Giovanna Imperia

Wendy, they are all beautiful pieces. Very creative!

yes the additional weight helps tensioning the warps

Jere, I really like both your pieces.  Great work.  By the way, if you don’t like the joint edges on your double band, you can add some decorative stitching

Vikki, beautiful pieces.  Great job

Melodie, sorry for the slow response.  In the meantime it looks like you found the solution.  Most of my clasps are roughly 1” or so.  Wider for woven pieces.  I really like the metal clasps and so do my customers.  I often make bracelets to fit snugly around the wrist.  So the weight of the clasp is not that critical.  Acrylic clasps do work of…[Read more]

Phyllis, it is easier to move the bobbins if you have worked on the Karakumidai or have done bobbin lace as the hand movements are similar. But do not dispare if you have not.

The nice thing about these bobbins is that they are long and I can easily move them from one finger to the other.  So, I pick up the working bundle, I move it to my middle…[Read more]

Yes, you determine the distance between the two pegs based on the length of your expected braid + take up.  Please check the last page of the handout where I talk about take up

Robin, can you email me pics of your Japanese dai?  Thanks, Giovanna

Setting up the cord on the braid roller: insert one side of the loop through the holes, then slide the opposite end through the end that just went through the holes.  In essence you are making a half hitch knot around the roller — similar to what you do when attaching the leader to a tama.

Advancing the braid: you should roll the roller away…[Read more]

If you guys need more O rings for the bobbins, you can find them on Amazon.  Measure the diameter of the indentation on the top of the bobbin.  Here is what I got for mine

ZXUEZHENG 150 Pack Elasticity Silicone Soft Stitch Ring Markers for Knitting Crochet Etc, (Small Size for Needle Sizes 0-8, Orange, Yellow, Green)

Great you figured out how to balance things out on your own!  Love to see a pic

Nice sample.  There are so many other creative opportunities on the baby Takadai even with the size limitation.  Try color combinations, or different materials combinations.  I have done pieces, for instance, where I mixed silk and wire with very interesting results.

Rebecca, I think I would like to spend a few minutes talking about selvedges during Q&A.  This will address the difference between Anda gumi, Ichimai Kourai gumi and Kohrai gumi

Rebecca, understand your question better now.  When I braid multiple pieces on a single warp, I generally braid sections that are a bit longer than what I need so that I can cut in between the sections without running the risk of having pieces a bit shorter.  To make this a bit easier, I would braid with some type of junk yarn together with the w…[Read more]

Before taking the braid off the Baby Takadai, you need to decide whether you want a straight edge — ideal if you want to make the braid into a jewelry piece — or not.

Use some strong string to tie a temporary knot on each side of the braid and take the braid off the baby takadai.  Lay the braid flat on some wax paper or something similar.…[Read more]

You could use tags with a string and attach them along the first shed of the new structure — perhaps at the selvedge

The point is that when you braid Kohrai gumi, your are doing plain weave for a total of 4 moves and then you do 2-2 twill for 4 moves.   Whether you start over or under does not affect the structure per se.  However, you want to make sure that the working bundles actually interlace at the point of braiding — hence the change in the over-under s…[Read more]

Regarding the Kohrai gumi, you do moves 1 and 2 twice.  So, 1, 2, 3, 4.  Then the second set of moves are repeated twice: 5, 6, 7, 8.
Sorry about the confusion

Maureen, I am not sure I understand your comment.  Let me take a stab at a response based on my understanding.  But please clarify if you can.

The diagrams included in the handout represent the two sides of the takadai where the Koma are located.  Each circle is one bundle with tama/bobbin.  If you look at your set up, you will notice that you…[Read more]

Sorry, this class does not cover how to make flowers on the Octo Plate.  Different types of braids