Once again this year I am excited to feature Verna’s temari balls with a new design, a Flax Leaf Temari ball! All the temari balls I’ll be featuring this year are new designs and hopefully they will perhaps inspire some colour choices for your next needlework project.
If you have followed my blog for any length of time then you will know I’ve always admired Temari. Back in 2015 I was very fortunate to find Verna. Verna is a fellow Canadian who just happens to love creating Temari balls. I now have quite a collection of beauties thanks to Verna. If I remember correctly, she recently told me she had made over 200!!
The Flax Leaf Temari ball design displayed in today’s Temari ball is one of Barbara Seuss’ patterns. If you have any interest in Temari, I would suggest you visit Barbara Seuss’ website. She has written a number of books on the subject and Verna has used many of her designs to create my new collection.
How Verna Created This Flax Leaf Temari Ball
Three colours were used to complete the design on a black metallic background. Colours #68, #72 and #73. The pattern is an 8 division which is a little more challenging and time consuming to design. I know you will likely be thinking what is an 8 division as I was? It is a basic way to divide and mark a Temari ball for embroidery.
Each ball has a north and south pole and equator. Divide the equator into 8 sections and you have your simple 8. This is one of the many designs you can stitch using the 8 division. There are more 8 division designs coming this year.
Once again, here are the colours used in size 8 Perle cotton:
- Colour #68 – (only a wee bit!)
- Colour #72
- Colour #73
If you are not familiar with Temari balls they are Japanese thread balls meaning “hand ball” in Japanese. They are a folk art form that originated in China and were later introduced in Japan. Historically they were made of remnants of old kimonos wadded to form a ball, created as children’s toys. Today most are styrofoam wrapped with a base of thread. Designs are embroidered to the core base often in geometric patterns.
More Temari balls are coming throughout the year so stay tuned.
