Kanzashi Roses

I am a cat. I have no opposable thumbs. I really don't have any thumbs at all, so I can't draw pictures for you, but I can try to tell you how to make a kanzashi rose.

Cut a square of fabric; silk, cotton, linen, even synthetic, as long as it is lightweight and not too slippery. Try to measure it accurately; you'll thank yourself later. It's important that you cut it with the grain. Don't cut on the bias, OK? I think solid-colored fabric works best for this particular item.

Fold a corner to the opposite corner to make a triangle. Repeat. You now have a triangle-shaped petal (the rudiment of several other kinds of petals). Helen likes to fold in the corners a little (so you won't see raw edges) and baste the thing together. You can also glue it. Make four really small ones, and then three that are 1/4 inch bigger, three 1/4 inch bigger than that, and so forth, depending on how big you want your roses. So, let's say you are cutting squares that are 1.5 inches, 1.75 inches, 2 inches, etc. Whatever your largest squares are going to be, cut 5 or 6 of them. Again, 4 of the smallest ones, 3 of everything else, except the largest ones, which should be 5 or 6. So, Helen's larger roses usually have a total of 15-16 petals.

Take one of the smallest ones and roll it along its hypotenuse so that it resembles the center of a rose.....you can glue it this way (see photos below). Glue the remaining small ones around the center so that it surrounded as evenly as possible on all sides. Repeat with the next largest petals. At some point you might want to glue the petals so that they lie flatter, spreading out your rose. That's pretty much it. Your flower will resemble an angular hybrid tea sort of rose. For a softer, rounder effect, you need to use a different sort of petal, and Helen hasn't even tried that yet.

Here are some of Helen's roses: the first one is silk crepe with vintage kimono silk lining leaves on a comb https://www.etsy.com/listing/105026803/ivory-flower-fascinator-kanzashi-rose ...

And this one is a synthetic amazing reddish purple one that Helen sold to a colleague she spent some time with at a big orchestral musician pow-wow conference www.icsom.org/ in Chicago last week.....

Here's a gold satin rose on a barrette with black satin leaves, both synthetic fabrics....note the onyx bead in the center https://www.etsy.com/listing/58803424/black-gold-hair-barrette-kanzashi-satin ......

Here's a red synthetic one that became a brooch for a gallery....

And finally, here's a pair of coral silk charmeuse snap clips.....

Buy the coral clips here https://www.etsy.com/listing/100582370/coral-flower-hair-clip-fascinators-silk  and there's a rose brooch made from the same fabric here.

So there's your little tutorial. It's probably the only one you're going to get, because you know, I can't draw you pictures, and I can't help Helen take photos. It's hard not having thumbs.