Kumihimo on a budget

As my friends know, I am a Kumihimo addict.  I began with the small foam disks and one-handed braiding. That is great for a take-along project, but far too slow for serious braiding. I added several fabulous hand crafted wooden braiding stands from Dave Saunders at Braidershand.com and happily braided away for several years. 

When I tried to interest friends in Kumihimo, beyond the foamies, I ran into the cost factor. The beautiful works of art wooden looms were too expensive for those unsure if this craft would become a favorite. So.....I set myself the project of finding a way to have the advantage of two-handed braiding for $25-$50.

Here is my brainstorm: the glass Marudai (round braiding stand).
The smaller vase can be used on top of your coffee table, and the larger one will sit on the floor between your knees.

Supplies available at Michael's.

15" or  24" glass vase (diameter of 4" to 6")                                                   ($5 to $20 on sale.)
CD rom disk or 7" circle foamy (cut a 1/4" hold in the center of the foamy)     ($2)
Fibers from sewing threads, perle cottons, metallics, to all types of yarns and even cloth strips.

Yarn store on online:
8 to 24 small size Susan Bates Yarn Bobbins (for winding the braiding fibers) Order online.
       ($2.50 for a set of 10)
Fibers from sewing threads, perle cottons, metallics, to all types of yarns and even cloth strips.

Local hardware store:
Box of fender washers. Start with the 1" size. These are used to weigh down the bobbins. ($8-12)

Office Max:
Square magnetic clips (used with your filing cabinet). Small and large size.  ($2.50 - $5)
These will be used as counter weights to the weighted bobbins around the outside of the vase.
Box of 1" notebook rings, one per bobbin.

Once you have all the supplies, what next?

1. Open the notebook rings and place 5-6 fender washers on each ring.
2. Attach the ring to the small plastic loop on the bobbin.
3. Close the ring.
4. Prepare your bobbins by wrapping your fibers around the bobbin. I usually start by taping
     down the end of the fiber to the bobbin so it won't fall away at the end of braiding.
5. Gather up all the wound bobbins and tie an overhand knot.
6. Place the knot down into the CD and/or foamie hole and attach the large weighted magnet clip.
7. Put the CD /foamie on top of the vase, with the clip inside.
8. Arrange the bobbins around the top, following you favorite Kumimiho directions, and braid away!
You can adjust the number of fender washers and the counter weight as needed. The quality of the braid varies with more or less weight according to the fibers used and braiding pattern.

If you have questions, email me at: Aperica@aol.com

Let me know if this works out for you!

Sweet Adelaide, AU (2009)

This  is my second Rose Hughes inspired art quilt. It appears in Rose's second publication EXPLORING EMBELLISHMENTS and leads off the Student Gallery section.

The journey began on a 2008 trip to Australia with my husband, Jon. He took the photo of me with the koala at the Adelaide Wild Animal Sanctuary.  Can you see me in the photo? Look carefully.

At a February  2009 workshop with Rose, I showed her the photo and said it would make a great art quilt. I began working on the leaves and braiding that weekend.

I began by covering a dozen wirer floral stems with Kumihimo braids. Twelve dozen satin stitched individual eucalyptus leaves were next.  Hand needle felted koala toes and claws were a challenge. Last I made a square braid to cover the raw edge of the quilt border and a thick metallic gray braid to outline the koala sections. Next step was to begin the quilt....

Using Rose's Pieced Applique technique, I made the background sections of tree and koala.  The koala was pieced using wool felt. The bark tree was thread painted and the Kumihimo braids were added to cover the raw edges of the koala and tree.

At this point the backing was sewn on, anticipating a great deal of 3D motifs on the front  and the wrap-around raw edge covered by the square Kumihimo braid.  This complicated the needle felting. I ended up using a nearly horizontal technique of stabbing which attached the 3/8" of wool roving fibers to the wool sections.  I did not stab through the backing fabric while felting.

My hand, yes that's me, was sewn and stuffed using an old doll making technique.  Wires were inserted into the fingers and thumb for realistic posing. The press-on French nails completed the look.

The eucalyptus branches and leaves were tackled next. Each branch of the twelve branches as a dozen leaves, individually sewn on and tacked down on the quilt.

The quilt was completed in August 2009, just in time to meet the submission deadline for Rose's book, which was published  in June 2010. Adelaide has an honored place in my gallery.

Thanks, as always, to Rose for her inspiration and encouragement!

Hand chain stitch appliques

Maureen Cox models my Rose Hughes' "Poppies" applique jacket. I own the lovely Poppy quilt and Rose granted permisssion for me to make an applique from the design. It was Valentine's Day at the bi-monthly meeting of the Surface Art Association.

Jon spent the month of July 2009 in Mongolia.  He was there for their special yearly festival highlighting the Gengis Khan legacy of horsemanship and archery.  He commissioned a horse head vest in gold for the event.  He had many positive comments when the festival goers spied the horse head - Tahki - in Mongolian.

In November 2009, Jon spent 3 weeks in SE Asia, touring Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma (the locals prefer this name), and Thailand. It turns out that the peacock image is important to all four cultures. 

 As with all the applique motifs, they are hand embroidered in a tight chain stitch, appliqued onto the garment (I sew the vests, and buy the jackets), and are framed with hand braided Kumihimo braids. 

A labor of love for sure!

Jon is heading to Borneo in July 2010 and has already asked about his Orangutan vest.  The hunt is on!

Using an iphone to add photos to your Facebook page.

I have learned a new thing.  Add the Facebook app to your iphone, take a photo with your phone, sign on to the app, follow the directions, and your photo will be posted to your home page on Facebook.

From there you will need to open up the new photo album you will find on FaceBook, make any corrections in your text, and then post it to your news feed.

Your photo does not go straight to your news feed....a detail I had to learn.

Easy, once you get the whole picture.

Now, I need to figure out how the portrait photo ended up on its side as a landscape photo once it reached FaceBook.....hum.....

Uncommon Threads - African Folklore Embroidery Show #254

The show ran only once, in January of 2009. But you can see the final short segment with Leora and I in the video link below.  Just click and watch.  My 2 minutes of fame!

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/african-folklore-embroidery/707732087

Analee Art - Tangental Fabric & Fiber Montage

2010 is a new year and the beginning of a new decade, and I am stretching my creative wings!

Welcome to those who find this blog.

Please visit http://www.analeeart.com/ to see photos of the work I have completed since my retirement from public school teaching in June 2006.

My creative mentor is Rose Hughes. She is a kind and gentle soul who shares her secrets freely with friends and students. Because of her classes and friendship, I have two published montage quilts in two of her books. Visit Rose's website to learn more about this amazing woman: http://www.rosehughes.com/

An article in the Los Angeles Times lead me to an evening class at Leora Raikin's Woodland Hills home in 2003. Her dramatic chain stitched African designs on black fabric set me off on a creative path which led to taping a show for Uncommon Threads in 2006 - African Folklore Embroidery. Next, 12 of my embroidered pieced were included in Leora's book of the same name. Visit her website to see a Utube video of the last segment of our show: http://www.aflembroidery.com/

This is my first blog posting. I will learn as I go along.

Look for an introduction into Kumihimo, Japanese braiding. Useful for jewelry, cording, purse handles, and more.