もんきり：monkiri, family crest paper cutting

On the topic of kamon, here's something you can do with them. :D

click to download patterns in a PDF file

家紋：かもん、kamon, meaning "house" (家) + "crest" or "coat of arms" (紋)
切り：きり、kiri, meaning "cutting"; from the verb kiru, "to cut"
紋きり：monkiri, which translates roughly to "coat-of-arms cutting"

Monkiri (also called monkiri asobi) uses many folds and and brightly-colored paper to make paper cut-outs of popular family crests. The symmetrical and geometric nature of most kamon makes them perfect subjects for this craft. It's very similar to cutting out paper snowflakes. All you need to get started is some thin colored paper and sharp scissors.

click to visit the page I stole this graphic from: it's got a few patterns

It's popular to decorate blank uchiwa (団扇, paddle fans) and paper lanterns with monkiri.

They're nice on cards and wrapping, too. :3　楽しみして！

* Intending no offense to Canada... In fact, thank you, Canada! Your "eh" has helped me explain the sound of Japanese words ending in "e" in countless conversations. Also, I really like maple sugar candy and hockey. You guys are awesome.

Oh yeah, Halloween is coming.

I almost forgot. :D

Got some papercutting patterns for Halloween. If you like paper (I do) and are pretty cheap (I am), paper decorations are the way to go.

 the ghosts are red because, g*dd*amnitall, would you believe that I had absolutely no white tissue paper

...and here are the patterns:

Yay! :D 楽しみしてね！
PS: GRR where did the movers pack all my felt~?!

おひな様〜

おひな祭 (Ohina Matsuri) is today~ ^w^

I won't spend your time on a lengthy explanation, suffice it to say that it is the famed Japanese doll festival held in honor of girls and young ladies, with the wish that they will grow up healthy and beautiful and find a happy marriage. Rainbows and unicorns.

...and if stereotypical domestic bliss isn't your thing, the dolls are still a ton of fun.

template and instructions: click to download

切り絵 (pronounced key-ree-EH) is somewhat different from paper cutting or kirigami. For the paper-loving crowd, here's a quick breakdown of the terms:

papercutting or paper cutting: general English term for any art produced by cutting one or more sheets of paper; generally assumes a minimum of drawn media

切り紙, kirigami: Japanese term that translates as "cut paper"; a not-necessarily broad term for cut paper arts, usually referring to geometric shapes cut from folded paper (think "paper snowflakes" and you've pretty much got it).

紋きり, monkiri: a branch of kirigami that deals specifically with the folding and cutting of paper to produce familiar mon (or kamon) family crests and motifs

切り絵, kiri-e or kirie: as presented in this post, means "cut image"; a term for images cut from a single, unfolded sheet of paper, usually black, which can manifest either as linework or as a positive-negative reduction image

wycinanki: Polish papercuts, with the Lowicz-style being unique in the world of papercutting for the use of multiple layers of bright colors

Of course, kiri-e isn't the most common medium for hina dolls. Most traditional ones are hard dolls, clothed in silk and embellishments, with ceramic faces and hands:

...or semi-soft ones made with just silk:



...or unique ones made from the empty, dyed cocoons of silk worms:



...but my favorite kind are always paper:

Hina dolls are probably one of the most fascinating elements of Japanese craft culture for folks who enjoy softies and figure work. For more images and inspiration, may I recommend searching the terms おひな様 or ひな人形 on Google image search. There are some amazing sets out there.

One More Papercut

Short post -- I said I'd put up the pattern for this one, so here it is. Two fish under the crown.

Spies For The Moon is the best band ever.

Back Again

I’m still here. Just been getting stuff done in real life at the expense of internet time.

Thanks for your patience. Here, have a new craft!

Papercutting (in Japanese, kirie for composed images and kirigami for geometric patterns) has been in my sphere for about as long as origami. If you've ever folded up a coffee filter and cut a paper snowflake out of it, then it's part of your world, too.

I’m still not very pro at it, but I enjoy playing around with simple one-fold images. It’s good for practice with the blade. If you’d like a few patterns to cut, you can click on the images above to download a few I randomly chipped out these past couple weeks.

切りましょう〜

Background images come from sxc.hu, which is awesome.