Monday, January 18, 2016

Boring weekend

I was really bored this weekend. I started off on Saturday with working on finishing parts of Precious Ornament. I made the cord and tassel, quickly putting them both away. I wasn't up to doing the actual finishing.

My brand new Kreinik cord maker

I didn't feel like working on any of my WIPs, so I decided to spend it learning something new. Remember these:


You thought they were just going to stay in my stash forever didn't you? I thought that too. I can't count how many times I took them out, looked at them and put them back in my (still unpacked) tote from the Creative Festival. I figured since I now have a weight (the orange thing in the first picture), it was now or never.

I started with the thick braid that came with the disk and a YouTube video to figure how how to start.


And quickly caught up (it works really fast). By the way, the thick cord hurts your fingers.


For some reason the Buttoned Up bracelet looked too complicated for me, so I started with the Four Color Spiral bracelet instead. Here I am stringing up the beads. This part takes the longest to do.


The bracelet itself uses the same movement all through it and is very quick to make. I followed the instructions in this video.


The hard part for me was putting in the clasp since I'm not used to manipulating wires. It's a little big, but I'm very happy with it. It makes me wish they had the second color in stock, cause I really wanted the second color.


I got so addicted to it, that I started stringing up the second kit. I didn't go to sleep until it was done, so that first thing in the morning on Sunday I can doing the actual Kumihimo. The beads had to be strung randomly which was kind of hard for me.


I was dreading the actual finishing, but it was actually easier than the clasp. This time I was more careful about sizing.


So despite the boredom, my weekend was still productive ;)


I don't have anymore kits but I will definitely be on the lookout for more at next year's Creative Festival. The kits themselves have everything you need to make the bracelets except for the disk, the weight and finishing tools (i.e. pliers). Even the braid ends are hardened for you to make stringing easier. Personally, I would love to get this necklace kit. I'll have to make sure to add Kumihimo to next year's budget.

6 comments:

  1. Those are beautiful bracelets! I keep eyeing the cord maker but haven't taken the plunge yet. I'd be interested to know how easy/hard it is to get good results with it!

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  2. Your bracelets are so pretty! You've given me that extra nudge I needed to get to Michaels and buy their Kumihimo kit and try it out for myself. ;-)

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  3. They're very pretty! You've made me curious about kumihimo.

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  4. This is very interesting - a technique I haven't tried but the results make it very tempting!

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  5. Lovely results from your "bored" weekend - well done!

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