Important lessons: 1 - keep a cat-proof cover over your braiding at all times. 2 - the best way to learn a pattern thoroughly is to spend time unpicking your mistakes. 3) - try to keep small children where you can watch what they're up to....! :)
More seriously, kumihimo, which translates roughly as 'bringing together of threads', is the name given to a number of different methods of Japanese braiding which developed mainly to produce silk cords for use in temples (tying up scrolls, bell ropes) with kimono or for holding together armour/weaponry. The latter is what led to samurai warriors being trained in the art of kumihimo - you never know when you might have to repair your armour away from home. The braids used for kimono and clothing accessories were, not surprisingly, more decorative, very widespread (everyone has to wear clothes....) and developed the widest range of patterns and equipment to make them. They are best-known in the form of obi-jime, braids about 5 feet/1.4-1.5m long which are used to hold the obi (wide heavy silk sash) in place round the waist of the kimono. In common with many artefacts intended for religious use around the world, temple braids ranged from pure and simple up to the most elaborate and time-consuming pieces of art their makers could produce.
There are four main types of braiding stand or loom in use in Japan today for handmade obi-jime. They are the kakudai, marudai, ayatakedai and takadai.
The kakudai is probably the easiest to use, making nice simple braids fairly quickly. Essentially one braids round a short spike whilst a weight hung from above pulls the braid up. It is almost like braiding upside down compared to the more standard methods. The main drawback is the limited range which can be made with this - usually only using 4 or 8 bobbins and one of a dozen or so patterns, though the braids can be round or square, or even flattish, in cross-section..
The marudai is by far the most widely used amongst handicraft enthusiasts in the West, largely because of the relatively low cost of buying or making the fairly simple stand and limited number of bobbins required, and its portability. Braiding hangs down in a hole in the centre of the stand, pulled down by a weight to keep it taut, and whilst 8 or 16 bobbins are most commonly used, with more than 24 being rare owing to how crowded the marudai gets, in theory a very large number could be used and the variety of patterns which can be braided is quite wide. Braids can be made round, square, oblong or flat in cross-section, depending on how you move the bobbins, and all from the same little stand.
Ayatakedai
This is technically a weaving loom rather than braiding stand, and the threads have a definite warp and weft. As a result the basic 'stitches' are easily defined and many obi-jime made on the ayatakedai feature vertical or horizontal stripes. The pattern is achieved by moving warp threads (which run the length of the braid) up and down the V-shaped 'feathers' at the front of the loom to creat different sheds (gaps) through which the weft threads (the ones that go back and forth across the braid) pass. Many obijime made on the ayatakedai use bright colours. Summer obijime featuring thicker, stiffer threads and holed patterns are usually created on the ayatakedai. Some ayatakedai also have side arms with koma (blocks of pegs), as on the takadai, which allow for greater variation of pattern.
There are four main types of braiding stand or loom in use in Japan today for handmade obi-jime. They are the kakudai, marudai, ayatakedai and takadai.
The kakudai is probably the easiest to use, making nice simple braids fairly quickly. Essentially one braids round a short spike whilst a weight hung from above pulls the braid up. It is almost like braiding upside down compared to the more standard methods. The main drawback is the limited range which can be made with this - usually only using 4 or 8 bobbins and one of a dozen or so patterns, though the braids can be round or square, or even flattish, in cross-section..
The marudai is by far the most widely used amongst handicraft enthusiasts in the West, largely because of the relatively low cost of buying or making the fairly simple stand and limited number of bobbins required, and its portability. Braiding hangs down in a hole in the centre of the stand, pulled down by a weight to keep it taut, and whilst 8 or 16 bobbins are most commonly used, with more than 24 being rare owing to how crowded the marudai gets, in theory a very large number could be used and the variety of patterns which can be braided is quite wide. Braids can be made round, square, oblong or flat in cross-section, depending on how you move the bobbins, and all from the same little stand.
Ayatakedai
This is technically a weaving loom rather than braiding stand, and the threads have a definite warp and weft. As a result the basic 'stitches' are easily defined and many obi-jime made on the ayatakedai feature vertical or horizontal stripes. The pattern is achieved by moving warp threads (which run the length of the braid) up and down the V-shaped 'feathers' at the front of the loom to creat different sheds (gaps) through which the weft threads (the ones that go back and forth across the braid) pass. Many obijime made on the ayatakedai use bright colours. Summer obijime featuring thicker, stiffer threads and holed patterns are usually created on the ayatakedai. Some ayatakedai also have side arms with koma (blocks of pegs), as on the takadai, which allow for greater variation of pattern.
Takadai
The second best known type of braiding stand in the West, after the marudai, the takadai looks more like a weaving loom and is two feet or more across. The threads are braided by weaving them under, over or swapping round, and even complicated braids of 100 or so bundles of threads are kept in order by placing them on rows of pegs in blocks which can be slid up and down sets of grooved runners at the sides of the takadai. Most takadai braids are flat, 1/2 - 3/4" wide and use 60 or 68 threads for the typical patterned braids.
There is a modern hybrid takadai/ayatakedai known as the ayatakadai, whereby to save space/expense the basic frame can be adapted for both uses by the addition of either feathers at the front or koma (blocks of pegs) at the sides.
There are many other types: the karakumidai which has a row of nails or very small pegs along the top of each side of a square frame, seems to be gaining popularity in the West - perhaps because, like the marudai, it can be made by a competent woodworker quite easily. Others include the obosolete and complicated kago-uchidai, used mainly to make men's haori-himo, triangular sankakudai and many local variations, and machine-looms such as the naiki-dai which do a lot of the work for you.