Daffodil or narcissus: a flower with deep meanings

Reminiscing my younger days when I was in high school and university, I can't help but wonder how many things have changed. One of them is music. I used to listen to loud music, believe it or not. My favorite bands were heavy metal, rock 'n roll, alternative, to name a few. I was one of the MTV generations of the 80's and 90's. One of the bands that I listened to a lot when I was in university was The Cranberries. My favorite songs of this band was: Ode to My Family, Dreams, Linger, and this: Daffodil Lament.

Daffodil goes by another name. narcissus. This is a six-petal flower which grows in the spring. The yellow color reminds us of the sun, the life giving source in our solar system. Apart from its cute look, in ancient herbalism the scent of daffodil was used to relax and calm the overactive minds. Symbolically, daffodils have deep meanings: faith, honesty, truth, forgiveness, and forthrightness. Giving a person daffodils to show your appreciation of their honesty, or as a token of forgiveness would be a wonderful thing.

I've made some works based on daffodil: a cute blue daffodil/narcissus brooch/hair clip and a pair of yellow daffodils hair comb.

This blue daffodil can be worn as a brooch or hair clip if you want. 

BLUE DAFFODIL BROOCH / HAIR CLIP / HAIR FASCINATOR

BLUE DAFFODIL as a BROOCH

This one is a pair of YELLOW DAFFODILS. This is a hair comb and will make a lovely hair fascinator.

YELLOW DAFFODILS HAIR COMB

YELLOW DAFFODILS on a hair bun

For more details about these, you can go to my ETSY shop.

Two In One

I'd often been asked this question about my works: Is this a brooch? Or been asked to make a brooch. That made me consider to make a brooch but I still like to make hair accessories.

While I was browsing parts on Etsy, I stumbled upon what's called brooch/hair clip tray. This is really cool! This part allow you to wear this as a brooch and hair clip. One for two! So, I thought why not making a brooch which also serves as a hair clip? I decided to give it a try. And that's not bad.

silver tone brooch/hair clip tray

bronze brooch/hair clip tray

I will post some of my works that have this 2 in 1 function.

Ume Hana or Plum Blossom Hair Accessories

I feel awful for not making the time to update my blog. My writing skill is getting bad.. :(... But once I've grabbed my tweezers, rice glue, and stacks and stacks of fabric scraps, I can't stop making what recently has become one of my passions: kanzashi..

I've been making loads of kanzashis.. Some of them were complete failure and some came out as I had expected or even more.

First, I begin with ume hana or plum blossoms. Plum blossoms precedes cherry blossoms. It blooms in very early spring. I managed to take some photos of these flowers before they fell.. Well, plum blossoms don't seem to get as much highlight as cherry blossom where TV or weather forecast faithfully report where the much-loved flower in Japan start to bloom. Whereas plum blossoms don't get that scale of attention. So when my father in-law told us that the plum trees in his field had begun flowering, I went there with my husband and took some photos.

Sorry for the bad quality, I had to fight the cold weather of early spring and the smell of organic fertilizer. I took these photos last February.

To celebrate these flowers, I made some ume hana or plum blossom themed hair accessories. I love to experiment with different styles so I tried also the rustic style and Mediterranean style of hair accessories aside from common Japanese style of kanzashi. For more details of my works, simply click the title under each photo.

Retro Orange Grey Ume Hana or Plum Blossom

Rustic White Satin Cream Maroon Ume Hana Plum Blossom

My Something Blue Ume Flower Plum Blossom

Mediterranean Yellow Blue Ume Flower Plum Blossom

Blue Yellow Large Ume Hana Plum Blossom 

SOLD KANZASHI ITEMS in 2012

First of all I'd like to say HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013!!

I haven't updated my blog for aaaaages. Since I began making my own products - fabric ornaments inspired from tsumami kanzashi and handmade batik clothes - I've had very little time to write or read. I've been spending most of my time creating, especially the fabric hair ornaments. I can't stop experimenting with new flowers and other shapes. You may say that I'm already addicted to it.

Anyhow I'm happy to say that even though I started learning to make the fabric ornaments about 4 or 5 months ago, I have sold some of my works! Yaaaaay! I'm so excited! I attach here the photos of my sold kanzashi items. Most of them were hair accessories and some were jewelry such as necklaces.

Christmas themed butterfly barette

orange and dark green butterfly hair clip

Turquoise and yellow butterfly snap hair clip

chrysanthemum hair stick

large chrysanthemum alligator hair clip

yellow and turquoise chrysanthemum barette

orange chrysanthemum hair comb

purple and pastel green ume flower snap hair clip

red, white and blue ume snap hair clip

yellow chrysanthemum with blue leaves barette

 

yellow and turquoise six petaled flower snap hair clip

orange and turquoise six petaled flower

pink ume flower bobby pin

blue and pink dragonfly bobby pin

butterfly and flower baby headband

Christmas poinsettia alligator hair clip

purple peony alligator hair clip

yellow and green four leaf clover hair clip

purple and yellow ume flower snap hair clip

purple and brown ume flower snap hair clip

orange and white chrysanthemum necklace

purple and red orchids necklace

blue lotus necklace

I'm sorry that I don't update the process of my learning and making these ornaments. I've always had difficulty finding the time to write on my blog. But I always post my progress on my Facebook fanpage. So please visit my fanpage to follow my works and progress. A friend will join my shop, so don't forget to check out my Facebook page to stay updated.

Turquoise White Art Deco Bridal Hair Comb Batik Kanzashi

I REALLY love the art deco color palette! I can't get enough of it :) This time for BRIDAL HAIR COMB I chose turquoise (which has more green, I think) hand-dyed batik which I combined with white satin to create layered petals of ume flowers. The flowers are. decorated with white pearled stamens, filigree and crystals.

To purchase, please follow this link to my Etsy shop. Feel free to drop me a comment ^_^

Yellow Ume Flower Batik Kanzashi Hair Clip

Actually I am still confused between sakura and ume flowers..hahaha.. I tried to make an ume flower kanzashi and I hope I did it justice. I chose to combine hand-dyed yellow batik and dark green satin (polyester) and studded the flower and leaves with yellow swarovski crystals.

This item is avaliable on my Etsy shop. To find out more, please click HERE.

Blue White Art Deco Bridal Peony Batik Kanzashi Hair Clip

I hope you don't get bored with peonies :-).. I love making peony kanzashi and I love art deco color shades :-). A new item on my Etsy shop is a peony :-)

I used hand-dyed blue-grey batik and combined it with white satin. I decorated the flower with black pear stamens. I was going to use white but they wouldn't stand out. It is mounted on an alligator clip about 5 cm long.

I hope the flower doesn't look too gloomy :D..

To find out more, click HERE.. Thank you