acox4t4 Report post Posted November 8, 2011 Howdy All, Yep I'm still alive and kicking just have not done any projects lately so just been reading post and not really answering very many or making up new ones until today. hehe started a new project. I have a new appriciation for those of you that work and create such artistic work while using rawhide. I am going to try and make a quirt with rawhide and since my last two attemps of getting a hide myself to make the rawhide turned into a maggot mess and then a holly mess by using to much lime I went on and bowed down to ordering some precut strands. For me its been a week long challenge to get the moisture level just right to where I can work with it, was having troubles with some of the strand having to much moisture and in other places not enough, I put it all in a plastic bag to let sit in the refrig until finally it seemed to be even through-out the whole strand. I beveled it, then figured to start out with a 4 strand about 2 1/2 foot braid. I consider myself a pretty tough women but whow that 2 1/2 foot of braiding just about kicked my butt. My hands after only about 1 foot were feeling pretty sore and my fingers trying to hold the braid tight while trying to pull tight another strand has me feeling like a whimp. The good news is I have a great new appriciation to you all that can do this work and do it with such artistic talents to produce great work. After my fingers come back to life to where I can push the button on my camera I'll post my work in progress. But until then just wanted to say, how wonderfully talented I think you all are. Annette Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aggiebraider Report post Posted November 9, 2011 Dont worry so much about holding the plaits or braids tight just worry about pulling the working strand tight before you braid it into the others. Huge turning point in my braiding and kind of an aha moment lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
megabit Report post Posted November 9, 2011 Dont worry so much about holding the plaits or braids tight just worry about pulling the working strand tight before you braid it into the others. Huge turning point in my braiding and kind of an aha moment lol Boy is that ever the truth. I can't believe how long I fought without understanding that. This was the most important thing I learned at Nate's workshop back in Feb. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rawhidelady Report post Posted November 26, 2014 Just a little suggestion, get some leather gloves and cut the tip of the fingers out of them and sew the seams to keep them from unraveling. This really helps save your hands from blisters when pulling on the throngs to tighten. Also you can wrap the fingers that the throng pulls across with several layers of masking tape to protect them if you don't have gloves. Happy Braiding. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
