Tutorial: Paper kanzashi

Here’s how I made some fun paper kanzashi! They are not very robust, and they blow about a lot in the wind, but they are fun to make and to wear!

All you need is a few sheets of normal white paper (the sort you would use in your printer) a needle and thread, some normal glue and hot glue, and a hair clip of your choice!

First make the dangles:

1. Cut a strip of paper 2 inches by 6 inches

2. Cut a fringe along one side of the paper, going about 2/3 of the way up

3. Roll the strip up

4. Add a little glue at the end to secure

5. Run the blade of your scissors over the fringe to make it flare out

When you have three or more of these made (I made 8 for mine), you are ready to make a flower to go at the top.

1. Make the centre of the flower in exactly the same way as the dangles

2. Cut 3 flower shapes, each about 3 inches across

3. Squeeze the petals to give them some dimension

4. Layer the three flower shapes on top of each other, making sure the petals are not in line with the other layers

5. Using sharp scissors, poke a small hole through the three layers

6. Insert the flower centre through the hole

7. Add some hot glue at the back to keep it in place

8. Hot glue on your hair clip

Now to join them together!

1. Take a needle and thread and tie a knot in the end

2. Sew one of the dangles onto this

3. Decide how far you want the dangle to dangle, and sew the other end of the thread to the flower at the top.

4. Repeat for all the dangles

Now it’s ready to wear. Enjoy!