Kumihimoshi - 組紐師 - くみひもし

The dwindling amount of free time...

2011-11-01T16:34:00.000+01:00

I have made maybe 4 inches of kikko-gumi between the last post and today.

While I am still interested in kumihimo, life in general seems to be conspiring to prevent me from finding free time to braid. 3 years went in an eye blink between my career, family life, gardening, social functions and other hobbies. The next 3 years are going to be even busier than the previous ones, as I will be pursuing a master degree while working. I hope I'll be able to find enough free time to finish a silk kikko-gumi sageo on the takadai before graduating. Maybe I'll be able to find 30 minutes every so often.

Dusting up

2010-01-03T21:05:00.002+01:00

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn't get much time for kumihimo or this blog in close to two years.

We are currently relocating the crafts room due to a small humidity problem and I should be able to start braiding again sometimes next week.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... I now have a skeiner ^ ^

Very busy day

2008-03-24T22:16:00.008+01:00

In the end, the Easter break didn't give me time to braid. I was however able to finish some long overdue projects, like cleaning up the hobby room and sorting the yarn.

I totally forgot to take pictures of the room "before", so you cannot imagine the scale of the project. Let's say that it took me most of friday and most of today, from 10am to 10pm to reach this stage.

Here you can get a view of my ghetto warping frame (hey, it was cheap to make), 30-ish Nishijin silk loaded kowaku and my braiding area.

A closer look at the kowaku, with a ghetto bobbin shuttle made with p clamps.

Some more yarn, grouped by shade, books grouped by topic (left is plant dyeing, right is kumihimo) and some extra dai bits and pieces.

The books, bits and pieces, tama collection and yet more yarn in the cardboard boxes.

Better shot of the tama collection, sorted by weight. Left to right: 1 800g, 27 266g, 32 120g, 124 100g, I need to count again 70g

The kakudai in front of its freshly repaired transport box. Now I just need to find a kakudai class somewhere ;)

Finally the marudai and ayatakedai with a bit of the takadai.

Tomorrow night, we finish the second half of the room (my wife's sewing and beading room). We will also probably install some sort of audio equipment down there, I just need to figure out a way to get the dvb-s radio down there so we can listen to the BBC while down there.

Lack of updates

2008-03-18T23:16:00.002+01:00

I wish to apologize for the lack of updates in the last two months. I have been very busy with other things and didn't actually get any time for braiding this year.

I have started stocking plant material for the dyes and I am still expecting a few books on the subject of Japanese natural dyes in the next weeks. Today I received the first batch of kowaku I had won in a Japanese auction, so I now have 30 kowaku loaded with Nishijin silk (including some gorgeous metallics). I still have 25 larger loaded kowaku somewhere in shipping from Kyoto. The next buy from that area would be a few bales of undyed silk, as soon as I have the funds.

I hope I'll get some braiding time during the easter break.

草木染　糸染の基本 -- Natural dye: fundamental book of yarn dyeing

2008-01-21T22:16:00.000+01:00

My lovely wife won the auction on this out-of-print Japanese book explaining the traditional art of silk dying with plants. This book should answer some questions I still have on the dyes used in Japan before the Meiji Restoration. I already found some more answers today when I stumbled upon the blog of a traditional dye artist in Japan.

While on the subject of books won recently, I am now the owner of Mitsuko Harano's "Kumihimo" and "Kakudai no kumihimo" books. Yay, an "excuse" to improve my knowledge of kanji :)

First kakudai braid finished

2008-01-15T22:26:00.000+01:00

Boy is the kakudai fast... I already finished the braid. I'll have to start it over as I made too many errors on the wrapped part and it was not long enough for its intended use,

First kakudai braid started

2008-01-15T13:37:00.000+01:00

To properly test my warping frame and the new stand (like I needed an excuse ^_^), I quickly warped rayon for an 8 bobbin braid. I then quickly realized I was still missing something on the warping side: a bobbin shuttle. I quickly made a temporary one with 4 grip clamps and it made warping almost enjoyable. I will make a proper 8 bobbin shuttle some day.

I then mounted the bobbins and started braiding the #13 kakudai braid from Makiko Tada's "Kumihimo - The Essence of Japanese Braiding". It is a variation of edo yatsu gumi that can only be made on the kakudai, where you periodically keep 4 bobbins as the core while 4 other bobbins wrap around. Anyways, I braided about 16 inches in 10 minutes (then looked at the clock and decided to get some sleep) which was surprising as it was my first real braid on a kakudai. I will definitely finish the braid tonight and post a picture of the results.

