The Daily Artisan challenge: Day one

Day one:
I started this challenge because I'd been itching to try some new things. When I get into something (like knotted friendship bracelets), I go a little insane. I do lots of research on the thing, lurk on forums, and generally build up a mental system. Anything outside the system (non-bracelet macrame, bracelets that don't use the right knot) will be determinedly ignored (note that I still do other stuff besides that one thing...I just ignore similar crafts). Eventually, I expand the system to include other stuff (the square knot), and usually at this point the whole thing breaks down and I move onto a new interest. This happened with all sorts of stuff, from flowers to fantasy to bracelets. Most recently my obsession was knitting (which works a lot better than an obsession with knotted friendship bracelets), but recently I found myself wondering what it would be like to try something new (even contemplating...*gasp*...crochet).

Enter day one's project: the kumihimo bracelet.


I found a foam disk in my bag of macrame stuff, along with the beginnings of a bracelet. I had bought it several years ago during another "let's-branch-out" phase. Unfortunately, it messed up after the first centimeter and, frustrated, I abandoned it in my bag. But yesterday I rescued it, undid my work, and restarted.
The label just said "friendship bracelet maker", but I found out it's a fancy Japanese braiding technique called kumihimo. They're traditionally made on a frame/loom called a maru dai (according to Google), but disks with slots work quite well.

The bracelet is made by removing threads from their slots...



...and fitting them into new slots on the opposite side of the disk.



The bracelet grows through the hole in the middle.



Basically, it's 3D braiding without having to hold all the strings. At first I would keep getting confused with all the strands, and had to repeat "right to right", "left to left" all the time...but after a while I got into the rhythm. The whole thing only took me a couple hours, and that's including the unbraiding I did from my first attempt.

Final product:



Pros: I like that it looks like knotting, and that it's fairly fast while still looking intricate. Cons: it was still a little slow, though, and I got bored as I was nearing the end. Overall, pretty cool. I'd be curious to try this with more colors.