As threatened, here’s the third 16-tama flat braid, using the hira nami braiding pattern.
It looks chaotic, sure, but it’s completely deterministic like all braids, and it uses a very simple color setup of “GKGK GKGK GKGK GKGK”. It’s just not all that attactive unless you’re super into weird braids.
Last Pennsic, a friend asked me if I could make a shogi for her like the ones I have made for us. I said yes, because I had some things I wanted to try. I tried out a new method for the leg joinery, and a new method for sewing the seat fabric, earlier this year. I bought some new hinge hardware back before the virus shutdown, so it was time to get cracking. I started in earnest a few days ago, and I finished it up today.
Now, if we ever have another SCA event, this stool is ready. If you zoom in on the picture, you can see that I used the same wedged through-tenons with curved shoulders that I used on the previous shogi. The only real difference is that I bought some connector bolts to use as the pivot hinges where the legs cross. There is also a bronze bushing in there to make sure the hinge works smoothly. All this special hardware was a little pricey, but I think it will be worth it in the long run, and even thought the hexagonal recesses in the bolt heads look a little modern, I think the hardware gives the completed stool a much more finished look.
This braid uses the same 16-tama hira nami braid that I used for the last braid in the “side to side” series, but the colors were set up in a “quartered” pattern instead.
That is, if most times you see this braid set up in a “top and bottom” pattern of “KKKK KKKK GGGG GGGG” , and the “side to side” pattern is “KKKK GGGG GGGG KKKK” , then this pattern is “KKKK GGGG KKKK GGGG” . Next, I am doing the same braid in “KGKG KGKG KGKG KGKG” which comes out much more chaotic-looking than you would think.
Going through my photos from last May of the Japanese garden at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, I found this image I took that I thought would make a good desktop background. Please feel free to download it for your personal use.
It is of the “dry garden” portion of the garden, and was taken from almost ground level to simulate the experience of being part of the garden yourself. The name of the garden, “Tenshin-En”, translates to “Garden of the Heart of Heaven”.
I am posting this with great sadness. Those of you who know already who Chris Hall is probably also know already that he passed away the day before yesterday at the end of a long battle with cancer. Chris Hall was a woodworker who I never met in person, but who I got to know through his Internet presence and real world product. Chris’ work always showed extreme effort and serious attention to detail. He always showed, usually step by step over the course of several months, exactly how much beauty a person can create through relentless dedication to craft. He shared so much of himself with the Internet, and everybody I know who recognizes his name will always mourn him.
Several years ago, he rebuilt the entrance gate to the Tenshin-En Japanese garden at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I finally had a chance to visit the garden and its gate back in May, and the peaceful nature of this garden will always serve as a memorial to Chris for me. Here is one small detail of the gate, to show the nature of his precision and attention to even the smallest parts of every project.
I had some silk measured out for some medallion cords in Barony colors, so I decided to try out some variations on braids where the colors pass from side to side.
The top four are 8-tama braids, and the one at the bottom is a 16-tama braid. When I make these pre-measured braid set-ups, each color has 32 ends of silk, so it’s easy to make either 16-tama braids or 8-tama braids.
Kingdom coronation was held virtually this weekend, so we got dressed up at home for the teleconference. Here’s a comparison of the gentleman in the “Nenbutsu Gathering” scroll with me in my daimon hitatare.
Now I can attach the braids!
Following up on my problematic attempt at some Bob the Angry Flower embroidery, was this more successful attempt from a few weeks ago:
I am much happier with the way this one came out. I need to figure out which of my heretofore-unadorned polo shirts needs a BtAF embellishment. I could also really use a few more colors of embroidery thread for the machine. The “pepto pink” thread isn’t exactly wrong for Bob, but it could be closer match to Stephen Notley’s artwork.