Hardware tutorial 0: Warping equipment

2008-01-13T21:48:00.000+01:00

Warping pegs

The simplest piece of equipment in kumihimo, the warping pegs can be as simple as a pair of quick grip clamps with the bar going upwards. You can also make fancy ones in wood and use c-clamps or springs clamps to attach to a table. If you already have a pair of grip clamps, you're all set.

Warping frame

I had started writing a very long and complex tutorial (with a lot of pictures) on how to build a wooden warping frame, then I stumbled upon a modular PVC warping frame design by Lucy of Full Service Yarn Shop. Cheaper, easier to build and modular... so I finished my old style warping frame and deleted the tutorial ;) Thanks Lucy!

Kakudai received

2008-01-11T20:59:00.000+01:00

My kakudai kit was waiting for me when I came back from work today.

I didn't lose much time and started assembling it even before having dinner and tried it just after the meal with the silk left on the tama when I received it.

The kit is quite complete:

small kakudai

27 266g tama

32 120g tama

1 800g tama

assorted counterweights (125g, 240g, 250g, 260g, 750g)

2 counterweight bags

2 hooks

2 cores

1 transport box

I tried the simplest braid possible (maru-yottsu-gumi) and quite liked the pace of that stand. I'll warp something this weekend for an in-depth test.

Traditional dyes from Japan, the beginning of a list

2008-01-03T20:12:00.000+01:00

I'm compiling/completing a list of traditional japanese dyes for future use and I thought I could as well share it :)

Rhododendron leaves give yellow and green

Japanese knotweed (Fallopia Japonica) autumn leaves with alum give brown shades
Japanese Barberry (Mahonia Japonica) wood and bark give yellow/orange and green
Nettles give yellow and dark green
Daikon foliage gives yellow and brown

Pomegranate rind gives yellow to green (gold to khaki)

Kuchinashi (Gardenia Augusta bloom) gives yellow

Suou (Caesalpinia sappan), red core of the tree, red by itself and deep purple with added iron, use lye as a mordant

Fushi (Gallnut) gives grey-yellow or black with powdered rust (if oak gall)

Kurumi (Walnut) gives brown

Ukon (Turmeric) gives yellow-orange

Choji (Eugenia aromaticum - Clove) gives brown

Kihada (Phellodendron amurense Rupr.) gives yellow and repels insects!

Tsurubami (acorn) gives tan shades by itself and black with powdered rust.

Kariyasu (Miscanthus Tinctorus) gives kihachijo yellow

Enju (Pagoda Tree) gives yellow

Binrouji (betel nut) gives brown-orange(?)

Shibueki (yama momo, myrica rubra) gives yellow/brown/brownish yellow

Akane (Rubia akane) gives red

Murasaki (Lithospermum erythrorhizon) gives a real purple

Benibana (Safflower) gives red

Indoai (Indigofera Suffruticosa) gives blue

More information available from:

http://www.kimono.or.jp/dic/eng/02Dye-Tohoku.html

http://www.tourjartisan.com/tour/7/index.html

Seeds available from

http://www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com/

Delay

2007-12-16T22:34:00.000+01:00

The next tutorial on braiding has been slightly delayed by the preparation of a tutorial on the construction of a warping frame. I'll do my best to post both tutorials before christmas.

Braiding Tutorial 2: Contents of a marudai kit

2007-12-04T23:22:00.000+01:00

The contents described here would be what I consider a nice marudai kit, you may want to tweak it a bit to mirror your requirements.

First, let's discuss what should be in the kit... then how to get it.

In addition to the side equipment, you will need:

A marudai (stating the obvious)
An assortment of weighted bobbins, I'd recommend aiming for 70g bobbins
A counterweight bag
Counterweights

Now let's talk of the approaches to procure the hardware, in logical order.

The shoestring budget approach:

You are just starting so it is better to avoid investing in the hardware upfront.

There are many possibilities to quickly make your own marudai for a few dollars. I assembled my first marudai from bits of wood I got from a DIY shop and I used the resulting stand for more than a year. The base schema for the marudai is quite simple: one round top sanded smooth (and possibly waxed) with a 5cm hole in the middle, legs on the sides, a wide base to stabilize. Before that, I used a lamp shade for a few months. Some people make one by drilling a hole in the middle of a wooden stool, I've even seen one built from LEGO bricks. The important thing here is to avoid spending too much on what you'll probably outgrow in a few months.

The bobbins can be a bit more problematic when you are on a tight budget. If you are lucky, your DIY/crafts shop will carry wooden 'diabolo' shaped bobbins with a cheap price. If they do, buy as many as you can (16 is a nice number to start, 32 is also quite nice) after checking that the zone in contact with the yarn is smooth and they have a hole drilled across them. You'll also want to buy bolts with a diameter as close to the hole as possible, and the matching nuts and grommets. The objective is to bring the weight of the bobbins towards 70g each. Some people bypass the wooden shell completely and just use nuts'n'bolts with thermo shrink-wrap around them. Whatever floats your boat, you just want something that won't fray your yarn at this point.

