Use our Kongoh-gumi tool

Kongoh-gumi is a simple style of braiding which can easily be done on a kumihimo disk. It is commonly used for making friendship bracelets - particularly since there are children's friendship bracelet kits with patterned disks, threads and instructions. That's how we got started - our daughter was given a Friendship Wheel kit by Alex Toys for Christmas. We had instructions for making friendship bracelets with 4 different designs, but we wanted more - and the Kongoh-gumi Designer was born. You can change the colours of each of the threads and, to give even more possibilities, you can change the number of threads from 4 to 32.

There are a number of different brands of kumihimo disk available. Some of them come with threads to get you started. Our first disks had coloured marks to help us place the threads for the designs, but you do not need these if you are making your own patterns. I find a numbered disk is useful for other braid structures. Traditionally, kumihimo braids are made from silk, and you divide the silk up to make multistrand threads. DMC and other embroidery threads work well on a kumihimo disk (I often use rayon embroidery thread as it is smoother and shinier than regular DMC). Recently I made some braids using leftovers from Harris Tweed weaving. It is also possible to thread beads, and even create wire jewellery on a foam disk.

How to make a kongoh gumi braid

Regardless of the number of threads, the basic technique for braids designed with this tool is the same. The number of threads is always a multiple of 4, and pairs of threads are arranged opposite each other. The design tool shows you how to arrange the coloured threads with an arrow pointing to one at the top. This is the first one you move. This thread (the right of the pair at the top of the disk) moves down to the right side of the opposite group. Take the left thread of the bottom group and move it up to the left of the solo thread at the top. Once you have done this, turn your disk anticlockwise so that the next pair of threads is at the top, and start the sequence all over again.

The Flash applet below shows how the threads move around the disk when you are doing a 16 thread braid. Colours have been chosen to try and help see where the threads started and where they end up. Just click on the triangle to start it running.

Something we have been asked is "how can I make a 32 thread braid on my kumihimo disk - I only have 32 slots?" We decided to make a video showing how we do it.

There is also a Friendship Bracelet kit that comes with a square kumihimo plate. If you want to design for this, take a look at Warp 8 7 on Marudai Painter. The instructions there at the moment are for using a marudai, but if you have the right friendship bracelet kit, you should be able to see how the instructions compare.

If you have any suggestions for improvement or problems using the tool why not Contact Us