Prepare to get lost in an amazing Aladdin's Cave full of amazing Japanese craft books and patterns. I did! Megumi of Niigata, Japan has literally hundreds of these books in her store, pomadour24. They cover a wide range of craft techniques from beading, jewelry making, clay work, yarn and thread designs to clothing patterns.
The designers demonstrate their meticulous crafts skills along with the Japanese esthetic we all know and love.
Some are delightfully kawaii (cute) like the bead embroidery brooches, miniature bags and doll clothes, tiny clay food and adorable animal pom- poms.
Others are distinctly and uniquely Japanese as you can see below.
Most books are in Japanese. However, there are diagrams and step by step pictures. Both my mother and grandmother don't read Japanese either but I remember they used Japanese craft books by simply studying the diagrams carefully and noting numbers.
British beader, Sian Nolan who used Japanese patterns to make miniature beaded dresses and bags also confirmed that the diagrams are relatively easy to follow once you get familiar with the layout.
This thread button book is one of my favorites. Thread is applied to turn ordinary ring mold buttons into extraordinary ones.
There are also temari embroidered ball books like this one. Temari is an old Japanese folk art which came from China in the 7th century (along with the Tang dynasty kimono style outfit). The balls could be used as hand toys like the game haki sack. Small ones, sometimes with a cord or tassel became decorative accessories. These would make wonderful pendants!
There are also several yubinuki books which shows you how to make traditional Japanese thimble rings. This blog post explains more about yubinoki rings.
Know little (and not so little) girls who like dressing up dolls? Be sure to check out Megumi's miniature clothes and accessories section.
This mask making book is in Japanese and English.
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Japanese craft books appeal to me precisely because I like to follow pictures instead of reading a lot of text. (For languages, I only know English.) Will have to check some of these out.
ReplyDeleteJapanese arts and crafts have a special fascination for me. The items are so delicate, detailed and accurately made, amazing!
ReplyDeletethese are amazing! I like the button book too, but I can see hours of perusing these books!
ReplyDelete