I absolutely love kanzashi and am in the process of making some of my own.  I adore the dangles. But, how do you make these?  I see that most of these dangles use two petals for each "layer", but how do you piece it all together?

Also, any suggestions on how to make the fans? What material do you use? I was thinking sheet metal, but wouldn't that leave a sharp edge? How do you go about fixing that.
Thanks everyone!

Hey, I don't know too much about making the flower kanzashi...
But, I think sheet metal would work... you can file the edges of it down, with one of those oh-so-lovely industro-strenght metal files they sell at like home-depot type stores.  the only part that would be somewhat hard with that would be to make the little "stick-like" dangleys... when i made mine i used sheet metal for the fan (had my boyfriend do that part though), and a paperclip and tinfoil for the dangley parts... and it worked pretty well, dispite how tacky tinfoil sounds, it worked!

I could be wrong about this considering I haven't gotten as far as making the dangles yet myself, hope to try it out soon... that being said I believe the way to make the dangles is by using wire.  I am going to test it out in the next few days.  I believe what you have to do is use jewlery or craft wire, attach it to your main piece, and as you go down wrap it in ribbon or embroidery floss to cover the wire, place your petals, wrap down to next spot, place petals, wrap some more and finish on the end with a final petal and some glue.  If anyone tests this before I do, post some pics =)

Umeyumi, I think that Elerronyar is talking about bira bira, the metal "danglies" that you see many maiko wearing, rather than the wisteria-type falls I think you're talking about. I haven't made any myself, but I believe the latter are made by gluing the petals directly to decorative string, rather than using wire, so they can swing.

I know there are several excellent kanzashi makers on this board, though, so I'll defer to their knowledge of both bira bira and falls.

I may be mistaken but I recall someone suggesting to use aluminium flashing, I found some at the regular Bunnings Warehouse (A home and hardware supplier in Australia). I had a test feel and it felt really soft , so I think you'll be able to cut it with a pair of sharp scissors. I hope that helps

Be careful using sheet metal - when you try to cut it to the width of the bira, it will curl. It also is very sharp. My boyfriend did a lot of work with sheet metal and ended up with a lot of bits of metal in him and the carpet.

I'd like to know how to make the wisteria falls myself. How do you get the petals to stick to the string? I heard the rice glue takes forever to dry, wouldn't it just kinda fall off? (I'm also in a very humid area, so the glue would prolly never dry >< ) Do you sew it on?

I ish curious about that as well.. how to get the pettles to stick to the string and how the heck do you keep the fabric from fraying  :mad:  .. I'd say fray-check or fray-no-more but that stuff makes it all stiff & icky

I like the idea of the mettal wire, but that dosn't fix the fraying fabric
I'm going to try this later when I get woke up (it's only 10:30 am  :D )


EDIT: I just rememberd something! they sell sheets of metal at craft stores.. I used some to make a fan-shaped kanzashi.. I had all of the pieces cut out, then lost it  BUT it dosn't curl or anything & is really easy to work with.. and one sheet should make about 3-4 of these kanzashi if you cut them out right

i've made bira bira before, umme i  got the metal peices from michales art supply, and there and many style you can use depending on wher you get them.. i found some that we're cross shaped, in a packet of crosses before and i used them previous ly before i reassigned them to earrings...

So far I've found it unsuccessful to make birabira. I'm moving onto a diff. metal though. I actually work for the previously mentioned hardware store, and so I have a littlemore access to it. Hopefully I can find something that works!


I've found it very hard to sew Kanzashi and it look traditional. I use regular old fabric glue and more patience than I actually have. (I have like zero access to rice starch)Let the glue get a bit tacky on the, then carefully stick it on so not to smear the glue, often the clear glue will clump and not look clean, but it is possible to acheive it; here is a kanzashi i made using this type of technique...my petal strings arn't very long but it gives you a rough idea. Hope that helps!
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c108/SolarisRhiannon/100_1424.jpg

I just made some flutters of aluminum flashing, and it worked really well.

The only advice I have is to make sure you get tin snips that have straight blades...the ones i got had a slight serration, and you can see it along the edges.

It looks ok because i attached them to a very old, tarnished brass kanzashi, so it has kind of a rustic look.



I also found a vendor on Ebay that is selling premade ones, kinda spendy, but if your'e not into getting cut up with little metal splinters it's completely understandable...

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Japanese-7Bira- ... dZViewItem

I've seen some bira bira (not official) that were made of long silver beads. So they look like metal, but you just thread wire through them to dangle, MUCH easier.....

Souryon is GREAT though.  I got some Bira that I haven't used yet, but her EMS was so fast because she sent it right out, I had my package within four days!  Plus she sent me two 5x3 sample pieces of Chirimen that I'll be using for my kanzashi.  So, it was well worth what I paid for the Bira.  :D

It's so cute!!! I'm trying to make one similar for myself, this is very very VERY cute!!!

Making dangles for ume-tsumami kanzashi is quite simple.  I'll post a nice tutorial soon, cause it's hard to explain without pictures, but I'll do what I can for now.

First: use craft wire to create some small loops at the bottoms of the kanzashi to which you can attach decorative string.

Second:  Thread the decorative string through the metal loop.  Create a loop with the string by glueing the tip to the remaining length.  This will attach to the string to the rest of the kanzashi.

Third:  The "layers" - as you put it - are in fact made from two petals glued together.  Once you have all these sets of petals made  Glue them to the decorative string that you have hanging from the kanzashi.
It's best to do this while the string is hanging down on its own from a table top.  This will make sure that the petals are all facing the same direction when held up.

Fourth:  Finish off the bottom of the string by looping it through a decorative bell similar to how you looped it through the wire at the top.

To combat freying fabric a light layer of glue should do the trick.  Personally, I like to use hot glue, because it sets in seconds.  However, fabric glue will do the trick as well.

I use this method to make all my kanzashi.  If you're interested in having a look at some of them check out the bottom link in my signature.

Ooooh, you're a godsend!  Thank you!

How did you manage to get them all the same length?  did you outline or something?

Has this thread died? Do you think you'll get the tutorial up?

Here is her tutorial.  :)

Domo arigato gozaimasu. what type of craft string would I use?

how about use thin cardboard and then paint it with silver paint ? well, I never try this but it's just an idea...

I think the allure of having birabira stems from the the fact that they reflect light at different angles when they move and sway. Sadly, no spray paint will get you that.