Braiding Supplies

What to use

The current traditional Japanese kumihimo is made using 150/3 silk yarns. A rayon substitute called biron is also often used. That said, however, just about any yarn or thread (or fibre or even wire) can be braided. What you want to use is up to you.

Silk versus ...

Silk has been called the queen of fibres. It is beautiful, wonderful to touch, dyes well, is washable, shiny, etc. It is also relatively expensive. That's why there's rayon, a cellulose based silk substitute. Silk, like spidersilk, is famous for it's strength. Rayon is not, although it is very shiny, slippery, and also dyes well.

Even all silk is not the same. There is reeled silk, a composed of long continuous filaments which can be spun or just loosely twisted, versus spun silk, which uses shorter filaments spun into a thread like most other yarns. Anecdotal evidence suggests that "official" kumihimo thread is more durable and suited to the task (tassel ends don't fray and fuzz out like other silks might do).

Stands, looms and whatnot

This sentiment applies to your kumihimo "loom" as well. A wooden Maru Dai with lead weighted Tama (wood spools to hold the silk) can be purchased from many sources. Or you could get a cheap stool and drill a hole in it. Or construct a Maru Dai out of cardboard or wood. Or just use a single piece of cardboard with slots in it. Or...

Many braiding techniques can be accomplished in the hand, or with a handy fixed point (like a doorknob or bedpost) to tie one end of your work to, but Japanese and Korean braids are best worked on stands (or looms, tables, stools). Experimentation and sampling of these braids can be done on cards, but for that wonderfully even effect, a loom with weighted bobbins will be what you want eventually.

Where to buy

Pre-cut/pre-packaged "official" kumihimo silk & biron(rayon)

• Braider's Hand, San Diego, CA, USA
• Carey Company, Devon, England, UK
• Mountain looms, Vader, WA, USA

Uncut silk

• Lacis, Berkeley, CA, USA
  I seem to recall that Lacis has a small selection of kumihimo silk packets, but I can't find it in their online catalog. However, they do have what they call thread identical to kumihimo silk on spools in a small number of colours including white suitable for dyeing, as well as various other threads.
• Things Japanese, Kirkland, WA, USA
  Selling Tire brand silk thread from Japan, the machine twist (3 ply high twist) thread looks an awful lot like kumihimo thread to me. in 171 colours in small spools and black and white in large spools.
• Web of Thread, Western WA, USA A mostly (?) online thread shop with a wide variety of threads including the above mentioned Tire silk, as well as other silks and rayon.

Other silk and ...

• Silk Tree, Maple Ridge, BC, Canada
  While they do have a high twist 3 ply cord, it is thicker than "official" kumihimo thread. In any case, they have lots of braid-able silks.
• Treenway Silks, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada
  Various spun and reeled silk yarns.
• Habu Textiles, NY, NY, USA
  The ultimate funky yarn place with many different kinds of silk; silk and stainless steel, paper, bamboo, ramie, etc.
• Textura Trading Corp, Easthampton, MA, USA
  Similar to rayon: tencel and lyocell, plus a variety of unusual (rayon + stainless steel, colour changing, etc) yarns.

• Fireside Fiberarts are makers of Maru Dai in Port Ludlow, Washington, USA.
• Lacis is a supplier of Maru Dai, an economical polystyrene braiding board, kumihimo silk and books in Berkeley, California, USA
• Leanda are suppliers of Marudai, Kakudai, and Ayatakedai in Norwich, Norfolk, UK.
• Mountain Loom Company is a mail order supplier of Maru Dai, kumihimo silk, and books in Vader, Washington, USA.
• Treenway Crafts is a mail order supplier of silk thread/cord/yarns and silk tops in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• The Silk Tree is at a storefront in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and a mail order supplier of silk thread/cord/yarns and silk tops.

Creation Date: Tue Sep 16 11:40:56 PDT 2003
Last Modified: Monday, 18-Apr-2016 04:22:54 UTC
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