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.

Kanzashi Bracelet, Part Six

Good heavens, how could 2 months go by with no blog post? I guess we've been pretty distracted. Ten thousand apologies.

Helen is finally starting to get the hang of this kanzashi cuff bracelet business. It has certainly taken long enough. As with many things in kanzashi making, it's a matter of thinking through the geometry.

So, here's the latest bridal cuff bracelet. This one ties on the underside with a ribbon, so that it can fit on almost everyone. It's made from shantung silk that Helen got from her friend Lannette , and it's quite an elegant leaf design...

It actually fits a little loosely on our bracelet model, but it still pretty much stays put. So, here is the whole thing spread out.....

.....the underside sealed up with a ribbon......

.....optional flower that you can custom order if you want.....

....and the underside on our other bracelet model......

....and you can buy it here.

There are many more possibilities for bracelets and necklaces, we have come to realize. Stay tuned! I hope to post more of this sort of thing, and in sooner than two months, too.

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!

Kanzashi Bracelet, Part Cinq

When will we get a little break from this weather? You can probably tell from my expression that even an indoor cat like myself could use a little warmth. I didn't know how easy I had it when I lived with Helen's friend Jason's sister in Houston.

Just a new configuration of bracelet "components" makes this new bracelet post-worthy. It came out a bit larger than the others that are similar to this one; Helen's other bracelets fit Helen (big surprise). This one really needs a larger wrist for the design to make sense. Made mainly from dupioni silk.....

this bracelet has leaves grouped in threes and a snap closure, with a chirimen silk kanzashi flower concealing the snap....

....and a freshwater pearl sewn into the flower's center.Our modeled photos came out kind of crappy, so we'll skip those, shall we? We have something else to discuss, anyway! Helen has been busily preparing for the bridal trunk show at Third Coast Style for like, months. She is now finished with sewing and is almost done with display preparations, which involved making tags or cards, among other things, for 118 different items. Here are some of them....

As you can see, they are not all kanzashi.....Helen really enjoys making flowers from singed fabric. Singed fabric flowers are often faster to make, but the technique does bring a certain amount of volatility that you might expect when melting the edges of synthetic cloth. Plus, who knows what kind of pollutants you might be inhaling? 

Anyhoo, I want all of you who live in or around Milwaukee to go see Helen's stuff at Third Coast Style! The bridal show will be going on for about 2 weeks, February 12-March 2. Even if you aren't a bride, there's lots that you might be interested in.....many brightly colored items, some of which are not available at Helen's Etsy shop, plus a whole store full of cool stuff, all of it designed in the Milwaukee area. Go check out Milwaukee's newest boutique!

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.

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.

Kanzashi Headbands

Happy New Year! It's January, and I'm cold, but I'm continuing to feel better, even playing every day with twist ties and a funny ball that rolls in unexpected ways. Boy, I wasn't interested in that last fall! I still hate the subcutaneous fluids that Helen has to give me twice a week, but at least she has found ways to make me more comfortable....making the fluid warmer, and so forth.

Helen decided to start the new year with her first kanzashi headbands. They are both intended to evoke the image of the crown of laurel leaves that a Greek goddess would wear, or something. Here's one in black dupioni silk.....

.....which you can purchase here http://www.etsy.com/listing/119429792/black-headband-kanzashi-silk-leaves , and here's a bridal version of the same thing, available here http://www.etsy.com/listing/119902084/ivory-bridal-headband-kanzashi-silk?ref=v1_other_1 

Dupioni silk works beautifully for this kind of leaf design. Since rounded flower petals in dupioni can get a bit squooshed, Helen decided to layer them, for added oomph. 

My First Blog Post

 

I am Sadie the Snowball Princess, and I am a cat. I live with Helen, who makes these fabric hair accessories, and I told her that I would blog about them, since Helen doesn't seem to want to do it herself. Helen has been mainly making kanzashi lately. Want to know what that is?

Tsumami kanzashi are traditional Japanese flower hair accessories, originally worn by maiko, or geisha-in-training. Kanzashi flowers were usually made from old kimonos, which means silk, most of the time. They can also be made from other fabrics, such as cotton and linen. If you're cheating a bit, you can try making them from synthetics. Helen has a design made from fine wool, a pin-striped fabric given to her by Janine (J9), her seamstress/organic farmer friend who lives in the countryside. J9 makes a lot of men's garments....suits, ties, dress shirts, and gives Helen the remnants, for which Helen is eternally grateful!

Anyway, back to kanzashi. They are usually flowers. You make the flowers one petal at a time. It can be slow and tedious. There's the traditional way, and there's Helen's way. You are supposed to glue the petals; Helen hand-sews them. You are supposed to use rice paste to glue the petals together; Helen uses a hot-glue gun, because she is impatient. It's a slow art, and it takes time to understand the huge diversity of what you can do with it. Kanzashi makers are fabulously inventive!

All this writing has got me pooped! I need a nap, but first I'll post a few photos so that you can get some idea of what I'm talking about. Oh, I see I already have. Here's a set of bridal combs https://www.etsy.com/listing/97183120/bridal-flower-fascinator-combs-ivory made from vintage kimono silk that Helen's pal Jason's aunt gave to her. Three kinds of petals are represented here. Helen usually likes to sew beads in the center of her flowers, and she doesn't like manufactured stamens, which many kanzashi makers use. These beads are blue jade.

All right, nap time. More tomorrow, or something.