Temari 45

The design for this temari is the result of several ideas coming together.

I had made a ball wrapped in black thread that just refused to be a nice sphere. It was stubbornly a slight pumpkin shape, so it was not good for the intended C10 division. But, I saved it thinking it would be good for a simple division.

After making a smaller version of a large temari (number 26 not yet shown on this blog), I got to thinking that some of the designs that filled pentagon areas would make interesting designs on there own. Okay, this does not make much sense yet, but it will make more sense when the rest of temari #26 is shown in a future post. But for now, I will show the pentagon design that this one is from.

I wondered what the design would look like with on a simple division with one at each pole and the points of the arrowhead knots just touching each other at the obi, or equator.

I had some threads that I hand dyed and was eager to stitch a temari with. Using a red rayon embroidery thread that matched the red hand dyed thread that I was going to use for an accent, I wrapped it sparsely on the ball to give the black background some interest. Then followed with a little more black to tone down the red a little.

The ball was marked for a simple 10 division with an obi, or equator. The two designs spread open on the ball, creating large open spaces at the center of each at the two poles and between the points at the equator. This allowed for a five pointed star at each pole and for nested diamonds at the equator that also interlock with the larger design where there used to be little triangles.

The finished ball has about a 7″ diameter and is stitched with hand dyed size 5 perle cotton thread.

 

A Half Dozen More Temari and Hand Dyed Threads

All of these temari feature hand dyed perle cotton thread, all of which I have hand dyed except in one of the temari.

temari 39

For temari 39, the “solid” color threads are not really solid, but slightly mottled. I can buy or dye solid colors, but slightly mottled colors have a certain appeal to me because of their unevenness of color.

temari 40

In Temari 40, both a mottled green and a dark variegated thread are used to create a bold design. The color variation in the dark thread gives added interest to the simple shapes while the bright mottled green ties the design together and gives definition to the crossed spindles.

temari 41

For temari 41, the color scheme was reversed in that the large squares are stitched with the mottled thread and the variegated thread is used for the outlining and the marking threads.

temari 42

This temari, number 42, was stitch with interlocking triangles and set aside with the feeling that it was not finished. Later, the crossed spindles that interlock with the triangles were added. Here a true solid color, the rose pink in the crosses, was used to show off the single strand of variegated thread in the center of the spindle bands.

temari 43

Temari 43 is a wee little temari at 3/4 inch in diameter. The marking thread is a cotton machine quilting thread and the stitching thread is a size #10 perle cotton.

temari 44

Although temari 44 sports a couple variegated threads, I did not dye them, only the yellow. They were a couple of skeins I picked up an embroidery shop.

This temari was a project that I brought with me to a convention to work on during lectures when I was not taking notes and during the break between lectures. Since this one would be finished before the convention was over on the second day, I brought #42 and finished that one too. It was a good convention that I left with much new information crammed in my head and two finished temari in my littlest of project tote bags.