Tsumami Kanzashi DIY Guide

Welcome to the Basic Tsumami Kanzashi tutorial. At the moment only the basics are being covered, which should be more than enough for a beginner of the craft, with more advanced tutorials to cover the other aspects to come in the future.

Thank you for reading Kanzashi Garden's tutorial, please read on to learn how to create your very own little kanzashi - and don't worry you'll get the hang of it, just keep trying.
 

Materials Needed:
You will need the following materials to complete this project:

Small Tweezers -
These should be easily available at craft stores. You don't need anything special, just a little something that can help you bend and hold fabric.

Glue -
Traditional Method: Either a Nori paste or other rice based glue.
Sewing Method: Any strong quality fabric glue such as fabric-tac or a starch based book binding glue will do.

Fabric Cutters -
Fabric scissors, but I recommend buying a rotary cutter and mat as it makes quick work of fabric and doesn't leave snags.

Fabric -
Traditionally, professionals use hobotai silk to achieve the colors and texture. Regardless,  it's probably better for you to start with fabrics that aren't expensive to begin with anyway. Various silks and some poly substitutes are just as acceptable.

Sturdy Paper Circles-
If going by the traditional method or wishing to attach a sewn flower to a base, you will need a sturdy heavy weight paper or cardboard to place them upon. You will then need to cut round circles into it to create the base. Make the base slightly smaller than the size of the kanzashi you are wishing to create. Generally speaking, 1" around is an optimal size for most kanzashi creations.
 

 How to Create a Tsumami Rounded Petal Flower Kanzashi:

There are many variants on how to create kanzashi, which usually happens in the setting process of either gluing the petals or sewing them , but for the main aspect of the kanzashi, the pinching and folding, the way to go about it is same.

This tutorial is how I go about creating them, but feel free to modify certain aspects if it makes you more comfortable or if you want to get creative.

	1.) Cut 1" squares from the fabric of your choice with the right side facing down. You may wish to spray the fabric with a rice, wheat, or potato starch. This will make it so that the fabric square will stiffen and be easy to work with.
	2.) Next, fold from the bottom right corner to the top left corner so that the square folds in half to make a triangle. Rotate the triangle 90 degrees to the right.
	3.) This is where it should be lying.
	4.) Now, take the long two edges of the triangle and make them touch the tip of the triangle's small edge by bringing them into the center.
	5.) At this point, you should have all of the points touching, which will result in there being a curved edge on the opposing corner.
	6.) Follow this by folding the sides down, with the curved corner to the pointed edges corner being the center line, in half.
	7.) Next, you will notice how there is a middle fold in the petal.
	8.) To achieve a smoother more rounded petal, hold the bottom unfinished section primarily at the pointed tip and loosely at the unfinished back rounded edge. Now, poke at the inner edge of the rounded corner so that it 'pops' in
	9.) It should look visibly smoother. You may have to adjust the outer petal sides afterwards a bit to make them even again, but it won't be too much of a problem. You should now happily have what looks like a rounded flower kanzashi petal.

Attaching The Petals To A Base

Now, you have two options as to how you want to attach this flower to a base - using more traditional techniques or by using sewing techniques. Or maybe both if you're really inspired.

If going by the traditional method you will need a base to put the petals unto to form the flower, which should already be ready if you have prepared the materials already. If not, please look back at the materials section.

Traditional Method of Attachment -

Sewing Technique Attachment -
 

	If you are going by the sewing technique method, at this point you would grab the petal from the rounded corner side and lightly squish it together. Now, poke a pin through the petal a little under halfway starting from the pointed edges side.
	Now trim the pointed edge side, so that it is a short distance from the pin.
	Finally, follow this by threading the petal through unto a string (the one attached to the needle). You now have a little kanzashi petal.
	Build a complete flower by repeating the process above and stringing more petals next to each other.
	Finish by tying the petals off, so that the petals form a circle and then gluing them to a base.

Congratulations! You've just made your very own kanzashi flower. Once you master one flower, try grouping many different kanzashi flowers together to create interesting more layered looks! More will me added to this section in the future!

Author: Skye Altamirano
Date: February 2008
Contact: tantaga [at] tantaga.com

Kanzashi Artist/Photographer: Amaebi79

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