Ladyamy's Diary

Kitty Kanzashi

Accessories with a floral flair
A wedding isn’t complete without flowers.  Whether it is the bouquet or the table decorations, flowers give the wedding a personal and delicate touch that they can only give.  

Kitty Kanzashi designs and creates truly distinctive accessories which can be tailored to your wedding ideas.  Each piece is lovingly handmade from start to finish and unlike real flowers these pieces can be kept as a memento after the big day has gone.  But how did this all began you may ask?

Well from a young age, I love two things, fabric and origami.  Don’t ask me why but I loved fabric, it can be used in so many ways and there is such variety.  As for origami, I loved the fact that you can create a three-dimensional object from a single sheet to paper.  So when I discovered tsumami hana kanzashi 5 years ago I thought I found my hobby from heaven.

Tsumami hana kanzashi are floral hair ornaments made using the “tsumami” or “pinching” technique.  Each petal is formed from a fabric squares, folded (or pinched) by hand with the aid of tweezers before being glued to a base.  These flowers are then decorated and arranged into hair ornaments. 

Learning this technique was tricky but after a lot of practice and patience I made my first kanzashi for a friend.  As they say practice makes perfect so I continued to make them, giving them to my friends who loved them and told me that I should sell them to the public.  However the final push was just over a year ago when I became unemployed and I didn’t want to just sit around waiting for my next job. 

Before I could even think about selling, I needed to build up my design portfolio so I sat down, drafted some designs and began creating them.  During this time I became engaged to my boyfriend of ten years and thoughts of my wedding began to creep into my design portfolio.  I couldn’t possibly have a wedding without my own kanzashi adorning my hair. 

By August 2010, I had a range of kanzashi for all occasions from everyday wear to bridal piece so in September 2010, Kitty Kanzashi opened for business on Etsy.

My kanzashi range from the traditional styles that a maiko would wear.

 To more modern inspired pieces.

 I have found these tsumami flowers to be very versatile and I have even used them to make bouquets, buttonhole flowers and pomander.

All of the designs you see above and many more are all available in my Etsy store. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/kittykanzashi

Since I make all of my flowers, if you would like to customise one of my designs then please contact me via the etsy store or on kittykanzashi@gmail.com to discuss details. 

Of course if you would like to follow my trials and tribulation then why not visit my facebook page?  Here I often provide sneaky previews of my designs and work in progress.  It is also a wonderful place for you to leave your messages and offer suggestions on what sort of kanzashi you would like to see in the future.
http://www.facebook.com/kittykanzashi

I hope you like this beautiful little post 

Lauren x