We just had a typhoon come through this weekend. It was actually the worst one we’ve experienced yet in Japan, as the eye passed right next to us. So much rain that many of the rivers around us overflowed, and they’re still doing landslide and tunnel surveys to make sure everything is safe. Our street turned into a river.
So while all this… excitement… was going on, we watched Preacher and I made a bunch of these mizuhiki flower things.
Mizuhiki 水引 is a kind of Japanese paper cord, often dipped in wax or wrapped in foil or string to make them colorful. It’s easy to find here if you know where to look, and I have a bunch of it because I mean, why wouldn’t I?
It also makes fabulous cat toys, as my cats are chewing a remnant as I type.
Traditionally, it’s used to tie up cards with decorative knots or flowers or animals. You can find some really amazing ones in stores and online:
I didn’t really do much with them other than to keep my hands busy, until I realized just how many I had. During the typhoon, I made 45 little flowers just keeping busy for hours, trying not to worry about the house washing away!
Now I need to think of something to do with them all – maybe hair pins? Earrings? I dunno. I tried for a while to not make any two the same, but I think that fell out the window when I got to having like 100+ in a little tupperware bin.
While finding the cording is hard outside of Japan, if you’re interested, I can get some packets of it for you and send them your way. However, it may work with other cords, too! Here’s the basic instructions for them. They’re upside down, because it didn’t make sense to my brain when I tried to do it the other way. I have no idea why.
I’ll probably make a video on doing these sometime soon, since I think it’s easier to see done than follow directions necessarily.
I’m on auto pilot now for making these simple ones from 2-3 cords, which are nice and small. I’m using them as zipper pulls on the coin pouches, too! Once I get some more made, they’ll be up on my Etsy and Storenvy if you want a little coin purse from old kimono.
I thought I’d give bigger ones a try, too, because why not?
If I was looking for an easy thing to give a go, more than 5 cords was not the way to do it. Holy crap, anything over 4 is a nightmare of weaving additional cords in, making sure it’s tight enough but still has enough space for the next ones you need.
Basically, while the little ones take like 5 minutes to make once you get the hang of it, the big ones take an hour or more. Crazy. I mean, I like a challenge, don’t get me wrong, and they look fantastic, but still. A lot of work.
You can kind of see the scale of the huge ones compared to the others in the second pic. They are huge.
Almost done with both seasons of Preacher while making these, and now I’m sad, because it’s such a good show. Need something else to watch next, but not idea what. We’ll probably continue to binge on Marvel movies I guess.