I used four sections of Imposter rayon from Braidershand for each side of the necklace. Each section was doubled and then divided in half to wind the sixteen 70g tama, because I wanted the finished braid to be dainty enough not to overwhelm the pendant. I chose color #63 Olive, color #58 Gold Taupe and color #6 Dark Coral. I began each side by working 21 repetitions of maru yotsu with Olive/Gold Taupe and Olive/Dark Coral. Because I was working both sections of the maru yotsu at the same time (as with the first part of a sippou sequence), I used an 8-ounce (227g) counterweight. When the 21 repetitions of the sequence were complete, I passed the sections of maru yotsu through the hole in the pendant, taking care to do this underneath the mirror on the maru dai since the stone piece is too large to pass through the hole in the mirror. I then wound the remaining eight tama using the other half of the Imposter sections and increased the counterweight to 16 ounces (455g). The colors were arranged as shown in the diagram, with the eight tama that were originally used taking postitions 1-4 and 9-12, and the newly introduced tama in postitions 5-8 and 13-16.
The flat braid structure that I chose is a variation of Naka-tukusi using sixteen elements of the same size instead of thicker elements in postitions 3-6 and 11-14. Instructions for the Naka-tukusi structure on the maru dai are found on page 93 of Makiko Tada’s Comprehensive Treatise on Braids Volume I: Maru Dai Braids and page 63 of Jacqui Carey’s Creative Kumihimo .
I completed 9.5 inches (24cm) of the flat braid, and then, in order to make it easier to mount the braid in a cylindrical finding, I worked 4 complete sequences of the kongoh structure before ending the braid. Once the second side of the necklace was finished, I glued the ends into the finding from Lavaliere Sterling and Stones in New York.

The third band from the top of the pendant has a small grid pattern in the two colors, and I chose to pick up that motif in the braid. I chose the familiar 16 tama kara uchi gumi, or hollow braid, to encase the plastic support. Instructions for the kara uchi gumi structure on the maru dai are found on page 87 of Makiko Tada’s Comprehensive Treatise on Braids Volume I: Maru Dai Braids, page 60 of Jacqui Carey’s Creative Kumihimo , page 141 of Rodrick Owen’s Braids: 250 Patterns from Japan, Peru & Beyond, and page 67 of Catherine Martin’s Kumihimo: Japanese Silk Braiding Techniques.

The braid worked up very quickly because I used the pre-measured Imposter silk substitute from Braidershand: three sections from a package of color #20 Black and one section from a package of color #1 Sky Blue. All four of the sections were knotted in the center of their lengths and then each element was divided in half in order to wind the sixteen tama. I used 454g of counterweight for the sixteen 70g tama.

The initial color setup placed the four Sky Blue tama at positions 1, 3, 8 and 10, with all of the remaining twelve positions in Black. I braided the entire 19-inch (48cm) length of the hollow braid and then allowed myself a few centimeters more in case the ends became stressed during the insertion of the plastic support. I removed all of the tama and then slid the braid over the support, being careful not to twist it. This allowed the zig-zag part of the pattern to be displayed instead of the “connected pinwheels” which would have shown if I had rotated the finished braid about 90 degrees around the flat core.

I borrowed the idea for the tassel closure in the back from one of Karen Huntoon’s students in Truckee, California. When I visited her Kumihimo Group meeting last November, I was impressed by a necklace made with a loop start and a tassel coming through the loop as a closure that hung down the back of the wearer. Since I have very short hair, I liked the idea of a point of interest in the back as well as in the front. It would work equally well for someone with longer hair who chose to wear it in a chignon or ponytail. (You can see in this photo that the end on the left had twisted to reveal the alternate pattern as described above.)

I tried something different with the loop start for this necklace. The structure for the loop is an 8 tama maru genji or square braid. Instructions for the maru genji structure on the maru dai are found on page 25 of Makiko Tada’s Comprehensive Treatise on Braids Volume I: Maru Dai Braids, page 37 of Jacqui Carey’s Creative Kumihimo , page 18 of Carey’s Beginner’s Guide to Braiding: The Craft of Kumihimo, and page 59 of Rodrick Owen’s Braids: 250 Patterns from Japan, Peru & Beyond.

If we add eight more tama to the array but keep the same braiding movements, we achieve an octagonal structure that allows a variety of interesting color arrangments. Instructions for the sixteen tama octagonal maru genji gumi structure on the maru dai are found on page 72 of Makiko Tada’s Comprehensive Treatise on Braids Volume I: Maru Dai Braids, page 50 of Jacqui Carey’s Creative Kumihimo , page 97 of Rodrick Owen’s Braids: 250 Patterns from Japan, Peru & Beyond, and page 59 of Catherine Martin’s Kumihimo: Japanese Silk Braiding Techniques.

Because the method of braiding is the same for both braid structures, it is easy to bring the additional eight tama into the braid to close the loop by adding them at positions 1,4,5,6,9,12,13 and 16 – the next tama to be moved on their respective sides. In the color set up diagram shown here, you can see that in the eight tama braid I chose to isolate the #25 Cool Red elements on the East and West sides of the mirror, and alternate the #54 Burgundy and color #19 Wine elements along the North and South faces of the braid. When I brought the other ends of each element onto the mirror, I placed them as shown in the diagram to the left (the original eight tama are shown in grey to make it easier to see where the new elements were added).

