Temari balls are not composed of Styrofoam cores, and you cannot buy the bases. Instead, the act of continuously manipulating a handful of materials transforms these raw materials into perfectly round bases as long as consistent tension is used. I use rice hulls as the very center of the temari base, although other materials such as scraps of cloth can be used to form the final shape.

After wrapping the primitive base with tissue paper or cloth, I wrap large amounts of regular sewing thread to both cover the base entirely and create a perfectly round shape (this takes 200-300 yards of thread, depending on the size of the product). This base color is visible in the final product, as it forms the background color.

Once the base is complete—that is, enough thread has been wrapped that the surface of the ball is covered—the ball must be measured and divided into one of many possible divisions (see pictures below). With some of the more complex divisions, I find myself using a calculator along with some measuring tape and pins to determine exactly where to place my division threads. This step is crucial because it determines the overall layout of the final pattern in addition to determining whether it is even or not!

I find it helpful to mark all points at which I will initially take my stitches, so the beginning of this step again involves a quite a bit of measuring and placing pins. Once I’ve satisfied my own admittedly neurotic expectations, I’m ready to begin layering the design! This is the stage at which the temari ball truly begins to take life, and the progression of the pattern is dynamic with the addition of each new layer of color.

Color selection at this point is very important--I actually consider this to be one of the most difficult steps of the entire process. The ideal combination of colors will allow each component color to reach its full aesthetic potential without dulling any of the other colors.

The basic kiku (chrysanthemum) is one of the most prevalent motifs and is often taught to beginners. However, the range of possible designs is vast! Every temari ball is unique in that even the same design can be reworked again and again with different results.