Years ago while we were on a holiday in The Netherlands I happened on a device for making simple cord braids. It looked like a big foam flower and was being showcased in many of the fancypants bead & craft magazines I saw over there. The braids looked absolutely perfect for me – nice and simple to make and something that I could work into my everyday wardrobe.
So as you can imagine, I bought one of the braiding disks. Last week I finally gave it a try.
It was really fantastic to see the kumihimo braid coming together on the underside if the disk. The piece came together really easily and quickly too, which is something I really appreciate when it comes to fibre crafts. I don’t seem to have that much patience for thread & yarn-related things. I have this horrible habit of getting myself tangled up. I was kind of expecting this to do the same but I escaped with no knots or tangles and some beautiful new pieces of jewellery.
Some were er, more beautiful than others.
There have got to be hundreds of fluoro rainbow kumihimo braids floating around the country, I’d say. It is pretty much the only variety of rattail available at the cheapie shops and I’d bet almost everyone uses it for their first try with a new weave. Mine ended up being j-u-s-t long enough to be an anklet, though I’m not sure I’ll ever have cause to wear such a bright and sunny piece!
All of these braids highlighted a major shortcoming in my bead & jewellery making stash. I was almost entirely without end cones! I’m not really sure how that happened, but a quick trip to Spotlight gave me plenty enoiugh to practice with for the time being. They don’t really have enough room for much cord to be jammed in there, but I think I’ve made a pretty solid connection regardless.
I’m really looking forward to making a few more of these little beauties just for myself.