If you have an old Sony walkman pouch lying around, use it as a counterweight bag... that is what I have been using for almost 3 years now :) You can also quickly sew one together if you have spare fabric lying around, the pattern is really simple.

For the counterweights, dead batteries, nuts'n'bolts, change and stones served me really well for years. I am now getting a nice set of Japanese counterweights delivered with my second-hand kakudai but I'm not sure it will be as flexible as my "shoestring budget" solution :)

You can also simply use a foam disc or make a cardboard one, at this point it's your call. If you go for the disc approach, you won't need bobbins yet.

It is a good idea to start setting a bit of money on the side for the equipment while you decide if kumihimo is for you. Worst case, you'll have saved a bit of money for another hobby ;)

The cheap approach

You like kumihimo but you are still not ready to spend a lot of cash on equipment.

There are several places selling good value cheap beginner marudai kits (check eBay, google for trishalandesigns, ...).

With luck, you might be able to find a decent kit for a low price. For example, I bought my current marudai second-hand from Japan, it cost me about 40€ shipped with 23 70g bobbins. Unfortunately, that requires japanese language abilities (or a translator available) and a parcel forwarding service in Japan.

If you feel like it, you can still build the marudai yourself with maple wood or a similar hardwood. But from this budget level onwards, it is actually worth buying your bobbins.

Another possibility is to keep using the "shoestring budget" stand and buy a set of nice bobbins. Bobbins will never be wasted as long as you do kumihimo, and quality ones should sell no problem if you stop. Maybe invest into 16 bobbins (first 8, then 8 more later) while in this phase, you still have 32 bobbins from the previous phase for high count braids.

Keep setting money aside for the next big step.

The expensive approach:

You have been braiding for some time now, and you think you'll keep braiding for some time still.

You can start looking for brand new hardware or custom built hardware using fancy woods. There are a few places where you can buy all the equipment (braidershand for one). I wouldn't recommend this approach until you're sure that kumihimo is for you as you will probably spend a few hundreds.

In the next tutorials, we'll warp some yarn then braid a simple 4 strands braid called "maru-yotsu" (round 4). It will not be a total waste of time, as that braid style will be used again later to make a classy tanto sageo.

Braiding Tutorial 1: Side equipment you'll need

2007-12-04T22:15:00.000+01:00

There are several small things that will make your life easier when braiding, some are necessary others are nice to have. In no specific order, I'd recommend:

Paperclips one shaped like U and one like double L or a small metal 'S' hook
A precision scale
One pair of scissors
One chopstick
Waste yarn cut in 2 feet length
Small japanese spring scissors
A ribbon meter
A few sewing needles in different sizes
Cellophane paper or plain paper
Glue
A comb
A kettle
A small rolling pin and a flat board
Freezer bag clips
A warping device (table, pegs, frame, wheel, whatever)
Note book
A small mirror or a small mirror on an articulated arm

Now, I guess you wonder why you need all that :)

In order of use, it would be like this:

Preparation:
Ribbon meter and warping device, to prepare the yarn you're about to braid in the correct length.
Waste yarn in 2 feet length, to attach your precious yarn to the bobbins.
Precision scale, to know what the counterweight should be.

Braiding:
The small mirror, to check the other face of the braid for errors while braiding
Freezer bag clips, to secure the braid when you take a break

Finishing:
Kettle and comb, to straighten the ends.
Paper and scissors, to trim the tassel end straight.
Sewing needles and glue, to stop the braid unraveling
Rolling pin and flat board, to flatten the braid and even out the kinks

And the note book to keep a log of the results (yarn take-up, finished dimensions, things to try next time, ...)

In the next tutorial, we'll discuss what additional things should appear in a marudai kit. We'll look at the 3 approaches available to procure the equipment (shoestring budget, cheap, expensive)

Braiding tutorial 0: The various braiding stands

2007-12-04T20:52:00.000+01:00

Before we really start the tutorials, I thought it would be a good idea to show the various stands once more.

The kumihimo disc

The kumihimo disc is the cheapest braiding stand in the lot, you can buy one made from special foam or you can make your own from cardboard in a pinch. It has some advantages and some problems, but it is a good way to start.

The advantages: you can take it along and braid in the bus or train, cheap
The problems: hard to keep the yarn tension even, can fray the yarn, hard to manage with high thread counts, slow to braid

As there are already many tutorials available for the disc, I won't really bother with it. The marudai instructions will work on the disc with close to no modifications.

The marudai

The marudai is the basic braiding stand, it is also the most versatile as it can produce braids of all shapes (round, flat, square, rectangular, triangular, ...) with or without core. The thread is kept flat and moved by picking up and dropping. Can produce most of the classical sageo patterns, except maybe kikkogumi.

The advantages: traditional, braids faster than the disc, can cope with more thread than the disc, the yarn tension is kept even by the bobbins and counterweight.
The problems: not as portable as the disc, more expensive than the disc
Braids produced: all shapes

The kakudai

The kakudai roughly works like the marudai, except that the braid forms upwards from the center of the braiding table. The braids are hollow and form around a special metal core coming out from the table. The yarn is normally twisted prior to braiding and the bobbins move by sliding around the "mirror". Those differences from marudai braiding give a different aspect to the braids, they are often shinier.

The advantages: several very nice braids can only be made on this stand
The problems: even less portable than the marudai, keeping a constant twist to the thread isn't easy, there are several table sizes (up to 8 bobbins and more than 8 bobbins)
Braids produced: hollow round, hollow square, hollow flat

The ayatakedai

The ayatakedai uses a braiding approach that is closer to weaving than any other braiding stand. It is thought that it was originally developed to make large quantities of armor lacing. Once you've started braiding on this stand, a lot of the marudai flat braids actually start to make sense as they were adapted from the ayatakedai. If you love geometric vertical pattern sageo, this is the stand you want.

The advantages: very fast, produces some very nice geometric patterns
The problems: limit of 38 ends of thread, only produces geometric designs
Braids produced: flat sturdy

The takadai

The takadai is the braiding stand creating the most complex braids, braiding on it can be seen as oblique weaving where each thread is at the same time the weft and the warp. If you want really fancy sageo or tsuka ito, this is the stand producing them.

The advantages: total freedom on the braid design
The problems: expensive hardware, requires a lot of bobbins, takes a lot of space, ultimate non-portable stand, can take a long time to master
Braids produced: flat flexible

I have voluntarily omitted the dai-takadai and the dai-marudai as I don't have either at this point. I have also omitted the loop manipulation braiding methods as I haven't tried them yet.

A new direction for this blog

2007-12-04T11:34:00.000+01:00

I recently noticed I had a few visitors coming over from a search on "how to make a sageo" and on "ayatakedai", so I decided to add a few tutorials on braiding over the next months.

The tutorials progression will probably be as follows:

Side equipment you'll need
Content of a marudai kit (shoestring budget, cheap and expensive version)
Warping for sageo on a marudai
Starting a braid
Simple sageo on a marudai
Finishing a braid
Slightly more complex sageo on a marudai
Recommended marudai books to go further
Content of an ayatakedai kit
Warping for sageo on an ayatakedai
Simple sageo on an ayatakedai
Slightly more complex sageo on an ayatakedai
Recommended ayatakedai books to go futher
Content of a takadai kit
Single layer braids on a takadai
Dual layer braids on a takadai
Patterned braids on a takadai
Linked braids on a takadai
Free design braids (ayagaki, pickup, double pickup) on a takadai
Recommended takadai books to go further

The objective will be to have photos and maybe videos for each chapter, showing how it is done and how it all connects together. If some readers want to contribute to the tutorials, they are more than welcome ;)

Okamura's Kumihimo book / 組みひも　廣澤徳三郎監修、岡村加代

2007-12-01T19:30:00.000+01:00

The book that was waiting at the post office was in fact not the Dento Kumihimo but another very good standard marudai book from the seventies, "Kumihimo" by Okamura. The book is in such a nice cosmetic state that I have troubles believing it is almost as old as me.

I have quickly gone through it and it shows some very interesting variations on the karakumi braid.

On another topic, I think I might try to braid a wool scarf on the takadai. I just need to check if I have enough wool in stock. It would probably make a very nice Christmas present for my friends, as my budget is quite tight at the moment. More on the scarf later :)

Doumyou (domyo) Kumihimo / Takadai book - 伝統の組紐　/　道明の高台・綾竹台

2007-11-28T17:02:00.000+01:00

Thanks to my lovely wife, I scored the out of print Domyo Takadai book for €30 today. I had the opportunity to get the Domyo Marudai book at the same price but passed on that one, prefering to keep the money towards Makiko Tada's Comprehensive Treatise of Braids Volumes 3, 4 & 5.

My Dento kumihimo books are in the post office, waiting for pickup. The kumihimo library is growing fast :) I still need to get Makiko's blue book (ayatakadai) and some kakudai books to cover the basics of all the stands I currently own.

