The best resources that I found to help me out with this stage were '200 Braids to Loop, Knot, Weave and Twist' by Jacqui Carey and a website called Stringpage.com . Both of these resources were amazingly helpful, especially to a reluctant braider like me. It was the website that really inspired me, such concise and precise instructions for many different kinds of braiding and knotting activities.
After I'd conquered the braids from the course literature I found myself wanting to go on to bigger, wider, flatter braids, such as a 12 strand chevron braid and braiding with the lovely thick 4 ply jute. I still found myself thinking about 'practical' uses for the braids I was making, I tried to forcefully rein in that impulse and move on to experimenting with many different braiding techniques.
Unfortunately as I'm writing this I've realised that I have sent my braids away and am left with a list of their titles and no photographs to illustrate them!
Here are the techniques I tried:-
4 strand chevron braiding in paper twine
6 strand in chevron braiding in natural fibres
12 strand chevron braid in sisal and chunky wool
4 strand flat braid in 4 ply jute
6 strand chevron braid in mixed textures
lucet braid in self patterning fair isle
kumihimo 7 stranded braid
kumihimo 4 stranded braid
handmade twisted cord
and my surface quality braids were:-
Hard - tinfoil, pipe cleaner, card making ribbon
Smooth - chunky yarn and kitchen paper dye waste
Rough - plastic bag strips and mohair
Soft - chunky yarn braided on a lucet to bring more volume
(photos were added in retrospect after I had posted my work for assessment and realised that I still had no photos of my braids alone, so these are a few of them after they were stuck on to my assessment boards)
Notes on Braiding
I had originally intended to create some hand twisted cords to incorporate within my braids but completing just two of them took me an incredibly long time and I wasn't especially pleased with the results so I relegated cording to the revisiting at another time box.
I found the quick results and the neatness of using a Japanese style braiding loom for the kumihimo to be immensely gratifying and if I need to create any sort of braid in the future I believe that this will be my go to method of braiding.
The braids that I consider the most successful are those that brought together different textures. I particularly like the combination of the very rough and unpolished natural fibres like the jute or the sisal in juxtaposition with the soft fluffiness of the chunky wool/acrylic blend yarn.
After I'd conquered the braids from the course literature I found myself wanting to go on to bigger, wider, flatter braids, such as a 12 strand chevron braid and braiding with the lovely thick 4 ply jute. I still found myself thinking about 'practical' uses for the braids I was making, I tried to forcefully rein in that impulse and move on to experimenting with many different braiding techniques.
Unfortunately as I'm writing this I've realised that I have sent my braids away and am left with a list of their titles and no photographs to illustrate them!
Here are the techniques I tried:-
4 strand chevron braiding in paper twine
6 strand in chevron braiding in natural fibres
12 strand chevron braid in sisal and chunky wool
4 strand flat braid in 4 ply jute
6 strand chevron braid in mixed textures
lucet braid in self patterning fair isle
kumihimo 7 stranded braid
kumihimo 4 stranded braid
handmade twisted cord
and my surface quality braids were:-
Hard - tinfoil, pipe cleaner, card making ribbon
Smooth - chunky yarn and kitchen paper dye waste
Rough - plastic bag strips and mohair
Soft - chunky yarn braided on a lucet to bring more volume
(photos were added in retrospect after I had posted my work for assessment and realised that I still had no photos of my braids alone, so these are a few of them after they were stuck on to my assessment boards)
Notes on Braiding
I had originally intended to create some hand twisted cords to incorporate within my braids but completing just two of them took me an incredibly long time and I wasn't especially pleased with the results so I relegated cording to the revisiting at another time box.
I found the quick results and the neatness of using a Japanese style braiding loom for the kumihimo to be immensely gratifying and if I need to create any sort of braid in the future I believe that this will be my go to method of braiding.
The braids that I consider the most successful are those that brought together different textures. I particularly like the combination of the very rough and unpolished natural fibres like the jute or the sisal in juxtaposition with the soft fluffiness of the chunky wool/acrylic blend yarn.
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