How to Make Temari

Temari are beautiful little thread balls. They don't have much more use than any other ball. They bounce a little. They're pretty.

I like to make them to keep my hands busy on road trips or while watching movies. They're low-key and relaxing. They're amazing demonstrations of non-Euclidean geometry.

Step 1: Materials

You will need:
A bit of yarn (the color doesn't matter; it won't show)
A needle
Thread. One of the colors of threads will be used a lot. The grey one in the picture was used up. (I often use serger thread for this.) The other colors should look nice together. (I changed my mind on the design of this one, so the threads pictured aren't the ones I used.)
Pins
Maybe a flexible tape measure.
Scissors are helpful.

Comments

[halla]

amazing thanks for sharing
god bless u

[Mikishiwa]

well, I'm definetly going to make this and give it as a gift to my crush!

[taemuli]

YAY! Ive just finished trying this, and it didnt turn out too bad for a first go. This instructable is great!

[SelkeyMoonbeam]

Glad you liked it! Do you have pictures of yours?

[taemuli]

just used 3 colours to get the hang of it :)

[SelkeyMoonbeam]

Oh, that looks great! Well done!

[craftyevasapple]

How beautiful! I've never seen these before but just have fallen in love, with ideas as for their uses spinning in my head. I also have bagfulls of left over yarn from sweater etc. projects and now I know of an excellent use for them which will also help me get rid of the bags!
I love the comment about placing rice or bells inside for children's balls. Just imagine the beautiful colors you can use for such projects!

Also I would think that you would want to use a good quality thread, like Gutterman if you are taking the time to create these beautiful works of art. Joann Fabrics often has great sales on such things and they have so many beautiful colors from which to choose! There would be nothing so frustrating to me as having made a complete ball out of some old thread I found, only to have it break due to weakness of the material I choose. Your time in creating this is worth a great deal!!

[craftyv]

Are the other balls in the pictures knotted or simply balls of wool ?

[SelkeyMoonbeam]

In the last pictures? The other two balls are (1) a tennis ball and (2) this ball.

[craftyv]

Love this too. I have seen "hackysack" on this site before but In Australia it is not a term used at all. Great. Thank's.

[acornman]

I have a book on temari and styrofoam balls are used extensively. The process used is similiar in that the styrofoam ball is wound with wool or other thread to provide the base for the decorative thread. The styrofoam is quite dense there is no problem with crumbling

[iOskr]

lot of work, beautiful results!!!

[AntzyP]

Really really really pretty. The first image looks surreal!

[LemonLily]

Can we use styrofoam balls for this part? It would save some yarn (even though most of us have scrap yarn laying around.) But anyway, this looks lovely!

[craftyv]

I must admit I havn't tried this yet but I think that a dab of glue to attach any thread that will be covered later by the outside decorative threads would work well. I'm going to try this ASAP> Good crafting.

[SelkeyMoonbeam]

Yes you can! But I think it would be less fun to work with; you will need to stitch through the center of the ball a fair amount to sew in the ends, and I would be afraid of the styrofoam crumbling inside.

[craftyv]

This ticks all my boxes as I am both a crafter and a lover of beauty for beauties sake. There are always odd balls of yarn at charity shops and the like for less than a $1 and you can get bobbins of sewing thread too. I however could never buy expensive threads for this as they are quite expensive especially the ones as shown which look like Guttermans (top of the range). I will have a go and try to use the cheapest "stuff" I can but like many crafters I am very adaptive. Love it.

[jwebsd]

Something USELESS yet ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL in today's world! "Ars gratia artis" Indeed. Years ago, I was so burned out emotionally, physically AND spiritually, I went walking and ended up in "Japantown" in San Francisco and saw a room of women making such beautiful "useless" things and burst into tears with joy in just being alive in the same world with them. Now you!

[dagob]

wow!!! I'm really impressed. What a perfection! This is excelent! Thanks for sharing!

[evilution]

Dip it in clear resin and it'll last for ever.

[wolnut]

I've made these before, but your way is easier. Thanks for the instructable. I used to put a small bell or container of rice in the middle so that it rattles, if you are giving it to a child. Also my inside was a scrunched up plastic bag very easy to pass a needle thru and recycling at the same time.

[tema137]

Incredible!

[Suzume Mai]

Very pretty! But I wonder if if I take the pins off will the threads fall off as well? Thanks for the great instructions btw

[SelkeyMoonbeam]

Be careful when you take the pins off! Make sure that you have stitched anywhere the pins are supporting before you take them out, because you're right! The threads could fall off if you remove the pins and your threads are not stitched down.

[bisozozo]

fantastic! i'll try making one! looks great! like a piece of jewel!

[raviolikid]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing! I always wondered how they were made.

(Now, I know.)

[abbyholverson]

This pretty darn incredible, I totally need to make one!

[bajablue]

I think they'd make pretty homemade Christmas ornaments.

[SelkeyMoonbeam]

Actually, dworley told me he does exactly that!

[bajablue]

Or make tiny ones for earrings.

[Jayefuu]

Wow these are amazing. How long did it take? It didn't look real in the intro image :D

[SelkeyMoonbeam]

It's hard to say how long it took; I only work on it to keep my hands busy, so I've been vaguely sewing it for a couple of weeks... I've made one (simpler design) in an hour or so before.

[emilyvanleemput]

really pretty

[Pancake!]

Nice job on this. I'll have to try it some time. :)

[ChrysN]

That looks gorgeous, I like the colours that you used.

[amandaghassaei]

wow, this turned out great! nice pics