Autumn leaves

I love this time of year! The foliage is starting to change colour, the days are getting crisper and it's my birthday month! The natural colour of the changing leaves is very uplifting and inspired me to make another clutch bag using this wonderful vintage Japanese obi fabric. The obi is the 'belt' that goes round the kimono. 

Its design consists of an array of orange and green Japanese maple leaves sprinkled across a cream ground and I can only imagine how stunning it would have looked as an obi teamed with a rust silk kimono. This time I decided to echo the green of the leaves and give the clutch a vibrant green lining. You can find it in my store here.

A lot of Japanese artwork depicts the maple leaf and these are just two of a selection I have. In both cases the images are simple and graphic and have been screen printed onto thick handmade paper. The image on the left is a beautiful calendar I brought back from Tokyo with me last year. I'm pretty sure the large round object is a sake ball. The sake ball is made of tightly packed cedar twigs and hangs over the door of sake breweries to let customers know that the season's sake is ready to purchase and drink.

When we lived in Japan, the autumn leaves were always stunning. One of my favourites were the Japanese maple leaves that look so delicate. They create a lace effect when seen from below.