Japanese Fabric Balls for Jewelry and Ornaments

by Karen Kelsky
(Eugene, Oregon)

I usually work with Japanese washi and chiyogami paper, but I have a side love for the shiny, crinkly, smooth Japanese fabric called "chirimen." it's not available in the United States (except for the occasional small piece on Etsy) but you can order it from the wonderful Japanese company Fabric Tales.

Anyway, I've collected quite a bit over the years and use it to make lots of little animal brooches like birds, shiba puppies, etc. But my newest project is to glam it up with bright gold trim to make decorated balls for necklaces and ornaments.

This is actually a traditional Japanese craft in itself, to make these decorated balls. They call it "miyabi-kazari." I'm having so much fun experimenting. I plan to create a line of Christmas ornaments for the Christmas season, this summer.

These three ornaments are end of the year gifts for my kids' teachers.

BTW--all you need to make these is the chirimen fabric (remember--Fabric Tales!), gold trimmings, satin rattail, and polystyrene/smoothfoam (NOT styrofoam!) balls. the best glue I've found is Alene's "Foamtastic" glue for craft foam projects. You usually have to poke the hole through the center with a bamboo skewer or knitting needle.

Karen Kelsky
Paper Demon Jewelry blog
Paper Demon Jewelry on etsy