Busy making things

A while ago i went in search of a pattern that would turn my old long-sleeve t-shirts in to funky patterned leggings for Lani. In doing so i stubbled across a blog written by a lady who does some really fun crafts with her daughters. For example making paper out of loo roll (which is on my list for next summer)!

Also on her blog was a post about Kanzashi Tsumami, a traditional Japanese craft which uses small squares of silk to make flowers. The flowers adorn hairpins and hair pieces for Geiko (geisha) and Maiko. How i love Japan and thier traditional crafts! I have tried my hand at Kumihimo and a few others. So when i saw Kanzashi i thought 'I'm going to try that!'

A few months later i remembered the flowers and i found a few items of the kids clothes that i was getting rid of that would work for having a go.

They are 1" squares, i seriously underestimated the difficulty of of the craft!! I made one flower, it took me about 2 hours, and it's not great.

After i realised that i need something to cover the middle so i got out a 2mm crochet needle and made a mini circle and stitched in a few beads (my first time doing that too). I skipped a step in the flower making - i haven't used a base.

I have a list of things to get from the craft store at the weekend. Then I can make some more in the evenings.

I then decided that it could be fun for the kids, so i got out some food dye and paper towels. I had made some flowers with baby wipes and let them 'paint' them with the food dye (24 hours later and they still aren't dry). They used the rest of the food dye on the kitchen roll, we left them over night, and they weren't dry; so i stuck them in the tumble drier to dry them. Then i spent an hour this morning making 4 flowers.

Our coloured paper towels, they were Red, Blue and Purple, but the colours in the purple seem to have seperated creating the pale blue and rose colours:

Twenty 4 1/2" squares, sorted into piles of 5, I mixed up the colours so the flowers had some strong colours and some with less colour:

Flower petals folded and on the tread to make into a flower shape.

Three finished flowers.

I found some pipe cleaners poked them though the centers and bent them in the appropriate places: