Thursday, March 13, 2008

Kumihimo


Aryd'ell has inspired the Bead Dreamz Group members to try kumihimo, a Japanese weave or braid. She has coined a new term, kumibeado, because as a bead group, one has to add beads to the kumihimo fibers. Traditionally one uses a marudai which is like a wooden stool with a hole in the middle, but Aryd'ell found a foam marudai that one can hold in one's hand. It makes for a fast and effortless way to braid and add beads. Jackie went as far as to take a class in the traditional method and also taught her grandson how to weave. The picture on the left shows the result. The three of us encourage all of the other members to try kumibeado. Please watch for other pictures as more members become involved.

3 comments:

WickedOakDesigns said...

The piece looks just like bead crochet. Beautiful job.

Gypsy said...

And it works up so much faster, from start to finish about 2 hours, than bead crochet! Using fireline means never having stretch problems, either. Thanks for looking, Billie!

Anonymous said...

What a great piece. I've been making these and I seem to get some beads sitting under other beads. It's an interesting, adding a raised spiral in addition to the visual spiral in the bead colors.

Any tips on how to keep a nice smooth surface like yours. I was aiming for a faster version of beaded crochet look.

I didn't think of fireline, I've been using YLI thread or perle cotton. The next piece will be fireline!