Monday, March 2, 2015

Kumihimo

Cord and bracelet weaving. I picked up a neat little craft tool/toy the other day. I met another lady at a SCA meeting and she was using one of these and I was intrigued. When I saw one of these tools for sale shortly thereafter, I grabbed it up! Some kits come with the loom, bobbins, instructions, etc. but I found the loom, and looked up patterns online.

I found this site - http://fene4ki.ru/en/ which was originally in Russian, but translated to English by the creator so more can enjoy it.


I used this pattern, with different colors:

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Here is the Kumihimi tool -

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And here it is, loaded up and ready to go -

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Here is another view of the work, now in progress. I didn’t have bobbins, so I just bundled up the excess string (cotton cord) with a slip not.

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I used the oh-so-precise measurement of “arms’ length for cutting, and the resulting rope is 4-5 feet in length and quite pretty, as well as strong.

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It took maybe 3 hours to make. I didn’t time it exactly. I made it while watching tv and later, when waiting for the kids to finish piano class. I didn’t get a precise measurement as Honor already owns it!

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The author also shares a great little pattern maker program for this craft. I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s what was used to create this pattern.

http://fene4ki.ru/en/kumihimo-pattern-maker-program.html

4 comments:

Nomads By Nature said...

What a cool gadget!

Michele said...

Very cool!

Shannon inghaen Bhriain ui Dhuillean said...

Shamelessly parousing your blog now ... =) Kumihimo is on my list of "things to try"! Thanks for sharing the links to the patterns--I'll definitely bookmark those.

Connie said...

I haven't had this little toy for long, but find it oddly addicting. It's good for crafting with when I do not feel like paying attention, or when I may be easily distracted. I have been experimenting with cotton cord, plain ol' yarn, and I'm setting up a project with embroidery/craft thread now (3 strand - I have a feeling I will make a lot of knots! :D !) We all like the resulting cords.

Be aware that the pattern maker software makes nice little patterns, but it doesn't save them well. It will, for awhile, but then the saved files get corrupt and turn blank. I just print things out (screen shot) if I want to keep it.