bookmark_borderCoronation Braids, Spring A.S. 47

Our SCA Kingdom, the Sylvan Kingdom of Aethelmearc, had its Spring Coronation last weekend, so I made some braided medallion cords for the Baronial gift basket to the Crown.

Six silk medallion cords in red and white

I was a little short of time, having entered the six 16-tama braids I made in the fall into a largess derby in January, so I did mostly 8-tama braids. One of the braids is the 16-tama double-rai braid, four are yatsu se, and one is shige uchi. I should do a batch of the 9-tama shige uchi braid next time.

bookmark_borderMore 16-Tama Braided Cords

I recently finished up the sixth in a series of braids that will be used as cords for award medallions. Basically, they are necklaces from which you can hang a pendant. They all have ring-and-toggle closures made from aluminum jump rings.

6 Black-and-Gold Baronial Medallion Cords

Most notably, the leftmost braid in the image is of a pattern that I have never braided before. One of the 8-tama braids in Jacqui Carey’s book Creative Kumihimo that is not expanded into a 16-tama braid later is 8J, the Yatsu Sen pattern that is also used for the Yatsu Rai braid.

This made me wonder what the double-8J braid would be like. So, borrowing the mechanic used to expand 8F (Edo Yatsu) into 16T (Keiruko no Himo) to wit –

This creates a lovely braid with smooth 4-ridge rounded faces, and flat edges. I still have to sit down and work out the colorway grid for this braid, but I think my first try is quite attractive.

There’s a few different ways I think I can work a double-8J braid, so I will have to keep working on these double-8J patterns until I feel like I have them all figured out.

bookmark_borderFancy Square Braid

This braid is braid 16AD, the final braiding pattern, in Jacqui Carey’s book “Creative Kumihimo”. Essentially, it is a 12-strand braid that is overlapped with a 4-strand braid. I used it to create this braid which uses Baronial colors at the corners to protect a tight inner core of Kingdom colors.

The completed braid is about 30 inches long, with a ring-and-toggle closure so that it can be used as a medallion cord. Each strand of the 16 contains 6 ends of lace-weight silk yarn.

bookmark_borderCored Edo Yatsu Braid

It’s been a while since I did a cored braid, and I have my home made core stand, so here we go.

Black and gold cored edo yatsu braid

So there are actually 16-tama in this edo yatsu braid, which is actually an 8-tama braid. The “core stand” holds 8 of the tama over the center while the other 8 braid around them. Now I can work the core strands one by one into the braid, every few inches, until the color of the braid completely changes. Then it changes back.

bookmark_borderThird Flat Braid

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.

bookmark_borderAnother Flat Braid

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.

I think this pattern looks like fish scales

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.

bookmark_borderSide to Side Braids

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.

bookmark_borderAnother Kingdom Braid

Set up the marudai with another 16-tama braid in red and white. This one looks similar to the last one, and it’s braided similarly in alternating colors, but it’s based on a round braid instead of a square braid.

Braid 2020.01.09 01
Creative Kumihimo 16T

So yeah, 6 plies of lace-weight silk yarn per tama, using braiding pattern 16T from Jacqui Carey’s Creative Kumihimo.

bookmark_borderFirst Braid of the Year

I’ve made a resolution to start doing more 16-tama braids. I have been braiding for more than 10 years, and even though 8-tama braids are still fun to do, I should show some discipline and exert some real effort. This one is a good start because this pattern (Creative Kumihimo 16D) only has four steps, and you only move eight of the tama during each iteration. This gives the braid a nice twill structure and (if you set up the colors just right) this nice alternating zig-zag ring appearance. It may look round, but the shape of the braid is actually more octagonal.

16-tama braid in red and white silk
16-tama braid in red and white silk

Anyway, this braid is in Æthelmearc colors and has medallion-cord fittings. It will go to the Kingdom at some point.