Back to Kikko-gumi

2007-11-24T23:09:00.000+01:00

As a break from ayagaki, and until I receive my silk cones, I have decided to braid a 2 colour kikko sageo in cotton. It should be a bit faster and better now that I can beat the pass correctly.

The hardware build is on hold as I didn't have the time to get some extra wood. I will try next week.

I didn't have a single cigarette in more than 5 months now, I've got to admit I'm impressed :)

DIY Equipment

2007-11-18T21:38:00.000+01:00

Due to the ever increasing thread count in my braids (heading towards 720 ends of silk per braid), I finally gave in and decided to get more equipment. But I'll build them instead of buying them, seeing that those pieces of equipment are totally outside my budget for the foreseeable future.

The first pieces of equipment I'll need to build are a warping frame (I'd love a warping reel, but that would be overkill at this point) and a thread rack. Those should be fairly straightforward to build in a few hours. The warping frame will probably be used for the braid prototypes in cotton, the thread rack will need to accommodate cones of various sizes (from 100m to 5km)

The second bit of equipment on the build list is a yarn swift which will be used to prepare silk for the dye jobs. Nothing too hard here either, it seems, but I'll tweak the design a bit. I'll probably use ball bearing on the axle and size it for the most useful (for me) braid sizes. A possibility would be to also prepare a rotation counter for the swift... it would sure speed up the process if I didn't have the count the lengths by myself :) Come to think of it, some kind of treadle mechanism or a motor would be nice as well.

In case anybody is interested, a quick calc on the back of a napkin says that I should make a swift with about 1m60 diameter. That way I can put pegs at 80cm (for tachi length sageo), 65cm (for katana length sageo) and 40 cm (for tanto length sageo).

I love it when a plan seems to come together :)

Deal done!

2007-11-06T16:36:00.000+01:00

Thanks to my wife, I got myself a nice kakudai kit for less than 100 euro!

The kit includes the kakudai itself, the transport case, 32 "small" tama, 27 "medium" tama, 1 "big" tama, counterweights (760g, 260g, 130g) and counterweight bags. So it was definitely a very good deal.

Now that my stand collection is almost complete, I'll need to get some silk and start thinking about warping devices.

Possibly a new stand soon

2007-11-05T21:57:00.001+01:00

I might have scored a complete kakudai kit from Japan for a very reasonable price. I'll receive the confirmation tomorrow early afternoon. If it is the case I'll just miss one karakumidai, one dai takadai and one dai marudai for the whole collection of braiding stands.

Back to basics, sort of

2007-11-05T21:32:00.000+01:00

This weekend, to change my mind after so many weeks on the takadai, I warped 64 ends of cotton to braid an obijime on the marudai. The pattern I am braiding is hira-kara-16 in 3 colours and up to now I didn't spot a single mistake in it.

I've already braided 1 meter and should be done with it sometime this week :)

On a related note, it looks like twining solved my warping issues... maybe not totally, but it's no longer as frustrating as it was. I still fully plan to build a warping frame of sorts, with a nice 8 bobbin rack to speed up the warp.

Ayagaki fun

2007-10-20T23:55:00.000+02:00

I made some ayagaki progress, I have now done the first part of the hanabishi pattern and it is correct! That pattern is, for me, faster and more enjoyable than the "forget me not" training. I will do 3 cycles of hanabishi, switch to a sakura pattern then switch to a dragon design.

I'll post pics tomorrow probably.

Takadai

2007-10-15T23:25:00.001+02:00

So here is the kikkogumi sampler I did last week. It is Plain cotton in 4 colours and the obliqueness of the pattern is due to bad beating, I did beat on the side a few times by mistake.

Still, I'm happy with the result seeing that it was my first double-layer takadai braid and basically my third takadai braid ever.

On the background, you can see translated notes on hanabishi (bottom) and preparation for a ginko leaves pattern (top, under the book).

After that sampler, I started working on ayagaki style braids. You can see the training pattern (forget me not) on the second picture. I will repeat the pattern 20 times to train the muscle memory then I will switch to hanabishi, repeat 10 times then switch to a sakura design.

Once happy with those, I'll try a sageo with dragons at the extremities and maybe a scale or keyfret pattern in the middle. I'll need to buy some more black cotton first tho.

Finally, here comes the fully loaded takadai with 60 tama.

Hectic weekend

2007-10-14T23:23:00.000+02:00

Due to circumstances outside my control, I only progressed one inch on the forget-me-not braid (in the last 5 minutes, to be honest). I hope I'll get some more time next week. I am done with the translation of the hanabishi pattern, and would love to test it... however I'll have to get the muscle memory for the various ayagaki movements first.

