2 tutorials: The Buck’s Horns braid, and a French string with open edges

Two double braids from the 17th C with a wonderful “unorthodox” loop exchange method that goes back to the 12th Century, if not further. This exchange move is so easy to do with REALLY cool results! It produces unusual loop braids that may be unique to Europe. Videos for my solo braider method, illustration for the traditional team braiding method.

Spirals, Non-Spirals, and the 2-loop Braid

4-loop to 10-loop Spiral braids – whether spiral-patterned or not – as well as the smallest possible loop braid: the Two-loop Braid. I made these video tutorials years ago to accompany a series of text-and-photo tutorials for another website. Those photo-tutorials are now available here too, you can download them as PDF files straight from this post…

Thumbnail of 12-loop 5-transfer braids, fingerloop, loop braiding

Odd

A tutorial for a non-traditional 12-loop braid with an unusual number of loop-transfers: Five! You might call it a Double-and-a-bit-more Braid. The video tutorial is for my solo-braider method. Also text instructions for an easier “odd” braid – the 7-loop Square-and-a-half braid of 3 loop transfers – for the left braider of a team making the larger 12-loop braid. (The smaller braid has some fun asymmetrical color-patterns of its own!)

Zig-Zag patterns in 8-loop double fingerloop braids, loopbraider.com

Flat braid Zig-zag patterns

There are 3 ‘rules’ for braiding flat braid zig-zag patterns, and they apply to all (unfolding) flat braids, including 5 and 7-loop flat braids. Using them you can plan wide zig-zags, skinny zig-zags, double zig-zags, bordered zig-zags, and more. Set-ups given for several 7 and 8-loop flat ‘square’ and double braid zig-zag patterns…

An unorthodox braid tutorial

This is a 7-loop, D-shaped braid with a rounded upper surface and a flat lower surface. The braiding moves are almost exactly the same as those of a square braid, but it turns out very differently. The upper surface always looks very different from the lower surface…(video tutorial)

Two loop braids showing variations of the same color-linking pattern

Color-linking in a 7-loop flat braid

This video-based tutorial teaches several color-pattern variations of a 7-loop flat braid with an extra move in some of the loop transfers. It’s a way to link loops of different colors, to force them to stay within one section of the braid, instead of migrating across the whole braid. I taught this earlier for flat double braids–this is the same technique, but here I’m teaching it with the flat variation of a 7-loop square braid.

Flat double braids

My second tutorial on “double braids”! Here I show you how to braid a flat, ribbonlike double braid, twice as wide as the rectangular braid of my earlier tutorial, but made almost the same way. The tall braid photo located somewhere in my right sidebar is of a 10-loop flat double braid, made with color-linking – a color-manipulation trick that I demo in this tutorial.

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.