It's Temari Time!!

OK...so now I'm up to date...let's get onto temari!

Temari making took over my spare time in April this year. It's (as many would tell you) something that very quickly turns into an addiction. A big thanks to Temari Addict Australia for helping me develop my orbsession (get it?!) so quickly.

I dont have the longest attention span when it comes to focusing on one particular hobby, so imagine my surprise to find that I not only made one temari, but then made several more, and as yet, haven't found the fascination to be dwindling at all.

I have a few Japanese books, and a few of the English ones as well. I'm fascinated by the patterns and the shapes, the layers and colour combinations possible. I'm learning different techniques. And I'm having a ball (oops...there's another one!).

So a little while ago, the idea for an International Temari Appreciation Day (ITAD) was born (thanks Rebecca), and it's October 22nd - yep - that's tomorrow! There is a Flickr page for ITAD, and a fantastic competition aimed at spreading the temari word. Go have a look at some of the great pic's that are there already. Thanks also go to Rebecca for setting up a International Temari Day blog page.

To celebrate ITAD, I have put a small display at my workplace, and also done up some leaflets for my local craft shop. I'm also working on a ball with a group from the Temari Challenge group on Yahoo, an original creation with inputs from seven of us. It's interesting to see what each person adds to the design, and I'm itching to see how it turns out.

I also decided to add this blog to my signature on the Yahoo groups so that someone other than me knows it exists! Anyhow, here are some photo's of some of the temari I have made.

My favourite temari is the black base with the purple, yellow and green kiku pattern. I have my threads seperated into four colour groups - blues, greens, earths and pink/purples. I challenged myself to choose one colour from three of the four boxes, and this was the combination that resulted. I am repeatedly amazed that a change in colour combination can alter the apperance of a relatively simple design so drastically.

Beginnings......

Welcome to Kuriosity and the Kat!

Never having blogged before, I thought it was a good time to start recording and sharing some of my creative efforts. Over the next few weeks, I'll upload some pics of my past endeavours, as well as sharing my latest (and greatest) creative focus - Japanese temari.

I chose Kuriosity and the Kat as the blog name because it pretty much sums up my foray into creativity. I'm incredibly curious by nature, and enthusiastically explore any and all pathways I find myself on, much like a cat. It also has a tendancy to get me into a slight amount of trouble, as it means I tend to hoard craft supplies! Luckily, most of them get recylced into other projects later on. The blog name may change......I'm not compeltely sold on it yet. I have another in mind, which is more specific to Temari, I'm just waiting to see how things pan out.

Past endeavours. There are lots, especially considering I'm not yet thirty. Most of them were quite quickly explored and moved through. Some never even got started properly, only the initial stages were explored and then something else snaffled my attentions. I'm have shocking stick-ability when it comes to hobbies. I've attempted clay sculpture, bookbinding, knitting and crochet, plastecine sculpting, freehand embroidery and pincushion making. I've tried candlemaking and decoupage, paper tolling, origami and quilling, as well as making a variety of preserves, and household recipes like furniture polish. I colour in mandala pictures, designed an ex-libris image and also love to read. I did belly-dance for a while, making my own costumes - beaded sleeves and all. I play softball 6 months of the year, and I have just done a free Tai Chi class - am still deciding on that one whether to continue that one or not.

Most of the time, my journey starts at one hobby an finishes at another. For example- Temari. This came about because I had gone to a craft show and seen crewel embroidery. I loved it. I got a kit, but wasn't confident enough (as I have very little embroidery experience) to complete it. I tried to do some of the stitching, but it wasn't up to scratch. So I explored the Internet, and found some basic free hand embroidery on felt pincushions which would give me stitching experience in similar shapes/stitches to the crewel and also be rewarding as I would have finished projects instead of UFO's.

Well, I stitched pincushions for a while. My stitching was getting better. I participated in an overseas swap. Then, while googling for inspiration, I found Yubinuki (Japanese thimbles) that had been turned into pincushions. My interest was piqued. From there, it lead to Temari, a natural link as they use similar techniques. And there I have stopped to explore for a while. So far, I have made about a dozen temari since April. And I'm happy with them! Hopefully I have found a hobby that I will finally stick with, that I can do without going to classes (thanks to a great level of online support) and that I really enjoy.

Explore and enjoy - it's what life is all about :)