Temari: It’s Addictive

I thought I’d write about one of my favorite crafts today – Temari. These are Japanese decorative spheres, covered in wound thread and complex-looking embroidery. I was browsing a bookstore in Japantown about a decade ago when I spotted this book cover, and thought, “Holy Moly – what are those?“. It was all over – I was hooked, and have made Temari ever since.

The earliest Temari were made on balls of wadded-up kimono scraps. More recently, Temari-makers are making balls of wadded-up nylons, or starting with styrofoam balls. The process of winding all that thread isn’t as time-consuming as you might think; I can usually cover an orange-sized ball within about 15 minutes, especially when accompanied by a good movie.

The stitchery part of Temari isn’t hard to learn. I use an amazingly low-tech method involving a strip of paper and some pins to divide the ball into sections, and then the embroidery is a series of simple stitches anchored to these sections. It’s a meditative, but far from mindless, craft. With a little practice, you’ll be turning out amazing Temari like these.

I did not make these – they’re the creations of Barbara Suess, who wrote a great beginner book, Japanese Temari: A Colorful Spin on an Ancient Craft. (Thank you, Barbara, for letting me share!)

I’m really excited about Barbara’s book, because most of the Temari references I’ve found suffer a bit in the production values. This one looks gorgeous. I like my education with a side of eye-candy, you know?

. . . Lest you think Temari are too serious.

You should also check out Barbara’s website for some Temari history and a freakin’ amazing gallery.

Kristin was bitten by the Temari bug, too – check out her cute Temari bag.

And If you’re local, you can take my beginner Temari class in March.

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Pam Harris

January 31, 2008 at 7:37 pm · Reply

Can’t wait to pick up where I left off. You have inspired me to get back to my projects. Looks to me as if the first image was crafted using crewel embroidery yarn which I hope will soon follow the example of all the other 70′s crafts and regain it’s popularity (and thus it’s availability!)

January 31, 2008 at 12:37 pm · Reply

Kristin Roach

February 2, 2008 at 3:18 pm · Reply

That was the same exact book that got me all excited about temari too. I took it home from the local library thinking, well, I’ll just look at it, see what it’s about you know? yeah right. I couldn’t help but scrounge around and start making them. They are so beautiful! I would totally take your class if I lived in the portland area!

February 2, 2008 at 8:18 am · Reply