Longer loop braids, and starts with no ends
Two topics: 1. Braiding longer lengths than your reach, and 2. Starting braids with no loose ends at the top. (These two topics are slightly related.)
Double braid workshop at Braids 2012
I am very excited about this! I just got word that my workshop proposal (Intro to double braids as a solo braider) was accepted by the organizers of Braids 2012! That’s an international braiding conference (who knew?) that will be held in Manchester, England next year, August 20 – 24, put on by the Braid…
Back later…
I’ll be on vacation for a month, leaving on the 12th or so, and will only have sporadic internet access (we’ll be camping).
Tutorial: 11-loop braids
Eleven-loop braids! Yes, just like 5, 7, and 9-loop square and flat braids, but with 11 loops, so more color possibilities, and a bigger braid…Requires holding two loops on the little finger. Photo-tute and videos.
Tutorial: 9-loop braids
Why waste two of our ten fingers? Use thumbs to make even bigger and better braids! This was done historically in (at least) China and Finland, as well as by my first loop braiding teacher here in the U.S.
Reader gallery pics (braids and knots!)
Update: Dominic Taylor will be teaching knotting at Braids 2016! His 2-day class is called Cylindrical Braids, which refers to nautical-type knotted ‘braids’ that can be formed around solid objects—like handles of tools, etc.
Here are photos sent in by a reader, Dominic, of some of his “bicolor loop magic” braids. Beautiful braids, and the knotting he’s done with them (and other cords) is fantastic!
Back soon…
I’ll be away from the computer the first half of April, will work on getting some basic V-fell tutorials up when I’m back online. In the meantime there are instructions for a rather complicated 7-loop braid in Why Spanish?*, also an alternative method for Lace Dawns and Piol** on my Too-many-loops page. 3/30/2011 * (Now…
Medieval 2-worker braid from a German cathedral
This is an incredible finger loop braid from the 14th Century! It’s only known from a single museum artifact somewhat older than the 15th C. loop braiding manuscripts. This braid is amazingly similar to a Japanese kute-uchi braid that was made by a completely different method…
You CAN put your loops down!
Despite what you may have heard, when fingerloop braiding, you really can put your loops down and take breaks!
Bicolor loop magic (tutorial)
Bicolor loops are loops made out of two colors, tied or linked together. They can create very different braid patterns than the patterns you can get from single-color loops. Tutorial and tips for using bicolor loops, including 3 basic bicolor pattern variations that can be made with 5 or more loops, and how to switch between patterns within one braid…
Tutorial for the 7-loop spanish braid
If you are already comfortable braiding 7-loop square braids, this seven-loop braid might be fun to try next. It has twice as many loop transfers as a square braid–and they are done differently than you might expect! (Includes set-up instructions for several different color patterns.)
A Spanish braid, breed, breadth
An intricate and unusual 7-loop braid —the word for braid was spelled some funny ways in the 17th C. manuscripts— is the basis of the 14-loop alphabet braid. Joy Boutrup described this 7-loop braid in her recent groundbreaking analysis of the 17th C. letter braids.
Citrus letterbraid, pt 2
Ok, I finished the last bit, and decided to take a couple more pics after washing it and before sending it off. After shrinking less than an inch, it’s 46 inches total–40 inches to the point where it splits into 2 separate parts for the first half of the “tail.” A little over 1/2 inch…
Citrus letterbraid, pt. 1
I’m almost finished madly braiding a letterbraid to send in to the Braid Society’s Traveling Exhibition*—still fiddling with the braidlets at the end. The orange is DMC cotton embroidery floss, doubled, so 12-strand, and the light green is an unknown brand of silk knitting yarn of similar weight (sport? or maybe thinner). The braid is…
Loop Braiding 