Temari Art

Galaxy I Artist’s Statement

Order and Light

Galaxy I represents our need to find a path we can follow again and again to bring a calmness into our souls. Watch the sky through twenty-four hours to find the repetition in nature. You will find a small silver bead is stitched to the north pole of this temari. The stars in between north and south poles flow in an orderly spiraling path from north to south and back to north. Follow the path from light into twilight into darkness and back. Order and Light.

This six inch diameter temari is made as a work of art. It is a heavy, solid ball filled with traditional rice hulls. 122 stars of different colors interlock around the ball. They are stitched in a spiraling path from north to south pole and back. Marked with silver metallic thread. Each star is stitched with number 5 pearl cotton and outlined with silver metallic thread.

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Autumn Stars

This is a 3 inch diameter Japanese temari wrapped in deep brown thread and stitched with gold metallic and pearl cotton threads. The core is made in the traditional way from rice hulls filling a nylon. A thick wrap of baby yarn and sewing thread around the core make a perfect surface for stitching. I divided the ball into sections with gold metallic thread before beginning the embroidery. Shake the ball and hear a delicate, jingly rattle. The 5-petal kiku herringbone designs resemble perfectly proportioned stars. A web of interlocking pentagons is a golden backdrop for these 12 equally centered stars.

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Electric Blue 32

This stunning work of fiber art was stitched for a study that I did of the lighted ball dropped in Times Square for New Year 2008.  New Year, New Hope.

32 centers on this temari are outlined with electric blue pearl cotton and connected by heavy silver metallic thread anchored on 122 centers.  The large 5 inch diameter temari is wrapped in black thread. The core is made in the traditional way from rice hulls filling a nylon. A thick wrap of baby yarn and sewing thread around the core make a perfect surface for stitching. I divided the ball into sections with silver metallic thread before beginning the embroidery.

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One Stroke Kiku

“One Stroke” (hito hude gake) means to draw a Japanese kanji character with one stroke from beginning to end without lifting your pen. This is a very fun design to stitch, beginning at the north pole (the solid blue star), continuously stitching in blue until you reach the south pole (solid green star), then turn the ball around and stitch your way back to the north pole with green. It’s a fascinating puzzle of a temari, all done in a continuous stroke of the needle!

This 2 2/4 inch diameter Japanese temari is wrapped in white thread, marked with metallic silver, and stitched with shades of blue and green pearl cotton. The core is made in the traditional way from rice hulls filling a nylon. A thick wrap of baby yarn and sewing thread around the core make a perfect surface for stitching. I divided the ball into sections with silver metallic thread before beginning the embroidery.

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Quilt Temari

True story. DH came home from a big fly-fishing show in Charlotte with a book for me. I was very doubtful when he suggested I transfer the technique of making decorative fishing rod wraps to temari. After studying the book for a while, I did it, and here is the first one. I call it Copper Quilt because it reminds me of a tiny quilt.

This 3 inch diameter temari is wrapped in copper colored thread with an overlay of shiny machine embroidery thread.

The second photo is the same design done in variegated blue to green pearl cotton.

The core is made in the traditional way from rice hulls filling a nylon. A thick wrap of baby yarn and sewing thread around the core make a perfect surface for stitching. I divided the ball into sections with gold metallic thread before beginning the embroidery.

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