Making Christmas balls using the kanzashi technique

Many craftswomen make crafts from ribbons in the Japanese kanzashi style. This type of handicraft consists in making jewelry from satin and silk ribbons. Combs, handbags and photo frames decorated with silk flowers look very original. For New Year's holidays, needlewomen offer a variety of options for creating balls on the Christmas tree.

When creating toys from ribbons, there are no boundaries of imagination. Sometimes ideas come during work, so it is better to immediately prepare all the material for kanzashi.

• Satin, rayon, nylon ribbons. Usually everything sparkles on the tree. Shiny Christmas balls are created from satin ribbons with lurex and brocade.
• Multicolored cords and synthetic yarns.
• One of the tools for burning the edges: soldering iron, thermal cutter, candle or lighter.
• Scissors and tweezers.
• Various types of glue (moment, PVA, glue gun).
• Sequins, rhinestones, beads, beads.
• Sewing needle.
• The main blank is a ball (can be purchased in an online store or in a creative store).
• Stud pins.
• Ruler or measuring tape.

The basis for a fake is a foam ball with a diameter of 4-6 cm. Pins can easily fit into it to strengthen the ribbons.

Here are 7 steps for making them hot petal.

1. Cut into squares (side equal to the width of the tape).
2. Fold diagonally to form a triangle.
3. The resulting triangle is folded in the middle.
4. Clamp the lower part up to 2 mm with tweezers and cut off.
5. The resulting slice is set on fire. The thermal knife does an excellent job with this job.It cuts and seals the edges of synthetic materials directly.
6. Remove part of the base and singe the resulting edge.
7. The part is turned out, after which the petal is considered ready.

Layered petals are made by superimposing squares on top of each other and repeating these 7 steps. To create a round shape, a new triangle is folded after the first 2 steps. The middle is found on the hypotenuse (long side). You can draw a line down to evenly bend the upper corners inward. Singe the base and cut off excess parts. Turn the product inside out.

Connect the petals into a flower by stitching or glued along the side parts. A special gun is required for hot glue. A solid polymer rod with glue is inserted into it. When heated, the glue flows out and sticks together instantly. It quickly hardens, holding the petals securely together.

As soon as our petals are ready, you can glue the ball with them. Most often, pins are used for this, but glue can be dispensed with. If the base is a ready-made ball with a string, then you can immediately hang it on the Christmas tree. If there is no string, it must be made from a thread, and then glued to the ball. You can hide the glue under another small flower.

Needlewomen post their own master classes on creating flowers with spiral petals, with curls in the middle of the flower and with round shapes with folds on the Internet. Beautiful Christmas tree garlands are obtained from several flowers glued together. On the tree using the kanzashi technique, they create cones, separate large flowers, snowflakes. Interesting openwork fakes are made on the basis of balloons.

• Simple holiday fake... A ping-pong ball is wrapped with a bright ribbon with a border. At the top and bottom of the tape, overlapping, they are gradually glued to each other. Separately, flowers are collected in the kanzashi style of a different color. Glued along the largest circle. A ribbon of a flower shade is glued on top for hanging on a branch. Add a tassel down.

• Openwork Christmas tree fake. Inflate a small balloon. A thin satin ribbon or cord is dipped into a container with PVA glue. Hands (in latex gloves) randomly wind the tape around the ball, leaving free gaps. Next, the products are dried with a hairdryer. The ball is pierced with a needle, it is deflated, it is pulled out freely. The openwork ball is decorated with sparkles. A cord for a pendant is glued to the upper part, and petals in the style of a kazanshi made of lace nylon ribbons are placed around it.

• The original tree. Required fittings:
  • 2 ribbons of different colors (dark green and gold shades);
  • Scissors, tweezers;
  • The base is a cardboard cone;
  • Singing candle;
  • Transparent glue "Crystal";
  • Bright semi-beads imitating Christmas balls;
  • Green felt.

Many double sharp petals are made. The more there are, the more magnificent the tree will be. The fabric is burned, the bottom row of the cone is coated, the petals are glued. In the next row, the petals are glued a little higher so that they cover the base of the previous ones. The top of the Christmas tree is made up of three petals glued together. Half-beads are glued throughout the tree. The lower part of the tree is covered with green round felt.

• Bulky ball made of brocade tape. The iridescent ball in the light stands out in an original way against the background of glass and plastic toys. Cut into square blanks, singe all the edges. The corners of the fabric square are fixed to the top of the base with needles or glue. The squares are folded into a triangle and glued to the square along the entire circumference. Each row is increased and shifted to the side. After the middle, they begin to decrease the amount. The top and bottom are decorated with pleats from the ribbon.

To learn how to make a New Year's ball using the kanzashi technique, see the video.