The diagram to the right demonstrates the relationship of the two braid structures. The left column shows the movements for the eight tama braid, and the right column shows the same steps when there are sixteen tama involved. I used 227g of counterweight for the eight 70g tama when braiding the loop start, then increased the counterweight to 454g when I added the rest of the tama. I continued braiding for a length of about 56cm (22 inches), then I moved all of the tama except four in the #25 Cool Red to the northwest and southeast quadrants of the mirror. I divided the rayon on each of the remaining four tama in half and wound an additional four tama. Then I worked enough of an eight strand round braid to wrap around the tassel before I took the braid off the maru dai.

These photos show how I created the tassel at the end of the braid opposite the loop start. I began by setting aside some of the #25 Cool Red for wrapping. The third section at the top of the photo is the section of small round braid that will wrap the finished tassel later.

I left more than enough length for the tassel to the right of the point where the braiding stopped, but placed the remainder of the warp waste back around the end of the braid (which is in the center here). Then I wrapped the unbraided threads tightly around the braid, stitching through the braid at intervals to keep it secure.

I smoothed the threads that had been laid towards the beginning of the braid back over the initial wrapping stitches and continued to wrap the tassel.

When the threads were secure, I stitched the round braid in place to cover the thread wrapping, and placed a Post-It™ Note around the loose threads to keep them in place while I trimmed the ends even. I stitched the key to the wrapped braid and the necklace was ready to wear.

This braid is a variation of the ridged spiral structure on pages 21 through 24 of Makiko Tada’s Comprehensive Treatise on Braids Volume VI: Kumihimo Disk and Plate, although I added an extra set of four tama and worked the braid on the maru dai. The four sets of four move clockwise and never mingle with any elements from the other sets, so the colors stay separate. The black elements tie the structure together (also moving clockwise) but they form the edge of the spiral instead of the core as the braid for the Snake Necklace did. As with all spiral braids, the tama are allowed to “walk” around the mirror or disk, which helps to encourage the spiral to form and stay consistent. Moving the counterweight frequently is also important with this braid. While it may be possible to braid for a long time without moving the counterweight if you have long enough legs on your maru dai, the angle of the spiral will change if you do not keep the counterweight at a fairly consistent distance from the underside of the mirror. I found that braiding five or six sequences of the five movements was all that I could do before the counterweight needed to be adjusted. Moving the counterweight bag frequently also prevents the stress of the loop that holds the bag from deforming the braid when it is left in one place for too long.

I used sixteen 70g tama for the orange and blue elements and four 100g tama for the black elements. I used 680g of counterweight. Each tama carried 16 strands of 40wt machine embroidery rayon, and the black elements were measured at twice the length of the other colors to provide room for the extra take-up. The black elements are Robison Anton 2296 Black, the orange elements are Robison Anton 2397 Sunkist and 2236 Paprika, and the blue elements are Robison Anton 2441 Baltic Blue.

The silver toggle clasp is from Silver Enchantments, the split rings are from Gifts of Avalon, and the end caps are from the Bead Max Corporation in New York.

I did not decrease the size of the points as is suggested on page 79 of the book – all of my petlas are the same size. When I had completed the number of points that I wanted, I used a tapestry needle to needleweave the ends back into the last point segment, and then sewed the points together to form the flower. I finished the center by making French Knots with some of the darker cotton. A few more stitches attached the finished flower to a pin back, and now it is ready for a hat band or jacket!

Since the inside of the donut was purple, I chose to arrange the colors so that the edges of the loop braid were blue and green. The initial setup (shown at left) was blue at positions 1 and 7, green at positions 2 and 4, then purple at positions 3,5,6,and 8. I used 227g in the counterweight bag, and I made sure that the weight bag and hook would not snag the other end of the warp that hung below. I braided 40 sequences of kara yatsu to form the loop. (I miscounted with the second half of the bracelet – be careful with your counting and don’t get distracted!)

When the 40 sequences were complete, I carefully brought the other end of the warp up through the hole in the mirror (above, left) and wound the elements on the remaining eight tama (above, right). The counterweight was increased at this point to 510g to accomodate the extra tama. Some careful thought is required to minimize the floats that result from the new color arrangement and bringing in the previously-unused set of tama. After several tries, I found that placing the the “new” blue elements at positions 1 and 14, the original blue elements at positions 6 and 9, “new” green elements at positions 2 and 13, the original green elements at positions 5 and 10, the “new purple elements at positions 3, 12, 15 and 16, and the original purple elements at positions 4, 7, 8 and 11 gave me the shortest floats at the transition between braids. I took care to avoid twisting the loop braid, as well, because I wanted it to lie flat. This would not have been a consideration with a loop braid that had a round structure. If you don’t wish to increase the number of tama for the remainder of the braid, the corresponding unbraided portions of the warp can be added to the existing elements.

