It’s been a long couple of weeks. I spent the majority of last weekend rolling around in my bed with a fever and cough and trying not to overdo it on nyquil, which makes me pretty loopy (no surprise there; pretty sure anyone who takes nyquil feels a bit loopy). I started feeling better last week, but it took a while for my ears to clear out.

Unfortunately, my co-worker Diane forgot to take the sparkly light-up kanzashi headband with her to Vegas; since she didn’t wear it she’s returning it to me and I’m still deciding if I want to put it in the Shop (which would make the shop less barren and empty, haha) or feature it in a giveaway or some kind of charity event. I’m not sure yet but I’ll let you all know when I figure it out.

Anyway, to celebrate my recovery from the clutches of the sinus plague, here I am revealing the long-awaited Vegas Showbride kanzashi headband:

Tadah! I think it did turn out pretty well, but I’m not sure when I’ll be approaching kanzashi again. I’ve got some other plans for the next few months so you’ll just have to stay tuned to find out.

And, of course, here’s a gallery of additional pictures:

Enjoy!

As I mentioned before, I did make some kanzashi as Christmas gifts this past December. this is one of my early projects, made just after I finished the dragonfly piece. They are a set of pins that I tried to make look like orchids. My sister-in-law, Heather, wore blue orchids in her hair during her wedding. Those are long gone, so I thought it would be nice to make ones that last.

I’m not a hundred percent sure I succeeded; they are reminiscent of orchids but don’t look exactly like them.

My second goal was to try different color combinations and use doubled petals. Some of the combinations worked better; the first one didn’t have enough of a color difference for it to be noticeable, unfortunately, but Heather liked them and that’s what matters. My favorite one is definitely the one with the leaves and silver deco wire.

That’s all for today. Until next time!

My friend Allison has told me before that my biggest problem is not fear of failure, but fear of success. I’m not afraid of being good at things; I know that should I decide to work on something that I can execute it well. What I am afraid of are the expectations people will have of me if I do succeed. When people start expecting that I should make interesting, beautiful artwork I start feeling anxious and overwhelmed. Suddenly, I am making extensive lists of things I need to do and obsessing over having these lists in perfect order. I spend more time making lists than making art, and even it does nothing to alleviate my anxiety.

Last week Fear of Success and I met again. A couple weeks ago I found some interesting floral lights at WalMart before work. I bought a few of them thinking they would make and interesting addition to my kanzashi work. When I got to work I shared my discovery with my co-workers and explained my idea of making a light up head piece mounted on a headband. My co-worker Diane immediately said ‘If you make it, I’ll buy it from you’.  CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. D:

Since she’s getting married soon I suggested making something for her bachelorette party. Little did I know that her bachelorette party was actually the following weekend in Las Vegas. I had less than a week to finish a piece that ended up being made up of more than twenty pieces, a veil which I sewed by hand and a headband. All in all I spent about 20 hours and $120 or so in supplies on this project.

I knew, logically, that I would be able to finish it by Thursday.  But, knowing that didn’t keep me from experiencing the crushing sense of anxiety I always get when I take on a big project. I got so frustrated at one point on Saturday that I had to lay down for a few hours and take a nap  to get away from the project. And that was early on too, when I had plenty of time to work. Here is a prep-related sneak peek.

When I finished the project (it’ll be showing up on the blog in a few weeks!) my fingers were cramped and slightly swollen from overuse and the tips of them were tender from being accidentally jabbed by wire ends, but I finished it. I thought I would feel more triumphant about it, more excited about swallowing down those anxieties and finishing well.

It turned out beautiful, but not exactly how I pictured it (but what really does?). I thought I would put leaves in originally; I just didn’t have time to do a dye lot and put together leaves and all the flowers. It’s beautiful though, and I can see that it is, but instead of feeling proud I actually felt more relieved when it was done. It wasn’t until I handed the box to Diane that I actually felt pride.

In the end the most important thing is that Diane loved it. I packed it up in a nice black box with crepe paper for protection and she got to unwrap it and test out the lights Thursday morning. I hope it gives her good luck in Vegas!

This weekend I want to do something a little simpler, I think. Maybe try some sewing or drawing. I have been wanting to do a Portal themed or Star Wars themed quilt and I’d have to come up with some designs and color concepts. Luckily this is a long weekend so I’ll be able to relax.

Anyhoo, that’s all from me for today.  Until next time!

Happy Monday everyone, and Martin Luther King  Jr. Day too! I actually have today of and I’m going to spend it relaxing and having a cooking date with my gentleman friend. He lives in Canada so to stay connected we Skype a lot and cook together. We take turns choosing different recipes, cook them at the same time then Skype as we eat.

Anyhoo, here is another kanzashi project that i actually started after the red white and gold comb. Since it was just after new year I wanted to do something with fireworks.

I think it turned out pretty well, but I do wish that I had had a little bit of gold wire to attach the gold firework to the hair fork with. I think that since everything was silver tone, aside from the gold firework piece, that it ended up working out aesthetically anyway.  Here’s the rest of the progress photos I took for this one. Not too many this time.

And that’s all I got for today. Happy Monday and I hope you have an awesome week!

I started on this piece in late December planning on doing something with a holiday feel for my office Christmas party. I got sick and didn’t finish in time (or attend the party, unfortunately) but I think it turned out pretty well anyway.

I actually had to dye the red fabric three times to get it dark enough. When I sprayed it with starch the dye ran so i guess it didn’t quite set correctly. I think for darker colors I might just buy the color I want, but I do like being able to dye colors myself. It gives you a lot of fine control over the finished product and allows for a very refined palette. Here are some progress photos.

Maybe if there’s interest I’ll do some video tutorials in the future. Let me know what you would like to see in future updates and I’ll do my best to deliver!