New Year and New Site!

Coming Soon!

Don't panic. Everything for customers will just about be the same. 

Except I signed up for Pattern through Etsy, and now I have a legitimate website.  I like the new interface, it feels more like a "shop" than more of Etsy.  Plus I still get to keep Etsy, and that whole back end.  However, I will probably be changing the blog over to the new website, and dropping this older, separated aspect of the store.  Looking for more of an integrated feel this year.

I have also been finishing new pieces like mad!  I finished another headband piece since I liked how the prototype came out so well. I also have a large hair fork, a small hair fork, and I am working on another large piece.  Most of these are large kiku pieces I made and then set aside, and am now able to finish filler pieces and attachments. 

I also have been updating listings on the site, but not much of the kanzashi.  Mostly it has been other items, like bookmarks, and a few pieces I had made and never photographed. 

Coming Soon!!

My new year also brings a new office space (still in my home, of course), a dedicated room to my crafting endeavors.  It is part of the reason I am working through all this new kanzashi, making room to bring out other projects. I am still working on that large embroidery piece, I have a book on white work, and I still have rolls and rolls of washi paper to go through.  Not to mention I will be picking back up on the silk embroidery after my next lesson in March.  I am going to need all the space I can get. 

Shop Vacation and New Embroidery Project

 So the last piece of the year has been shipped off and recieved by my lovely customer, Shadowyoai, on Etsy.  (used with permission)

The final product ended up being a little higher up on the head than I had originally intended, but it was still a really good product in the end.  And I learned a few things, too.  Always good. 

She took the customer photos, and sent them to me.  Frankly, she looks FANTASTIC in her kitsuke costume.  LOVING this look!! But as mentioned, this is the last one of the year, and probably the last one for a while.  

Shop Notes:  

So I am still closing up the shop here in a few days.  I am still debating on how I will bring it back, but I have some time still I think to decide on that.  I still need to take more photos, and fixing pieces, but kanzashi just hasn't been in my heart as much lately.  That and being sick is making me really not want to work in general.

My new kimono pieces came in, and the sugata is perfect.  The kimono on the other hand is about 6 or 7 inches too short.  I was considering giving it to my daughter or something as she gets older, but in the meantime I have a lovely kimono I cannot wear, and have kind of lost interest in my own kitsuke collection in general.  Collecting is fun, but I have no one to wear it with, and my husband DETESTS tying my obi.  That and I have had little interest in spending more money to push the kanzashi I am not so interested in making anymore.  I have planned a table sale for the last 3 years and have done nothing.  And not that TZArtizan is no more, I have no steady encouragement to continue my art.  At least with kanzashi. 

I am moving back into needlework.  I have tentatively lined up another Japanese Embroidery Lesson in March, and I have started a new embroidery project in the meantime with thread painting using long and short stitch embroidery.  

So what I have posted here, is a machine embroidery design I have from a book I purchased some time back.  It is really designed to be a 4x5 inch piece, but I have blown it up into a 7x11 inch design.  I used this new print and stick material I found for embroidery, and was surprised that it is working so well.  There is adhesive under a light stabalizer that you can run through an inkjet printer and do an instant design transfer.  

The fabric is a natrual irish linen, and its mounted to a scroll frame (that was not as easy as I had originaly thought it would be).  After I got it mounted and straight, I traced on some guidelines for the background with a non-photo blue pencil, which was difficult since it was hard to tell which parts were supposed to be background and which parts were flower stems.  I am using a horizontal direction, and basted down the guidelines so not only would the pattern lay flat (it moved some after mounting on the frame, it was not easy to get that tension correct), but that the lines would not rub off when stitching. 

I have started just a bit of the painting down the left side, as I am going to work the background from left to right.  I have purple and yellow for the irises, of course, and 3 shades of green for the leaves, a rust brown color for the fan frame, and different blues for the circles on the fan and the cord on the bottom.  

In truth I expect this project to never finish, or at least take me 5-6 years.  If my health doesn't fail me first.   

Work Coming Along And Vacation Announcement!!!!

