Rose Garden Complete!!!!

Work in Progress Temari Rose Garden

So the rose garden is coming along.  The one you see on top is the final layer of pink, and now I can begin the final layers of white before finishing the flower centers.  The number of rounds for each layer gradually increase from 3, to 4, to 6.  The white will probably take 8. 

At the places where the gold guidelines make a six-point intersection, I will create a leaf shaped pattern which will connect the flowers together and give it a finished look.  Then it goes in the shop.  So far, this one is definitely for sale. 

You can see that one of the guidelines is stuck with a pin, not only does this keep it somewhat in place, it is the stitch marker for beginning and finishing each round.  When starting the alternate square formation I always start to the right of the pin when the pin is south of the working area.  This keeps everything even and straight.

I am getting the kanzashi itch again.  I had hoped to be finished more temari before now, but it appears two is all that is going to make it into the shop at this time.  I still have the light blue mari wrapped and ready to be plotted, but I want to finish my chrysanthemum bridge soon as well.  It is still sitting with the white and gold one I have to wrap the base on before I can put it up for sale. 

It won't be much longer until June hits, and I will be back to making pillowcases and ornament balls.  I haven't had much time to stitch anything but temari, and my kanzashi is way behind too.  I still have top hats in the closet that are untouched from way long ago.  I really need to learn how to make those things.  One more thing on the to-do list. 

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Sadie is really wonderful, she is a true kanzashi blogger, and once again she has featured one of my kanzashi on her blog! 

Click the link above to check out her terrific collection of chrysanthemum kanzashi from different artisans. 

Shopping!!!!

Went sale shopping, and this is what I come back with, 4 new satin colors and a new satin brocade which looks....interesting.  Colors in order from left to right, navy, orchid, primrose, calypso (which is actually more like a peachy pink), and the colors in the brocade are actually black base with silver highlights and touches of orange and teal.  Its not something I would pick up for myself really, but it might be fun to play around with and see what colors work best. 

Also managed to grab more perle thread for the fuchsia temari I plotted and still have sitting on my desk.  Two shades of yellow for the rose centers and two shades of green to finish the leaves in.  

Thrusday I am going to meet up with EruwaedhielElleth, my fellow kanzashi artist who happens to live in the area.  She owns the shop ImlothMelui on Etsy. Should be fun, she is going to show how rigged the leaves of a narcissus piece she did recently that was just stunning. Meanwhile I shamefully haven't touched a kanzashi in like a month. 

Temari Work

 SO-

I managed to perfectly plot a complex 8 design on the fuchsia mari.  It is plotted, with marker pins on the starting line.  I want to start with a yellow center so they look like flowers, then a dark pink, then a light pink, then white most likely.  Depends on space.  BUT I am all out of yellow thread so I will have to make it to the store again, which will be next week.
Instead I chose to start the next mari  you see in light blue.  I haven't picked a design yet, but the color scheme will be light green, light yellow, and white or dark blue. 

You can see the mari is still incomplete.  I has much of the yarn that is white underneath that still shows through the thread.  It will take another couple of hours to fully wrap the ball in thread.  As you can see, I typically use a serger spool, because size varies on each ball it may take a regular spool of thread, and it might take more if you have a larger ball.  I get 3-5 balls off one spool of serger thread depending on the ball.

The real trick is to put the thread spool in a cup like the blue glass I have show in the pic.  It holds the serger spool upright, and the thread releases upward when positioned around my feet.  It cuts down the wrap time by A LOT.  But the real key to temari is slow and disciplined wrapping.  Threads should not group in lines or thick ropes.  You can see I even have my own flaws in this one, but with proper wrapping they can be covered and corrected.  But you have to be aware of where your thread is laying.  Its not a mindless task at all. 

I'm making a large satin purchase next week to stock up for kanzashi and ornaments and everything else.  At 3 bucks a yard, you can't pass that kind of sale up.  And I have a mega coupon.  In other words, I will be getting back to kanzashi very soon.  I promised my daughter a satin kanzashi I still have on my to do list. 

I will hopefully be communing with my kanzashi friend as she is coming off a huge custom order.   Which look so positively fab I want to die.  She has limitless skill, and time for that matter.  And focus.  I can't stick to one craft for that long.  She gets lots of custom orders, and it actually makes me jealous, yet happy for her.  She needs it more than I do.
Ok done ranting.  

New Temari of the Week

So really, I have been dealing with a lot this week, and haven't had much time for kanzashi, temari, or anything for that matter.  This is all I could manage since my last post.

Since this is a prototype as well, it will not be going in the shop.  But I am going to give it away, as I do all my prototypes and this one is going to a great home.  I used pink variegated and teal variegated colors with silver guidelines and a white spiderweb accent on the top.  The triangles interlock, so I stitched all the pink in sequential order, and then went back with the teal.  There are 10 lines of pink and 6 of teal.  I really want to do this piece again, and I think I finally have the interlocking method down where the diamonds lay flat and don't bunch up.
I don't know if this design has been done before, but I did come up with it on my own.

I have started wrapping my next mari in deep fuchsia pink.  I am thinking about a rose garden, but I'm really not sure yet.