Hello everyone! I’d like to show you something I made last week using the art of ancient Japanese braiding called Kumihimo. But before that, just a trivia, in ancient times, Kumihimo was created by finger-loop braiding and no tool was used. Japanese patiently use their skills in braiding with their bare hands. Then later on Marudai and Takadai were invented to make complex braiding much faster.
Marudai from Wikipedia
Takadai from Wikipedia
Nowadays, Kumihimo disks are made of foam plastic that’s, sort of, a portable Marudai - small and easy to carry anywhere. And because the modern Kumihimo disk is convenient to carry, I was able to finish my braided bracelet and keychain, halfway while traveling to visit a relative last week.
And here they are!!!
Originally, I wanted to take pictures and show everyone the steps of braiding but was not able to take photos. I was traveling when I did the keychain. Besides, as you can see, my photos weren't that clear. But I did found some pretty good video tutorials from craftycrafter and uploaded them on DIYLessons for everyone's benefit.
There's a video that will teach you the basics of Kumihimo braiding and this is good for starters. I also found a video on braiding with beads showing a very beautiful necklace. You can also learn onhow to finish Kumihimo braids with Cord End caps, which is so helpful in making jewelries and having that neat finish. And there's a video that shares helpful tips to determine where you to resume after a pause 'cause sometimes we need to stop and do something else and we get confused on what thread we stopped.
I recommend these videos. They're great!
Here's a necklace from craftycrafter. It uses the basic 8-strand braid added with beads.
Beautiful, isn't it?
So, let's get started and learn the basic with this
free video from craftycrafter on DIYLessons.
