Pinwheels are one of those whimsical little creations that have always sparked joy in me. I have hazy memories of seeing a massive display of pinwheels as a child in Hawaii, and have been fascinated with them ever since. In fact, one of the first kanzashi that I purchased in Kyoto while I was still living and teaching in Japan was a pinwheel kanzashi, which I still have today.

That said, pinwheel kanzashi have always been on my long-term To Make list. Although I know they are relatively simple to construct, the idea of making one my own version of a pinwheel kanzashi has always been a little intimidating, as I really wanted to do them justice.

This year I really wanted to tackle the dream I’ve had of incorporating light and movement into my work – and what better month to do it in than in my birth month of February, and with this project that feels close to my heart.

I started out by looking at various examples of pinwheels and pinwheel kanzashi. The most common pinwheel variant is a four point pinwheel made from a simple square. However, most of the pinwheel kanzashi that I’d seen had six points, and were usually bi-color. So, when I started patterning my pinwheels I decided to make them in two parts – starting out as two triangles, each with a different colored fabric.

For the inside, I noticed that the pinwheel kanzashi in my collection, and all the ones I’d seen photos of, had plain white paper on the inside. I wanted to make it a bit fancier looking, and decided to use chiyogami paper for the backing. The pink and green fabric on the outside comes from the textured silk portions of vintage obiages that I sourced from FromJapan. Recycling and reusing materials is one of the key tenets of tsumami practice; in fact, the very first kanzashi were made from recycled kimono – so I always feel good about remaking old kimono and kitsuke items into new pieces.

From Japan is a proxy service that I use to buy products straight from Japan. Their website makes it easy to search various Japanese websites, like Amazon Japan and Mercari. If you’re interested in trying From Japan, you can use my link and get an additional 500 FJ points when you make a purchase. I also get points as well if you decide to use my link, but they honestly do provide a great service – so whether or not you use my link, I hope you give them a shot if and when you want to buy things from Japan.

Anyhoo, since I had so much fabric to work with, I knew I didn’t want to just make one pinwheel. And, I didn’t want to just make a singular large one either – seeing as how my most popular kanzashi are the smaller variety.

Surprisingly, the larger pinwheel was easier to contract. I think because of their small size, the smaller pinwheels were just a touch fiddly to put together.

Putting these pinwheel kanzashi together was a great joy. They did not turn out as pointy as the ones I’d seen, but that was intentional; I wanted them to have a soft, rounded floral feel. I really think the coordinating chiyogami paper gives them a bit of flair, and of course I am thrilled that they all spin.

If you want to see the pinwheels in action, check out my Instagram or Youtube where I post videos of my work; I’m sure I’ll be posting a short vide of the pinwheels spinning shortly. These pinwheels will also be part of my end of month product drop, so be sure the check back next week for more crafty chill updates and at the end of the month for the shop update! 🙂