The art of Chinese silk-wrapped flowers started during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and flourished in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911).
Following the Qing Dynasty, this art declined and was almost lost to time, but in recent years more and more people have become interested in reviving this delicate handicraft. Originally this art was done using silk thread, which had a lifespan of 6 months to 2 years. This meant it was difficult to preserve their beauty and there are few samples that have survived to today. Nowadays, most artists use polyester thread which allows for more colours and longer-lasting results.
To make silk-wrapped flowers, the shape of each individual petal is first cut out using thick paper/cardboard. A thin wire is placed against the back of the paper while silk thread is wrapped around the shape as tightly as possible. If using polyester thread, the petal is then put through a small flame to burn away stray strands and to heat-shrink the thread. Once all the petals have been made, they are then combined together to form the full flower.
The flower can then be attached to hair pins, brooches, or earrings. Although traditionally, the motifs for silk-wrapping were flowers, plants, and insects, nowadays many artists use modern motifs as well.
I’m trying a new craft called “Wrapping flower” (缠花), you essentially wrap a silk string around different cutout shapes to create flowers, animals, etc. They can be made into hair pins, brooches, other accessories:
China has a saying:
“难者不会，会者不难＂
"Difficult for those who don’t know how, easy for those who do”
Meaning anything is difficult if you don’t know how to do it, and anything is easy for those who do. These past few years I’ve been made acutely aware of how accurate this is. From learning Hanfu hairstyles, make up, to learning woodblock printing, making Guqin, playing Guqin, doing nail art, making polymer clay figurines, embroidery, calligraphy, stone seal carving, and now this, it’s always easy watching others do it and then when I try it myself the first 10 times are utter disasters. Usually I need at least 20 attempts before I get one result that I’m semi-ok with, sometimes even more.
I spent an entire afternoon today trying to wrap one leaf. The string kept coming loose, my fingers got sore, I’d run out of string and couldn’t connect another piece, it was chaos. And by the end my leaf has spots where the string missed (the white patches) 😩
I’m never going to believe anyone who tells me ‘this is easy!’, or those clickbait videos that are like, 'master this-and-this in 10 minutes!’ because I’ve come to realize it’s all nonsense. Behind every 'this is easy!’ is someone who spent hours, days, maybe even years learning and practicing 😭
I have a post here with recommendations for non-taobao hanfu shops. Those shops also carry hanfu accessories. New Hanfu in particular has a decent collection of hanfu accessories, hair ornaments/jewelry, and shoes.
In addition, there’s a relatively new English-language shop called Neo Dynasty that specializes in hanfu accessories, namely jewelry and ornaments. It seems to have just launched and I haven’t seen any reviews yet, but I think it’s worth taking a look.
There are also shops on Etsy that sell hanfu accessories. @inkjadestudio has an Etsy shop here and a webshop here, with lots of hanfu jewelry and hair ornaments. Below - earrings from Inkjadestudio:
@bobabread also has an Etsy shop (Bobabirb) with traditional-inspired accessories. Below - hair ornaments from Bobabirb:
If anyone has more recs, please share. Hope this helps!
Update: The English-language online shop Forbidden Boutique, recommended by Mochi Hanfu, has a great selection of handmade Chinese hanfu accessories, mainly zanhua/floral hairpins (chanhua, ronghua, etc).
Asked by braceface42
