It’s good to be back. It’s been a long time – more than I year – since I left my art (and subsequently, my website) by the wayside. 2013 was a rough  year, but that just means that 2014 is full of opportunities for improvement.

I’m not sure just yet where I am going artistically, but I do know that I want to enjoy the creative process again. When you enjoy what you’re doing it shows in your work – and the reverse is also true. So my goal for this year is to enjoy the work that I do.

That said, this blog has no official update schedule, although I would like to update at least once a week. It’s a new year and time for new beginnings and art.  Let’s start the year off with one of my most recent projects. For Christmas I wanted to make some tsumami kanzashi (floral hair ornaments made from folded pieces of silk) for friends and family members.  This is the first one that I made – A dragonfly and a large white chrysanthemum with a few small accompanying flowers mounted to a hair fork.

I hand dyed all the colors myself and folded each petal individually from a square of silk habotai. The body of the dragonfly was made from wrapped wire.