Author: noamori

2006                    Established: Kute-uchi Braiding Technique Study Group

2006-                   President: Kute-uchi Braiding Technique Study Group

1992-2007           Member: International Association of Costume

Academic Papers

 

‘Braiding Techniques for the Braids Stored in the Shosoin: With Report on the Experimentation of Ancient Square Braids Using the Archaic Japanese Braiding Technique, Kute-uchi,’ Bulletin of Office of the Shosoin Treasure House No. 31, 2009.

‘On the Reconstruction of Archaic Japanese Braiding Techniques,’ Reining a Horse (Looks) Like Braiding, Nara: Gangoji Institute for Cultural Properties Research, 2005.

‘On Construction Method of a Lacy Silk Fabric Fragment from Tomb No. 1 at Ta-bou-tai Excavation Site (1974),’ Journal of International Association of Costume, No. 15, 1999.

‘Braids on Early Japanese Banners,’ Sacred and Ceremonial Textiles, Proceedings of the Fifth Biennial Symposium of the Textile Society of America, Inc. 1997.

‘Kute-uchi: A Pre-Edo Technique of Making Lacing and Braids for Japanese Armor,’ Journal of International Association of Costume, no. 11, 1995.

‘On the Technique used for Making the Braids in the Shosoin, I and II’ I-Seikatsu 31ÔºåNos. 1 and 6, 1988.

‘A Braiding Technique Documented in an Early Nineteenth-Century Japanese Treatise “Soshin Biko”,’ The Textile Museum Journal 1986, 25, 1987.

Other Publications

Study of Archaic Braiding Techniques in Japan, Kyoto: Kyoto Shoin, 1994.

Illustrated Catalog, Exhibition 2004 ‘Invitation to the Loop Braiding,‘Private publication, 2005.

Contributions to various textile-related periodicals.

International Academic Conferences, oral report

2005             On the Reconstruction of Archaic Japanese Braiding Techniques, Symposium on Archaic Braiding Techniques: Reining a Horse (Looks) Like Braiding /Gangoji Institute for Cultural Properties Research/Nomura Foundation for Promotion of International Cultural relations.

1997             On Construction Method of a Lacy Silk Fabric Fragment from Tomb No. 1 at Ta-bou-tai Excavation Site (1974): International Academic Conference of Costume, 1997.

1997                  Braids on Early Japanese Banners, Sacred and Ceremonial Textiles: the Fifth Biennial Symposium of the Textile Society of America Inc.

1995             Kute-uchi: A Pre-Edo Technique of Making Lacing and Braids for Japanese Armor: International Academic Conference of Costume, 1995.

Lectures, Workshops and Demonstrations

2007/11/23          Basho no Yakata, Ootawara-shi, Tochigi-ken.

2007/11/10-16     The first International conference on Kumihimo, Kyoto Institute of Textile Technology.

1980-                   Gave internationally lectures, workshops and demonstrations, etc. of loop braiding as well as stand-and-bobbin techniques.

Exhibitions

2004/10/22-26     Exhibition 2004 ‘Invitation to the Loop-Braiding,’ Seson-in at International Nara-Study Seminar House, Nara-shi, Ruupu Kumihimo no Kai.

1998/4                 Invitation to the Kute-uchi Braiding, Senbiki-ya, Tokyo, Kute-uchi no Kai.

1974-                   Exhibited: braided as well as woven works in solo and group shows in Japan, the US and others. Won many prizes.

FOR FINGER-HELD LOOP-MANIPULATION BRAIDING

INRODUCTION

NOTES

Note 1. The Manual of Braiding is the most comprehensive treatise of not only L-M techniques but also the braiding techniques in general. Nihon Kumihimo Ko Giho no Kenkyu, by M. Kinoshita (Kyoto Shoin, 1994, in Japanese with Eng. summary), describes the H-H L-M traditionally used in Japan up to 100 years ago. F-H L-M techniques and the track plan are summarized in Part 2. For other sources, see bibliography.

Note 2. Color design schemes based on two-color loops can be seen in any culture wherever the L-M technique is used.

Note 3. Crocker, Gigi and Glover, Bonnie, ‘An Omani Braiding Technique for Camel Reins,’The Journal of Oman Studies, 5, 1979. Kinoshita, M. Study of Archaic Braiding Techniques in Japan.

