Sunday, October 24, 2010

Kanzashi, anyone?

So, how DOES one make a kanzashi?

You know, a kanzashi. You mean you don't know what a kanzashi is? Huh. Imagine that. You must be from the West.

It's one of those dangly hair ornaments that Japanese brides and geisha wear in their hair, usually above one temple, so that the dangly bits gracefully brush their jawline.

They are really quite lovely, actually. Here's an example of a real one:

Here's what it looks like in action (She's a bride wearing a Japanese wedding kimono):


You know, I think these outfits have a lot more flair, and are much more interesting than most western wedding dresses, and I LOVE the colors. But I digress. These came from this site: Maya Japanese Traditional Arts and Crafts. If you want to see more, there are lots to gaze at.

Now, I can't afford to buy one of the kanzashi on this site. Supporting traditional crafts like this sounds pretty cool. But the prices are pretty expensive, ($120 to $185 for the ones I looked at), and I'm not going to spend that for a Halloween costume for a kid.

So, I made my own with some old hair clips, barrettes, silk flowers, glass leaf beads, and hot melt glue. Total cost for new materials: about $2 for the flowers. The rest I had on hand.

And here's the (rather ugly) back, showing the liberal use of glue.

No comments:

Post a Comment