More random things (thoughts, things I've found, things I've tried, etc.) since the last post.
I mentioned in my last post some braids used to make slings described by Adele Cahlender as "spiral interlinking", believing them to be an example of the kind of braids the disks can produce. Actually, upon a closer reading of the book (Sling Braiding of the Andes), they are apparently not quite the same thing as the spiral braids I'm doing. Cahlender explicitly says that each row is distinct, with the last strand interlinking with the first, to make horizontal rows rather than building up in a spiral. So, if that's actually what's going on, then these Andean spiral interlinking braids around a core are not the same kind of braid that I'm doing with these disk braids.
I cannot tell if these braids are included in what Speiser is describing when she first talks about Tubular Linking (18C). I think it is? Because in section 18C.2 Substituting Threads of Contrasting Colours, she very specifically says that this "is seen frequently in Andean slings." Speiser says that the tubular linking braid "structure grows on a helical fell, thus every subsequent linking 'locks' all the preceding ones." Helical fell, not a horizontal row (Speiser calls the thing where the last thread interlocks with the first and the structure builds up in tiers a Crown Sinnet [18D] and says that these are "a species of knotting" rather than braiding, though eh, I'm OK either way.)
So, either Cahlender is wrong, or Speiser is wrong, or different braids that used the tubular linking move over a core were done using different techniques, or I am not understand what the two authors are saying and I am wrong. Well, I'm sure I'm wrong about a lot of things, of course. Either way, I thought I'd mention it.
I went back through Ashley's Book of Knots. I believe that he describes braids that are the same or very similar to the ones I'm doing on the disk. However, he uses different methods, quite possibly because most of his stuff is about rope or at least fairly thick cordage. There's something about bringing some strands up and some down in his chapter on chain and crown sinnets, starting at roughly 293 though maybe 2935. There's also a lot of things that look slightly similar in his chapter on plat sinnets, starting at roughly 3021.
Things get a bit more interesting in his chapter on solid sinnets, where he starts to introduce the idea of disks, whether real or conceptual, and also a braiding stand that can be used with the diagrams and instructions. I need to look more closely at these solid sinnets where he shows a disk to see exactly what's going on. It's not a simple arrangement of strands and a simple relatively fool-proof one-step braiding method.
Until it is! 3067 is described as "a round sinnet made on the [braiding] table but without the employment of pins or numbers." It has a one-step method that is repeated "until sufficient sinnet is made". This looks like an interesting and easy disk braid though not quite as foolproof as the "fill the gap" or "jump the extra" braids. You have to be able to identify the most recent disk-braiding move to know which strand gets to move next rather than having an obvious strand that moves and an obvious place to move it to. 3068 is the same as 3067 except the opposite direction (counterclockwise spiral vs clockwise spiral). I'll have to try these.
I like how the sinnets in this chapter often have diagrams that are very similar to Speiser's track plans to show the paths of the various strands and thus the overall shape and interlockings of the braids.
I tried the 7-strand fill-the-gap braid by grouping things into three groups of two and one group of one strand. Eh, it's not as simple as the move-the-extra braids. The gap is not always in the same side of the groups (i.e. it might be gap-strand or strand-gap in the group). This one might best be done using the 8-slotted disk or equivalent, where one can see exactly where the gap is without being confused about which strand needs to move into the gap. I may try it using three groups of two and one group of three, to see how it works as a move-the-extra braid.
As a reminder to all, the disk serves no real purpose in braiding except to organize the strands, keep them in place until you're ready to move them, and to provide a bit of tension. It is a guide, a tool. It does not determine the braid structure, and the same structure can usually be made using other braiding techniques. Which I know but can be confusing to newer people who are still learning by following explicit instructions and who haven't thought about it yet.
Another thought-let (i.e. a mini-thought) -- I find it cool that the same braid structures exist in many mediums. Simple cordage, ropes, yarn, string, straw, basketry, wire, leather, etc... Each material and purpose, plus or minus available tools, sort of guides how we think about the braid structure and how to create that braid. Yeah, I know it's obvious. But it's cool, and part of why narrow wares and braids and all these things (waves in the air in the general direction of the textile/fiber/etc. world) fascinate me.
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I'll be starting some new cords, probably most or all fingerlooped, to give to someone for a specific purpose. Fun! I've done a few already. This project will get its own post rather than being attached to this post since the topics are somewhat different.
One exciting thing -- I dropped the loops on one of the braids and guessed where I was at in the braiding. Several moves later it became apparently that I was wrong. I actually managed to unweave back to where I had been, figured out which loop needed to go on which finger, and recovered where I was in the cycle. Yay!!!!
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