A few more Japan Photos

I've got a few more photos of the Kumihimo conference.

The conference started with registration and a wine party on the Sunday. Here we collected our name tags, lunch vouchers and a goody bag worthy of the Oscars. Our bag had the conference proceedings already published- how's that for organised, a round disc, a square plate and our own braided name tag holder.

We were also given a choice of a couple of extras. I chose this mobile phone charm because I'm hoping that I will be able to do this technique on the takadai sometime soon. I also loved the pastel colours in the second piece. Thats actually quite unusual for me because I usually gravitate to the brights.

The morning started with a keynote speech from Rodrick Owen. He had a slide of an Andes Headband. Finally something braided that I will wear. I put that away in my memory bank. Rodrick had also put into the exhibition the best ever pair of shoes. Not my size unfortunately.

We then went off into our groups for the first workshop session. I was doing the first takadai. Up until that morning I had only ever seen one in books etc.

This was to be mine for the next couple of days. I've never been a weaver so I didn't even understand some of the basic terms. I was a little apprehensive but more excited than anything. Our tutors were incredible patient and all very good and passing on their knowledge.

First we had to wind onto our bobbins then attach it. We were quite a bit slower than the Japanese participants. After a while we noticed that they don't attach their leader threads at the beginning, they wait until the end. The practice was good.

I finally started braiding. I really didn't want to stop. Skipped morning tea but but did head down for lunch. A girl's gotta eat. I must admit that I only popped my head in the door of the next keynote address for a short while and I was back upstairs.

This is my first ever takadai braid. We experimented with lots of different patterns. I'm hooked!