I said I’d try another kanzashi piece. I got inspiration from this video by MyInDulzens on YouTube – give her channel a look if you’re interested, she’s very talented!
I started with white organza ribbon. Some green organza ribbon for leaves and white rattail for dangles are optional. You need a lot of ribbon, and it has to be quite wide as well!
I bought a string of green aventurine gemstone chips a very long time ago, and have never used them until now. I felt like they would make for very nice tree leaves, so I wanted to make a tree of life. Seems people like to add things to their trees of life (as seen in a quick Google search!) such as flat discs for moons, bird charms, and flowers. I used some red glass beads to resemble apples!
Firstly, I made a ring for the frame, and then tied lots of thin wrapping wire to the bottom of the frame. A handy bottle of cordial was used to keep the frame circular, don’t mind the strangeness of the image haha…
Here is a quick thing I worked on recently. I bought some red, orange and yellow rattail cord a while ago to make a bracelet on request. Like a fiery/sunny pattern!
In this bracelet, I used four threads of orange, and two of red and yellow. I alternated the red and yellow patterns.
I opted to not use any bracelet ends, and tied off the ends with knots. You tie it with a square knot on the non-braided part.
By the way, I found a useful tip online for finishing bracelet ends! You can apply PVA glue to the cord ends to stop them from fraying, but you can also apply a dab of superglue to the inside of the knot to stop them from coming undone. Sounds simple, but very effective!
Materials used: red, orange and yellow satin rattail cord
Here is another model from the Zen Origami book, the Selene Sonobe.
Now, Sonobe models don’t have to be made with 30 units… I was about to make a 30-unit model, but I realised that the colours wouldn’t align well by itself. I should have made it with different colours from the start…
So instead I made a smaller 12-unit model. And it is very small compared to a 30-unit model. I added a Sonobe cube and some green glass beads to the string to decorate.
The flaps need to be curled slightly, so some contrast might be nice here!
I have made my first foray into kanzashi flower crafting!
A kanzashi is a traditional hair piece, often floral, used in Japanese hairstyles. These days, the term can refer to folded fabric flowers.
Here is a handy link to the tutorial that I used. Thanks, Crafty Angels! It’s great for starters like me.
I’d start with a very wide ribbon so you can get used to the steps. My mauve-coloured ribbon here is 5cm wide.
