2 10-loop double braids, solid rectangle shape, bicolor patterns

Double braid tutorials

The braids in this photo are like square braids, but twice as wide! They are nice and substantial, not ribbonlike, and can have very different designs on the upper and lower surfaces if you use any bicolor loops.

I call these braids “rectangular double braids” because the traditional way to make them required two people to braid square braids side-by-side and joined together (the braids, not the braiders!). Here I teach my workaround method for one person to braid a double braid without a helper.

Braids 2012, part 1

Loop braiding highlights at the conference: Two different 2-day loop braiding workshops, plus a report from Mari Omura on loop braiding archeological evidence in Asia going back thousands of years B.C! Joy Boutrup’s 1st day of class included several unusual European loop braids that she has discovered through analyzing museum specimens—braids that are not known from any of the 15th or 17th C. loop braiding manuscripts…

Kute-uchi braids, 16-36 loops

Genji-uchi, & new link

Just a note to say that I’ve added text instructions for the Genji-Uchi braid to last year’s Kute-Uchi tutorial. I also want to plug Cindy Myer’s pages on Medieval fingerloop braids — this is an incredible resource! She’s analyzed the braid instructions of 3 different source manuscripts, and made beautiful reproductions of almost all of them. These are displayed in a chart with links to her very clear text instructions for each braid…

Waxed thread

A couple of months ago, when I had to make some sample braids for an article, I decided to try a waxed cotton cord I had seen online. I wanted to use something stiffer than embroidery floss, something that would really show the structure of the braids.

'Doug's Braid' - 7-loop round spanish-type fingerloop braid, loopbraider.com

Doug’s braid

This braid is an unusual variation of a 7-loop spanish braid, with intricate color-patterns and a shape that is firmly rounded rather than rectangular in cross-section. Invented or discovered by Douglas Grant, a reader of this blog, who allowed me to share it here. (Thanks, Doug!) [A more recent post has the video for this braid, but this post has photos + instructions for several different color patterns.]

Note

Tomorrow, Wed the 18th, I will be supporting the (U.S.) internet blackout in protest of the two U.S. internet censorship bills SOPA and PIPA. So my site will essentially have a big protest sign draped over it for a day (this will be until midnight EST, I decided to follow the timeline Wikipedia is using…