Temari Under Glass

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Southpaw Stitcher asked if I made the temari you can see peeking out behind my last TUSAL. Yep, I sure did! So I thought I'd talk about them a little.

Edited to add... First, if you have never heard of temari, they are Japanese thread balls. If you'd like a thorough history, look here. (Much eye candy to had at that site as well, though for better (and free) how-to information, visit Temari Kai.)

The first temari I made is not pictured here (or anywhere, LOL!) It was supposed to be a kiku, but the teacher's directions in class were...not to the level of detail I needed. =) When she discovered my error, she attempted to push the threads to the places they needed to go. The result was not very pretty. I did stitch the other side as it was meant to be done, but overall it's not a very pleasing temari. I've kept it for posterity, but it's not on display.

After that false start, I tried a different design, and decided that I wanted to make ornaments for my three sisters and my mother. I think this one is called Interlocked Diamonds.

I also made one for Michael's parents, but I never got a picture of it!

Click any picture to biggify from this point on...

Next, I decided to try that pesky Kiku that didn't happen in the class, since I had bought one of Diana Vandervoort's books and this design was included.
This is one of the ones that's "under glass". When my hubby's aunt saw it, she jokingly said, "My colors are..." So, of course I had to send her one for Christmas:

I thought the first side had too much yellow, so I made the second side a little different.

This is another one that's "under glass":

It was my first "complex" division. The kikus and diamonds above are on "simple" divisions. That is, if you picture the globe with an equator line, and about 8 longitude lines, that's a simple 8. A complex 8 involves making a simple 8 division, then picking a new North pole somewhere around the equator and stitching some more longitude lines oriented from the new pole. Then you do that once more at a certain point. I won't explain here without pictures...if you're interested, head over to Temari Kai, which has great resources and a host of patterns.

Here's another C8 temari, an all-over design (no thread wrap showing):

Hmmm...I think this one's down in the Craft Cabana1

JiffNotes
For a few more temari pictures, head to my {old, languishing, obsolete} website.