Kanzashi Magnolia

A few weeks ago, a guy contacted Helen and asked her to design a tiny little kanzashi magnolia. Helen came up with two preliminary ideas, and he chose one of them. More on this in a later post!

The other design, the one that the guy didn't choose, is the one that Helen decided to blow up to a more normal kanzashi hair accessory size, and to make into a bridal head piece. Now, magnolias are kind of challenging in a kanzashi context, as their petals (or "tepals", the proper botanical term) are rounded, yet pointed, in a way that's just difficult to reproduce in the kanzashi technique. Helen managed to get the shape right (sort of) with a rounded petal into which she pressed a little crease with an iron, at an intermediate juncture of the petal's fabrication! I can't really explain it better than that, but I know you kanzashi artists will experiment with it, if you haven't already!

Here's the flower.....

This is habutai silk with synthetic leaves and a teardrop Swarovski crystal sewn into the center. Buy it here .

There are very few kanzashi magnolias to be found in the online universe, and now Helen and I know why. They are difficult to represent, even in the stylized kanzashi world. Helen will soon be making more magnolias of a different kind, perhaps a lot of them! For this reason, she has decided to give that rice glue another try, and whipped up a batch in the kitchen yesterday. Makes a big mess!

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!

Kanzashi Bracelet, Part Quatre

It's cold. Here I am in one of my Winter Places, next to a heat duct. It's where I live. Helen lives there too, always has, I hear. She keeps the house at 64 degrees F, so who wouldn't be huddling in front of the heat?

So, more bracelets. These are bridal, and more variations and colors are on the way, I understand. The idea is similar to Helen's kanzashi headbands.....Greek goddess-like wreaths of laurel leaves, or something. First, the shantung silk single-leaf bracelet.....

...You might notice that the flower is not a kanzashi flower. Helen said she couldn't make one that small. Its purpose is to cover the snap closure, and of course, it's pretty. Here's our model wearing it.....

...and the other way.....

Buy it here . Next, a double-leaf, criss-crossed version of the same thing......

with a silk kanzashi flower. Another view...

Buy it here . So yeah, more of these on the way. Meanwhile, I'd like to show you Helen's new morning glory comb.....

Kimono silk with white tulle and a freshwater pearl. It's here in the Etsy shop. More stuff soon.