Maeve Report post Posted May 28, 2009 (edited) I'm not sure if this is new to EVERYONE ... but it is new to me and I am SOOOOOO please and proud! I have 4 students that I am teaching to braid right now. One is exceptional in that she is a free thinker and analytical. I always find that making the flip in the last pass of the foundation of a Spanish Ring is a pain. And I do SO many a day that it gets frustrating at times. I learned from Gail Hought's book so it is her method that I teach my students. This one gal e-mailed me last night with this new method and I LOVE IT! She is a GENIUS! She came up with a way of weaving the working string through the foundation on the last cross whereas all you need to do is POP the string into position! Does anyone else do this? It makes life SO much easier! :D Recently I was brutally chastised for making the comment that, as a teacher, I learn a LOT from my students. This person asked just what in the heck could I ever learn from beginners! Well ...... this is the most amazing thing that I have learned in a while and it came from a two-month braider! I still stand by the fact that you CAN learn from your students! :D I did about 6 Spanish Rings tonight and it was just so easy! Sigh .... another one of those "Why didn't *I* think of that?" moments! LOL! I'm just so proud of this student for thinking outside of the box and sharing her learning with ME! Love and light, Maeve Edited May 28, 2009 by Maeve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KnotHead Report post Posted May 28, 2009 Might be even more interesting if there were either pics or a video to see what you're talking about. I think I know what you're describing as the technique but I am not sure, if you know what I mean? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maeve Report post Posted May 28, 2009 I'll try to get some pictures soon. I have two students coming over this morning and MY computer crashed last month. Husband slaved my hard drive to his and now HIS computer is misbehaving! Since I am the computer guru around here, I have my work cut out for me and it doesn't involve braiding at the moment! LOL! This gal did describe this to me in an e-mail that made sense so I'll see if I can describe it like she did for me. On the last cross where you have to flip the strings (one under the other), she left them parallel. She put the working end under both, turned, and came back over one and under the other. Then she just pulled and the one string POPPED under the other and your working string was in position to begin work again. ???? Okay .... I'll try to get pictures! LOL! Love and Light, Maeve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HorsehairBraider Report post Posted June 4, 2009 Cool! I've been doing it that way for years... if you braid hair, it just makes a lot more sense to do it that way as I discovered long ago. Now I can't do it any other way... nothing else makes sense anymore... You can always learn. Unless of course it's a person who knows "everything". If you know "everything", well, you can't learn *anything*. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TwinOaks Report post Posted June 4, 2009 (edited) I'm still pretty new-ish to braiding, but I found one of out member's websites to be an absolute treasure. Here's the URL to the page with the Spanish Ring: http://myriam.dakotabraiding.com/Tutorials...ing3Passes.html One of the biggest issues I've found is that various patterns for braids work on a set foundation, or a multiple of that. Ex: The ring shown above works wonderfully with four passes/bases/whatever you call the first steps where you cross/go over/cross....or with 8. Try it with 6 and the tail ends up on the wrong side of things. There's got to be a mathematical correlation there, based on the geometry of the braid.....but I'm not a math major. Something to do with topology (not topography). Edited June 4, 2009 by TwinOaks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KnotHead Report post Posted June 4, 2009 I've been using that technique for a while. That basically starts as a turks head at least that's what you end up with before you make your passes for the ring weave. You can actually interweave two different colors with the ring weave. Brian... I'm still pretty new-ish to braiding, but I found one of out member's websites to be an absolute treasure. Here's the URL to the page with the Spanish Ring:http://myriam.dakotabraiding.com/Tutorials...ing3Passes.html One of the biggest issues I've found is that various patterns for braids work on a set foundation, or a multiple of that. Ex: The ring shown above works wonderfully with four passes/bases/whatever you call the first steps where you cross/go over/cross....or with 8. Try it with 6 and the tail ends up on the wrong side of things. There's got to be a mathematical correlation there, based on the geometry of the braid.....but I'm not a math major. Something to do with topology (not topography). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maeve Report post Posted June 8, 2009 Wow! It's interesting to see that others found this before! LOL! It is like I have always said .... nothing is new! I have been using technique since my friend "invented" it and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I used to get so frustrated trying to flip those darned strings. But my life has gotten so much easier! And I'm just thrilled that my friend shared it with me! It's a shame that we aren't able to share these little gems with each other all of the time. I know that there are so many neat new shortcuts that I have learned in the last year or so but I sure don't know if they are OLD and *I* just discovered them or what!! Can't you just see all of those lightbulb moments if we only knew what others know??? Not sure if that makes sense or not! LOL! Love and Light, Maeve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KnotHead Report post Posted June 8, 2009 Yep it makes sense to me. Sharing the gold nuggets would take an awful lot of space. There are so many. A wiki would be an idea. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
