Here are directions (of a sort) for making a simple functional Japanese pin bowl.
Japanese pin bowls have become popular recently and as it turns out, despite their tiny cuteness they are really functional.
Plus they have that Wabi-Sabi (happy-imperfect) handmade zakka (heart-smile) quality about them. I love those concepts.
Actually I also love using those words!
The fabric for the top of your bowl can be anything a pin can easily push into.
The one here is made with tiny scraps of dyed yarn cotton sewing fabrics pieced together.
Ok, how to...these directions are a bit of a "wabi-sabi" adventure but if you are a maker you will have no problem following them. For others... I'm sorry!
To begin you will need some fabric, a tiny bowl, some stuffing (I used polyester toy stuffing repurposed from an old (clean) toy).
Also scissors, needle, thread, and a good glue (I like E6000, available in hardware stores)
I just went by "guess and by golly" to cut the size of circle of fabric I thought would fit my bowl. You might want to cut a scrap fabric to figure that out before you use your actual fabric.
If you are using the wood bowl I sell on this website, the one you see here, it needs a 5" diameter circle of fabric.
Stitch a running stitch around the circle with any thread strong enough to pull up without breaking. I like sashiko thread for this.
Now pull the thread up until it forms a sort of pouch and stuff it full of polyester stuffing - or something else if you prefer. I think crushed walnut shells are supposed to make good pin cushion filling.
(ignore the stuffing in the bowl in this photo above. It has nothing to do with this - probably it was just extra from stuffing the fabric :-))
Once the fabric is stuffed full tie or stitch it closed.
After you pull the running stitching up and stuff your fabric to make a ball, there will be a messy excess of fabric lump on the bottom. I trim off the worst of it, and roughly flatten it before pushing it firmly into the bowl to see if the fit is good. Once it is well glued down it won't matter that it is messy.
Here is a photo of the bottom of one being closed up before it was trimmed.
Once you are happy with the fit of the ball into the bowl, put glue in the bottom of the bowl and around the inside edge about 3/8" from the top. Next settle the ball into the bowl. I use elastics to keep the fabric held tightly against the bowl until it was well set taking care that the around the top edge the fabric is touching the glue firmly.
When the elastics were removed the fabric ball will puff back into a round pleasant top above the bowl.
Here are some finished results:
Here is my tiniest pin bowl, oddly still useable :-)
and my favourite because I also made the pottery bowl, is this one.
Final note: You can get E6000 glue in a hardware store. As well as fabric-to-wood glue it is also good for gluing fabric-to-metal for metal clasp frame purses.
Enjoy your project making!
Susan