Japanese Braiding: The Art of Kumihimo [Spiral-bound]

Unless you absolutely NEED a spiral bound copy of the book, don't bother. It's an almost exact copy (some images are moved about for space on the pages and the numbers don't EXACTLY correspond ie-pg. 30 is not the same in both books) of the "Beginner's guide to Braiding, The Craft of Kumihimo" Beginner's Guide to Braiding: The craft of Kumihimo published in 1997 in Britain and later in the US.

The reviews listed below the book now, were NOT there when this book became available for preorder (I placed my preorder in January 2009). Had they been, I could have surmised that this book was a reprint of a 1997 edition based on the ages of the reviews.. I really dislike the fact that the book has been retitled, giving no indication of its previous title, nor any reference to the other ISBN.

When I placed my preorder on this book, Ms. Carey had NO information about this incarnation of this edition, no mention that this was a reprinted/rebound copy of an earlier book, on her website. I -love- her books, they're outstanding, but how many copies of one book do I REALLY require on my shelf or on my workbench? In addition, Amazon did not have any further information indicating it was a reprint either.

Ms. Carey has done this with another book as well "200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop or Weave" (published in the US in 2007, Interweave Press 200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop, or Weave) and "The Braider's Bible" (published in Britain in 2007, Search Press Ltd.The Braider's Bible).

Not at all fun to realize that the book you purchased, believing it was a UK-Only edition, is actually a copy of what you already had on the shelf. And because it came from the UK, I cannot easily return it (I'd end up spending enough to purchase the book between the original shipping and return shipping).

While I understand that Amazon may not know that these are the exact same books, I do expect the publisher and ESPECIALLY the author, to note that they are exact copies of each book, just rebound with a DIFFERENT TITLE, ISBN and different cover.

The book is beautiful, and if you find that you need a spiral copy of "Beginner's guide to Braiding, The Craft of Kumihimo" 1997, great! At least go into this and spend your money on something knowing what it was originally packaged as. It gets a 1-star for lack of disclosure and reference to a prior edition.

PLEASE NOTE: I rated the spiral bound edition of Japanese Braiding: The Art of Kumihimo, but because they've now linked BOTH titles, it shows up as a bad review of the Beginner's Guide to Braiding: The craft of Kumihimo, which was absolutely NOT my intent. My review ONLY concerns the spiral-bound, newly retitled and newly re-released copy of Japanese Braiding: The Art of Kumihimo.

This book is a very good example of the various methods of working with kumihimo, the Japanese form of braiding. The procedures are well explained with excellent photos to accompany the explanations.

Jacqui demonstrates Japanese kumihimo using the wooden marudai to demonstrate braiding. But if you don't want to buy an expensive marudai just to try this craft, she shows you some ways of using everyday objects to make your own marudai and bobbins. Really, you don't need to invest a lot of money into this hobby to get started and make some nice braids. The foam disks are a good alternative to the wooden marudai for beginners and they are inexpensive. You can make every braid in this book using the foam disks. I've already tackled several and my results are good.

This book has a lot of color photographs that show the braiding steps in detail as well as different braids you can make. The close-ups of how the warp patterns look during various stages of the braiding process are very helpful because as a beginner it's easy to mix up the braiding steps. Although the instructions are not overly complicated, you'll need to pay attention and become familiar with how the instructions show you to load the marudai (disk) and how to move the threads. It doesn't take long to learn, but be patient when you start.

Jacqui shows just a few braiding moves in this book, but depending on your color choices and how you thread your marudai you can create a wide variety of patterns. The book shows you how to use different thicknesses of thread or yarn and shows some examples that use ribbon or incorporate pre-made cords into the braids.

I recommend this book as a first book for learning kumihimo. The braids in this book are all made with 8 threads and you will be able to make all of them with a small amount of practice.

Tip: I'm using the foam disks, but I made my own weight bag and filled it with glass stones like the ones they use for floral decorations. You can change the weight of the bag easily and the smooth stones won't tear through the bag.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 11 reviews  4.1 out of 5 stars