While kitsuke (kimono dressing) isn’t a particularly popular hobby here in Saskatoon, every once in a while I like to make an obidome. Obidome are accessories that slide onto the rope-like tie (obijime) that holds an obi belt in place. Knowing that there would be a few kimono enthusiasts at Anime North this year, I decided it was about time that I made something new – a tsumami zaiku butterfly obidome.
I think it’s obvious from my previous work that I am fond of blue butterflies. However, most of the butterflies that I’ve made in the past are not tsumami zaiku – most of them are made with a combination of resin and holographic film. I’ve also made pieces with metal stamped butterflies, but moved away from those when I decided that making as many of the elements by hand that I could was important to me.
Creating this piece was a learning process for me. Choosing with size and color of petal to put where was a process, and felt a little bit like trying to put together a puzzle – except this puzzle didn’t have a photo to work from. I was making it up as I went along. I had to go back and pull things up and rearrange things a few times because, after sleeping on it, I realized it wasn’t quite right.
Still, in the end I think I managed to put together a fairly successful piece that does, indeed, look like a butterfly.
Anyhoo, that is all I’ve got for today. 🙂 Thanks so much for reading and I hope you’ll be back tomorrow for some crafty goodness! If you’re going to be in Toronto this weekend, I also hope you’ll get the chance to check out Anime north and my new works in Gallery Momiji.
