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Kumihimo braiding has never been more popular and our kits include quality materials and detailed, illustrated guides to get you creating beautiful designs, quickly.
Essential Items For Beginner Kumihimo Braiding
The Japanese art of kumihimo braiding was traditionally used to create armor, however, today we use the same techniques to create an array of beautiful Jewellery and craft items. The first tool needed is a round kumihimo disk, for creating round hollow braids or a square kumihimo plate if the desire is to create flat braids.
These soft foam boards contain numbers and slots that guide you as you work through the sequences in order to create different combinations of braid colours, thickness and styles.
Cord and thread to braid with is also essential and rattail is a popular choice as it is lightweight, relatively inexpensive and very easy on the hands. As you can be braiding for hours, it's important to consider the smoothness of the cord so that you avoid chaffing the skin.
One of the most important stages in all types of jewellery making is how to finish off your designs and kumihimo braiding is no exception.
The first stage will be to bind the cord ends with strong thread such as S-Lon Tex 45 D thread as this stops the cord unraveling prior to applying the end bead.
The end beads you select should then align with the thickness of the cord you create so that you achieve a seamless finish. For example if the end of your braid was 8mm in diameter you will need a glue in end bead that has an internal measurement to match this, conversely, if the end bead is too big then your braid end will not fit snugly within and possibly come apart. Glue in end beads are very popular for the ends of kumihimo but you can also use traditional end cones, particularly if you are working with thinner cords or braiding with glass seed beads.
Strong adhesive such as Zap jewellery glue or e6000 glue is also essential as it's non drip and dries quickly with minimal mess and finally to complete your design you will need traditional jewellery findings such as headpins, jump rings and clasps.