When both sides of the bracelet were finished, I used the same type of clasp that I used in the Princess Pink necklace. I haven’t been able to get back to the nearest Hobby Lobby to see if more are available, and I am disappointed with myself for not purchasing more of them. The item, packaged for Hobby Lobby under the brand “The Jewelry Shoppe Findings”, is labeled “611350 Glue On Slide Clasp” and is not available in their online store, so I am hoping that no one else has been interested in them and I can buy more soon.

The structure for this braid is very simple: maru genji. It works up very quickly and easily, and the resulting braid is very flexible. At this scale it is slightly harder than when it is worked with more strands per tama, but after experimenting with different amounts of counterweight, I opted for using only 50% of the total tama weight (8 ounces or 227g) so that the individual stitches in tbe braid would remain square. It took me roughly five hours to complete the 137 inches (3.5m) of braid. Instructions for the maru genji structure on the maru dai are found on page 25 of Makiko Tada’s Comprehensive Treatise on Braids Volume I: Maru Dai Braids, page 37 of Jacqui Carey’s Creative Kumihimo , page 18 of Carey’s Beginner’s Guide to Braiding: The Craft of Kumihimo, and page 53 of Rodrick Owen’s Braids: 250 Patterns from Japan, Peru & Beyond.

The creation of the braid was the simple part – using it to create the necklace I envisioned was more complex, though not difficult. With patience, this is definitely a beginner-level project. First I determined the inner length of the braid (roughly 18 inches, or 45cm), including the width of the magnetic slide clasp from Hobby Lobby.

Then, after marking the center point, I divided the braid into segments which gradually decreased in size from center to end. I marked each division with quilting pins with large heads so that the braid would not slip off too easily and so that I could remove them easily when the time came.

Each subsequent row contained an increasing number of stitches to create the drops. The stitch where the pin is inserted was NOT included in the counts given here – this list is only the number of stitches between pins.


First drop row pinned to base row. (The yellow pin head indicates the center stitch in the base row.)

Second drop row pinned to previous two rows.

 
Third drop row pinned to previous three rows.

Once all four rows had been pinned, they were sewn together with four strands of the rayon, and sliver beads were added as spacers. The rayon carried on the tapestry needle (using a rounded tip needle prevents splitting any of the threads which make up the braid) disappears nicely into the braid if you’re careful to avoid spanning two stitches in the braid structure. The path of the thread through the beads is shown here.
 

Beads were not added at points where the number of stitches in a row was equal to the number in the previous row, as shown in the back view of the necklace.

The magnetic clasp slides open vertically.

The braid structure that I chose is a variation and expansion of hira yatsu found on page 73 of Jacqui Carey’s Creative Kumihimo . I used sixteen 70g tama, but I increased the counterweight to 24 ounces (680g) to make the braid more supple. The fiber was from the supply of Imposter from Braidershand: color #61 Graphite, #40 Silver and #6 Dark Coral. The 105″ (2.7m) length tied in the center gave a warp length of 52 inches (1.3m). When the braiding was complete, the finished length was 27.5 inches (68.5cm) of braid with 12 inches (30.5cm) waste.

My choice of braid structure was both for the hand of the finished braid and for the way the colors could be arranged. The initial color set-up was as follows: color #6 Dark Coral at positions 1 and 12; color #40 Silver at positions 2 and 11; and color #61 Graphite at positions 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,13,14,15, and 16.

The magnetic clasp is from Facebead. The design includes a receptacle at each end which is ideal for mounting a braid, and there is a small latch that reinforces the magnetic closure. The rhodium plated finish is very nice and the effect seems very modern and attractive.

I chose a spiral structure in plain black rayon to allow the focus to remain on the pendant itself. (For more information on how this type of spiral braid is constructed, see the instructions for the Spiral Snake Necklace I did last November.) This time I chose to use sixteen 70g tama for the float elements instead of twelve that I used for the Snake Necklace. Again I used four 100g tama to carry the tie-down elements in order to provide the increased tension necessary for a well-formed spiral braid. The tie-down elements were one-half the size of the float elements (and twice as long to account for the increased take-up for those elements), and each of the four carried a single strand of C-Lon to carry beads. I used a counterweight of 20 ounces (567g).

I made several attempts to drop 6/0 or 11/0 glass beads on the tie-down elements, but I was unhappy with the inconsistency of the bead placement. In the end, I left all beads off during the first half of the braiding process. When I had completed enough of the spiral structure for the first half of the necklace, I stabilized the braid with the chopstick and removed the strands of C-Lon from the tie-down elements. I passed all four of the C-Lon strands through eighteen 11/0 TOHO glass beads, then threaded the beaded length through the small hole in the pendant. I returned the C-Lon strands to the four 100g tama and continued to braid the spiral structure until I matched the length of the first half of the necklace. In this way, there are four very strong pieces of C-Lon to support the weight of the stone pendant and stand up to whatever abrasion may occur within the glass beads.

The Imposter Rayon in color #20 Black and the end caps are from Braidershand, the magnetic clasp is from Toho Shoji Crafts & Parts in New York, and the split jump rings are from Gifts of Avalon. After spending the majority of January closely supervising tradesmen who were working on an exterior renovation of my home, I am thrilled to be able to get back into the studio to braid!