I've been making braids since I was very small; I have a veritable trove of three-stranders made of yarn and that colored string old ladies like to make into crocheted doileys. I remember some clerk at a bead store that told me she would “rather I didn't” watch her braid 4 strands together for the ends of a necklace in an attempt to learn this arcane art; (why then was she in the public part of the store, working at the counter?) and recall with fondness the generosity of another textile artist at the Ypsi Heritage Festival, upon hearing this story, vowing to teach me; but Catherine Martin's book on Kumihimo opened a magical world I didn't know existed.
Silk braid from the purple and green twisted diamond series. 2002?–2005.
We're so incredibly fortunate nowadays. Even before that treasure trove known as the World Wide Web became common, computers were making publishing accessible by orders of magnitude; all the sudden, people could write, illustrate—even color-separate—for a fraction of the cost before the days of desktop publishing. And all these specialty craft books have multipled as a wonderful result.
Now there are whole books on braids, ribbons, tassels, Japanese embroidery, glass beadmaking. When I think of them all, it makes me feel wealthy beyond anything I could imagine as a child. And it helps, too, that as so many traditional and ethnic crafts are being lost as the people doing them no longer have the time nor interest that they are springing up, irrepressibly, in other cultures, such as ours. Someone once told me there were more —and more skilled—armorers now than in the Middle Ages.
It is my hope other crafts will prosper, be revived, re-interpretated and enjoyed as well. —These pages are my small contribution.
Elemental Mojo bears the distinction of being the only other person I know who does ikat kumi —that is using variegated yarns to shift patterns in and out of a braid. Originally posted 30jun09
Updated documentation on my favorite layout, twisted diamond for my one of my very favorite braids, keiruko no himo. Originally posted 12nov08.
This piece was one of my earliest pages, then dropped off because I wanted a better picture, and so of course I forgot about it, until I needed to refer to it for another post. The original probably dates back to '96, but this version was first posted 02oct08.
This drawstring bag and figurine ensemble features a foam-card woven 16 strand diamond patterned kongo braid . Originally posted 19jun08.
16 strand flat braid using rainbow cotton string. Originally posted 28nov07.
This flat braid was the first sample made using 24 100g tama; originally posted 24nov07
These are among the oldest braids I've made, going back to at least the late 80s; even the image is 5 years old. But only posted 26oct06.
Stripeys to me are hollow round bead stripeys, but these beads do have the stripes built into the glass, so, technically, they qualify. Plus, some day I want to develop the theme further. So here they are, even though really this is mostly a post about teaching kids how to braid. Originally po...
Rainbow kongo in silk. created & posted 12aug05, indexed 23aug05
A textured braid made of a textured yarn during winter05, posted 31mar05
Moved the purple and green `twisted diamond' series all onto a subdirectory page which includes two new braids, 28mar05
Variation on a Theme by Gail Frederickson ; (closeups posted, 14aug04)
Lots of Black & Yellow Stripes
Extravagant color blocking
a Spiral braid in browns, creams, greens & pale blue
Horrid experiment in attempting my own braid structure. Added 14Dec2001.
More green and purple round braids
Rectangular braid in green wool
Orange & pink yarn braids
fuscia & purple braid in perle cotton
pink, purple, & cream round braid
Purple and Green Fuzzy braid
One of my favorites
Not strictly a braid book; provides a variety of cord-making techniques, aimed at the (relative) beginner. Originally posted 26may07
For more braids check out various necklaces in the Beadweaving & Stringing Pages; also Holiday Crafts now include stockings with kumi (some of them originally shown here!
modified: Wed Aug 24 03:22:23 2005; 18oct06
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
