Rebecca for modeling! The flower is a blush pink satin, the leaves are a pale green moire, and there's a vintage faux pearl sewn into the center. Here's the back....

An organdy ribbon is strung through two handsewn buttonholes....take a look at the Etsy listing here for larger, clearer photos. Also if you want to buy it!

We think this cuff is nice for bridal occasions, but also for dressy summer events, like your next garden party. You go to garden parties, right? Rebecca asked for one with a black flower, and Helen is thinking about making one from black lace for the Goth kids. Goth girls wearing kanzashi....that would be something, wouldn't it?

So anyway, here are a few more bracelet ideas that other kanzashi makers have come up with. First, one of our favorite kanzashi artists, Polished Kanzashi on Etsy has this beautiful chirimen silk assemblage on a metal wristband....

Here's a less formal one; a colorful, cute flower with a button center on an elastic band from Keating Kreations on Etsy.....

...and here's a lovely green plum blossom on an adjustable band, that can double as a headband or choker from Magpie Creations ......

So, those are the bracelets I found to show you. In the kanzashi world, there aren't many of them yet, it seems. Helen likes her new design, and unlike the last one, is willing to put the time into making more of them.

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.

Kanzashi Bracelet(s)?

Why all the doubt? Helen had been talking about kanzashi bracelets for a long time, and had ideas about how she was going to put them together, what kind of flowers and fabric to use, etc. Now, she doesn't know whether to continue making these, and she NEEDS YOUR HELP.

Here's what she did: she bought some of those extra large hair elastic thingies at the dollar store. For a dollar. She made 6 of her hydrangea flowers, and attached them to said hair elastic. Here's what she got:

 

 

OK, you get the idea. Here's a shot where you can sort of see how she attached the flowers:

 

 

So, here's the question, dear readers and commenters. Does it look too much like a fancy hair scrunchy? Helen just doesn't know if she should invest more time and energy into these. It might just need a good model, someone with really nice nails who is also photogenic, like Rebecca. 

 

Helen posted a photo on the face books and asked people what they thought; nobody said a word. Same thing on Flickr: one person said she liked it (thanks, Carly!). Folks, we desperately need more opinions, so give ol' Helen a break here, and tell her whether you think this project is worth pursuing some more. Don't be afraid to say that you don't care for it, OK? It's all right. We are just mired in doubt and need some guidance from design-conscience people, like you!

 

 

 

More Necklaces and a Pin

Helen and I have both been very busy, of course, but we found time to make a few things in between working, trying to garden a little in this very cold weather, and trying to organize a few reviews of Helen's new recording (check out the super sexy new press release and a couple tunes here). To begin with, Helen made her first nanohana.

Nanohana is the flower of the rape plant. Despite its unfortunate English name, rape is a very tasty vegetable, and I understand its seeds are also useful! Nanohana is a kanzashi flower for March, and is usually portrayed in clusters. Helen just made one as a pendant from vintage kimono silk with a wonderfully crinkly texture...

 

Buy the necklace here. What else? A colorful little star-shaped flower from the remains of a beautiful silk blend jacquard that Helen's friend J9 gave her.....

 

 

....a red habotai flower with yellow jade.....

 

 

.....buy it here  . And finally, a flower that just had to be a brooch, made from an old silk scarf that J9 gave to Helen...

 

 

We just love the colors. It will probably end up in a gallery. We can see making some ume or plum flower pendants from this fabric.

 

OK, that's all for the moment. Soon, kanzashi bracelets.

Kanzashi Necklaces

 

Sorry for the delay, as usual, but there are so many new things to report! Helen has a new recording, a new publicist, a new iPad mini, a new Alexander Technique teacher, and a new kanzashi design......necklaces!

Here's what happened: Helen's friend Rebecca came over one day and said, "Make me a necklace, here's how you can do it". Rebecca is an art teacher, so she always has lots of Ideas. Well, not all of them work, as it turns out, but Helen liked the concept, and decided to try it.

Helen never cared much for fabic flower necklaces, because combining fabric with metal chains never seemed Quite Right to her. Rebecca's idea was for a long ribbon necklace with just one small flower. After doing some Experimenting, Helen arrived at her pendant design, and here's how to do it.

OK, make your flower.....probably something small with 4-7 petals. Now, cut a small piece of thin satin ribbon.....1 inch is probably sufficient. Fold the ribbon in half.....this is going to be your loop. Hand sew the ribbon to a small piece of fabric that won't fray....some knit or spandex sort of thing. Just tack it a few times. It will look roughly like this:

That's the underside. Glue this side to the flower. Here's the exposed side:

All right, it's hard to tell from the photo, but it looks relatively clean.....you mainly see the fabric, a few stitches, and a small ribbon loop. Now, glue it to the back of the flower, and slip a long ribbon through the loop, like this:

OK, so you've glued it. What about the back of the flower? You have to have something to protect it and hide the unmentionables, like glue and/or stitches. After trying a few things, Helen has decided on using the same fabric as the flower. Cut a small circle, treat the raw edge with fray prevention liquid or heat, and glue it to the flower back. All right, now for the fun part. Here are some completed necklaces. This one is silver fabric with a coin pearl....

 

 

That one's at the Morning Glory Gallery . Here are some that will be in Helen's Etsy shop soon...these are all silk of various sorts. This one's more about the leaves than the flower....

 

 

Fleur-de-lis.....

 

 

Dupioni silk with a coin pearl....

 

 

Another dupioni silk with a blue jade bead....

 

 

More to come.

 

Just a tip...pendants get bumped around more than brooches or hair accessories, so Helen is trying to stick mainly with silk for these flowers. We're impressed by the staying power of habutai, and the resilience of chirimen (neither of which are pictured here, lol). We all may stray to synthetics every now and again, but we can see the reason kanzashi were and are made from kimono silk....it's absolutely the right fabric.