Kumihimo is a Japanese weaving used to create voluminous and flat cords that the samurai used to secure armor and weapons. Women tied an obi - kimono belt to them. For these purposes, long cords were used, and the equipment for their manufacture was appropriate, rather large and durable. For the manufacture of flat ribbons, a rectangular wooden machine - takadai was used, and for bulky harnesses - round marudai.
Today, this technique is used not only in Japan. Information on how to weave kumihimo has now spread to many other countries, including Russia. And many needlewomen use this knowledge, creating beautiful and original bracelets, laces and belts. When using Japanese technology, the scheme for weaving baubles from a mouline thread is quite simple. But in order to successfully complete such work, the necessary conditions are necessary.
Of course, not every needlewoman can afford marudu or takadai. This is hindered by both their bulkiness and rather considerable cost. But the resourceful mind will always find a way out of a problem situation, and many creative people successfully create improvised machines on their own. Most often, a piece of rubber, foam or thick cardboard is used for it. In order to make it look like maruday, you need to cut out a circle from the material about the size of a CD (it can be used as a template).
The center of the circle should be marked with a bold dot or a small circle. Subsequently, it will be necessary to make a hole there large enough so that a bundle of threads intended for weaving could be inserted into it, but not passing a knot of the same amount of floss. According to the diameter of the circle, 32 cuts must be made at equal distances. Now the machine can be considered ready.
When creating a makeshift takayada, the actions are similar to those described above, but there are some differences. So, the basic shape is not a circle, but a square, cuts are made on all sides, and the central hole should have a rectangular shape.
In this article, we will show you how to weave kumihimo on a marudai machine, as it has a simpler principle and is more suitable for beginners. All bulk tows are woven according to one pattern, and a variety of patterns is achieved by a different initial arrangement of threads.
In order to learn how to weave kumihimo, you need to remember that the number of floss for work is always a multiple of 4. This can be 8 threads, and 32, but most often taken 16. This allows you to achieve a variety of ornaments, without complicating the work. The more threads you take, the thicker the product will be.
How to weave kumihimo so that the tourniquet is smooth and beautiful? There is one little secret. Weaving masters attach a small weight (scissors, a small padlock or a small weight) to the beginning of the cord, which pulls the product and gives it a smooth and neat appearance.
So how to weave kumihimo? The threads are arranged on the machine approximately as shown in the figure, after which the process of shifting paired floss begins. There are many different options for the initial placement of laces, which allow you to achieve a wide variety of kumihimo patterns, the weaving of which will undoubtedly give you pleasure.