Kanzashi nights, and days, and nights again

Small Kazashi flowers used on one of my vintages-inspired headpieces.

Time seems to fly by faster each day, and I dread that I won’t be finished with my collections in time!!!! I am currently working on a series of approachable warm-weather hats for my first exhibition. What do I mean by approachable? These are hats that can be immediately worn to any event or even a non-event, sans the theatrics. My theatrical pieces are reserved for my show in the Fall. You will see more of the “Chinatown” girl in me later this year. Theatrical, costume-y, go ahead, call it names, but that’s my goal, and as Nina Garcia might describe it as ”editorial worthy” which she would never say in the same breath next to “costume-y.” (I am chuckling right now at the thought.)

My new warm weather hats are really about exploration. Heck, this whole process has been exploratory and a real stretch of my creative brain and stamina. I like to think this old girl’s still got something to say. A part from building the pieces, working on a collection really speaks to my brand and/or style as my hubby calls it. I am certain other artists have felt their fingers stretched like in a torture chamber working through the wee hours of the night, and coming up with nothing. I have lots of days of nothing. Pushing forward is the answer. Maybe it is the fatigue, maybe it is determination or desperation, but whatever it is, I am slowly coming into my own with this art.

So what’s been going on? Kanzashi is what’s been happening on my studio table. My obsession with folding fabric flowers are back, and its time-consuming process is well—time consuming. (Pulling out my hair and screaming kind of consuming.) But then I fall in love with each flower again. If you remember, my last Kanzashi project led to great things. My pride and joy “Pandamonium” headdress. I haven’t seen it since I left it in Dallas for the Bes-Ben exhibition, but it's well taken care of over at the lovely Textile Museum in Denton, TX. The museum really saved my sanity, because I did not think anyone understood my work except for maybe the curator and Stephen Jones (giggling here). But I am so grateful that someone understood my quirkiness and appreciated my cultural influences.

I thought I would post some different angles of my “Pandamonium” hat here, since they are rarely seen.

This is the aerial view of my panda hat, and not often shown, but my favorite way to look at it. I still love those pandas.

Look at the back! These back pandas had really dopey faces, and I was going to change them, but I really liked how slightly drunk and asleep they looked. Each of my pandas had a different hat on. Notice the bamboo vines I also made using the Kanzashi technique.

Before I could even begin to create “Pandamonium” I built a rock solid base that was also decorative. Which means, if someone stripped my hat down to nothing but the wire mount, they would find a decorative scroll. Who cares right? I don’t know why I did that, but I somehow felt the decorative scroll would some how help transform the final hat in the end. I think I was right about that. I wish I took pics of the base. I also built this hat to be very comfortable and lined it with a velvet base. But the fabric flowers made the hat heavier than my other headdresses. (Note to self.) It was however ready to be worn for sure. Here’s the inside of the hat.

Creating a clean underside that is also comfortable respects the person wearing it.

Enter Kanzashi again!

I have been dabbling on small head pieces with a little vintage and Asian flare. I might sprinkle more Kanzashi into my other pieces and work on more miniature styles. I must of drank the potion from Alice in the Wonderland because everything smaller than normal are extremely attractive to me. The pieces of fabric I am currently cutting and folding are mostly one by one inch in size. The largest square is one and a half inches. The one-inch square turn into one quarter inch petals when I am done folding, snipping, shaping, and attaching to the base. I usually need about nine or ten petals minimum per flower before I begin working on the stamens. One completed flower can take up to an hour. The six-flower spray above probably took me a couple of days to finish. The stems are individually wrapped with silk thread too. It is all in the details.

Other fun things I did this month was attend an afternoon tea fundraiser where I finally got to wear one of my hats. I dragged a friend along, and accesorize-d her with a little fascinator that matched her dress and hair. All-in-all a successful event with a bit of British in Austin. Cheers everyone!