Step Eighteen: Kusudama, Part Two... and a voyage of discovery with copper!

Dearest Sylwi


Today was going to be Part Two of the Kusudama project... and a variation of it, that I wanted to explore. The variation didn't turn out quite as I expected (at all as I expected, in fact! ha ha!), but I'll tell you about that in a minute - first, the Kusudama! :-)


Once I had created twelve flowers (see Part One from last week), I glued six together to make one half of the ball and the other six, to make the other half. To make a string to hang it by, I glued some raffia in a loop through the centre with a little bead just as decoration...

and... finally, it's finished! :-)

{It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but very dinky and cute! I can see a few of these in a larger size, hung above a wedding, or party table as decoration...}


It feels extremely odd to finish it, as it's been on my creative 'to do' list for about 2 years. When I first found the tutorial, I made one flower and that has been perched on top of my inspiration board for those 2 years, looking pretty... but ultimately, a daily reminder that the project remained unfinished! :-)


As I was folding the paper last week, I really started to get excited about the possibilities for it, if it was made out of metal! I envisioned it as a sort of sculptural piece for the garden, or as a light fixture (if the metal had lots of holes in it, I figured it might look beautiful and also cast some stunning shadows).


I've never worked with metal before, so did a bit of Googling and came across The Crazy Wire Company in the UK. They sell small packs of mixed offcuts of metal - perfect to test out my ideas, without committing to buying huge amounts of expensive materials... and then finding out my ideas wouldn't work! :-)


So I ordered a couple of packs of mixed offcuts and was thrilled when they arrived. The pieces were about A5 / A6, or smaller - lots of different thicknesses and some of them were made of a very fine and beautiful mesh. Perfect for messing around with. 

I tried to fold a Kusudama petal with some thin sheet copper, but it didn't work. There's a fold in origami where you fold the paper one way, which gives you a guideline and then you reverse the fold. It didn't work at all with the metal... so, I put the idea aside for the day! I may come back to it in a later Step, though! :-)


I'm doing a lot of planting in the garden at the moment and desperately need seed and plant labels, so I can remember what I've sowed and where. I searched online for some pretty markers to buy and could only find these beautiful, silver cutlery markers, created by a few sellers, my favourite being, 'Monkeys Always Look', over on Etsy. Alternatively, there's a tutorial on the 'Shrimp Salad Circus' blog, if you wish to create them yourself! 


Whilst I think they're gorgeous, it did strike me that the copper scraps I had would be ideal for markers. Not only is the copper a beautiful colour right now, but as it oxidises outside, it will turn an even more attractive range of colours. So, I decided to experiment!


I've had a bit of an obsession with tattoos over the last few years and originally had thought of doing tattoo scroll-like plant markers... I made a scroll seed marker and stamped the word 'coriander' onto it ... but there was something bugging me about the idea. 


Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I wondered if maybe I'd seen this idea done by someone before... and then it suddenly hit me! I had!!! In the lovely, 'Something Else Perhaps' shop on Etsy! Although, her results and the quality of work are far more beautiful than mine. Check out this baby! :-)


The copper scroll idea must have been embedded in my subconscious... which made me laugh, but was also kind of annoying, because I thought I'd come up with a great idea... but clearly I was just copycat-ing the gorgeous Dana! :-)


So, I changed tack and created leaves from the copper instead. I thought they would work quite well, as when the copper oxidises it will turn a lovely, green, leafy colour. I used a script font and embossed the herb names onto the leaves (I used a permanent marker to make them more visible) and then attached them onto twigs from the garden.

I also created a little song bird for the mint... hopefully, he'll scare the slugs away! :-)

So, I created two things for this Tuesday! :-) Which makes me laugh, because I know there have been days when I struggled to create one! :-) It also makes me laugh that I thought I would have a copper Kusudama light fixture, but instead, have seed markers! :-)


Hope all's well with you. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for your next step, dear Sylwi. I wonder if, with these steps, we are moving any closer towards actually meeting in person one day?! :-)


Take care.


xx