The Ancient Art of Temari

I learned about something new yesterday - the anicient Japanese craft of Temari.  Esentially, termari is the creation of hand-stiched thread balls.  The balls were used as toys and eventually became an art of the upper class.  Historically, temari balls were given as gifts, but with the emergence of sites like Etsy, temari balls are being sold by crafters for $40-$80. 

Some of the temari balls I see for sale are so gorgeous.  I'm thinking that would be fun to have an assortment of them in a bowl on your coffee table, use one as a pin cushion, use one as a very expensive cat toy (and I don't mean that to be sarcastic, I know there are people out there who appreciate modern, finely crafted cat toys), but mostly I'm thinking that these could make really awesome Christmas decorations!(Hmmm, I smell a craft project....)

temari pincushion teacup from julieandco $28; Rose Temari from CraftyPanties $30; Sun & Surf Temari from TemariEtc $40; blue & yellow Christmas ornament from TheArtificer $35; crisp from julieandco $40; Blue Red Temari Ball from suzik $45;

p.s. I just typed the word temari about 10 times and every time I was saying it to myself the way Ross said unagi.