Lazy midsummer Sunday afternoon

On a lazy midsummer Sunday afternoon I decided to learn a new technique: Kumihimo.

“Kumihimo (組み紐) is a Japanese form of braid-making. Cords and ribbons are made by interlacing strands. Kumi himo is Japanese for “gathered threads”.

Since I don’t have a professional Kumihimo disc I cut one out of cardboard and used 7 threads. You actually can use up to 24 bobbins.

The result is this colourful bracelet….

Rainbow necklace

This collar necklace is made mainly with 6mm dyed jade beads, a “Zama” golden spacer and brass wire.

It is a custom made order for a friend’s sister who saw something similar and asked if I could make a replica. Thankfully, since I am a fan of tiny beads I had plenty of colourful stones to use.

Of course it differs from the original basically because it’s not easy to find the exact raw materials but it’s as similar as possible, and most of all, it has been appreciated by the recipient. 🙂

Ginki copycat

What to do when you like Ginki bracelets but they cost too much…

The answer is: do it yourself! Obviously.

So that’s what I did. I found a Japanese Chirimen Kimono cord at StinkyDogBeads on Etsy and I made it myself. The blue one on the top left of the picture is the original Ginki that I bought some time ago, while in the picture below you can see my attempt… not too bad and definitely less expensive.

The raw material

The result