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

I have decided to close the shop temporarily after the shipping deadline for Christmas mail out (middle of December) and stay in vacation mode until late January. Lots of reasons why, but good reasons this time.

Firstly, I have a lot of personal stuff that goes on during December besides just the holidays (my extended family has a lot of birthdays, too) and in January I have girl scout cookie business.

Secondly, I have plans.  The store and product desperately need a revamp.  I am still deciding if I am going to take the store off Etsy entirely, and start my own website.  Etsy has been stale lately, but I do enjoy different aspects of it, like vacation mode and not having to deal with credit card payments.

Third, I need to re-do a lot, A LOT of my product.  It's not the flowers themselves, it's the mounting job.  Most of my early work is pretty terrible when it comes to attachments.  I have learned so much in the past year with regards to mounting and thread wrapping, it makes my old product look terrible. Not to mention I have product I haven't listed much less photographed. I also have several projects that are half finished, like washi jewelry, kumihimo, and ornaments.

So its going to be time for a big update.  Not planning on changing graphics though.


Now its time for work updates :)

Almost finished!! YAY!!!

So as you can see, this piece is really coming along.  I have finished mounting the frame for the bira bira and the shidare (you can kinda see the four spokes of gold wire for the shidare) and 2 of it's falls.  They are going to be an identical, repeating pattern of white on red, white on purple and white on white.

None of this part of the work is easy.  Mounting takes a strong grip that wears out the muscles in your hands, often leaving to cramping since I haven't done this in a while.  Also, its a lot of wrapping.  It took like 2 hours to wrap just the left side.  I also have to finish the wrapping on the right side which needs to come down another couple of inches.
The shidare part is the part that, I find, to be the most difficult.  Getting the petals to come together over a thin piece of nylon twine, without getting glue EVERYWHERE, and still managing to cover the high contrast colors underneath the white so they don't show down the middle....it's a lot to handle.  But these two I have managed pretty well.  I find the double layers are bigger and easier to deal with than the singles, so I went ahead and did that since it would give me a chance to lightly add some color, while keeping the white prominent.  (Her kimono is mostly white)

When it't done, though, it is going to be FANTASTIC!!!!  I know she will love it, although it is very delayed.  Like a month overdue.

Also, if there is anyone reading this who likes Facebook, I strongly suggest you check out the Immortal Geisha group, the Immortal Geisha Marketplace, and the DIY kimono group.  The Immortal Geisha people are AMAZING, I have grabbed some INCREDIBLE finds off the marketplace, and the DIY kimono group has some really great ideas for alterations and work arounds for wearing kimono!!!!  They are wonderful, caring people, and I don't say that often about people in groups.

Lastly, I am still collecting donations for Dimitri Conde to help his parents afford the burden of his Leukemia ALL diagnosis.  The local community helped her restore her house after it flooded with sewage, 3k in damages total.  But because of Demitri's condition, they have been back and forth to the hospital on many occasions, the last one requiring a two to three week stay in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Both parents are working minimal hours to provide around the clock care for Dimitri.  Please, please help in any way you can. :)

Getting Back to Work (Attempt Round 2)

This is yet another painfully overdue update.  But I have some good stuff to report.

bouquet

So this is the custom order I have been slowly working on.  Very slowly, but thankfully she has been incredibly understanding of my medical predicament (which I will go into later). 

There are three big kikus, several smaller filler pieces and a new dragonfly (which I have never attempted before).  All in all, the bouquet has come out amazing (she loves it), and the rest is falling into place.  I have this half mounted to the headband, and will continue the wrapping to the other side of the band (it's only about halfway right now, just to get the bouquet in place).
I also included a close up of the thread wrapping job, the stems are the usual 40w machine embroidery thread, with the headband wrapping being the nylon crochet thread I use for heavy jobs, and shidare.

wrap job

only halfway wrapped

 So the next part is the bira bira and the shidare frame, which will come down and be wrapped to the bottom half of the piece.  It's probably going to stick out a little bit so it doesn't get tangled in hair fibers and brushing against the ear. But I have to say since this is my first time doing a headband, it's coming out really well. 



