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.