What did I say about clever kumihimo designers before? They keep coming up with new ways to braid with beads. This time is is Dutch designer Janet Nijman of BeadsandKumihimo. By her own admission, she is addicted to kumihimo!
She has a number of tutorials and kits as well as beads and general kumihimo supplies. She covers not just the usual 8 thread braids but also 6,7, 12 and 16!
I have see 12 and 16 thread braids but not 6 or 7!! Janet says the 6 allows for a braid without the twist. She explained how she came up with this unique technique of hers. Her brother happens to be an app developer. Together, they created the Kumihimo Designer app available in the App store as well as in Google Play.
Janet said, "While making this app I started to try new wire combinations and that's how I came up with the 6 wire braid. The nice thing about this braid is that the beads fall in a straight line. This is in contrast to the traditional Kumihimo 8-thread braid, which has a twist. This makes new patterns possible."
Her designs using magatama, drop and pip beads are particularly lovely.
N.B. Newbies might be confused with the above, so I shall mention that you can use either thread or wire to do kumihimo.
Before You Go:
- Book and Disc Review : The Prumihimo Disk
- 7 Awesome Wire Kumihimo Bracelet Tutorials
- Book Review - Kumihimo Wire Jewelry Made Easy
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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Glad to see that Kumihimo is alive and well. I have to admit that even though I stopped for a while after doing nothing but teaching and practicing kumihimo for 10 years, it's still my absolute favorite thing to do. Good for Janet for creating diverse ways to do kumihimo.
ReplyDeleteNow for my complain about app designers. There are some great apps out there, as I'm sure this one is, but they all assume no one has an android or non-Apple computer, both of which I do have. There have been at least 2 great kumihimo apps out there that I would have purchased in a flash, but, alas, they don't work on my equipment. When will the world acknowledge that Apple isn't the only computer company in the world?!?!
App developers usually, but not always, launch apps in the App store first. And maybe consider the effort and expense for the Android market if the first is successful. The reason, I suspect is because Apple was the first with apps so that app market is the most mature, ie with a lot of users.
DeleteJanet's app is for both platforms!
DeleteI have many Kumihimo books and now you have added a new one to my wish list. I am planing on getting her app for my tablet. Can't wait to try some of the patterns. Dot Newkirk owner of Dot's Dangles. Dots-Dangles@pullman.com
ReplyDelete