First dual layer braid done

2007-10-09T23:45:00.000+02:00

I have just unmounted my first kikkogumi from the takadai. I need to work on the sword beat as some of the hexagons are disaligned. Nevertheless, I'm proud of the results (and my wife is surprised, too).

Tomorrow night, I'll need to do some warping for the pickup braid training... Rodrick Owen's "forget me not" pattern. Once done with "forget me not", I'll attempt my most complex braid ever... "hanabishi".

Back to braiding

2007-10-03T17:27:00.000+02:00

After a few days of playing with simple layer 2/2 twill braids on the takadai, I took the plunge and ordered "Making Kumihimo" by Rodrick Owen. I definitely recommend this book for Takadai beginners as it is very complete, possibly the best 22€ I spent in 2007. I will still order the comprehensive treatise of braids later on, to have a more complete takadai library :)

I received the book yesterday, read it twice already and I jumped directly to braid 50 "Kikkogumi" as it was a braid I wanted to try for ages :) The good news is that it is possibly one of the easiest double face braid in the book (only 1 movement) and I already braided 2 repetitions of the pattern. I will need to make a warping frame to speed up the preparation as I spent more time warping and mounting the tama than braiding. I will also possibly tweak my takadai a bit to make my life easier.

Anyways, back to braiding ;)

Slow progress

2007-09-17T19:51:00.000+02:00

6 days of takadai braiding later, I still haven't figured out how to finish a braid on the takadai. "Making Kumihimo" by Rodrick Owen will probably help, but it won't be delivered until end on this month. On the bright side, I'll probably have braided an obijime length ribbon by then.

My craft room has been progressing a lot this weekend. The wall panels have been realigned on top, the non-covered wall has been painted back to white and the old furniture has been removed. I now need to source some cheap shelves, cheap water resistant flooring and a cheap door before I can consider that room done.

Finally

2007-09-11T22:28:00.000+02:00

I finally started using the takadai and I already love it. Now I just need to find out how to properly start and finish braids on a takadai. I also need to order a few books to learn as much as possible until I can find a hands-on session somewhere close.

I've been braiding a simple 2/2 twill in blue and white, I'll post pics when it's off the stand.

A lot of work lately

2007-09-10T21:07:00.000+02:00

I've been quite busy cleaning up the garden the last weeks so I didn't get much time to braid.

I've been doing some progress on the ayatakedai. I've done Nagashi-kamakura, suruga-gumi, yabane and I'm currently trying Aya-kikko. I have also warped 33 bobbins for a single layer takadai braid, but I didn't get to start braiding it yet.

Stands

2007-08-24T21:39:00.000+02:00

I picked up the kumihimo equipment (all 112lbs of it) this afternoon and the stands are now assembled. Seeing that the ayatakedai is smaller than I imagined, it will move from room to room when I use it. The takadai will be stationary in the crafts room due to its size.

I have started playing with patterns on the ayatakedai and I quite enjoy it up to now. I will give the takadai a try this weekend, I think.

Back to braiding :)

Braiding stands

2007-08-21T21:45:00.000+02:00

The braiding stands have finally reached Germany, this morning I have received a letter from the customs office to come and explain the contents of one parcel (the ayatakedai). I guess the other stands will follow this week, so I'll make one trip down on friday.

I will finally be able to test the ayatakedai patterns from Makiko's Essence of Japanese Braiding!

Tagged?

2007-08-13T16:08:00.000+02:00

Trish tagged me last night, so here come the answers... I'll think about people to tag later on.

4 Favourite colours: Black, Silver, White and Red
4 Favourite foods: Curry, Sushi, Kimchi (I recently made enough to last me a few weeks), roasted pork shoulder.
4 Jobs I had: developer, system operator, tech support (I wouldn't wish it on my worst ennemy), system administrator
4 Favourite TV shows: Top Gear, Dr Who, Babylon 5, Shinsengumi!
4 Favourite Children's Names that I didn't use: Hajime, Ichigo, Emiko, Akira... but I didn't have to name any kids yet ;)
4 Websites I visit everyday: swordforum.com, slashdot.org, ebay (.co.uk, .com, .de), auctions.yahoo.co.jp
4 Movies I would watch over & over: Bladerunner (I did), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (I could), The Hunger (I'd love to), the 26 Zatôichi movies by Shintarô Katsu (OK, technically stretching the list to 29 movies ^_^)
4 Places I love to be: at my desk, in my bed, in my kitchen, in my garden

Silver Clay

2007-07-22T12:50:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, I finally tried silver art clay to make menuki. I'm not too impressed by the results and the costs involved.

Today, I am trying again with a different technique. I'll post pictures later on if it worked out fine.