Some of you may have noticed that the TZArtisan project hasn't been mentioned in some time.  It has been stalled for a while, and has officially been disbanded.  All the sites have been taken down and my unsold donations have been returned to me.  I feel really bad for my team leader, Ariel, who has simply over committed herself, and can no longer hold a mantle of leader, and no one else has the ability to take her place. I am very sorry to see it go, but in the end, I was not surprised. 


On another note, I have found a group on Facebook that I have fallen completely in love with.  Immortal Geisha has taken their forum community off traditional forums and onto Facebook Groups!!! They are the sweetest, most informative, dedicated group I have ever met.  I love it!!! And if you love kitsuke as much as we do, by all means, JOIN!!!!

Speaking of kitsuke, I have another kimono I have added to my collection!

I found this red lovely on an Etsy shop, and fell IN LOVE.  I have always wanted a red kimono, and though I thought it would be more bright red than this darker rust red, that actually makes me love it more (darker reds are more my coloring).  I have a gold obi to pair it with, or the new green with gold and orange to red stitching, an "orange as orange can be" obiage, and a red silk round obijime.  I also bought a yellow one, but it's really too dirty to use.

I am now on the hunt for a proper nagajuban, but with a 25 inch sodetake, or sleeve length, it's not going to be easy.  I might have to suck it up an alter one. 

The rest of this is personal business.

So I have been sick, and among my various diseases, we have discovered along the way that I am in fact a Type 1 diabetic, I have Autism, and my reproductive system is screwed.   I seem to be always sick with something at some time.  I recently had a reaction to one of my mood stabilizers, forcing me to stop taking it.  Anyone with a mental health history knows what a difficult time this can be.  When I had last written a blog post, I was starting to do better.  I didn't thing the fight would be as long as it has been.  I had been ramping up on a new medication and it really seemed to be working, until I got to the final dosage, at least the actual regular dosage.  Then I broke out in hives all over and realized I was allergic.  2 months of telling myself it would get better, lying to myself. 
Then we tried two more medications, both were a bust.  I am currently on something I have taken before, and it's helping, but I still have side effects, and I don't know how long I have until I have to change on this one, too.

Mental illness is a never ending battle. I will never be cured, and I will fight my extreme emotional reactions, like my blood sugar, the rest of my life.   There is no cure, and there is barely help.  We have made more progress with Diabetes in the last decade than with mental health or women's health.  And while I am very glad to be off of shots and on an insulin pump, I still feel like I am out of my mind, and I never know if it is hormones or Autism. 

I wont go into great detail what I am like when I am sick. Just trust me, I am no fun to be around.

So while I have been sick I have been unable to work.  Which means I am behind on everything. I haven't done my photos, or Japanese Embroidery, or any embroidery.  All I have done is work this custom order and do house chores when I can.

I am going to keep working for now, that I am able.  I plan on putting on the bira bira frame today on that headband order, and after that I will be working on updating inventory for the store.  I might even shut it down and move it to my own hosted site.  Maybe next year.

Remade Kanzashi Notes

Old flowers, new set!

This piece really wasn't too difficult to do since all the blossoms were already made.  The real challenge was straightening the wire out and working with the extra short stems.  I added 3 leaves and 2 buds, plus the shidare. Left is a metal hair comb, right is a 4 inch hair fork.  Still works great for a bridal or wedding piece.  BUT I am probably sending these off to the TZARTISAN Store soon.  I have one or two more pieces to fix up before I send them off.
Both are thread wrapped in a pale sage green.  The hair fork is actually pointed to the left so it can be worn on the right side of a bun up updo in the back of the head. 

