Esty Sale!

Firstly a big thankyou to everyone who has been snapping up some goodies at my book sale!
Between Flickr, Ebay and Etsy about a quarter of the things I've listed lately have been sold, mostly to collectors I know which is fantastic!
Its always great to pass something on to someone you know will appreciate it.

To help get some more stuff moving house I've marked down all my Etsy categories except for the Obidome and Book section.

Han'eri are now all $10

Obi have been marked down up to $10

Shoes have been marked down $5

Kimono has been marked down a HUGE $50

Please email if you're interested in anything.

I'm always happy to combine postage to save on costs where possible.

Thanks for looking.

New obidome

I've been getting ready to list some of my new obidome creations to my etsy store.
I've made a few colour ranges, basically I just really enjoy working with a certain colour and end up making 5 or so obidome from that colour before finding a new "yummy" or "pretty" colour.

Available for sale is a classic faux "tortoiseshell" colour combination:

bird on bamboo cane

A clear "glass" design:

Glass kiku

Bright fuchsia:

Fuchsia bunny rabbit

There's also some random coloured obidome that you can see in the obidome section at Kofuji Kimono such as black plum and camellia flowers and more metallic designs.

Finally, some kitsuke photos!

Hello everyone, long time no post aye...
I swear, every year I say I'm going to blog more, and maybe I do for a couple of months and then I forget about it...

So technically here in Australia its winter, however this is kitsuke was planned for a late autumn showing but I didn't make it in time...
So let's just pretend its still autumn for another week or so and we'll be all good ;)


And let's pretend I can master the art of trying to take photos and organising my face better.....

Hands down  I love this kimono. If there was a fire in the house I would grab this over a few hikizuri ( for sentimental value not monetary, obviously with the prices hikizuri are going for these days, geeeez...)
So because I love it so much do I like to wear it each autumn, although I did buy a similar kimono here in my Ravenclaw kitsuke and it's nice, but I don't love it as much as this one.
I don't love the kitsuke though.
Let's face it, I'm not one of those people who can do clean, neat kitsuke. Mine is definitely the frazzled house wife version!
The obi is white and green hakata ( I never saw the appeal of hakata for about 5 years and now I'd like more in my collection)
Obiage and obijime are yellow and golden, to reflect the leaves on the kimono and the obidome is a clear "glass" leaf one I made hinting at the iciness of winter around the corner.
(Shameless plug, but my Etsy store Kofuji Kimono will be updated shortly with some new styles of obidome including this "glass" style)

The han'eri is a black base with painted silver swirls on it when I played with stencils late last year, it was already on my juban and I thought it would maybe work well going into the "dead" of winter.
Its a very meaningful kitsuke if you hadn't noticed ;)


I tried using my biyosugata for the musubi, obviously practice is the key with this kimono hobby, the more often and frequent you do it the better you are and it shows today.
I couldn't get the drum part right and it was all lumpy for some reason? I don't remember having this trouble before.
But then I seriously thought I should turn all my nagoya obi into pre-tied obi.
I mean why not? I never do anything else with them and it would've been a life saver today, but the thought of cutting up an obi......
I might stew on it for a bit longer, then probably pick out an obi for a practice and see how I go.
I've made pre-tied obi before so that's not an issue, its just working up the nerve to cut a perfectly good obi, even if it is to make it more wearable...
Have you ever made your own pre-tied obi? If you have, did you ever regret cutting or has it been the best thing you've done?

I imagine some pre-tied obi will be very useful in my near future, as I'm working less I may find the time to practice my kitsuke before my hobbies go on hold for a bit....
You might kind of be able to tell in the above photos but my belly's getting a bit bigger these days, and its only getting bigger!
I'm 21 weeks pregnant and it took 20 weeks to think "I'd like to wear kimono".
The photo isn't the best, didn't get the angle just right but there's a belly there.

So now I'm off to ponder which poor obi will be the first to get the chop and work out which of my kimono will be big enough to fit in a couple of weeks...

