Day off..

Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2007 5:47 AM

...much of my day off was spent doing totally nonessential things, and nothing at all wedding related.  I spent some time at a fabric store, where I picked up some fabrics I might try and make a skirt out of (mind you, my sewing skills are pretty weak) and I spent a long time browsing the stores nearby and window shopping..  We were lazy and watched movies in the afternoon and went to a party tonight for my FI's kendo dojo.

Despite the laziness, I did two wedding related things today, although neither was a success.  The first was to try and fiddle with another mock up for a bouquet, which again, I hated.  I think that I am back to square one with new ideas for bouquets... I'm still looking for the right thing-- something different.  The bridesmaids will be carrying these instead of flowers:

...and I'm really not sure what I want to carry... I'll return to that discussion later... 

The second project, which is the one I think I made progress towards but did not quite secure, was a project to make some Japanese fabric flowers to adorn my veil and to also use as bouts for the guys.  Here are some examples, from various websites, to give you a sampling of how these can range from simple to extremely involved. 

I was trying to first use a tutorial found on the web here: (http://www.ohbara.com/kanzashidirections.gif) although another set of instructions, which I didn't like as well, can be found here (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=24944.0).

..and then some directions for making rice paste. I used some rice flour I found at the corner store:

  I think the problem today was not having the rice paste right (for starters) which made it difficult to get the fabric stiff enough.  I also was practicing on a very crepe-like fabric, which might not be the best option. 

I wanted to start there before trying it on the kimono fabric samples I have purchased from Shibori Dragon.  In the meantime, I managed to successfully make only one petal. 

The others didn't survive.  If I can't figure out the tricks to make these, then I'll have to order them-- I really like the pretty kanzashi pins offered by Puchi Maiko and they are really reasonably priced (www.puchimaiko.com) 

If you happen to have some tips or be a secret expert at this, please drop me some suggestions on how to make this happen!