Temari

Hexaflower left and 12a-gon right.

My mom has recently started taking lessons and making these traditional Japanese temari string balls. She started about a month ago and now has a solid collection. Some are bigger and some are smaller. Some are more colorful and some aren't. There are many, many kinds.

My favorite one is the Hexaflower. It is a 3 colored hexagon with a "pedal" sprouting from each side. This happens on each pole. I like it because it is so symmetrical and because I figured out how it works. Mu second favorite is the 12a-gon. It is a flower with 12 pedals, then in there a flower with 12 smaller pedals and then one more flower with even smaller pedals. I like this one because it has a cool gradient. 

Temari balls were used as toys before rubber was brought to Japan. Now they are just for decoration and are considered art and I am strictly forbidden to play with the temari balls.  I really wish I was allowed to play with them. They used to be made out of old kimonos strips wrapped into round wads of cloth. They came from China. They are made from string and yarn. 

This is how to make one for yourself.

First you start out with a Styrofoam ball (traditionally a wadded up cloth strip but we aren't really traditional so...) and you wrap yarn around the foam until the outside is a certain distance. Then you take thin thread of the same color and wrap it so tight the circumference shrinks. After that you measure the "north pole" and "south pole". You pin the poles and other important spots on the string. And then decorate the outside with colorful string. A common pattern my mom does is 2 flowers. One on each pole. Then in the middle, she puts a band around and finish!

I really like seeing the process from styrofoam ball to a work of art. Before my mom started this, I would see the styrofoam balls at the store and would think, "That's a bit boring" but now I look at the tameri balls and think, "That came from the boring balls at the store. WOW"