Goten Mari National Competition

全国ごてんまりコンクール // The Goten Mari National Competition
These links (via the Temari Challenge Group) are from past national competitions in Japan. The 42nd National Competition will be held this year in Akita (October 29–31).

• Photos of pretty spectacular temari from — I believe — the 40th National Competition in 2009 (I don't know Japanese — I rely on Google Translator).

• A video of more amazing temari as well as artisans at work (embedded below).

Here are two links via the Talk Temari group:

• A slideshow, including many of the same works as in the show, plus many more.

• An article from The Daily Yomiuri about temari and an artist named Toshiko Abe. 

out of the nest — layered kiku herringbone

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.
— Pema Chödrön

The previous temari, a five-petal kiku herringbone (as was no. 17), prepared me for this one: the two layered four-petal kiku herringbone design. Since I'd never done embroidery before beginning temari, looking first at the pattern photographs I had no idea how it would be created. It's actually quite simple — but looks complicated and impressive! I learned this from the book by Barbara Suess.

Light bluish green (I think of it as celadon green) thread wrap; metallic silver for division lines (S8 division); embroidery in matching celadon green, and a green a couple shades darker, plus metallic silver perle and very dark green for edging (and the obi). The quote by Pema Chödrön is in the bell box along with 27 brass rings. Circumference: 11 inches / 28 cm; diameter: 3.5 inches / 9 cm. Completed 31 August 2011 (no. 021).

Pole (top) view.

Obi (equator / side) view.

temple bell

The temple bell stops.
But the sound keeps coming
out of the flowers.
—Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)

Another kiku herringbone five-petal flower. For the first time I used straight stitches to secure the obi, rather than a herringbone pattern. I like the "arts & crafts" look of it — I think that has a lot to do with the colors, too.

Thread wrap in black; S10 division in metallic gold; embroidery in dark blue, purple, lavender, pale golden yellow, and a very slightly yellowish off-white. The haiku by Bashō is in the bell box with seven brass rings. Circumference: 10.25 inches / 26 cm; diameter: 3.25 inches / just over 8 cm. Completed 28 August 2011 (no. 021).

one month of temari

I finished my first three temari on July 26 and to celebrate I created a very small temari as a cat toy. S8 division with a simple stripe using herringbone and kiku herringbone at the points. Light purple thread wrap, division lines in violet embroidery thread, embroidery in shades of gray and blue violet. Circumference: 6.5 inches / 16.5 cm; diameter: 2 inches / just over 5 cm. Completed 26 August 2011 (no. 020).

Arrange whatever pieces come your way.

Arrange whatever pieces come your way.
— Virginia Woolf

This temari was an experiment with the traditional wrapped band technique I learned trying the Wishing Papers pattern. Wishing Papers is done on a C6 (combination 6) division*, and I was curious if a C8 (combination 8) division would enhance the pattern. The answer is no. However, it has an interesting affect, if a little sparse. The C6 works because the divisions provides three axes and the overlapping bands result in a braid-like formation. The C8 doesn't provide more diagonal axes. At least, presuming I did this correctly. I don't pretend to fully understand the math. In any case, the C8 actually gave me just two places to do the wrapped bands, not three.

While I could have made wider bands, or chosen more colors and done more bands, I am still learning how to keep the threads from bunching at the obi (equator), where, they cross — that part that is covered later by the back-stitching and looks like a little "tube." The more thread, the more pile-up, the more trouble I have still keeping the bands flat as they come out of the obi, so I limit how many threads I use. But getting better at this will come with time and practice, too.

Ecru thread for the base thread-wrap; fine gold metallic for the division lines as well as highlights; embroidery in gradated shades of light golden brown, silver brown, blue, and gray green. The quote by Virgina Woolf is in the bell box, with 11 brass rings. Circumference: 10.5 inches / 26.5 cm; diameter: just over 3.25 inches / just under 8.5 cm. Completed 24 August 2011 (no. 019).

* 4 September 2011 Update: As I continue to learn the very basics, I've realized that Wishing Papers is actually just a simple 6 (S6) division, not a combination 6 (C6) as stated above. This would explain why the C8 division doesn't give me more lines on which to create the wraps. So Wishing Papers is S6, with no diagonal divisions — the pattern itself adds the three axes for the wraps, not the division.

Top (pole) view.

Side (equator / obi) view.

3/4 view.

contemplation — "maritime stars"

Contemplation is the highest form of activity.
—Aristotle

This temari is my color variation on a design by Barbara Suess, "Maritime Stars" (her original is in blue, white, and black). It combines kiku stars (six of them) with the rest filled in with an "all-over" swirl. It's a combination of techniques that I first learned with the five-petal kiku herringbone and Suess's "Oliver Twist" pattern.

This is the first C8 (combination 8) division I have done. Creating the division wasn't hard, but the stars need to be perfectly placed and executed and that seems to require some feat of engineering that I have yet to fully understand. Still, it is a fairly forgiving pattern, maybe just because it is so nice to look at . . .

Thread wrap in very dark brown; no division lines (they're removed partway through the process); embroidery in light blue, dark chocolate brown, and three more shades of brown each one shade lighter. The quote by Aristotle is in the bell box, with twelve brass rings. Circumference: just over 10.25 inches / 26 cm; diameter: 3.25 inches / 8 cm. Completed 22 August 2011 (no. 018).

moment after moment — kiku herringbone

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

This temari features a five petal kiku herringbone flower. Kiku herringbone refers to a particular style of stitch — on the inner points of the petals, the stitches go under and around, overlapping the rest of the row. This is the kiku herringbone stitch.

The quote by Shunryu Suzuki is in the bell box, with eleven brass rings; the rice hulls are mixed with dried lavender.

Dark silver-gray thread wrap; metallic silver for the division lines (this is an S10 division [simple 10]); and embroidery in golden yellow-orange, three shades of silver-gray, and light pearl gray. Circumference: 10 inches / 25.5 cm; diameter: just under 3.25 inches / just over 8 cm. Completed 19 August 2011 (no. 017).