Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Kumihimo - Marudai bucket style

New crafts present the problem of new materials, new tools and finding another space to store them. There is also the money issue, usually more than my budget will allow.

I read about kumihimo (Japanese braiding) and wanted to try it. The tools were a bit pricey for a beginner. So I improvised with the plastic lids from pint sized ice cream. I made several braids using cotton embroidery floss on embroidery floss bobbins. Not pretty, but it worked.

I wanted to make a really long braid that I would use as a component in other crafts. Starting with nylon thread on 16 bobbins that I made with dowels and wooden toy wheels:

Tama made of dowel and 2 wooden toy wheels

My marudai is a knitting loom on a 5 gallon pickle bucket on a lazy susan:

5 gallon bucket with Knit a round and lazy susan and handmade tama

I've made quite a bit of braid so far:

Braid so far

Mostly this will be used as drawstrings, straps and piping on sewn bags.

Take care and keep your yarn dry.

9 comments:

  1. I havent gotten into that yet,, but what you've done is brilliant!

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  2. What a great idea! I got the disk a couple of months ago and haven't done a thing. There is a bead store locally that will teach it but I haven't seen any advertising for the classes. I never would have thought of making a big one from the knitting loom! Very nice.

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  3. The pegs are helpful in separating the threads.

    I would check out Youtube for basic instruction. I bought a book:

    http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Braiding-Kumihimo-Jacqui-Carey/dp/1844484262/ref=sr_ob_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1303380580&sr=8-5,

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  4. This is ingenious! I have the looms. I was looking at the the other day and was trying to figure out how the could be used in kumihimo. Glad i found this.

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  5. Brilliant!! Thanks for sharing. Finding this made my day

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  6. What great idea! Technically I suppose there is no limit to the size of a kumihimo disk/braid.

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  7. Did you anchor the loom down on the bucket? If so, what did you use?

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    Replies
    1. Sorry about the lateness of my reply! No, it fits well on the top of the bucket and all the strings keep it in place.

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  8. The history of hand knitting dates back to before the 1600s, although this only represents the recording of the art of knitting. There is much controversy about descriptions of items found at archeological sites and in literature about whether they were woven or knit. https://mycrochetpattern.com/beginners/3-sc-decrease/

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