About Bead Crochet and Kumihimo

Bead crochet combines tiny beads with traditional crochet done in the round to produce intricate and mesmerizing designs. It is an art form that has been around for centuries and is quite popular in eastern European countries.

Creating a piece of jewelry in bead crochet is extremely labor intensive and requires the utmost attention to detail. Graphic patterns provide the artist with precise bead counts, and each and every bead must be pre-strung in an accurate, prescribed order before beginning to crochet. Crocheting is done in the round with a very slender hook, dropping one bead into each stitch, generating a hollow tube with beads on the outside.

Each necklace takes about 25 hours to make--approximately 4-6 hours of stringing, 18-20 hours of crocheting, and time to end off/finish. Additional time is spent refining patterns and selecting the perfect colors and finishes of seed beads; there are literally hundreds of color choices, and I spend considerable time getting the combinations just right so that the patterns come to life and have dimension. 

 

Kumihimo (pronounced koo-me-he'-moe) is an ancient form of braiding that originated in Japan c. 710 CE. The word Kumihimo means "braided cord," and silk cord was traditionally employed to produce strong and slender cords used to secure kimonos and the armor of Samurai.

The earliest Kumihimo was done entirely by hand without any tool, much like loop braiding. Later, round wooden looms (marudai) were developed that allowed weavers to use many more cords, thus generating more colorful and complicated patterns. Today, a flexible foam disk is used.

Braids are made by passing cords in specific sequences back and forth across the loom. Each cord is attached to a bobbin, and tension is regulated by a counterweight in the center of the loom. Myriad patterns are possible and are determined by the number of cords used and the ordering of the cords around the loom. As with bead crochet, beads can be added to the cords in specific sequences before beginning. The simplest and most versatile braid is the basic 8-strand round braid and the one I use in my creations. 

Like Bead Crochet, Beaded Kumihimo takes considerable time to plan, set up, braid and finish. Necklaces take a minimum of 12 hours to complete.