New obidome designs!

Finally!
Something fun to share with you.
Here's my new obidome styles that  worked on over the past few months:

Here I've got a bunny rabbit, pine cones, mushroom, snow capped mountain and a cute little leaf.

Also you may have noticed that I'm still in my metallic phase but also dark brown and white colours just suit so many of the new designs.

There's a few other designs coming soon.

I'm very pleased at how they all turned out, I am in love with the little gold leaf ( will have to make one for myself!) and the pine cones look amazing in the bronze colour and in the "snow covered" version ( does it actually look like snow on a pine cone? I wasn't sure it would turn out right...) 

All the obidome pictured above will be available in my Etsy store Kofuji Kimono very soon!

New kimono for sale at Kofuji Kimono

Hi everyone,
Hope your winter/summer is going well :)

I haven't been up to much in the kimono world lately as most of my time has gone towards stuff around the house.
Recently we've cut down a huge gum tree that was right on the fence line between us and the neighbours, as well as being dangerous it drops a lot of branches and then replacing the back fence.
We tried to time it nicely so the tree would go down on the Friday and the fence crew would start work Monday but unfortunately that got delayed by a week and a half...
Not much you can do about that though.
Plus my parents came down for a visit right in the middle of that drama.
Long story short: I've been busy.

But! I have managed to list a few iromuji kimono for sale on Kofuji Kimono's Etsy store

Purple iromuji  is getting a lot of love

Pink iromuji  is a bit quieter.

I haven't been doing any obidome work lately as resin and winter don't mix very well and my bf doesn't like it when I take over the living room (where its warmer so the resin can cure) so I'm going to try in the next few weeks to get out my clay and design a few new pieces ready for spring.
I've got a few ideas in mind already, is there anything you'd be interested in seeing?

Waterlily hikizuri ensemble

Woah! Nearly two months since my last blog post..... Geez that's bad...

The other week I sent off a waterlily obidome I'd made to a friend, I'd made it with large loops on the back for vintage obijime for a retro style or for use in a maiko henshin. ( she was happy with it :) ) but then I thought I should dress up my mannequin in my waterlily hikizuri to match the obidome!
Timing is just about perfect because this hikizuri was worn by then maiko Fukuhina in the 2009 Miyako-no-nigiwai performance:
Here
This kimono is one of my favourites in my collection, I must admit though because I treasure it so much ( and because it cost a lot too) I rarely take it out to display.
I'll probably keep it on the mannequin for a week before packing it away...

Photos!

I had such a hard time tying the obi! Tough work, I was sore afterwards.
The obi is a two piece that I bought in late 2011. I originally bought it to go with my formal black maiko hikizuri but the mon are different.
I should really put them together and see how they look...

Anyway so the obi isn't in very good condition, the gold is a bit faded, the white has turned that slightly grey-ish colour that white goes and has permanent fold makes( maybe you can see that) but nevertheless I think it looks great with the kimono!
Here is my crappy stock photo...
Actually I'm surprised how well everything matches each other, no where near maiko quality but I'm happy with it.

The han'eri is a maiko han'eri that I'd sewn onto a emon-nuki/chikara-nuno:
Here
I really need to get around to sewing my other han'eri onto them for easy use.

The obiage and obijime are just "maiko-esque" looking so I bought them.
By the time I got around to putting on the obiage and obijime I was knackered so that's why they're a bit messy... I didn't position the obiage very well, the pattern is grass leaves.

Then a bronze waterlily obidome.
I'm of two minds with the bronze obidome. On one hand I like it because it matches the gold in the obi and the haneri but on the other hand I feel like it needs to contrast the obi in a strong pink and greens?

Overall I'm very pleased how it looks :) Hope you liked the pretty pictures!

Looking forward to Easter!

