how to DIY japanese traditional headdress

i have posted before that i already had my pre-wedding shoot with La belle but vain me always wanted to do something fancy for my wedding shoot... so this time i decided to kimono shoot.... last time i wanted to do a loli shoot but i guess maybe is a bit hard for people to accept it when they saw the photo at my banquet... maybe i should do it instead for my anniversary shoot with La belle =) so in order to have a matching headdress for my kimono, i must DIY one... of cause i can get one from taobao but it is slightly pricey but nothing compared to getting it from japan... but most importantly is that i like to do some small handicraft so i decided to DIY my matching headdress..... after surveying online for suitable candidates... i have decided on this--->

my headdress candidate

nice right??? the colour scheme is so pretty & sweet... but in order to match my red kimono, i will do some slight adjustment to the colours.... & then i will also share the tutorial below... it is actually not very difficult to do it... just takes time & some patience....

all the necessary materials

yup... that's what you will need to make that headdress... actually the concept is the same... so once you understand how to make the flowers.. you can mix & match into any designs that you like.... for this headdress i used 绉布, the material used to make japanese headdress... i dont know what is the name in english though.... but you can actually use any cloth to make, cotton + some polyester will be nice as the cloth is slightly stiff which makes it easier to handle.... 绉布 is very soft & slippery so i had quite a hard time.. but to look nice... it is worth it =)

so if you look at the original headdress, it composed of the center big pointed petal flower, 2x 10 petals flowers on the side & 4x 5 petals flowers on top & bottom.... so i will break down how to make the 2 types of flowers....

pointed petals flower

round petals

5 petals flower

10 petals flower

for 10petals flower, the concept is the same... just string 10petals together & put abit of glue at the side of each petals to join them together... here you dont need to add glue to the bottom cause you wont be flattening out the individual petals...

insert pollen

so basically that's how you prepare different kinds of flowers.... i know it make seem abit chim but after you try out afew times, it isnt as difficult as it seems.... so the final step is to assemble all the flowers

assembly of flowers

 now is the real important step... you need to hold the flowers & arrange them in the design that you want... it may takes afew tries to get the right shape... the flowers may move around.. but that's ok.... just add abit of glue to the side & they will stay in position =)

final product

tada.... the final product!!! not bad right!?!??! i think the new colour scheme looks pretty too =) last but not least you need to attach the headdress to a pin or clip then you can put this beautiful piece of work on your head =)