This page is probably not terribly interesting for the average person to read, but if you want a sense of how artists (badly) document their process...well, here you go, notes added to as I worked on the braid.
Overall, the braid is an example of the spiralling quality you get with kongoh when using two sets of fibers of differing thicknesses: this one is pretty subtle, but it need not be. Though perhaps not a terrifically exciting braid, the person who many years ago bought, as a gift, the perle cotton with which I made it has recently been in and out of the hospital with heart problems: the braid therefore has a particular emotional resonance for me right now.
the completed braid: About 97" (including a 2.5" tassel at each end) unstretched. Perl cotton with slight colour variations. Photographed 30October2019, zuiko macro lens, E620 oly body.
According to my notes
the measurements and photo [of same] were taken considerably after the threads were cut, on 4Mar 2017.” I started warping this braid 21 March 2017, but “it was a disaster, as thread pilled, and at least 6 of the strands were uncut loops—whoopsie. Not only that, didn't have special pen to mount bobbins, so couldn't wind tightly, and solid cobalt thread barely fit on bobbins as a result. Cleaned up the mess wednesday aft[ernoon] after finishing samples for KP & started braiding on the way to [my family's favourite] Pizza [parlour]. So, official start date of braid is 22mar17. N.b. next braid (one with decent contrast, gonna put one color on one side of disk, other on other, for half & half.[1]
Therefore, the actual start of braiding 22nd March 2017; and it was completed 29may2018 —Memorial Day (I was at a party with some of the wizards’ ref/NSO friends). The original fiber was over 14’, that is, 94/186 the take up/braid length was about 50% of the original fibers, that is half).
20170304S4. (Gold foil) Finca No. 5, 10gm 41m–cobalt blue; Valdani-made in Romania 67m plus/minus 4%; pearl cotton 8 (weight?) P7 (color?)[2]
[Add'l notes:] did perhaps 3" of flat braid with leftover strands, v frustrating, finally started taking braid off disk in early 2019 w longest waste still being just over 3’. added tassels & measured, 4feb19, kongoh braid itself about 94" (see pix on panasonic, taken today) —used 3 shortest strands (say 6-8") to attach tassel on distal end; loops on beginning end ranged from about 5mm in diameter to 1.5" long (folded) —wrapped longest around tassel, w add'l thread threaded thru loop; intermediate loops tied together, supposedly centered inside tassel (ha...)
lumix LX-100 14Feb2019—tassel & flat braid photo documentation (notes below)
[1]The next one was a beautiful gold and green ombre...which I appear to have lost, along with the repurposed silk scrap kimono bag from Japan that I keep my disk as well the special pen to which I refer to above, as well as rather pretty pressed hollow lentil with blue goldstone floral trailing that I never bothered to photograph...well, rats! Pretty sure I left it somewhere dumb, and it's gone forever. C'est la vie, I got to enjoy those things for many years.
[2]N.b., Inserts are positioned by wrong skein/balls
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
