Thursday, August 13, 2009

Kanzashi love

New love affair with Kanzashi flowers, the traditional head pieces of japanese geisha and anyone really who wore a kimono. Actually to be more precise:


The word “Tsumami” means to pinch – specifically, pinching a square piece of fabric to form a shape. The word “Kanzashi” means hairpin. Tsumami Kanzashi is a traditional Japanese art form that dates back over 200 years. Tsumami kanzashi is most often seen worn by maiko (apprentice geisha) and young girls for shichi-go-san celebrations however, with the revival of traditional arts, and a younger generation appreciating them – tsumami kanzashi have become quite a fashionable accessory to be worn both with contemporary clothing and kimono.


I just ordered 70 pieces of 4 by 4 quilting samplers on Etsy so I can start making them. They seem to be really easy to grasp, but extremely difficult to perfect.









Puchi Maiko
has mastered it.

I on the other hand am struggling. I tried some last night, and although its pretty easy to fold the basic folds... its very difficult to get it together in a perfect shape.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How pretty are they!! Hope you learn to master it :)

CorinneCanCraft said...

Hello! Kanzashi takes practice, thats for sure. I started a while ago and am still improving. I have a few tutorials on my blog that may help you get started.