Just browsed the internet (whilst waiting for the courier to come and pick up my new sewing machine, to send it back to the shop for repair..sigh..was so looking forward to doing all kinds of things on it, but only managed a lavender bag and a little appliqued piggy on a pencil case before it all jammed) and found that Michael in Germany has finally added a new post to his wonderful kumihimo blog. (If I ever work out how to link to other blogs, his’ll be there.) Life is busy, but keep it up, please, Michael! Anyway, he ALSO has a kikko-gumi that’s been sat on his takadai for ages whilst life, gardening and other things get in the way and his is taking forever too. Though it seems he’s a bit ahead of me. Perhaps I should challenege him to a race to keep us both up to the mark? I had hoped I might get mine done by 23rd November when I am going for a small takadai workshop….no way. All of a sudden that’s only a week away. And ‘m NOT moving the takadai until it’s finished, so will probably end up charting takadai patterns (ayagaki) for the day – good practice, but not the most time-effective way for me to spend a rare child-free day.
I am not alone!
November 16th, 2011Braided necklaces
November 8th, 2011Well, strictly speaking, braids for pendants, I suppose. M-I-L came to stay in the late summer and let on at the end of her stay that she has been doing a bit of beading and jewellery recently. We visited Stratford-upon-Avon (in the pouring rain and temp of only 13 degrees C – in-laws saying “Aren’t English summers cold?” and me replying “Not usually this cold! It’s absolutely freezing!”) and she picked out a pendant in a funky jewelry shop opposite the Shakespeare Centre, and a couple of glass pendants at Hobby craft on the way back, so I offered to make braids to complement them. Results are here – all done in silk on the marudai using 8 tama (bobbins) with finished diameters of 3.5-6mm.
Marudai braided necklaces in silk
Quick update
November 6th, 2011I know, I know – I have to do this more often AND get some photos up. A good New Year’s resolution, methinks. For now I’d better give a brief rundown of recent kumihimo-related stuff, starting with the most recent – went to the Japanese Embassy in London on Thursday evening for a “Private Viewing” of the Insight Into Beauty II exhibition (runs until the beginning of December), where several of my Braid Society and kumihimo friends are exhibiting.
Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos in the exhibition, but I may manage to blag a few to put on here in the future. I believe pictures of some of Sandy Jessett’s elegant multi-stranded necklaces have already been published on the Braid Society’s homepage. Jennie Parry had pushed the boundaries of traditional takadai braiding again with a collection of sculptural braids, mainly in white but with black contrasts, reflective thread (certain amount of dodging about required here to get the right angle to view) and some fantastic lacy, frilled braids made with paper threads – reminded me of those frills you put on a rack of lamb! Jacqui Carey had gone even further sculpturally – not braids at all but braided wire creations. Edna Gibson’s collection of colourful karakumidai pieces showed more, quite different examples of how widely ‘kumihimo’ can be defined whilst Makiko Tada’s beautifully-executed traditional obijime and braided scarf were much coveted, including one double-sided tortoiseshell pattern (ryoumen kikko-gumi) which brings me back down to earth, as I am attempting a single-sided kikko gumi and (despite having been told how simply it is by so many people) failing miserably to advance very far. most days seem to be two steps forward, two steps back!
kikko-gumi
Anyway, the rest of the exhibition was mostly ceramics/pottery, about which I know very little, but I loved Namiko Murakoshi’s cute Namnam collection and could see that ‘Gas’ Kimishima’s rough-textured, brown vases and other works were very good indeed. Incidentally, yesterday I was in Cambridge (busy week) and he had kindly donated a couple of his pieces for a tsunami fundraising sale at the Kaetsu centre there, so I had the privilege of seeing even more of his work.
Kumihimo trial lesson
July 21st, 2011Whoo-hoo! The class went well, must admit to being nervous beforehand but everyone seemed to really enjoy it and they were all so proud of their Edogumi keyring fobs when they’d finished. I had, however, slightly vastly underestimated how long it would take novice braiders to put 8 bobbins on….what with that and chatting about example braids, the evening finished at 10:30 instead of 9p.m…….next time I may set up each marudai completely in advance.
Getting going…blog and kumihimo classes
July 19th, 2011I can’t believe how busy the last year has been, especially 2011 with school volunteering and then tsunami fundraising events as well. I haven’t written anything on this blog since setting it up and no further progress on the takadai since trying three-layer braids last autumn. I did chart out a pick-up braid pattern for a Hello Kitty face, just for fun, but when it will get made is anybody’s guess! Tried a few kumihimo disc braids from Makiko Tada’s book and adapted them back to marudai methods – the ridged 12-strand spiral is very pretty and my 6-year old son is now making a necklace for his teacher in this pattern. I will try to get some photos up soon….maybe the school holidays will give me more free time.
Possibly with less than commonsense, given how busy everything has been, I decided to actually do something about teaching kumihimo and now have a classful of Japanese ladies…starting tomorrow…..ought to be preparing for that instead of typing this! Several English ladies are interested too so I will do a trial lesson for them in the near future. It’s easier to do two separate classes, not just because of being able to teach in one language at a time but because the aims and learning styles will be different. Generalising here, but English people who want to try kumihimo are usually already experienced textile crafters who want to learn a new method, but are not usually particularly interested in kimono or making silk obi-jime. They like to experiment with different materials and beads, making jewellery and curtain tie-backs, and progress quickly through the patterns and methods. The Japanese want to learn in a more traditional and structured way, step-by-step through the range of patterns, perfecting one before moving on and will persevere for the length of an obi-jime (approx 1.5m.) because they want to wear it afterwards. I’m hoping to be able adapt sufficiently to these different styles and inspire everyone with the same love of kumihimo that I have.
As a minor point, have just discovered how to add colour to this text…feeling much happier now!
Hello world!
April 5th, 2010A blog to cope with all the pictures of braids now that I am actually getting some done! The website page was getting overwhelmed. ホームページで組んだ紐の写真は多すぎて困りましたのでブロッグを作ろうと思っています。