I have found a cheaper source for my clay, so I might order a few 50g packs in the near future.

Not many posts last week

2007-07-20T23:27:00.000+02:00

I was quite busy wrapping and braiding, so I didn't post much lately. Last week jewelry class got moved at the last minute and will happen tomorrow afternoon. I am still planning to make my first menuki attempt during that class.

In other news, I have now spent a month not smoking. I feel better, with so much more stamina, but I took on 5 kilos. I guess I'll have to start a diet soon. It goes on to prove you don't need anything special to stop smoking... cold turkey works fine and dandy if you have a bit of will.

I also wish to apologize to the people who left comments... there was a misconfiguration so I didn't receive emails telling me of comments and I may have been a bit blind because I didn't even notice that some posts displayed something other than "0 comments"

Anyways, back to braiding

Katana, possibly shinto era

2007-07-12T21:05:00.000+02:00

A few people on mailing lists I use asked me for pictures of my blades recently, so I decided to post them here instead :)

Some statistics on the blade:

Blade Type: Katana
Length: 65cm Shinogi-zukuri
Blade width at: Machi 3cm Yokote 2cm
Sori: 2.4cm Tori
Mune: Iori mune, gentle oroshi
Horimono: none
Kitae: hardly visible with bare eyes, hints towards tight Itame.
Hamon: Saka choji gunome, maybe?
Activity: Inazuma, Nijuba
Utsuri: none
Boshi: Kaeri Yoru
Kissaki: Chu Kissaki (slightly elongated)
Nakago: Ubu
Nakago Length: 16.8cm
Mekugi-ana: #2
Nakago Shape: Futsu
Nakago-jiri: Iriyama
Yasuri-me: Kesho
Mei: Mumei
Period: Shinto or Shinshinto

I bought that blade almost 3 years ago, with a spot in the waiting list of a polisher for a refresh and touch-up, it was a good deal basically. However, due to bad timing, the polish never happened as I was in Japan and the blade was in Europe when the polishing slot opened.

Since buying it, I have been slowing renovating this blade mounts. First I cleaned and repaired the saya that was split open, then I carved a new horn koiguchi, then I started carving a new handle. I also bought new fittings for that blade and I will soon order the last missing parts required to finish the mounts.

I own a few other blades, but they're not as interesting as this antique. I hope I'll pass that blade to my kids in a better state than I received it.

Still a non smoker

2007-07-09T22:22:00.000+02:00

More than 2 weeks and going strong :)

On the sewing side, I made a custom pouch for my old iPod that fits like a glove. It was a quick and dirty job, but hey it works.

On the braiding side, I've had a lot of fun those last weeks: more ayatakedai braids adapted to the marudai, experimenting with a few variations and braiding a few meters of Maru-yotsu (1.5mm thick) for a tanto handle rewrap project. If it works, it will look like this once finished:

Nicotine

2007-06-27T23:47:00.000+02:00

I've now been nicotine free for 5 days in a row, quite happy about it :)

More experiments

2007-06-24T22:27:00.000+02:00

Today I tried adapting an ayatakedai braid to the marudai (again). This time my adaptation worked perfectly! I did Yabane, then turned it into Aya-Hishi-Gumi which I converted into a sort of Aya-take-kikko. I then redid the Aya-take-kikko with different colors and I am quite happy with the result.

Even tho it is technically cheating, I now know how to make a kikko pattern braid on the marudai with only 18 tama!

Marudai

2007-06-22T20:53:00.000+02:00

I thought I could also post a picture of the marudai kit I'm expecting any day now. So here it is in all its second-hand glory with 23 (???) tama.

Fun at a big scale

2007-06-21T23:51:00.000+02:00

Tonight, I tried something different... an ayatakedai braid on the marudai, with a different amount of thread on some tama. I was trying to make Aya-Gaeshi, and it somewhat failed :)

Still, the result is not as bad as it could have been. I really can't wait for the ayatakedai to get delivered, as that braid (if properly done) would make a really nice sageo with a wave theme. It was fun, so I'll try again tomorrow night.

Early birthday presents

2007-06-18T21:11:00.000+02:00

I've started receiving my birthday presents a few days early :)

First, the Makiko Tada books I was expecting were delivered today while I was at work. I quickly skimmed through "Comprehensive Treatise of Braids 1: Marudai braids" and I am very impressed with what I saw. Just by skimming, I already found answers to questions that bothered me for the last 18 months. It basically showed me why warping was so frustrating for me: I was doing it all wrong. :) I've quickly skimmed through "Essence of Japanese Braiding" as well, it's also packed with info for the Marudai, the Kakudai and the Ayatakedai.

