Thanks, Carolyn. I’ve got braid #7 on my marudai right now. When I finish that one, I’ll give the s/z a try. BTW, I’ve been using the square plate to organize my fibers prior to putting them on the marudai. For this last braid, I flipped the plate over on top of the marudai and left the fibers in the slots while i tied on my tama. Then I pulled the fibers out of the slots. It helped me keep the fibers separated and I had fewer stragglers than before.