Not really certain when I made this braid, but I believe around the same time as this other one of similar structure which would put it some time around 2000. It may have been made before as both were meant to be badge cords, and this is a muted color scheme. However, it's also wool, and thus itchy. So mebbe I just got interested in the structure and made it after. I do have the sense that I made it before we moved in 2003, at least...

66 inches, 4mm, 16 strands ombre dyed wool, itself a very nice soft double-strand twist. Probably braided in the early 2000s.

Though the wool (probably hand painted) is lovely and soft the braid, as would be expected of kongo, is quite stiff: getting it to wind tightly for the photo was a pest. I probably had vague hopes of getting the pattern to switch from spiralling stripes to diamonds (both easy to achieve in kongo) but obviously failed miserably at the latter—not surprising, since I suspect to make something like that work I would have probably dye the fiber myself, or at the very least lay it out a lot more carefully than I did! (Why yes, ikat does fascinate, why do you ask?)

Not a lot else to say excepting that the ends still need finishing—they just trail off in a ragged jumbled of unequal ends—and that I'm fond of the braid, if having no idea what to do with it. Also, kongo is sort of frustrating to do on a marudai, as the tama “travel” around the kagami (mirror) and thus occasionally need readjusting. Since all the braids I do on disk are pretty much kongo, I now reserve this structure for that equipment, and choose different braids for the wooden stand.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.