British designer and instructor, Christina Larsen of CSL Designs is well known for her amazing Youtube video tutorials. I have featured a number of them before. She is a whiz at wire work, macrame and kumihimo. Her designs are refreshingly innovative.


I recently received her very first book from Interweave for review.  Kumihimo Wire Jewelry Made Easy is available as of tomorrow!!  The 20 projects in this book uses the square kumihimo plate which is typically used for flat braiding.  (Some people, including Christina, call the square plate a disk which is inaccurate as a disk is round and flat.  But it is a minor point!)

The 3 project sections includes working with just wire, adding beads - and my favorite, combining wire and leather.


Christina further divides the designs into 3 main types of braiding structures : diagonal, cross kumihimo and half-round kumihimo. Her projects uses them either singularly or two structures are combined together.  She explains what they are and how they are constructed at the beginning of her book. She also lists exactly how much wire you need for each project!

She prefers to use just ribbon clamps for finishing and only covers their use.  But you could easily use other glue on findings which are typically used for flat leather.  I also recommend additional and gentle work hardening bracelets on the mandrel using a nylon hammer if shaping them is not sufficient.

Shown below are my favorites from the book.

The Regal bracelet shown below is a multi-wire kumihimo project - the mix of copper and silver wire makes this design pop! It uses the cross kumihimo braiding structure.


This clever Chandelier earrings is so novel in its design because it really resembles chandeliers!


Christina has some Infinity designs including bracelets (see below), necklace and rings. She exploits the fact that wire kumihimo results in a rigid structure which allows you to remove the part finished work from the plate without things unraveling!  Those who have worked with yarn and cord can well understand this phenomenon.


She expanded the infinity idea to create a Celtic Infinity bracelet.  There are also two earrings styles to match.


 The section with beads is where her designs become colorful!  I also loved her other versions of thread art earrings (not shown) using the same tear drop shaped earrings as the frame.


Her collar or bib necklace is stunning!


 Also amazing is her kumihimo bezel around a cabochon.

She saved the best for the last. Combining thin leather cord with wire is such a wonderful idea.  The Framed Leather bracelet shown below consists of multiple braids.

The corset bracelet has earrings to match, too.
This book is perfect for people who are tired of conventional kumihimo and are ready to move on to a new challenge using wire.  The author has step by step photos of all the braiding steps as well as good instructions to help braiders of all levels.

 Giveaway 

If you'd like to win this giveaway for a copy of Kumihimo Wire Jewelry Made Easy, please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info below if you do not have an online shop or blog.

Email subscribers need to scroll down the post they receive, click on Share Comment and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank.

This giveaway is international. The book will be a physical copy if the winner is based in the US. Otherwise, it will be an ebook.

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments. (The exception is Facebook - just like/comment on the giveaway status there!!)

It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, October 23, 2017. I will pick the winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!

Before You Go:

Disclosure
This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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