First kitsuke of 2015

Shame on me! I wore kimono twice last year. TWICE!!
I remember not doing kimono for the past few months but I thought I'd gotten a few ensembles done earlier in the year.... More than two at least.
So I've only need to wear kimono two more times and I've beaten last years record! The shame....

I also think I didn't buy any kimono for my personal collection last year!
That's... impressive but kinda sad...
I was looking at my summer kimono today deciding what to wear between the three yukata and 4 ro/hitoe kimono I own. To some that may seem like a good number but I think I need some new blood, I'm also low on ro obi ( I sold a lot of my summer collection over the years) but like 7 hanhaba obi! I've worn hanhaba obi like, three times in 7 years!
I think now that I've finally settled down a bit with what I like and what fits me ( and stop being things because its "pretty" or "cheap") everything is more rounded as a whole collection. Still have some bad areas, no doubt, but all over better.

Anyway! This is what I got up to:

I have no idea what the door frame photos all about, but it was interesting enough to make the cut.
So this kimono is one of the newer additions to the family, bought last summer, is a decent fit on me and hitoe.
The obi is about... 3 years old and I think this is the first time I 've worn it.
Obijime and obiage are summer ones, I bought A HUGE pile of obijime/obiage 3-ish years ago so I think I'll be set for the rest of my time...
The obidome is one of my own creations ( but of course) he's a gold koi, his head's a bit deformed so I kept him.
It was a bit dark in the hall so the kimono and obi look a shade or two darker than they should, the obi is the most glorious, rich purple- more like the close-up photos.

So yeah, my first kitsuke in about 9 months! Woo! *hides face in shame*
Good excuse to buy a new kimono to wear though ;)

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 ;)

Bright Stripes!

On Sunday I thought I'd try on my new kimono and obi.
I don't have many kimono that fit like they actually should and it was really nice to be able to wrap it around my big hips with a good overlap and sleeves that nearly reach my wrists rather than half way up my forearms ( who knows that feeling?!)

I tried to pick an obiage/obijime colour that would be strong enough against the colourful-ness of the kimono and obi, I think it looks ok but perhaps there would be a better combo out there.
I like this kitsuke :) Partially because it was a recent purchase and I wore it instead of putting it in my cupboard for 2 years, also because its different to what I usually wear and a bit brighter.
The obidome is a "pewter" kiku. Lately I've been experimenting with metallic colours and I think they look pretty good.

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!

Kimono, Haori and some Maiko Stuff For Sale.

Hi everyone :)

I'm selling some more pretties on my Flickr:

Top row:
*Bamboo haori-$30
*girls haori-Sold.
*Stripe haori-$1

Middle Row:
*Kofurisode and hakama set-$120
*Purple komon-$10

Bottom row:
*Ro komon-$50
*All shibori houmongi-$50
*Vintage juban-$50

All are open to offers, I just want to get rid of these.

Maiko Postcards: $15.
Maiko half Han'eri: $40.
Kyo Odori Plate: $15.
Kinchaku: $50.

Please have a look at all the detailed photos of the items as well, in my
 Flickr folder and contact me on Flickr or here if you are interested in anything.

Next I'm going to be listing some books. I've collected many over the years.
 Most will be in Japanese but will have photos (my original reason for buying
 them as I don't speak/read Japanese apart from the odd phrase/word) so
 hopefully that will interest some of you.

Then I think I'll list some obi and obijime/obiage and some general kitsuke items.

Basically I'm selling most of my collection as I don't really wear any of them
 and may as well put the money towards clothes I will wear. Sad truth.
 I've been thinking this way for a while now. I'm sure some of you also go
 through phases where you wonder why you collect kimono but this has
 been hanging around in my thoughts for a while now.

So feel free to make an offer on any of my items. If it took me 5 years to collect

 all that I have, it might take another 5 years to sell it all...

Photographing my collection!

Firstly, I am really bad at taking photos. There, you've been warned.
Anyway, for the longest time I've wanted to take really nice photos of all my kimono... still do. Buut until such a time when I get better I've been taking crappy photos of my stuff :p

So....

My entire obiage collection to date. At the start of the year I bought a mixed lot of obiage. I nearly have every possible colour, at least in the pink/orange/red section and most of them are shibori and only two are ro lol! Better work on that...

 The majority of my obijime collection, except I didn't make a pretty rainbow out of them :(

Two pretty fans I bought from Shinei before they got shut down... on ebay I should say.

If you are interested in close-ups of the above they are in the Kimono accessories folder of my flickr.

Now the good stuff ;)
Since I sold my kiku kuro hikizuri last year I'm technically down to two geiko's hikizuri.
Both of them I think are around mid Showa age and not in wearable condition, so please admire them for all their prettyness.

This wave hikizuri has golden thread woven into the fabric all over giving it a beatuiful shimmery look that makes some photos look off in colour, but the base colour is a nice purple.

The fabric is old and ripping in certain places.

This was the first hikizuri I bought back in 2009 from the original Ryu on ebay.
Like I said, I'm not a great photographer but this one looks much nicer in person. But its badly stained, like someone splashed tea all over it :(

Maiko hiki!

I bought it listed as a furisode with the tucks removed, but because the upper body is so badly discoloured it was rather obvious what it was.

It has beautiful autumn leaves that I just love!

I was also lucky enough to find a maiko wearing it in my 1958 Miyako odori porgam.

So at 54 (if not more) years of age its retiring with me :)

Here is the set on Flickr to see more photos or to view them in a larger size.

Hopefully will get around to doing more soon, but knowing me it'll be a while lol