Braid printing and preparation

I made samples of the stitches found in Tudor strapwork embroidery on a 'large scale' so that they might be used as printing blocks in their own right for the next chapter.

2.1

2.1 From left to right the samples are: plaited braid stitch and braid stitch using 6mm leather cording on a grid from a plastic fruit box, then plaited braid stitch, braid stitch and ladder stitch using blind cord on 7hpi plastic canvas.
The largest 'block' is about 5cm by 14cm.

I used the blocks above on both paper and fabric using different coloured lumiere paints to create backgrounds for later.

2.2

2.2 from top left clockwise:
large plaited braid on black hessian, small braid stitch on cotton, large plaited braid stitch on cotton, small plaited on cotton.

2.3

2.3 I practised making some braids and knotted cords using felt cords I'd made previously.
The samples in the photo show the following: chain sinnet (or monkey chain), a single braid, a 4-stranded plaited braid, snake cord, square knotted braid, a 4-stranded striped braid, a chinese knot, and a 6-stranded chevron braid.
I owned a few books on celtic and chinese knots already for source material but found a few more on the web eg www.animatedknots.com and www.charles.hamel.free.fr/knots-and-cordages

As a bit of an aside, the snake cord is one that I do quite often in miniature for loops and closures on bags.

 I didn't include the Chinese ball knot in these samples as I felt it was too 3-dimensional for strapwork inclusion but it's one knot I use a lot - for tidying up the end of cords on shoulder bags more attractively than an ordinary overhand knot and a bit different from a bead.

It's amazing how many people notice it and ask how it's done.