My 2013 in review.

I've been a slack blogger this year huh?
With this post it'll be a grand total of 14 for the entire year!
I suppose that has to do with the fact that I haven't worn kimono as much this year as I would've liked, but you know, real life gets in the way sometimes.

So here's my years worth of kitsuke!
Not the most exciting bunch but at least three of those ensembles were of kimono I've never worn before so that's a good stat ;)
( Also three of those kitsuke are wisteria kimono, do you think I have a problem much?!)

Left to right:

Yellow yukata with mauve hanhaba obi.
Wisteria yukata with the same mauve obi ( I was in love with that obi for a while)
Worn to the Kimono de Jack Australia event at the Japanese Festival in Melbourne.
Winter scenery kimono with accessories for the Kimono de Jack Australia Winter Challenge.
Another wintery themed kitsuke, although I was aiming for a "spring" feel...
Grey and white patterned komon with cream hakata obi.
Ro wisteria komon with a cream hakata obi. ( my next obi love affair was this obi)
Wisteria furisode with a wisteria obi and me in a bad wig!

My last kistuke for 2013 is a sea themed ensemble: ( not at the sea tho...)

This seashell kimono was one of my early purchases and I love it dearly!
The kimono is a hitoe chirimen and its so soft and comfortable, just on the small side for me however. It is also badly stained so I'll never wear it out in public but I enjoy it nevertheless.
The obi is a recent purchase ( recent two years ago -_- ) the whole thing is just open weaved threads in shades of blue and white. I've worn it before and find it a very easy obi to use.
I went with golden accessories for this look with  a golden yellow obiage, gold obijime and a gold seashell obidome I made :)
I'm very happy how it all pulled together, usually when I plan a kitsuke I decide on a kimono and an obi ( or a small selection) and pick all the accessories as I'm dressing.
Even my collar was behaving for me today!
Usually my collar gets eaten by the time I get around to photos and I have to spend 10 mins adjusting everything but not this time, just a quick smooth over and all good.

I also opened my Etsy shop KofujiKimono late 2012 but didn't really start to do much with it till the new year. 
I'm happy with how I went in my first year of selling, provided I did close the shop for three months while we moved.
I do have a lot of new ideas for the shop next year! Lots more obidome and I hope to start making a few other kimono accessories.
I will also continue to stock vintage kimono, obi and accessories.

My fiancé and I also bought a house this year ( that's the move I mentioned) so lately my spare time has gone into jobs around the house.
My  mother is coming for a visit in the new year and insists on painting some rooms for us. A very generous offer but we are still so un-organized that the spare rooms are still full of boxes.... There's the tv/living room to paint if she really wants I guess...

That would have to be my year all summed up, not an eventful year but a year for getting things done I spose.

My goals for 2014 include:
* Blogging more. You guys saw that one coming huh?
*Wearing kimono more often so I have something to blog about
*Save for an overseas holiday or renovations for the house ( including the original 70's kitchen... No joke...)
*Work more on my Etsy.
*Sew more of my own clothes. This will probably be limited to dresses and skirts but I'll be happy with that.
* Lastly the normal eat better/lose weight/walk the dog more thing.


How has your 2013 been and what are you planning for 2014?

Sale on at Kofuji Kimono

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post to say I'm having a sale on my Etsy shop KofujiKimono from November 1st to November 20th.
Everything will be marked down in price ( except obidome and han'eri) and I'll be listing a heap of obijime bundles at low prices as well.

I hope you have a look :)

Sunday Kitsuke

Hello everyone :)

Want to know why today is an awesome day? Its my first day off in three weeks!
Oh, and I finally had some time to wear kimono :)

As its spring down here in Australia I was faced with a problem... I don't really have any spring specific kimono. The only kimono I have is a mid Showa Furisode with wisteria:

I was going to pair it with my silver and green swirl fukuro obi:

However I just couldn't use it. Nope. Wasn't working for me, I pulled out my biyosugata but it still wouldn't cooperate with me.

So I was bad and used a nagoya obi   :o

(which I don't have a stock photo of, sorry!)

Today I headed outside to take photos :) It was a lovely sunny and windy day... so I had sleeves and my wig flying everywhere XD but nevertheless I'm happy how the photos turned out.

I took the obi shots inside so you could see the obi design better as it just got washed out outside.

Also a bit naughty as both the kimono and obi have wisteria designs... but that's about all the "spring" stuff I have...

The obidome is my trial chidori obidome. 

It doesn't show up well in the photo but the colour is this shimmery pearl white which is very pretty

Maybe I should've drawn a wing on it too... I'm in the process of doing a pink one so I'll put a wing on that one and see how it looks. Actually the pink chidori would've fitted better with this kitsuke colour wise...
Ah well.
I'm also working on a cherry blossom idea for obidome:

I was trying to create something that looked like a bunch of petals blowing away in the wind, but so far the trials of that design have turned out crappy :(  and then somehow I just fiddled around until I came up with the above design. I would still like to add some detail to the center of the flowers though.
Thoughts?

And that's about it for me. Besides working lots and moving into our new house (Yay!) I haven't had much spare time but hopefully I can find some more kimono time soon :)

Have some blossom photos...

Kimono de Jack Aus Winter Challenge

So the Kimono de Jack Aus group have started doing monthly challenges as its so difficult for kimono lovers to actually meet up, just a good reason to wear kimono really :)

The first challenge was your first kitsuke, but I never took photos of my kitsuke because I was so embarrassed for a long time... So I didn't participate.
The next ( and current) challenge is winter themed.
Its a great chance for me to finally wear a bare tree houmongi I bought from Shinei last year that just got stashed away and never worn.
Part of the challenge was to stack on the wintery accessories. I'm not really an accessory person so I don't think this kitsuke is a strong as it could've been.

I would've worn boots but I don't have a nice pair, so instead I froze my ankles off while taking photos XD!

I mentally had this kitsuke prepared for a few days, all the icy blue and green hues came together nicely.

The michiyuki is also something that I've had for years and never worn with kimono ( I've worn it with tights tho, as I've done with a couple of haori, its a great way to get more use from your items) So it was really good to get both of them worn.

Hendrix also photo-bombed the shoot :)

What do you think?

I have still been working on the obidome range, but its going slowly as resin doesn't work well in winter...

A pretty bunch of roses..

Yet more roses, I really like these ones, very fiddly as I need to do multiple colours and do multiple layers of resin but I think they turn out beautifully and worth the effort :)

Spider kiku, the white is exactly the same but the flash has washed out the details but the pink picked them up nicely.

I'm not sure what to call the top green bar obidome... I'd seen similar styles in jade/coral/ivory and was just coping that, a more mature, refined obidome than a lot of the bright flowers I've been doing.

Lastly another flower, I'm not sure what type of flower but it looks sweet, there is a part of the outer layer of petals missing though, so I don't know whether I'll actually use it.

What do you think of those styles?

On a related note, as we're moving at the start of July I have closed my Etsy shop as all my kimono stuff is packed away, it will be opening again mid July with all the above obidome plus obiage, obijime and han'eri to complete an outfit!

Obidome on Etsy!

You can find them in the obidome section in my shop: Kofuji Kimono.
I only put up a couple just to test the waters.
I've also put them very cheap until I work out what I'm going to use as the loops on the back.
Still having a lot of trouble with that.

I've also got some pretty new designs coming up:

Fishy! I love this little fish, I've also done a blue version and a white one with very light orange spots.

This one below looks a bit freaky because I haven't painted on his eye yet :)

Simple little rose. I think I'll also use this in kanzashi design ( when I get there)

Random leaves. Not the best photo for this one, sorry. I should've flipped it around to photograph it so you can see the detail better. 

Mega sale on ebay!

Just a quick post.
I've got a HEAP of things on ebay right now, most of them are also in my Etsy shop but there's a few different things.
I've put a handful of obidome up for auction too just to see if there's any interest in them.

Here are a few things up for auction now:

Real Geisha Real Women- Documentary by Peter MacIntosh and a short dvd with dances from the Kyo Odori and the Mizuekai.

Two KIE magazines.

Light pink kiku obidome. I need to photograph them better  :/

Gion Photo book, lots of pretty pictures! 

So please have a look if your interest at My eBay.

I'll try to post again soon, some of my other obidome designs are starting to look really good!

New obidome! (IMG Heavy!)

I've been working on some resin obidome lately!
I'm really excited about the whole idea and its been a tedious few months of trial and error so far but its starting to come together now :)

The hearts are made from a bought mould but everything else I've made the mould of myself so its been a long process.

I'm really excited with the two kiku one (red and pink) I think they came out beautifully! Its a bit more tricky though as I have to pour one colour first then once that's dry the second colour can go in.

The white peony is a bit difficult to see, I've mixed up an orange "coral" colour for the next try and hopefully the details come out better in that colour. 

On the back I've made my own "brackets" for the obijime to go through, wide enough to fit the standard 1.5cm obijime but I was wondering your thoughts on that.

Would you prefer the traditional bracket or perhaps a brooch pin or even some other type of clip so you can attach the obidome if you're already wearing the obijime?

I like the bracket idea but in practice they are really fiddly to make ( even though I duplicate them they still look totally different) but I think they're a must for the clear obidome *see that last photo with the clear heart with blue swirls.

I will also be working on smaller obidome to suit the thin obijime and some bigger, bolder styles for those who like the wide vintage Taisho look ( but that's a few months away, sorry!)

The other thing is sometime in the next three months I'll be moving again so that's going to stuff up my creative process, not that I can help that.
So please head over to my Etsy store Kofuji Kimono and see if there's anything you like, I'm doing a clean out of my kimono collection so I have less things to pack.
I'm hoping be selling some obidome in about a fortnight's time so please look out for them too!

Old kimono kitsuke! (haha lame title)

So inspiration struck again!
Although it's just gone autumn here of course this kitsuke isn't season appropriate, I'm pretty bad at that actually :/
Anyway, its still really hot here so I decided to do a ro kitsuke because I haven't done one this summer.
This kimono is one I've had for years, its ro with wisteria. Of course my wardrobe would entirely be made up of wisteria pieces if I could manage it :p
I've only worn this kimono once before, back in '09 for a staff party:

I've got a thing for ro, its such a beautiful fabric!

So here's what I came up with this time:

Sorry the photos are pretty crap, this was the best of the bunch.
Unfortunately I didn't get a clear shot of the obi area.
Again I've used my cream hakata obi, I really need to get some more, they're great!
I find that lately I've been drawn towards non-seasonal kimono pieces, perhaps because they can be worn whenever? I don't know...
Obi was tied with a biyosugata again, except this time it was really really tight! I had  to sneeze later and it was so difficult and kinda painful lol.
I'm still having trouble getting the obi to look nice and straight, also getting that "peak" at the top of the obi where it folds out, if that makes sense. Practice.... I know...