Easter this year means four straight days off work for me!
Working two jobs and an on-line course is starting to take its toll a bit as I haven't managed to juggle all my tasks. Need some organization I do.
Plus my boyfriend will be home too so we can spend some quality time together, usually when he's at work I have time off and vice versa.
It would be really good if we could do something on the house but I think we'll be catching up with friends and watching movies :) which sounds awesome too!

I've been a bit slack lately on my Etsy shop, I haven't had as much spare time as I would like to devote to it at the moment but the March sale I had was great! I sold a few tsuke obi, some more obijime bundles and I had another custom order for obidome! I made two lily of the valley designs and a bright red camellia.
I switched to a better quality resin and the pieces feel a lot nicer too. It is a bit more tricky than the previous type but the results are worth it.
I've also managed to source a type of flat wire to use on the back which I'm using now and looks great as well, the thin, round wire served its purposed but didn't look very nice, but I'll use that on the small designs for the thin obijime.
Which leads me into...
I've started making up a few obidome designs for the vintage thin and really wide obijime.
I only have a couple of designs for both right now but I plan to sell them with the obijime as a set.
Hopefully I can get that up in a few months, I'm still sourcing the obijime.
The last things I've added to my shop are some obiage bundles: Here all in lovely colours :)

As mentioned in my previous post I've been experimenting with some metallic colours and those are coming along nicely. The pewter and bronze colours look fantastic!
I hope to be able to photograph some of the things I've made over the Easter weekend and get them ready for my shop :)

And now some photos, if you've managed to read all that without clicking away in boredom ;)

The pewter and silver colours.

Pewter is the darker one in the back and silver is in the foreground.

Bronze and gold colours. I was surprised how well it turned out when I put the two together on a piece.

I imagine the same could be done with pewter/silver as they share the same "cool" tone or "warm" tone for bronze and gold but I don't know how well a silver and bronze obidome would look, for example.

No doubt I'll give it a try at some time ;)

Etsy Sale on Kimono and Obi!

Just a quick shout out that until the end of March I'm having a sale on the Kimono and Obi sections of Kofuji Kimono!

Included in the sale are some pre-tied obi I listed recently., here's two examples:

Summery obi

Pink arabesque

Thankyou!

First kitsuke of the New Year a.k.a Ro Bamboo

I may have mentioned before that I have a love affair with ro kimono.
It may have to do with Australia being a warm place and ro is so light and breezy that they make a good match.
Also being so light ro kimono and obi are cheaper to buy from overseas!

When I was planning this kitsuke I wasn't actually going to use this kimono, I was going to use my calla lily kimono but this bamboo kimono caught my eye.

I bought this from Shinei when they were still eBay-ing. The A,B,C,D are some small holes that I was going to cover with embroidery. That was over two years ago and I still haven't done it...

Both the kimono and obi are a similar shade of green, I was trying out whether it would make me look taller, one continuous colour you know?
I don't have a full length shot though so I can't say how well it worked.
Please excuse my crooked photos and me looking a bit grumpy and the messy kitsuke. I had altered the kimono to make it bigger but now there's too much excess fabric so it was difficult trying to hide it.

I really should fix this kimono up, my original idea was a sparrow and some insects for the embroidery.
Here was my original design. Yep, two years ago.... It really does take me a long time to finish projects, partly because I always have about 10 different ones on the go...
It might be another two years before its done!

I was featured on a Treasury List!

My Lily-of-the-valley resin obidome was featured in a Lily- of-the-valley themed Treasury List.
This hasn't happened to me much before so I'm pretty stoked about it :)
You can view it Here

Also featured in this Treasury List is the vintage lily-of-the-valley print by Cicely Mary Barker

From TheOldMapShop which is a stunning shop!
As a little girl I had a few reproduction books of Cicely Mary Barker's fairies and always thought how beautiful they are. Actually I still have those books and still like flicking through them :)

I also listed a few new obidome:

Blue Koi Obidome

Light Pink Camellia Obidome

Light Pink Ume Obidome

I hope you like these new styles.

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?