Second, we won the auction for the two stands I was talking about a few days ago. So I'm now the proud owner of a fully equipped Takadai and a fully equipped Ayatakedai. I'm looking forwards to using them.

Spiral Edo Yatsu

2007-06-17T23:10:00.000+02:00

I just did an experiment for the fusa-himo. I braided 1 meter of warp in the Edo Yatsu style and ended up with 65 cm of braid... that's a lot of takeup :(

I'll have to buy a few extra spools of silk to finish the koshirae-bukuro.

Koshirae-bukuro finished

2007-06-17T00:25:00.000+02:00

So I just finished sewing the koshirae-bukuro for my katana. I'll braid the fusa-himo sometimes next week as I need to buy dark navy blue and silver silks. That will probably take a long time as the fusa-himo has to be around 2.5 meters long.

In the meantime, I'll make matching koshirae-bukuro for 2 tanto, those will require 1.7 meters of fusa-himo.

First sewing lesson

2007-06-16T19:37:00.000+02:00

Today, I had my first sewing lesson. It was quite funny, even tho it is harder than I thought.

For this first attempt, I made a koshirae-bukuro in silk. The fabric for this was coming from an silk obi, so it was quite tightly woven. Passing the basting thread though 8 layers of silk took some time. During the next lesson, I'll probably sew it proper.

Kawari edo yatsu finished

2007-06-14T23:36:00.000+02:00

So I just finished braiding a kawari edo yatsu haori himo. I messed up in the warping, so I'll have to start again from scratch. Note to self: 8 strands of silk compresses to the same volume as 2 strands polyester. Tomorrow, I'll try 16 strands silk and 4 strands different colour silk instead.

Braiding stands

2007-06-13T23:03:00.000+02:00

I'm currently braiding a kawari edo yatsu on my marudai-like-object. It is possibly one of the last braids I'll do on that piece of equipment. My new marudai should be delivered sometimes next week and I'm quite excited at the prospect :) I should also receive two books from Makiko Tada at about the same time, so I'll be very busy in the next weeks.

On a related subject, my lovely wife found some things I've been trying to find for a long time.

First, she found a very decently priced takadai kit (pictured on the left). It includes 168 tama, more koma than I care to count and all the required tidbits. Takadai are used to make long single or double sided braids. The technique for a single sided braid is explained on braidweaver.

While I'm on the subject of takadai, there is an excellent piece of software out there to visualise what your braid will look like based on initial colour placement. Cybraid was written by Steve Pretty, himself a braider, and is currently Windows only. The good news is that Steve is porting the software to Java so people using Linux or OsX can also use it. The Java version is still an alpha release, but it already works fine :)
Let's hope it will be released soon!

My wife also found an ayatakedai kit for a very reasonable price (pictured on the right). It comes with two feather boards (single and double) and 100 bobbins.

Ayatakedai are used to make very strong flat braids, I'm afraid I don't have a link that explains how they're used at the moment.

If everything goes according to plan, I will be able to use both stands to make various complex sageo designs myself :D

Well, that's all for today.
Meushi

Kumihimoshi - 組紐師 - くみひもし

The dwindling amount of free time...

Dusting up

Very busy day

Lack of updates

草木染 糸染の基本 -- Natural dye: fundamental book of yarn dyeing

First kakudai braid finished

First kakudai braid started

Hardware tutorial 0: Warping equipment

Kakudai received

Traditional dyes from Japan, the beginning of a list

Delay

Braiding Tutorial 2: Contents of a marudai kit

Braiding Tutorial 1: Side equipment you'll need

Braiding tutorial 0: The various braiding stands

A new direction for this blog

Okamura's Kumihimo book / 組みひも 廣澤徳三郎監修、岡村加代

Doumyou (domyo) Kumihimo / Takadai book - 伝統の組紐 / 道明の高台 ・綾竹台

Back to Kikko-gumi

DIY Equipment

Deal done!

Possibly a new stand soon

Back to basics, sort of

Ayagaki fun

Takadai

Hectic weekend

First dual layer braid done

Back to braiding

Slow progress

Finally

A lot of work lately

Stands

Braiding stands

Tagged?

Silver Clay

Not many posts last week

Katana, possibly shinto era

Still a non smoker

Nicotine

More experiments

Marudai

Fun at a big scale

Early birthday presents

Spiral Edo Yatsu

Koshirae-bukuro finished

First sewing lesson

Kawari edo yatsu finished

Braiding stands

草木染　糸染の基本 -- Natural dye: fundamental book of yarn dyeing

Okamura's Kumihimo book / 組みひも　廣澤徳三郎監修、岡村加代

Doumyou (domyo) Kumihimo / Takadai book - 伝統の組紐　/　道明の高台・綾竹台