A matter of perspective

In the various Temari groups I belong to we often share images of or links to Temari we love. One got shared last year and while I had seen this Temari before but had never quite realised how truly huge it was. Like most Temari makers I like to *try* to reverse engineer Temari from photographs I see. My biggest stumbling block is determining the size of the Temari that I am trying to work out.  If the image has something of known dimension it is much easier to reference the size of the Temari... but let's face it, usually the it is alone on a plain background or amongst a group of other Temari (whose dimensions are also unknown).

Try these examples on for size (pardon the pun), how big would you guess these babies are:

Judy Tepley’s balls

From artfire.com

Would you have guessed the right size without the reference point?

I have been making studies of several Temari images that were passed to me many months ago. One of these Temari was in an image passed to me by a friend that visited an exhibition several years ago in Japan. True to form, this Temari was pictured alone on a plain black background (not a reference point in sight), so could I work out how big it is?? Well I didn't really know the right answer so what I ended up doing was just having a guess and hoping I was right.

Well this was the long way to get the job done... in fact it took me 3 Temari to get it right (or at least close to right). I admit that the first Temari was done smaller that I thought it would need to be just because I wanted to work out my theory for the layering of the banding.

When I thought I had worked out the weaving I made my next Temari much larger... but not large enough...

In hindsight perhaps there are a couple ways to work it out.

1. How many rows are in a band or area in the front of the image? What is the thread used?  For me laid side by side I know the 10 rows of #5 Perle cotton is about 10mm (1cm) so referencing that I can work out how many rows there are and use that to judge the diameter of the base.

2. Can I see a short line in a pentagon on a C10? Use it to work out the size by doubling its length and checking it on my Vruler magic number, and seeing what circumference it matches to. (for example 5.5 is about 31.5cm)

3. Can I see a whole shape face on a C8 or C6? Many years ago we had access to an online Temari Calculator created by Debi A. If I could measure a side or a long line in a shape I could put in various numbers into the calculator and determine the size of the Temari (for example a 5cm pentagon side is a 43.5cm circumference base) I wish we could still use that resource, I'm no math guru and have no idea where to start on creating my own although I have made my own calculator for simple divisions... if it was an app I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

So how do you work out the size of a Temari from a photo?

Redo of a few

I recently posted a pink Asanoha temari hairstick with a grey tassel. You might recall I wasnt sold on the whole tassel look, I decided it was the colour, it just seemed to heavy. I have some bead caps so I that decided to make another but this time with the base thread. It looks much better now. What do you think?

Also in the last post I wrote about the S16 stitched on 4 paths that I wanted to skip a path on to see how it looked. This time I used a double thread of #12 Oren Bayan cotton that I got on sale last year. It is actually not too bad in terms is thickness for mini temari, seems just a little thicker than single strand floss.

IMHO It doesn't look as flash on the small size base. Either that or it needed a more contrasting base to make the negative space pop. It looked a bit blah (one colour) when I was finished so I added a row of single thread on two of the paths. It seems a bit lacey now, like laced feathering on a wyandotte chicken... Maybe it is just me. O.o

Another hairstick

That little stash of mini bases I have amassed keeps calling to me. Today I have one to share that is stitched with a double strand of embroidery floss. In Japanese books it is called #25 and in English it is just floss or stranded cotton. I had this left over from my stint of embroidering some tee shirts for the kids at Christmas a few years ago. I like the idea of using the silk thimble thread but it is really thin (even thinner than the wrapping thread). This temari was marked by eye, the design is a S16 and is a pretty basic uwagake chidori kagari.

I have done this on much larger temari bases and thought it might be problematic on such a small size.  When I started this one I consciously decided I wanted to leave one of the four paths off the ball to see what it looked like on this size.  I have done this with the larger versions I've stitched and I love how it works. A square forms at the pole and who doesn't love a square on a circle right? I want Cheezels now!* Actually the tricky part turned out to be using the double strand because there is not enough room to groom with my tekobari while keeping hold of the base and needle.

This one again is on the plain stick type temari. I really must find my awl because getting these onto a thick pole is very difficult. I purchased the good beads that look like a temari some time ago but never opened the package. When I opened them recently I noticed one was broken so I popped the teeny red base from my stash inside it and put a headpin through them to lock it together again.

I think it might need one more thing on this hairstick because two balls together just looks a bit wrong in my hair. It might just be the angle of the photo though as it doesn't look strange in the top image. Mr W took the picture of the back of my head and we couldn't quite communicate the shot I hoped for. This was the best of the 4 that he could be bothered to take for me. Teenagers! Yep my gorgeous baby is now a teenager and has already perfected the surly attitude... And in under a week no less. :)


* Cheezles are an Aussie snack that are only slightly older than me. I loved them growing up and Mr W loves them too, they are a cheesy, salty, unhealthy snack. You can pop them on the ends of your finger as they are ring shaped. When I was a kid they had a jingle that said 'you can't put a square snack in a round hole'.

Angels

Playing with some jewellery this week in an effort to practice making loops on headpins. I think they are getting better. I have a home for these little Angels to go to. I haven't worn earrings for years, and when I did only ever wore the type with a post and backer because my hair pushes these shepherd style ones out of my ears. I might go and look for an old pair of earrings to see if the piercings are still open.

I've seen the little wing beads in the past and wondered what on earth they would be for. I got this as a little kit and when I opened it up the penny finally dropped. D'oh

Hair stick #2

I turned the mini pink Asanoha design temari from my last post into another hair stick. I used a different type of stick which proved interesting... and slightly more challenging than I expected. The temari needed to be threaded onto the thick stick itself. I need to find my awl to make this process easier. I added a velvet tassel (which I might still take off). This stick needs something on the end to stop the temari from sliding off. Anyway here it is.

Sorry again for the fuzziness of the image... I most definitely need longer arms to take a decent image of the back of my head. Oh I tried to crop out that funny ear but this was the best pic out of about 50 taken. On the upside my hair colour is looking very dimensional... And not too grey! Thank goodness for digital images where you can afford to take so many shots hoping for one good one. Lol! At least the temari itself was captured well in the previous blog post.

Temari is totally absORBing!