Kanzashi Boutonnieres

So, hope you are having an enjoyable summer. We've been busy tying up loose ends. Helen is frazzled, for some reason, feels like she can't catch up. She hauled me into the vet's office the other day. They poked me with all sorts of things. Seems like Helen is the one who could use some medical attention.

Anyway, I'm going to talk about something new for kanzashi today. I mentioned in an earlier post that a guy in New York contacted Helen, asking for a teeny little flower to be used as a lapel pin. It took 2 months to come up with a prototype, and I'm still not allowed to show it to you, but it opened the door to a whole new category of kanzashi for Helen to make: les boutonnieres. Here are a few things that Helen has made as gifts. First, a little nanohana flower as a birthday present for one of her friends, made from vintage kimono silk and a coin pearl.....

.....and some dupioni silk roses....

These flowers are each about 1.5 inches in diameter, so quite small. So, that's actually it for the lapel pins for right now. Next are some new things that Helen is giving her friend Denise to sell at her hair salon. Here's a new ponytail flower made from 3 different batik cottons.....

....and some new necklaces, like this one from silk satin organza....

......BTW, that stuff is really hard to work with. Next, a necklace from chirimen silk and pink jade......

......here's a pendant from three different colors of  dupioni silk.....

......a little number from two different silks with a linen twist in the center......

......and an older one from a synthetic fabric, with tulle and a freshwater pearl....

Finally, an item that Helen will has just posted in her Etsy shop: a pair of soft grey-ish lavender silk organza bobby pins....

 

Buy 'em here.

 

So, that's the new-ish stuff for the moment. Helen is excited to have a bunch of new fabric to play with, so there should be new designs over the course of the summer. Will report back when there's more!

New Bobby Pin Design

So, Helen has been serving an awful lot of masters, lately, and is very distracted. On the one hand, it's great to be needed and active! On the other hand, it can be pretty stressful, what with the Problems Helen and her colleagues are dealing with.

Anyhoo, I wanted to show you Helen's fun new bobby pin design. Take a look!

Aren't they cute? We are unsure of the fiber content, as Helen got this bright pink chiffon remnant from longtime dressmaker Susie F, but it might be silk. It sure works well with this petal shape. Helen used vintage faux pearls for the centers. Buy 'em here . We're thinking about what other fabrics and colors Helen can use for this design.....maybe they would be good bridal hair accessories.

In other news, our friend Joana now has a fabulous licensing agreement for some of her work! Some of her whimsical fashion illustrations now adorn phone and iPad cases. Check 'em out here .

Lastly, Helen now has a new place to sell some of her wares. Third Coast Style is a beautiful new store in Milwaukee's fashion district. Here are some of Helen's new Christmas-y silk pendants, which will be in the store starting mid-November....

Note the blood trillium in the upper right corner. OK, so gotta go. Helen has a lot of work to do, and I'm working on staying warm.

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.