Kushi and tekagami

Today I snatched this beautiful kushi (comb) and tekagami (handmirror) set for a reasonable price.

on the mirror you can see "hanaguruma" - flower cart ♥

the box

I just adore such traditonal motives, it was love at first sight ♥ I got it from a private sale. I think that I will show you my other few kanzashi someday, too.

Multi-seasonal bag

I really have to go on hiatus now ...

... just won this cute casual bag with many different motives:

sakura-bana (cherry blossoms), sakura no hanabira (cherry blossom petals), ko-tsuzumi (little taboret), kiku (chrysanthemum), momiji (maple), ume (plum), hagi (bush clover), seigaiha (semicircular repeated wave), shippou (interlocking circles), sensu (semicircular fans) and ryusui (flowing water)

I think it´s perfect along with Komon kimono (♥ω♥)/"

Recent wins part 4

I was weak again, what a shame >3< But look how beautiful they are:

Usagi no mimi musubi tutorial

I want to show you a very cute Obi musubi tutorial this time.
It´s called ウサギの耳 (usagi no mimi) which means rabbit ears ♥

Actually you use a Nagoya Obi and wear this kind of musubi with Komon kimono but the problem is that I´ve no Nagoya Obi and so I had to use one of my Fukuro Obi. A part of Nagoya Obi is always already folded and that makes it easier to tie though before you start tying Fukuro Obi you have to fold it in half by yourself.

I will also use two important words for this tutorial:

Tare and Tesaki

However ... now lets start with the things you need:

1st: Fukuro Obi (actually a Nagoya Obi!)
2nd: Obi ita
3rd: Obi makura
4th: two Koshihimo
5th: Obijime
6th: Obiage



1st step: Since I use a Fukuro Obi I have to fold up around 75% in half first:

2nd step: take the Obi ita, tie it around your waist and close it on your back:

3rd step: the open part of tesaki has to be on the left side of your shoulder:

4st step: start to wrap it around ....

5th step: wrap it again

6th-7th step: in the end I had to wrap it around 3 times until I saw the pattern of the Obi only

8th step: after this fold the tare like you can see here

9th step: take your first Koshihimo (tesaki and tare are now above)

10th step:  bring the Koshihimo to the front and make a loop

11th step: tuck the loop underneath your Obi

12th step: the tare part is now "hanging" down

13th step: now we want to build the rabbit ears! Take the tesaki from above and fold it down

14th step: then fold the right part up like you can see on the following picture

that are already the rabbit ears ♥

15th step: use now the second Koshihimo and slide it over the rabbit ears

16th step: then bring the Koshihimo to the front, make a loop and tuck it underneath the Obi.
Your rabbit ears are ready!

17th step: Time to use the Obimakura and Obiage

18th step: put the Obiage over the Obimakura

19th step: fold the tare part up and put the Obimakura underneath the Obi. The flat part of the Obimakura touches your back.

Bring the strings of the Obimakura to the front, tie and then tuck them underneath the Obi. You can see how you have to tie the Obiage in my previous tutorial, so I skip this part now!


20th step: now the final steps ... tuck up the tare and then put the Obijime on the center part of Tare, bring the Obijime to the front and tie it (you can see how to do it in my previous tutorial!)

the end of o-taiko has to have the same length like your forefinger:

FINISHED!

Beautiful but difficult Obi Musubi Part 1

Like we all know there are tons of beautiful Obi musubi, some are easier and others are more difficult. Today I want to start showing you very beautiful but in the same way difficult Obi musubi tutorials. They are all mainly for Furisode Kimono.


 1st one: 春の花　バラ (Haru no hana bara : Spring flower - the rose)

The pictures donnot belong to me (© http://振袖日和.jp)

Recent wins part 3

I bought two new Kimono items, hope you like them ♥ At the moment I´m investing my money more into Komomo.

I have just far too little Obiage and I wanted to have a pink one. I am happy that I got this cute Shibori Obiage for only £0,99 *laughs*

with seigaiha
(semicircular repeated wave)
design

... and last but not least - a wonderful Kinchaku bag! *yay*
Isn´t it super adorable?

It´s from Shinei´s page. They have still a lot of them with different designs. You should check it out! Just search for "Kinchaku"

Now I have really everything I need for the Japan-Day in Düsseldorf. Let´s hope all arrives soon and safely. (^o^)/