red – Nothing In It

Shibori Experiments

Posted on 2024.10.082024.10.08 by Elliott Evans

Some members of the Fiber Arts Guild of the Debatable Lands have been practicing their fabric dyeing lately, but it is to big a production to make up large dye pots just to try some new things out. For that purpose we had a dyeing day at Mistress Tsvee’a’s House this past Sunday. We had a vat of indigo, a tub of dark red fiber-reactive dye, and a couple of burbling vats of natural dye.

I put one carefully prepared ball of fabric into the indigo. I had fan-folded a rectangle of cotton around a point in the middle of one long edge. Then I rolled the folded fabric into a ball and tied the edge with yarn.

I put another carefully prepared bll of fabric into the Turkey Red Procion dye. I had twisted it up around two separate points until the whorls met in the middle, then again tied them with yarn. I should have twisted tighter and tied a little lighter. Still, it’s interesting.

I also dyed some twisted up cotton yarn, but that description will have to wait until the braid is finished.

A pair of Loop Braids

Posted on 2024.10.042024.10.04 by Elliott Evans

Almost 8 years ago, Makiko Tada was kind enough to teach me kute-uchi hand-loop braiding in her studio. For the past 8 years I have been making “practice” braids, “sample” braids, “class” braids, and the like, but never making any actual braids from silk. So, I did it. Twice.

The first braid is a 5-loop (3+2) AB flat braid that is usually referred to as shigeuchi. I used 12 ends of silk reeled silk yarn per loop, 3 loops red and 2 loops pink. The “3+2” means that three loops start on the left hand, and 2 on the right. The “AB” refers to two of the four moves used to make the braid from loops:

A = Outside Straight
B = Outside Twist
C = Inside Straight
D = Inside Twist

I realize that this doesn’t actually tell you anything you need to know about loop braiding. Anyway, the braid:

The second braid is a 9-loop (6 +3) AADC Odoshige braid, again with 12 ends of reeled silk yarn per loop. This time I had 6 loops of pink and 3 of red. This braid makes this great 8-ridge flat twill structure. The name odoshige indicates that it was mainly used as lacing on odoshi , which is a word for armor. This particular one is a little wide for armor lacing, though.

I feel like the tension on both of these braids is still a little off. I bet you can even see the change in tension over the course of each braid. I have tried to showcase the best section of each braid. In the first braid, it’s the arc at the bottom. In the second braid it is the diagonal part near the top. In both cases, the nicer part of the braid is closer to the finish end of the braid. That should tell you something about how difficult it is to tension a longer braid.

Both braids are roughly 30 inches long. The second braid also has an error in it, but I have skillfully hidden that error from the camera.

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.