I love collecting vintage temari that I find on eBay. Here is one that I recently purchased because I have not seen the details of the crane's body on a temari before. I know how to wrap threads to get the effect of the wings but have a look at the detail of the head, body and legs. All photos of this temari were taken by the seller.
You really get the full effect of a crane with its wings spread. I experienced this close-up when we visited the International Crane Foundation in Wisconsin last month. I was wearing dark grey pants and a black jacket with a red turtle neck shirt peeking out (that's me on the right). One of the cranes strutted over to the fence where I stood and went into a full display squawking like crazy with wings spread up and out. He thought I was a crane. Before we entered, a staff member told us not to interact with the cranes so I stood still and just giggled. Couldn't help that!
This temari feels very hard and has small indentations at the poles so I'm fairly certain it was wrapped by machine. I've got some smaller ones made the same way. The body details are glued in place and are made of thin cord.
The body itself seems to be a piece of fuzzy fabric.
The addition of a formal knot and 8 inch long red and white tassels make for a stunning work of fiber art.