I also have about 50 hairbands in the works, half are for the shop, and half are for another project.  (as if I didn't have enough.)  Some are prints I did not get to sew because I ran out of black backing, so they are repeats.  I have a ton of the chrysanthemum arabesque gold print ones now, at least 5, though I am keeping one for myself.  I need to advertise after all.
Right now they are through with the first round of sewing, and now I am closing up the sides before the top stitching for completion (and reinforcement)

But with both my kids going full time to school next year, life is going to really open up and hopefully I can finish most of this stuff by the time that medical procedure comes around. Luckily I have something to help me manage my pain now, and that is going to help get a lot of these projects done.  (Can't sit in a chair at a table or sewing machine when in pain.)

Busy Busy and my Headband how to

OK SO!

Things have been busy behind the scenes.  I finished about 10 or 11 hairbands, and they are great.  I wore one out for a day and it was SOOO comfortable.  I have a new favorite headband.

They are pretty simple to make too.  I can cut about 3-4 tops out of a fat quarter, depending on nap. The underlining is a slightly grainy cotton, and it holds even in my super straight thick-fine hair.  I have given one to my daughter to test it's durability, and even though it is a tad loose on her, it fits her well (she is 8 years old).

They are easy to assemble, you just use a template to cut a top and bottom.  I use heavy duty craft interfacing on each side to help it hold it's shape.  Then machine stitch until almost closed with the right sides together and the 7 inch long elastic (3/8" 50/50 poly/rubber) tucked between the right sides.  I machine stitch the end 3 or 4 times to make sure it doesn't get free.
Turn inside out at the other end, stitch the elastic in by hand about a 1/2".  Then top stitch at 1/4 to 1/8 inch on machine, going over those elastic pieces at least 2-3 times.

I want to make more styles of this, with some of the asian brocades I have left over from ornaments.  But I would rather see if these sell first.  I might make one or two more just for design sake.


 I have also listed the 3 kanzashi I had laying around, the rainy day blue/grey/purple and the 2 new thread wrapped bouquets.  Which means I did photos as well. See? Busy.

I am also helping my daughter with something in the crafter department.  She wants to make things to sell for chairty.  I wholeheartedly agreed and we have been building her etsy site.  Will have more details when we are ready to officialy launch.

My pine needle kanzashi is being brought out even though I had to postpone the photo shoot.  We pushed it back to first weekend in July due to technical difficulties that are not anyone's fault.  Just had to be done.  But my obijime is coming along nicely, its at least 8 foot long now.  I expect it will reach 10 easily before it is completed.  But I need to finish the pine needle kanzashi next or i never will.

After the pine needle is done, I am moving on to a few more personal projects.  I am ordering a new line of sewing machine feet so that I can do things I had no idea were possible.  I have a ruffle foot and a walking foot, but this set I am getting has 32 feet.  Quilting, embroidery, overstitch, binding feet, you name it, this set has it.  Except a side cutter and a daisy foot.   But hey, not bad.

Eventually I am going to get into recycling some of these old nasty looking kimono into something beautiful to wear.  Just need more practice before I sew something like silk.  Or as expensive as a kimono.  I also wish i could repair some of the embroidery but I am just not even close to that yet.

I am also going to be making a few items for the TZARTISAN store.   I hope no one forgot about that.  I still need to do some hair sticks  but I want to make a bouquet or two.  And the new wig promo she posted is amazing!  I totally want the flame one.  It rocks.

New Product Prototype!!!

Side View

 Ok! So!

First prototype down, and I have a lot figured out. (Got this pattern from the book Sew Retro, btw.  Credit to them for the template.)
So, all the fabric has to be cotton.  I used satin for the underside in hopes to improve quality, but slippery fabrics do not hold in MY hair, much less  anyone else.  So, lesson 1 learned.  Cotton.

Secondly, I learned how much elastic to use in the back. The pattern called for a thinner elastic in 5 inches. I purchased a thicker elastic, but it requires more length. 7 inches or more.  Lesson 2 learned.

Third. The hand stitched closure is a pain with craft strength interfacing. 

Top

Underside

I am still getting accustomed to using my sewing machine again.  My curve line is not so straight, but the others are quite good!  I have a plethora of quality asian prints I am putting to use for this I have been collecting over the years.  I dont think I am using my woven silk for this pattern.  That will be for the obi patterns I develop later on.