You're Making What? by Helen

I have recently been engaged in an online course called Creative Badass Challenge, and today's challenge is to share something personal in a blog post or social media platform. It should be authentic, revealing your soft underbelly, suggests the course's author, Dave Conrey. Vulnerability. Problems, maybe. Discomfort. Well, I've got plenty of all those things, but the thing I'm choosing to write about is that around here where I live, NOBODY WEARS WHAT I'M MAKING. And I feel weird about it. And that's all. Let me explain.

In February of 2014, a guy in New York asked me to make him some kanzashi lapel flowers for men. I had previously been making only women's hair accessories, brooches, necklaces and bracelets. I had never before seen the application that this guy was talking about (BTW, what became of you, Don, and what have you done with my flowers?). I still haven't seen one on an actual human being, except for a few guys around here who wear mine, intending to sell some of them. Fast forward to now, June of 2015, I have seen lapel flowers only in fashion photographs, and in some guys' personal photos on Instagram. Every once in a while, a friend tells me of a sighting of such a thing on TV. I can only conclude that what I'm making is a nascent fashion trend that has not yet established itself in the Midwest. I do sell these things, and I sometimes mail orders to Midwest addresses, but they are an uncommon observance in my life.

So, why am I making them? More importantly, why am I changing the focus of my entire Etsy shop and Instagram feed to men's accessories? Four really good reasons!

1. I can use any colors I want. I don't have to worry if the colors or fabric I choose are going to go with some gal's dress. This is liberating! The flower can blend with a jacket or contrast with it; I feel like I have so much freedom.
2. They sell way faster than women's stuff. I got proof. When I look at the numbers, I have sold about twice as much stuff since I sold my first lapel flower, as in the previous year, and that's just counting the men's accessories (including lapel buttons, lapel bow tie pins and button cuff links).
3. I can charge twice as much. For example, a pair of kanzashi flower hair clips goes for $25; take one of the flowers, put it on a tie tack, and that alone sells for $25. What can be bad, as my mother used to say?
4. I get at least three times the attention on Instagram for the men's items, as for the women's things. Who wouldn't be drawn towards making more men's accessories?

Clearly, I'm going to have to be patient. I hope to see more of what I make become more commonplace, even around here, in the next few years, so that people understand what the hell I'm doing. I'm using a lot of energy, here! And I'm soon going to change the name of my Etsy shop, as well as other things. So far, follow me on Instagram @exquisitelapel.

Alvin's Wedding

A while ago, a guy contacted Helen about kanzashi boutonnieres that he wanted for his wedding in September. Helen and Alvin emailed each other quite a bit, discussing the merits of various fabrics, shapes, colors, etc. Alvin eventually settled on a particular design, and Helen made 8 lapel flowers for him. Here are some of the photos she took of her process.

First, cutting fabrics with a rotary cutter and a cutting board. We used a lavender kimono silk that came from Helen's Kanzashi Fairy Godmother in Japan (it was in the box I'm sitting on, in the above photo!) and a silver grey dupioni silk that Helen got from Patrice . Helen used 2.25 inch squares for the lavender, and 1.5 inch squares for the grey.

Helen decided to sew these petals, because she would be adding pearl beads later, and it's way easier to sew beads into the center of a flower that doesn't have rice glue on the petal edges. Here are all the petals ready to go.....

Next, petals glued into 4-petal flowers....

Pearls sewn into centers with nylon beading cord......

.......leaves added, and flowers mounted on tie tack findings.

So, that was fun, and Helen is hoping to find more grooms and groomsmen! Meanwhile, Helen started participating in a thing called the Creative Badass Challenge . It is one month full of difficult things to do and think about, aimed at helping creative business owners to work better. One of the challenges was fun.....it was about getting messy, throwing caution to the winds, making something that we are not intending to sell. Helen decided to try making a flower that has a different fabric for every petal. She was worried that the different textures would be a problem, but a chrysanthemum-shaped flower seems to be able to handle that OK. Here's what she came up with....

This flower is all silk....chirimen, charmeuse, habutai, different vintage kimono silks, and a couple things we don't know what to call. A chartreuse jade bead is in the center, and the flower is mounted on a tie tack finding. Buy it here.

News and Stuff

So, it's been around 3 months since I've posted anything at all, I understand. Well, Helen has had quite the schedule of heavy lifting working for these people . That's mostly it, no other excuses. I'm enjoying my afterlife here...it's fun. I don't know why some humans call it the Rainbow Bridge....I don't see any bridges or rainbows. Just lots of nice cats, all of whom I like, and plenty of mice for if you're hungry.

I thought I would post a few newsy items since well, kanzashi productivity has been down some. Helen contacted this gal Sara on the Instagrams....Sara lives in New York and likes to wear men's clothing, and she blogs about it here . Sara has a great big following, and Helen was very happy that Sara was interested in modeling a couple kanzashi lapel flowers. Here's a photo of the first one that Sara chose.....

Here's another one.....



Dapper, no? Check it out on Sara's website for more pix!