Note 4. Speiser’s designation based on a structural viewpoint follows the shape of the fell. Identifying the methods by the palm position and the operator finger, however, seems more direct and easier. You must understand, however, in actual practice, the hands and palms are not necessarily kept rigidly in a set position.

Note 5. When using 5 loops in Method #2, the operator is either finger 3 or 4 depending on whether the loops are mounted starting from finger 1, or from 2.

Note 6. Speiser, Noémi, ‘The Seventeenth Century Pattern-Books,’ CIETA Bulletin No. 50, 1979-II; also in the MB. Also by Speiser, Old English Pattern Books for Loop Braiding, Arboldswil: private publication, 2001. L-M BRIC News no. 1, no. 4.

Note 7. Lebedeva, N. I., ‘Priadenie i tkachestvo vostochnykh slavian v. XIX-nachel xx v.,’Trudy Instituta Etnografii im. N. N. Mikluho-Makalaia n. s., 31, 1956. Lebedeva, N. I., ‘Priadenie i tkachestvo vostochnykh slavian v. XIX-nachel xx v.,’ Trudy Instituta Etnografii im. N. N. Mikluho-Makalaia n. s., 31, 1956.
The paper contains a report of f-h l-m practiced in Eastern Slavic region of U. S. S. R. The way OP takes RN shown in diagram, however, seem to me to be too overwrought for usual l-m conventions that I am not sure of the accuracy of the diagram.

Note 8. In eopenf transfer, the upper shank of RN remains the same after the transfer. This is represented in the track plan as the shanks of the loop being open (parallel to each other). In ecrossf transfer, the upper and the bottom shanks of RN reverse their positions thus crossing each other.

Notes: 

1. Frieda Sorber is curator at Costume and Textile Museum at Oelegem, Belgium.
2. Keeler, Clyde, Cuna Indian Art, New York: Exposition Press, 1969.
3. Speiser, Noémi, The Manual of Braiding, ed. 1991, p. 85 fig. 14*34e top, p. 86 fig. 14*35a top; ‘Unusual Braids Produced by Loop-Manipulation,’ The Weaver’s Journal, v. X, no. 1, 1985, p. 70 fig. 10a, p. 71 fig. 11a.
4. Cardale-Schrimpff, Marianne, “The Techniques of Handweaving and Allied Arts in Colombia, Ph.D. Dissertation, Oxford University, 1972.
5. In addition to method #1, there are method #2 for which palms are held facing up (or facing each other) and the operator the ring or small finger, and method #3 for which palms are held facing down and the or is the index finger. See ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTION SERIES (ILS) : Introduction.
6. The procedure corresponding to this, but using 7 loops; Speiser,MB, p. 86 fig. 14*35b top, ‘Unusual Braids, p. 71 fig. 14a.
7. Speiser, MB, p. 85 fig. 14*34d top, ‘Unusual Braids,’ p. 70 fig. 9a.

Notes:

1) Bel, A. & P. Picard, Le travail de la laine a Tlemcen, Alger, 1913. For more comprehensive list of works, refer to: Kinoshita, M., Study of Archaic Braiding Techniques in Japan, Kyoto: Kyoto Shoin, 1994; Speiser, N., The Manual of Braiding, private pub., 2nd ed., 1983.

2) Speiser, N., Seventeenth Century Pattern Books, CIETA Bulletin 50, 1979-II.

3) Estham, I. and Speiser, N., ‘A Loop-Braided Lace Insertion on a Late Medieval Sudary in Uppsala Cathedral,’ CIETA Bulletin 74, 1997.

4) J. Watabe, ‘ Weaving of the Chin-po Tribe in Yun-nan Province. Basketry News, no. 43.

She has also reported the L-M technique as a probable technique used among the south China minorities in ‘Crossed Double-hitch Bag of Yun-nan,’ The Life and Technology of Yun-nan, C. Daniels & T. Watabe, ed., Tokyo: Keiyusha.

She is a textile artist and teaches at Sugino Gakuen University in Tokyo. She participated in one of my early workshops of L-M techniques.

5) Personal correspondence: N. Speiser, Feb., 1998.

6) F. Sober is the curator of the Provincial Costume and Textile Museum, Oelegem (Antwerp) Belgium. She has published papers on historical textiles and textile techniques, including loop-manipulation.