medallion cord – Nothing In It

Rainbow Sankakudai Braids

Posted on 2024.09.122024.08.22 by Elliott Evans

When the call went out before Pennsic for largesse items to be gifted to the East Kingdom, one of the suggestions was “rainbow” color schemes. I did all my braids in purple and gold to match East colors, but the rainbow idea stuck in the back of my mind. I later realized that as possibly the only person in North America to own a traditional Japanese sankaku-dai, I was maybe the only person in the SCA who could create braids in the classic 7-color “Roy G. Biv” (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) rainbow pattern. Seven-strand braids are possible on other braiding stands, but they are fast and smooth on the sankakudai.

Sankaku-dai set up for 7-strand rainbow braid

To work a 7-set braid on the sankakudai, you lift the top strand on left, and move it over the other left-hand threads to become the bottom strand on the right. Then you do the same from right to left. When the point of braiding gets too close to the tip, use the roller to pull it back towards the torii. When the tama get too close to the mirror of the dai, extend them as you would on a marudai. You can add twist to the strands or not, as you please. I have found very little difference in the resulting braid, but that may be because of the material I am using.

Here are the 3 rainbow braids I made in one evening on my sankakudai:

braid-20240821-1 — Sankakudai 7-set rainbow braid,
8 ends of crochet cotton per strand
(twist applied)

braid-20240821-2 — Sankakudai 7-set rainbow braid,
8 ends of crochet cotton per strand
(no twist)

braid-20240821-3 — Sankakudai 7-set rainbow braid,
10 ends of crochet cotton per strand
(no twist)

Adding more ends per strand make a braid that is only a little wider, but much softer. I am really glad I tried this braid, and happy to add it to my repertoire. These braids are cheerful and friendly, and I know that people will enjoy receiving them.

Double-Hira Braid

Posted on 2024.02.17 by Elliott Evans

So, if you remember my posting from about a year ago, sometimes I experiment with 8-strand braids that I have never tried a 16-strand “doubling” of. I was really happy with my doubling of the yatsu-se gumi, but for some reason I never thought to try a doubling of the 8-strand version of the shige-uchi braid (which is not really a shigeuchi at all) until now. Here is the pattern for the 8-strand braid:

If you expand the setup to 16 strands (with 8 groups of 2 instead of just 4 groups of 2) but keep the asymmetrical first move, the braid open up what would have been a naiki gumi round hollow braid into a wide, flat braid with a single layer plain weave,

16-strand flat braid in black and gold silk

I suppose this should be called the hira ju-roku gumi or “flat 16″ braid. The width of this braid varies due to variations in tension, but it averages about 5/8” (about 15mm) wide, which is very wide for a marudai braid. Mine came out very loose, but that may have been a function of the marudai I was using. For a braid this wide, I really should have used a marudai with a deeper “well” and a wider hole in the middle of the mirror. Anyway, the looseness makes this braid very soft and flexible.

Delft Braids

Posted on 2023.02.122023.01.13 by Elliott Evans

The Barony of Delftwood in our sylvan Kingdom of Aethelmearc invested a new Baronage yesterday! The call went out from the Baronage of the Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands for largess to add to our gift basket to the new Baron and Baroness. I decided to make some braids!

All seven of these braids were made on the marudai using cotton crochet thread. I used four plies of thread per strand, four strands of blue and four strands of white. The braids are a variety pack of 7 different braid shapes. All have ring and toggle closures and come with an extra jump ring so that they can be used as medallion cords. They are all approximately 30 inches long.

Variations on the Double-Rai Gumi

Posted on 2023.02.062023.02.06 by Elliott Evans

I completed these braids back in November or December, but I was holding off posting about them because I was going to put them in the Coronation gift basket in April. Then, I found out there was a largesse display at Baronial 12th Night.

6 16-strand “Double Rai” braids in red and white

They are all color variations on the same braid, with 8 red and 8 white strands per braid. The effects of the different starting positions produce end results that are similar to those produced for other 16-strand braids that are doubles of 8-strand braids.

More 16-Tama Braided Cords

Posted on 2022.10.032022.09.27 by Elliott Evans

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.

Braids for Spring Coronation

Posted on 2022.04.102021.11.18 by Elliott Evans

I did these braids back in the fall, but I held onto them for a while and then put them into the Baronial gift basket to the crown for Kingdom coronation. I’m posting today because Coronation was yesterday.

From left to right there are two 9-strands flat braids, three 16-strand round braids, and one 8-strand flat braid. They are all silk, and all intended as medallion cords.

I don’t know if all that is exciting enough to withhold “the surprise” for six months, but there it is. Now it can be told.

Fancy Square Braid

Posted on 2021.11.052021.11.04 by Elliott Evans

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.

Third Flat Braid

Posted on 2020.04.132020.04.13 by Elliott Evans

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.

Another Kingdom Braid

Posted on 2020.01.092020.01.09 by Elliott Evans

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.

First Braid of the Year

Posted on 2020.01.062020.01.06 by Elliott Evans

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.

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