A quick and not very exciting post....
I only have this one braid for a pic. It's a basic 3-strand round braid, one strand each of orange, purple, and blue. I think I did it with an A-fell method, but it might have been a mixed method. In other words, the index finger was the operator finger, and I picked up the middle-finger loop from the other hand, but I can't remember which of the loops the operator finger went through before picking up the traveling loop. Whatever. It makes a minimal difference in the final braid as long as I'm consistent, which I think I was.
I had set out to do a flat 3-loop braid but kept messing up, sigh. So I switched to this easier one where I didn't have to pay as much attention. It still took me more tries than I should admit to braid consistently with the same moves each time.
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There is nothing particularly interesting about this post, but I wanted to write down a few thoughts for consideration later. They're still incomplete/ignorant newbie thoughts which no doubt will seem laughable to real experts.
Things that might matter for fingerloop braiding (and variations to consider).
1. A fell, V fell, Slentre, Mixed, Kute-uchi, Freehand/Stand braiding styles.
I am not sure this matters much. Different finger/loop set-ups might be easier or harder to manipulate depending on finger dexterity and how many loops there are. For example, Ingrid Crickmore says that she likes V-fell since it's easier to add a loop on the thumb in fingerloop braids when the operator finger is the pinky finger rather than the index finger, which means that 9-loop braids are more easily done than with A-fell methods. For A-fell, it's easier for many people to use their index finger as the operator finger rather than ring finger or pinky.
The different methods tend to be more common in specific geographic regions. Some of this is no doubt due to technology transfer, when people learn how to make these kinds of braids from people who are from (or were exposed to) some other culture/region. Some is independent re-invention. I think the L-M BRIC newsletter said that some regions/cultures used a couple of different methods.
I suspect there may be some characteristic mistakes in fingerloop vs freehand/stand braiding, but I don't want to think about this just yet.
I don't know if/how braiding style interacts with the spinning/plying twist in the strands.
Not all braids can be fingerlooped.
2. Taking the loops reversed or unreversed, and also, in which direction they are reversed.
This is a pretty big one for some braids -- it can mean the difference between double, square/round, and flat-opening braids. It allows one to insert open loops or finish off with mini-braids, by changing things around during the start, middle, or end of the braids.
For other braids, it seems not to make much difference in the appearance of the braid, though if one is using bicolor loops it might make some difference. (which means that one can take loops reversed or unreversed to make interesting color patterns)
For some braids, it makes a subtle difference. I mean, it's a structural difference, sure, and will affect how color patterns turn out (especially for bicolor loops but also sometimes single color) but the appearance is only somewhat different at a casual glance rather than being really different.
One can mix which loops get reversed or not. For example, flat braids are reversed on one hand and unreversed on the other. Are there braids where some of the moves are reversed and some not?
Changing things mid-braid is possible, as discussed above. This is especially true for the braids where reversed/unreversed makes a big difference.
It looks to me like one can twist the loop in either direction. Does this make a difference? Is it affected by the ply/spin direction of the threads? Can/should one vary this, either by which hand does what or by turns or randomly?
Which way to reverse the loop is somewhat dependent on the braiding style, maybe -- it sometimes seems easier to hook around the bottom or over the top for a particular braid and hand/finger set-up in order for a loop to reverse. I believe there are also braids that give the loop a full 360 degree twist rather than 180.
It's also very possible (and desirable) to do different things with each hand (or finger), so that some loops are taken reversed and some not, or taken reversed for one hand and not the other, or for some moves and not others. The square/split/flat braids are an example of this (one hand reversed and one not). So are the barleycorn braids, I think (some braiding moves that reverse, and the lateral exchange which can be either reversed or unreversed, I believe).
3. Which and how many loops are entered before the operator finger picks up the traveling loop.
This is the big one for a lot of braids. Of course. It's a big part of how one can get a whole family of braids from X number of loops.
One can go through 0 loops, 1 loop, 2, etc., up to all of them.
If one doesn't go through all of the loops, one's operator finger can skip over or under some of them on the way to the traveling loop.
If one skips over some of them, it can make a difference which ones get skipped over and which way they get skipped over (under or over).
Is this going to be consistent along the braid, or for one hand and not the other, or changing up and down the braid for various purposes?
Does it matter which way one enters the loops before picking up the traveling loop?
4. Loop exchanges (aka lateral exchanges).
Loop exchange braids keep the loops in pairs and swap them. This too has a few variations.
Which loop is on the outside -- does it alternate, is it always the same for each hand or each color, etc.?
Are the loops taken unreversed or reversed?
What if one changes the loops by simply swapping the positions rather than loops going through each other? (I seem to recall that one ends up with a lot of independent twisted strands.)
The order in which the loop-exchanges happen is also a factor. This too can change throughout the braid.
5. Moving loops without working them.
This, I suppose, is partly included in the above categories (going through 0 loops, swapping positions, etc.)
But... I've done that one braid (the 4-loop Guajiro one) that has one move loops from one finger to another finger, on the same hand, before doing the next bit of movement of loops between hands (which involves loops going through each other).
So... if the loops are moved without working them, it should come up with something similar to a freehand braid that is done with pairs of threads, right? But it gets more complicated with a mix of moving and looping-through.
And again, it makes a difference how the loops move, and over/under which other loops, and possibly whether or not they get twisted when they move.
6. Colors/textures.
Obviously one can do all kinds of fun things with color and texture -- all strands the same, some strands different, some strands bicolor/mixed-texture, etc. Plus there are ways to switch around in mid-braid in addition to a braid that is consistent throughout its length.
I will at some point carefully read Ingrid Crickmore's page on how to plot this out. She gives instructions she's already worked out for several braid structures. For those that aren't worked out and/or aren't easy to figure out, if and when I am willing to do the work, I can set up a bi-color loop sequence and work it out for myself.
7. Multi-person braids and braids using kute-uchi (though I think a lot of the kute-uchi braids can be done with fingers/hands). I haven't even begun to consider these yet.
8. Do I care about track plans? Noemi Speiser sure does. I haven't decided yet. Also, would it help for me to learn a bit about the mathematics of braids, especially as a way to describe/categorize them? Again, I haven't decided. I'll have to see what mathematicians care about and see how it intersects with what I care about. What are good methods with which to record braids, while being as unambiguous and specific as possible?
9. Which fingerloop braids correspond to which kumihimo or freehand braids? The structure of a braid doesn't necessarily tell you how it was made, especially if you only have a bit in the middle to look at. But it's fun to know several different methods for accomplishing the same thing, so one can do whatever seems most suitable given one's needs/wants at the time.
10. History, teaching, etc. How do I find out more about cords/braids throughout history/archaeology/anthropology? What, if anything, do I want to teach to others? There's also the related thing of braid characteristics and their uses throughout time. For example, some braids may be stronger/weaker and/or more/less elastic, grippy, etc., than others, more suitable for different fibers and sizes, more useful as pursestrings or ropes or fabric edges, etc.
So, that's just a few beginning thoughts based on my limited-so-far explorations. I might add more to this later as I think of or encounter more variables. Humans are so endlessly inventive; it's very cool to see what others have come up with, in addition to which ones they tend to keep and use most often.
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