Depression and apathy remain my primary enemies of working on kute-uchi. It's been almost a year since my last post. Just wanted to drop a new post to let you all know that I've updated all of the links and started updating some posts with new information.

There are two types of interconnecting moves, one where one loop passes through the other on the way to being exchanged between braiders...

Wow, it's been six years since I've updated my blog. Well depression sucks. I've been on a treatment plan for the last decade but I'd...

Six months since my last blog update, sorry for taking so long life sometimes takes interesting turns. I’m a member of a reenactment...

With a little device called a footbeater from Japan. Essentially a beater that can rotate vertically and activated by pulling a cord attached to the beater with your foot. Here is a more in depth paper I wrote a few years ago on my thoughts about foot beaters , their purpose, design, and construction . For today, we'll just go over the essentials. "Ok, it's a Japanese tool, how does that help me?" Unless you're going for complete authentic reproduction methods, all the foot

Hopefully this post won't be too long, but I warn you it will be a bit picture heavy. The good news is that this is the second to last known moves post, the last being linking between braiders. I'll keep posting about some experimental braid moves or combinations in an effort to help unlock some extant braids and I still need to cover the footbeater construction and a wooden 'extra hands' stand too. Let's start off with move F. Move F is the reversal of move C (just don't do

In my last post I talked about S & Z pickups which are the backbone of Japanese SCOT braids no matter the loop braiding method....

Well, this is a post that I thought I wouldn't get to until I at least did the video for handlooping moves. But this has been an area of...

So why do you call Linking "Overtwist"? I do so to make reading about loopbraiding clearer and to separate two different "Linking" moves from each other. On Masako's website lmbric.net she does not go over Move E, as far as I know it's only talked about in depth in her book and possibly some of her articles*. If you're reading a page describing how to make a particular pattern, you have to pull from context which linking move is being talked about and this can be frustrating

Well, I seem to be on a roll of posting things in reverse order as I was sure that I had already covered fingerlooping's basic moves. So yesterday I posted a re-shot video of fingerlooping's basic moves open, closed, and overtwist (linked). This is the companion blog post for those that want to freeze certain parts of the video, however, I'll only have photos of the open and closed moves. I'll have to figure out some better angles for the overtwist done in one step, in the m

In my last post I covered the color and move pattern for the double faced kikko braid in Masako’s Study of Archaic Braiding Techniques in Japan. What I’ve neglected to cover yet are the basic moves in Kute-Uchi, specifically the hand loop moves for the kikko braid. In this post I’ll cover moves A-E and in the next post cover RL-LR and LR-RL. In deciphering the oldest books on Japanese braiding, Masako rediscovered the four basic moves of kute-uchi. All other moves are based o

I'm back again. This time with something a little more advanced. A double faced kikko braid requiring four braiders. Normally I would...

I have to apologize for the lack of posts recently; I had been aiming for at least once a week. I recently graduated with my Masters in Library and Information Sciences and had had zero job interviews since, so of course, depression and apathy took over, and posts dropped off. Yes, I'm doing all of the therapy things to stay on top of it. Anyway, let's get on the topic for today: Woodworking in Japanese loop braiding. My study and research of Japanese loop braiding aren't lim

"If loop braiding is so cool and faster, supposedly, than kumihimo, then why don't more people do it?" Well, that's because loop braiding...

Well, three data points don't make a trend but hopefully it gives hope for future data points. This last Saturday I was at an event...

So, over the last week, I've been making some videos for my YouTube channel. And I've been working on some braiding experiments. 'Mmmmm,...

Leader cord, it's what I call the loop that connects the braid to the anchor (or counterweight for marudai), and I’m sure that there are other names for it. Used in kumihimo to quickly attach and detach braids from the dai with minimum waste of the braid. Its use in kute-uchi is a bit more problematic as there is no clear visual or written evidence of their use. In fact, a few drawings (all of which are Edo reproductions of earlier drawings) of kute-uchi appear to have the br

In reality loop braiding only needs one tool, something to beat the braid into shape. Most cultures used the assistance of a second...

Earlier I mentioned that the word 'Kumihimo' was modern, a search through Japanese archives, including the National Diet Library* in both...

I’m a member of a reenactment group, the Society for Creative Anachronism or SCA. As a group, we’re not a full reenactment group in that we apply strict historical standards nor do we pinpoint a time or location. Instead, anything that Western Europe had contact with before 1600 is fair game to build your persona. And our historical standard is an ‘attempt at,’ which appeals to many and frustrates many; but that’s another can of worms. And because of this many people try to s