I Kumihimo

A few posts ago I was discussing  the wonderful art of Kumihimo.

This is a craft I had wanted to try for some time but I have to admit every time I'd seen it being demonstrated at the craft shows it always looked extremely confusing!

As a few of my friends have been Kumihimo'ing I decided to buy myself a disc and give it a go...
...and here is what I created!

I used these gorgeous wools.

The green, yellow and grey wool is from Spain and is a combination of wool and mohair.

I am not sure what the other wool is as I received this in a fibre swap many years ago but it's very nice and created a great bumpy (very technical!) effect throughout the braid.

This piece was created using the round disc which creates a tubular braid.

I have also bought a disc which creates flat braids.

If you haven't given Kumihimo a go then I strongly suggest you try it. You can buy the discs for around $9.00 each and if you already have a stash of wool like me then creating a necklace works out to be pretty cheap!

Apart from it being cheap it is sooooo easy!

I created this piece over two nights, each of about 1 hour...so I reckon 2 hours maximum... let's just say you could definitely create one in an evening if you don't start working on it at 10.30pm like I was!

I have a shopping bag full of yarn and different fibres so I can't wait to choose the colours for my next piece.

♥

Don't forget my GIVEAWAY...dolls and felted beads

Don't forget to enter my

Glass Fused Cabs Giveway

that is running until Monday 12th July!

The details are a few posts below.

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Felt Beads

Have you ever made felt beads?

I have to admit I have had a fascination with felted things since I was a member of a cloth doll group about 9 years ago. I used to use wool and a felting needle to create their hair and I must say that I found collecting wool and fibres nearly as addictive and dangerous as collecting beads!

My sister in law many years ago did a TAFE course where she made the funkiest felted slippers and I always wanted to learn to make a pair.

Lately I have been looking at a lot of felt bead tutorials online and I have now discovered that these things appear to be pretty easy to make only needing some roving yarn, soap and water.

So me thinks I might give these a go over the weekend. I think they could make a wonderful addition to some of my beaded creations and heck I have so much wool sitting in my cupboard from my cloth doll days that I reckon I could probably make enough beads to... well sink a battleship! What a way to go if you are on that battleship... sunk by 1000 felted beads!!

On the topic of cloth dolls I was looking through my craft cupboard thinking I really need to start getting rid of some ''stuff'' when I came across my grand collection of cloth doll patterns. I guess my yearning to play with wool and felted things drove me to find the patterns.

I forgot how beautiful and wonderfully whimsical these dolls are and I really would like to start making them again. I loved playing with wire to create their moveable arms, hands and legs but I will admit my dolls would always look a bit scary as I was hopeless at creating their faces so they would end up with a little evil... or even demented look about them...oops!

If you have never ventured into the world of cloth dolls you certainly are missing out. There are some incredible designers in this big wide world who create the most adorable and amazing patterns. My favourite book when I was making dolls was the Anatomy of a Doll.. wow what an amazing book!

Anyhooo I know getting back into the cloth doll thing means dragging out my trusty Brother... yep my sewing machine so perhaps I might take baby steps and start with the felt thing and see how that goes.

Watch this space!

 Felted bead image compliments of Beading Daily