Reversible Hanhaba Obi

I won this obi yesterday from Shinei's eBay auctions for 6 cents! It's a reversible hanhaba obi - brown with flowers on one side and red and blue-green on the other. It's got lovely gold thread running throughout, and it's plenty long for a hanhaba (406 cm). I hope the brown color is accurate, because I bought it to match my new rose komon (see previous post)

Vintage Blue Rose Komon

I won this vintage blue komon today for 1 cent! I love wins like that! I hope it's the exact same color as pictured and not more green, but we will see when it arrives in a few weeks. I love the design of climbing roses. It even has little rose buds and rose hips! Owing to the fact that it is awase (lined), I presume it is a spring kimono.

This kimono has some stains, unfortunately, which I am going to try to spot out. Typically, using a little mild soap or detergent and wet sponge to wash the spots and another sponge with just water (not dripping wet though) to "rinse" is a good method. Of course, not all dyes will hold when you do this, but for an inexpensive kimono, this seems to be worth it to help restore its value.

I have my work cut out for me...

Ko-Ume Kanzashi

Just in time for February, I made a little ume kanzashi! I have white one that I made years ago that is a little larger, but the quality is not near as good as this one. I hope to make more to sell soon!

Dreaming of Summer

I don't know about the rest of the Northern hemisphere, but I'm getting tired of winter. It's fun through the first snowfall, but then (at least here in Memphis), it's just wet and cold. Since my boyfriend's new obi came in yesterday, we did an impromptu yukata photoshoot. ^_^ As someone on the Immortal Geisha forums pointed out, his obi is thinner than the typical kaku obi. I have seen only once before a kaku obi this thin (5 cm or 2 inches), also used on a yukata. Since yukata is very informal, this width should not be a problem. However, for a more formal outfit, I would suggest getting the standard sized kaku (9 cm or 3.5 inches) - which will be one of our next purchases, once the kimono "coffers" are full again!

For the first part of the "photoshoot", I wore my kingyo yukata. The hanhaba obi and the yukata both have lace detailing which I just love!

The second outfit I did for the "Single color challenge" on the Immortal Geisha forums. It's a plain brown yukata with my brown ogi hanhaba obi. I did a karuta musubi, just to try something different. It's not perfect, since it was a first try, but I will do better next time! Désolé! Overall, the brown is very obaasan, but very tasteful in some ways as well.

New Year's Kitsuke (belated) and My Boyfriend in Yukata!

I know it's been 10 days since New Year's day, but my kurotomesode didn't come in until two days ago, and I've been dying to do some kitsuke with it. Since my silver obijime has not arrived yet, and I do not own a white obiage, I have substituted a cream obijime and light pink obiage for the meantime. (Forgive me!) I paired the kimono with my pine fukuro obi, which I think went quite nicely with it. It fit the season very well. ^_^ The kurotomesode itself has pheasants on it, of which I am uncertain of the seasonality (if there is one). When I get married, I will be happy because I can pull this one out again for ceremonial occasions.

Back shot:

Mac got his first yukata in the mail today! Since the obi has yet to arrive, we substituted a red hanhaba obi that we folded in half to look like a kaku obi. It's bold, but I've seen more brightly colored men's obi lately, and since it's informal, I think it looks just fine! He looks so handsome!

Back shot:


Working on mischief together ;D

Stunt "Raindrops" Wallpaper

Specs:
Dimensions: 1280px X 800px
File size: 612 kb
Color: RGB format
Image: ©2006 Stunt

New Kimono for a New Year

As of late, I have purchased a few items from Shinei through their 1 cent sale on eBay. All of the items I bought for $0.01-$1.75! Here's what I got:

Kurotomesode with pheasants

Furisode with peonies

Sakura Kanzashi

I spent several hours today working on this kanzashi today. It's my first successful attempt at making sakura. It hurt my hands, eyes, back - well, EVERYTHING! But it was very worth it! It will go nicely with my sakura kofurisode. I most likely will debut this combo at MTAC 2011 in April. =)

The kofurisode that I plan on coordinating with the kanzashi: