interwoven kiku petals - attempt one

I've seen photos of kiku petals that are "interwoven" — I don't know what else to call it — though to the best of my recollection I usually see C8s with six kiku flowers, or this method done as different shapes or stitching methods, like HHG (hito hude gake) — I think — a method I haven't learned yet. Anyway, I wanted the two four-petal layered kiku flowers at the poles, but to "join" the tips of the petals of one of the flowers at one pole with the tips of the corresponding flower at the other pole. I took a wildish guess at how to do this, and it worked well. It worked even better the second time around, no. 77.

Thread wrap in burgundy (I found it very hard to photograph); S8 division in burgundy #8 perle; embroidery in burgundy, purple, and dark golden orange. A personal quote is in the bell box along with 11 brass rings. Circumference: 10.5 inches / 26.5 cm; diameter: 3.34 inches / 8.43 cm. Completed 18 December 2011 (no. 076).

update, 21 December: I found out the proper terms, with some help over at Temari Challenge — at each pole there are two 4-petal flowers that are interlocked. The petal tips around that are at the center are layered.

twelfth month (2)

snow is upon snow . . .
can tonight be the twelfth month's
full and whitest moon?
— Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)

The rose garden design, in pentagon form — like no. 71. A winter version (a rosy winter). "Free-stitching" embroidery in two shades around the center.

Thread wrap in medium gray; S10 division in medium silver gray #8 perle; embroidery in black, two shades of lavender, rose, and four shades of gray (the lightest of which is pearl gray). The haiku above by Bashō is in the bell box along with 12 brass rings. Circumference: 10.75 inches / 27 cm; diameter: 3.42 inches / 8.6 cm. Completed 6 December 2011 (no. 075).


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Every single soul is a poem. (2)

Every single soul is a poem.
— Michael Franti (1966–)

A new stitch: braided uwagake chidori kagari — or braided kiku herringbone. Each pole has two four-pointed interwoven kiku flowers, but if you look at the inner petals on the close-ups, you can see that each round picks up just the round before it, and doesn't wrap around all the previous rows, as with traditional kiku herribone. I've been wanting to try this for while, and worked it out from some photos; I love how it looks, it's very much like a fish spine.

One star is more teal, the other more blue (I switched these two colors but not the others while executing the design) so it has a kind of kaleidoscopic effect. Free stitching around the obi.

Thread wrap in dark chocolate / coffee brown; S8 division in #8 DMC perle (before now if I used perle, I used #5, same as the stitching); embroidery in teal, blues, violets, and lavenders. The quote above by Michael Franti is in the bell box along with 12 brass rings. Circumference: 11.125 inches / 28.5 cm; diameter: 3.54 inches / 9 cm. Completed 11 December 2011 (no. 074).

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our imagination flies (2)

Our imagination flies — we are its shadow on the earth.
— Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)

Like nos. 40, 45, 60, & 62 — I've come to think of this as the "dragonfly eye" pattern, for lack of any other name. I tried something different this time — with a grid of 7 x 7, I kept wrapping until all of the thread wrap was hidden by the grid.

Golden yellow-orange thread wrap; embroidery in violet, butter yellow, with an obi & bundles in purple. The quote by Nabokov is in the bell box along with 9 brass rings. Circumference: 10.125 inches / 25.5 cm; diameter: 3.22 inches / 8.11 cm. Completed 9 December 2011 (no. 073).


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moment after moment (3)

Our way is to see what we are doing, moment after moment.
— Shunryu Suzuki (1904–1971)

This is the largest temari I have made to date, I believe, though not noticeably so. It's an asymmetrical variation of the kiku (chrysanthemum) pattern; the kiku at the top has multiple stitches that reach out from the previous points, to create a filigree effect. The kiku at the bottom is purposefully smaller and secondary. I think it looks a bit like a Native American vase or other vessel.

This is truly wabi sabi — that is, "perfectly imperfect" of "flawed beauty" — with emphasis on the wabi. It's round, but for some reason when I did the measuring to set the pins for the outer petals, I measured down from the poles rather than up from the equator, which I long ago learned is the preferable way. This resulted in very uneven ends of the main petals around the center. I had already intended to do some "free range" stitching of the last rows of petals, but emphasized them even more so to help fill the space. It's lovely, but yes, flawed. I won't put too fine a point on the resulting irony of the quotation in the center.

Thread wrap in black; S16 division in black perle; embroidery in two shades of golden yellow and three shades of silver gray. The quote above by Shunryu Suzuki is in the bell box along with 11 brass rings. Circumference: 11.5 inches / 29.5 cm; diameter: 3.66 inches / 9.4 cm. Completed 9 December 2011 (no. 072).

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long before it happens

The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.
— Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926)

A variation of the rose garden pattern (like no. 42 and no. 64) — this has pentagon-shaped layers rather than squares. I think I prefer this to the strictly alternating squares like no. 42 but like it as much as the "spiral" squares of no. 64. "Free" embroidery in two shades, a herringbone merry-go-roundesque pattern, around the center.

Thread wrap in dark moss green; S10 division in dark green perle; embroidery in brown, two greens, "tinted" beiges (brownish, greenish), light butter yellow, cream, and dusky lavender. The quote above by Rilke is in the bell box along with 7 brass rings. Circumference: 10.5 inches / 26.5 cm; diameter: 3.34 inches / 8.4 cm. Completed 6 December 2011 (no. 071).

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genius, childhood

Genius is the recovery of childhood at will.
— Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)

A kiku (chrysanthemum) variation, with 8 rather than 16 points. There's a gap between the last two rounds of each petal, so the thread wrap shows through, and extra "guidelines" added (though not all the way to the poles) to connect the inner points (a visual device). It looks a little like a small eggplant; this makes me happy.

Thread wrap in purple; S8 division in dusky lavender perle; embroidery in sage/artichoke green — three shades, from greenish white to darker sage. The quote above by Baudelaire is in the bell box along with 9 brass rings. Circumference: 10.25 inches / 26 cm; diameter: 3.26 inches / 8.3 cm. Completed 2 December 2011 (no. 069).

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