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Braids 2012 part 3

13 Oct

The class I taught at Braids 2012 was two days on how to make “double braids” as a solo fingerloop braider. There were two main things I was hoping to get across:
First of all, a procedure for making 6 and 8-loop double braids (“double-square,” “double-flat”, and many other doubled braid shapes) as a solo braider. Secondly, but just as importantly, an understanding of the basic structure of these braids, so that all 12 or so of their shape variations would make sense—and therefore be easier to remember and to braid.

6-loop double flat braid, linked borders

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Braids 2012 part 2

27 Sep

Ok, here goes with Part 2… This is about the kute-uchi loop braiding day in Joy Boutrup’s class at Braids 2012. (Her first day had covered historic European finger loop braids. The highlight had been several unusual braids and braiding methods that she learned through analyzing museum specimens—braids that are not recorded in any of the surviving loop braiding manuscripts.)
I just wish I had taken more photos, and asked Joy more questions!

track plan for a Japanese Kute-uchi braid

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Bracelet with chevrons

5 Jun

Here’s a friendship bracelet video tutorial that also shows how to make my favorite type of color pattern for a square braid: chevrons across bicolor stripes.

finger loop braiding, braid, instructions for making a bracelet

The bracelet tutorial teaches an easy way to make a lo-tech adjustable closure if your bracelet has a loop at one end. This can be used for any bracelet with a loop at one end. (The photo of the teapot does not show this method!—see braids below.)

fingerloop braiding, finger loop, friendship bracelets, embroidery floss

I also show a way to start the braid with no loose ends at the top of the braid, and with a loop that can be used as a closure.  The videos demo the braids with 7 loops, but this can be applied to 5-loop or 9-loop fingerloop braids, too.*  Continue reading →

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Braids I don’t teach…

26 Apr

So far, most of my loop braiding tutorials teach braids, or methods, that aren’t taught anywhere else. These include very basic beginning level tutorials, and range up to some that might seem ridiculously difficult before you’ve “worked up” to them. (Check out my tutorials page.) But there are lots of other great loop braids that you can find instructions for online.

Medieval loop braids: Broad lace party, Lace endented of VIII bowes

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Readers’ Gallery part 1

15 Apr

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I posted. I’ve been really busy the last three months, and somehow this blog got left behind. Meanwhile I’ve accumulated two readers’ gallery posts-worth of beautiful braid pictures and now, finally, a whole luxurious free Sunday to start posting them. Thank you to everyone who contributed pictures—both for your generosity and your patience!

Ricky was one of the first readers who tried out any of my tutorials, before I even had videos for them. He made some great original interpretations of the braid patterns in my bicolor loop magic tutorial, and came up with other patterns as well. I love his happy colors, and also the way he photographed his braids—with that lush greenery setting them off:

aRicky1DSCI0669

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Unbraiding

30 Oct

A-fell loop braiding [index finger is the active braider] and V-fell loop braiding  [ring or little finger is the active braider] move the transferring loop between the same fingers and through the same loops, but in the reverse direction. In the following video I demo using both methods to braid and unbraid a 3-loop square braid. This is a great way to undo back to a mistake. At the end of the video, I demo a slower way to unbraid that’s especially useful for braids of eight loops or more, since A-fell braiding can’t be done with more than seven loops.

[The video below shows braiding and unbraiding a 3-loop braid. I demo unbraiding a 7-loop braid in a more recent video-tutorial on 7-loop square braids.  It's toward the end of that video, at 23:50. Unbraiding a 5-loop braid is almost the same process.]

[see my super-easy 3-loop braid tutorial for learning how to braid 3-loop braids like the one in this video.] Continue reading →

Lace Dawns tutorial

24 Oct

This video tutorial demos an alternative method for braiding the 15th c. 8-loop braid called Lace Dawns, or Daunce in the Medieval loop braiding manuscripts.  It is a much faster method, with no extra moves, or doubled loops on any fingers.

Lace Dawns, fingerloop braiding, faster method

Lace Daunce, or Lace Dawns.  8-loop flat braid, wool

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Teeny weeny braids, and a spiral…

3 Sep

[note: links to video tutorials for the 2-loop braid, and 4 to 10-loop spiral braids can be found at the bottom of my tutorials page.]

For the month of October 2011 I’ll be running a fingerloop braiding tutorial on the Braid Society‘s online yahoo discussion group braids_and_bands  (anybody can join this list, you don’t have to be in the Braid Society).

They’ve hosted some really impressive tutorials in the past, from simple to complex—including Sue Foulkes’ incredible backstrap weaving tutorial on Saami bands —that was my first real weaving experience. I couldn’t believe I was actually following a weaving draft!

8, 6, and 4-loop spiral braids, plus 2-loop braids and fringe (cotton, rayon, silk).   Click on photos for more detail. The loop/ eyelet starts will be covered in the tutorial, too.

My tutorial will be toward the other end of the spectrum—extremely simple, up to just slightly challenging.

I’ll be starting with a loop braid of 2  loops (yes, you really can make a braid with only 2 loops!), and a spiral braid that’s quite different from the braids I’ve covered so far on this blog.

It can be made with as few loops as 4, or as many as 10, and has several interesting color patterns besides the spiral.

6 loop & 8 loop round braids, non-spiral patterns, cotton, rayon, wool

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Color-pattern planning, square and flat braids

9 Aug

It’s really fun to try out different color patterns in a braid.  A little 7-year old at one of our regular music campouts used to spend hours at our camp every day making 3-loop braids, and for each one the color combination was a big deal—she would pick it out quickly, but then dwell on, admire, and talk about it before, during and after the braiding process.

It was very funny to listen to, because it was essentially no different from many of my own (more interior) monologues when I’m braiding…

finger loop braiding, 7 and 8-loop wool braids, instructions, tutorials

7 and 8-loop wool braids, square and flat

My  “Start Here!” tutorial didn’t have much info about color patterning, so this post is an attempt to fill some of that in. Continue reading →

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Longer loop braids, and starts with no ends

23 Jul

I just got another question about making smooth loop-starts, by which I mean braids that start with a looped opening on top, and no fringe—no visible ends of thread  at the top of the braid. I’ve pasted in and expanded my reply as the second half of this overly-long post. [10/21/'11—I just added a video demo'ing one way to make a loop start with no loose ends]

The first half of this post started out as a reply to another reader’s comment on ways to braid longer loop braids. (At some point I’ll probably cleave this post into two–once I get more photos and or videos made for them.)

3 fingerloop braids by loopbraider

Center braid is 7+ yards long, but I call it my “whole-nine-yards” braid, since that’s how long the loops started out.

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