American Temari

by Katrina Hexberg

What are Temari?

Temari are hand wound and decorated balls originally made for children. The technique for making temari was developed by Japanese grandmothers. These grandmothers, members of wealthy families, would unravel worn silk obi and kimono and wind the silk into tight balls. Legend says they were wound so tight that they actually bounced. The grandmothers would then embroider clever designs on the outside of the balls. These balls would be presented to their grandchildren who would use them play rhythm and rhyme bouncing games much like American jump rope games. There are very few antique temari because children would play with them until they fell apart. I have never seen a silk temari except in pictures and I have never made a temari out of silk. Mine have been mostly cotton and polyester and, rarely, a little silk ribbon. I have also used rayon "bunka" thread, but there are no stores in my area that stock such things so I have to order it on line or make a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area to buy it. In fact, there is so little Temari making in Sacramento, where I live, that I have had to do a little improvising when it comes to the tools and supplies.

Where did I learn about Temari?

I learned it from the Girl Scouts! A friend had signed up to go to Discoveree, a Bay Area Adult and Senior Girl Scout Event. At this event, Girl Scout Leaders, like myself, can attend workshops on arts, crafts, and other interesting topics. My friend had pre-registered for four seminars but, because of a family emergency, could not attend the event herself. She gave me her tickets and off I went. The four seminars were: Trip Planning with Senior Girl Scouts which was very interesting and informative, Stamping which I found a bit boring, Tea Parties which was fun and, Temari - Japanese Decorated Balls. I found the seminar on how to make temari fascinating. I left with My First Temari and a passion to make more.

Why do I love making Temari?

Perhaps it is my engineering background. I have a BS degree in Electronics Engineering and an MS degree in Computer Science. Also, I have always loved to embroider. Making Temari requires a delicious mixture of problem solving, geometry, and artistic creativity. I love the challenge of making each ball as symmetrical as possible while still expressing ideas about natural beauty and tradition.

Perfecting My Art

Returning home from a seminar with a new found passion but very little skill or knowledge and no tools or materials was quite frustrating. I tried using what materials I had on hand: crochet yarn. The result was rather unsatisfactory since I used the crochet yarn to wrap as well as decorate. I also was still having problems with the 'cutting paper' technique for marking. I could not find any book on making Temari in the local bookstore, so I ordered Temari - How To Make Japanese Thread Balls by Diana Vandervoort from one of the on-line book stores. I started with The Learning Ball and worked my way through the rest of the book. I used embroidery floss instead of Pearl for all of them except the Egg, but even then I used floss for the obi.

How can you get started?

I started by getting Diana Vandervoort's book Temari, How to make Japanese Thread Balls which I mentioned previously. Her instructions are the very best for someone who is just beginning. However, some of the instructions are still confusing, especially her explanation of the Complex 10 marking pattern. I found the instruction in Mary Wood's book The Craft of Temari much more understandable and easier but even it is inaccurate.

Hints from Hexberg

I was originally taught to use paper strips to measure the ball. I tried to perfect the paper strip technique but just could never get it right. I eventually just bought a small cloth retractable measuring tape and used it to make all my measurements. My resulting balls were much more symmetrical. I never use paper strips anymore.

For wrapping thread, I buy 3000 yard spools of serger thread. You can get them in some sewing shops although the color selection can be limited. I mention a few on-line shopping sights on my links page.

When you are first learning to make temari, you might want to use embroidery floss instead of pearl cotton. I used 3 strands of floss when the pattern called for pearl. It would actually 'flatten' to about the same width as a pearl strand. Floss is much cheaper than pearl and local stores stock many more colors of floss than pearl. At least that is the case in Sacramento. If you want to buy pearl in any shade of orange here in Sacramento you may be out of luck. I have not found any fabric or craft store that stocks orange pearl of any shade. It is very strange.

It may be my imagination but, if I do the thread wrap on a mari and wait a day or two before marking it, the results seem to be better. I think giving the thread wrap a chance to "stabilize" before marking is a good idea.

My favorite needles for making temari are size 2 Doll needles. They are about 3 inches long with a moderately large hole and narrow shaft. I get them locally in craft shops but they come in packages with four other, larger needles that I will never use. I recently found a sight where they sell sets of the needles all in one size. It is Ladybug Lines. I ordered several packages and am very happy with the needles I recieved.

If you are going to put a sound maker in your rice hull temari, make sure the container you use can stand the pressure. I made a little box out of cardboard, put two pennies in it, taped it closed and buried it in he center of a baggie full of rice hulls. By the time I finished wrapping the whole thing with yarn, the temari was silent. In my zeal, I had crushed the home made box.