Delicate Resin Flowers Bloom with This Unusual Technique

These beautiful flowers may look like they are made of glass, but they are actually made from wire and liquid synthetic resin. Japanese Kanzashi (hair ornament) artist Sakae is the Maker behind this craft which she calls “dip flower.” It involves bending a wire into a desired shape and then dipping it in a liquid plastic. Once individual pieces are dry, they can be attached to each other to create different designs (such as the flowers shown here). It sounds like the result isn’t incredibly sturdy, but seems to be able to hold up enough to be used as hair pieces.

The craft isn’t completely uncommon, but Sakae uses an original technique for coloring her pieces. The results are really quite stunning.

Each piece is handmade and her attention to detail is astounding. Her Facebook page gives a beautiful description of her craft:

“In [Sakae’s] hairpins, [she] incorporates a keen sense of fragility and the beauty of the Japanese palette.
Adorn your hair with flowers, butterflies, and other subjects captured forever in their prime.
Each work is lovingly made.
Keep the poetry of the seasons at hand at all times.”

Sakae, at this point in time, only sells her pieces through Yahoo auctions one at a time. The photo above shows her latest hairpin up for auction. It started at 10,000 yen ($80.23) and is currently at 91,000 yen ($730.10). Also, because the pieces are delicate, they are not shipped overseas; so, unless you live in Japan, you are going to have to limit yourself to simply enjoying the beautiful images of her pieces.

If you are like me and really want to give this a try, I was able to find a few products for sale (here and here) that seem similar (if not the same) as what Sakae uses. The video below will show you how to do it yourself at home. If this looks like a lot of fun, but you don’t want to invest in a whole new product, you can try this really easy method that uses nail polish instead.

The flower below appears to have been made with two separate colors on each of the petals.

Check out her Pinterest page to see more of her creations.

[via This is Colossal]

[Note: Some of the information presented here was translated by Google and may have errors depending on the accuracy of the translation.]