Tsumami Zaiku Kusudama Flower Ball Oriental Home Decor

This post seem kind of late since I listed the items months ago. But better late than never they say, right?

The items I mentioned above are tsumami zaiku kusudama flower ball oriental home decor. Sounds like a long phrase. I'll break down the seem-so-strange words.

First of all, the word kusudama. Kusudama is written　薬玉 which means literally medicine ball. Kusu is from kusuri which means medicine and dama is from tama which means ball. Kusudama dates back from ancient Japanese culture where kusudama was used for incense or potpourri. They may have put herbs or dried flowers inside. Kusudama is made of units of folded paper (origami) that are assembled into a ball shape. Therefore, kusudama is actually more familiar with origami art. However, now kusudama can also refer to  flower ball.

Tsumami zaiku itself can be freely translated as fabric flower works. The misunderstanding arises when kanzashi is interpreted as fabric flower by many crafters outside Japan (America, Europe, etc), which is not right. Kanzashi itself means hair stick. And tsumami kanzashi is a hairstick decorated with fabric flower. Now that the fabric flower can be applied to brooches even jewelry, in Japan it is called as Tsumami Zaiku. So the items above can't be called kanzashi flower ball because they are home decors and not hair sticks.

I made these flower balls with styrofoam balls. These styrofoam balls come in many sizes, from 10mm to 80mm. For the flower ball home decors I used size 55mm to 65mm.

These styrofoam balls are so useful depending on what you want to make. I make pip berries with the smallest size, make crochet balls etc.

To make a flower ball, first I wrap a styrofoam ball with a piece of fabric (chirimen, vintage kimono scrap, batik scrap etc) using white craft glue. Then decorated with tsumami zaiku or fabric flowers. Extra decorations include beads, tassels etc.

This is a colorful flower ball - green, peach, purple, maroon - which I made with vintage kimono linings. I added a beautiful tensha bead and a tassel.

This one is also made of vintage kimono but not the lining. It's a combination of plain white and flower patterned vintage kimono. This flower ball comes with a flower-painted flower charm and a silk tassel.

This flower ball with green yellow flowers is made with vintage kimono. Each flower is decorated with olive green faux pearls. This kusudama is also a wind chime. I added a cloisonne bead and a tassel with chinese knot.

This one is very unique. This flower ball is decorated with pink red flower bouquet and covered with white petals. I made the pink and red flowers with batik and the white petals with vintage kimono. I added a pink tassel with chinese knot as additional decoration.

For this blue flower ball, I didn't cover the whole surface with petals like the previous four. I just filled up the plain areas with fabric flowers. I made this with Japanese chirimen. For additional decoration, I added a wooden filigree.

Another one is almost the same as the blue one. This green flower ball with peony flowers is made with Japanese chirimen and a green tassel with chinese knot.

Last but not least the purple flower ball with iris flower. This flower ball comes with a bead and a purple tassle with chinese knot.

For further details about these items, click the banner to visit my shop or click the bold title above each picture.