Meanwhile, Helen's friend Angela was cleaning out her sewing space, and offered fabric remnants to all interested parties on the Facebooks! Helen grabbed a small bag of African cotton prints. Here are a few of her new African cotton lapel flowers:











There's more, but we'll save it. There are other folks on Instagram who have offered their photography and modeling services.....we'll be posting more of these as they come to fruition. Meanwhile, here are a few more new fun lapel flowers!









Buy 'em all here !

Last Ditch Effort with Planet Alpha Male

Sadie here, blogging from the Beyond. It's pretty nice here, plenty to eat, sunshine, other cats to play with, mice, toys, soft places to sleep. I said I would continue to blog even after my passing, because Helen is too busy. At least here, my kidneys are just fine, thanks. 

So, Helen made a lot of stuff for her pal Michael to sell at his Planet Alpha Male booth at the 4th Annual Last Ditch Effort fair, the brainchild of Helen and Michael's friend Angela . The Last Ditch has all sorts of great local handmade stuff: art, accessories, jewelry, food, reiki, massage, home decor, soaps, you name it. And it is just a few days before Christmas, for all us procrastinators. So you see, this is OUR fair.

Helen only had the chance to take a few pictures of the seasonal kanzashi lapel pins that she made special for the Last Ditch Effort. Some of them are quite unique, so I thought I would show them to you. First, Helen's only kanzashi poinsettia, shantung silk with some new mineral beads whose name Helen can't remember.....

Next, a modernistic wreath made from a wonderful iridescent silk that J9 gave to 

Helen......

And finally, a little woolen bow tie....

Kanzashi bow tie? It's easy! First, look at one of my older blog posts from when Helen had to make up her own asagao or morning glory petal, because she couldn't figure out either of the traditional ones. Read it here. I'll post a complete tutorial  with pictures and everything next time! Meanwhile, for those of you who are coming, The Last Ditch Effort is Saturday, December 20th in the Milwaukee County Housing Authority building, 650 W. Reservoir Avenue in Milwaukee! Join us 11 AM to 6 PM.

Planet Alpha Male

I mentioned a few posts ago that Helen was going to partner up with a marketing professional to sell her kanzashi men's lapel flowers. Well, it has happened! The webstore is up. A few more things are going to happen to complete it, but you can now get a look at some of the flower pins Helen has made especially for the shop at Planet Alpha Male. Here are a few of my favorites:

This first one is vintage kimono silk with a coin pearl center....note all the different textures.....

.....Here's something unusual; cotton replica African kente cloth with a red coral center.....

.....and here's a fall colors Japanese maple leaf of vintage kimono silk with a mineral bead of uncertain parentage and brass wire.......

.....and here's a brown-ish maroon and grey vintage kimono silk with another mineral bead.....

......a wonderful manly silk sent by Helen's Kanzashi Fairy Godmother in Japan, with a coin pearl....

....and a rich brown plaid vintage kimono silk one with a mineral bead......

And here's our favorite modeled picture, so far! He's wearing a chirimen silk flower with a coral bead......

This look has gotten big time kudos on the Instagrams......what do you guys think?

War and Remembrance

Veteran's Day/Armistice Day/Remembrance Day is a little over a month away. Helen never gave it a second thought until one of her cousins, who spent some childhood years in Europe and visited there as an adult, suggested that she make a remembrance poppy lapel flower. These are a frequent accessory in the UK and a few other places, it turns out, at this time of year. A little Internet research revealed that this bright red poppy, Papaver rhoeas or the Flanders poppy, grows readily on disturbed earth, and the battlefields of Europe during World War I provided plenty of that.

So, here is Helen's kanzashi version of the remembrance poppy....

Silk charmeuse flower, dupioni silk leaves, Swarovski crystal center anchored by a glass seed bead. Buy it here .

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.

Nu Thingz

Helen has had a flurry of creative activity this summer, because she suddenly had a flood of ideas for kanzashi flower lapel pins. All those darker and understated kimono remnants and silk tie remnants sitting around that are too somber for women's hair accessories are perfect for men's lapel flowers! Eureka. Here are a few that are in her Etsy shop:

Well, this one's not dark, but it is an improvement on the nanohana flower that Helen made for her friend's birthday (see previous post). This nanohana boutonniere is vintage kimono silk with a silk crepe leaf and a freshwater pearl.....

Buy it here ....next is a slate-blue single hydrangea blossom made from silk crepe and a tiny sodalite bead that Helen managed to sew right in the center of the flower (applause)....

Purchase here ....Here's a dark daisy made from a rich yet understated silk brocade......

Find it here .....Here's another hydrangea, a lavender one this time, with a freshwater pearl center....

Buy it here.....Here's another silk brocade number.....Helen has used this fabric a number of times for women's accessories, and came to the last little remnant with this lapel flower, so it's a one-of-a-kind.....rough-hewn manly-looking coin pearl in the center....

Can be found here . OK, and the last one for right now is already spoken for, but don't worry, Helen will make another one! This one is from a vintage kimono silk that we just love, but just didn't ever work as a women's accessory of any sort....

Much more to come! Helen has always been enamored of miniatures, and this lapel flower business is right where she likes to be.