Photo 1: Examples of compound
covert braids. Swatches and photo by
J. Boutrup."
L-M BRIC NEWS
ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTION SERIES
06-30-2005 ©
L-M Braiding Research & Information Center / Masako Kinoshita
5 Winthrop Place, Ithaca, NY 14850 U. S. A.
Phone & Fax: 607-257-0886 e-mail:
mkinoshi@twcny.rr.com
One of the most basic l-m braiding procedures simultaneously yields two (twin) 2-ridge flat braids with a twill pattern (Fig. 1a). If you use 3 loops, you get a pair of (twin) pigtails (the familiar 2-ridge flat braids one gets when making a simple 3-strand braid). In the l-m technique, however, five or seven loops are more often used.
Two braiders sit side by side and each makes twin two-ridge braids using this procedure. Then the two exchange the loops closest to each other after each cycle of the procedure is completed. This connects the two twin 2-ridge braids at the neighboring selvages and produces twin 4-ridge flat braids, one layered on top of the other. (Fig. 1b, 1c)
Photo 1: Examples of compound
covert braids. Swatches and photo by
J. Boutrup."
A covert braid is a double-layered tubular braid, that is, a tubular braid with another tubular braid on the inside. A braid called "cou pen," "coupen" or "compound" in old English records has two alternating solid color area made periodically exchanging the outer and inner layers, each in different color, of a covert braid.
Photo 2: Replica model of a Japanese
medieval braid. By M. Kinoshita.
The same design idea runs in some Japanese medieval braids, proving it is intrinsic to the loop technique.
Whereas the 15th-c. English records have only one of each basic recipe for making 4-ridge versions (square braid) of these two types of braids, the Serene, the newly discovered 17th-c. published record, presents several color schemes applied to the 4-ridge version as well as other flat braids. It looks as if Lady Serene, the complier, was fascinated by the design idea.
Two braiders sit side by side and each braids twin two-ridge braids for their own using a twin flat braid procedure. And then the two connect the two braids (Fig. 2).
Then if you also exchange the loops at the outer selvages each of the two flat braids becomes a tubular braid, one completely encased inside the other (Fig. 3). If you exchange the loops above the braids; the bottom layer covers the one on top, exchange beneath; the top layer covers the one at the bottom.
To assure that the two component braids are completely separated, don't cross the shanks of the exchanged loops. To keep them from crossing, twist the loops as follows before and after you exchange:
After the exchange, twist the loops in the opposite direction. Fig. 4a and 4b show that the loop on the left is twisted counterclockwise (4a) or twisted clockwise (4b) as it is taken to the right side.
Using bi-color loops; you get a P-colored braid covering one in Q-color or vise versa. By using several colors in bi-color loops, you make patterned covert braids.
Braid using the procedure for covert braid with bi-color loops.
After braiding a certain length (a few cm or a repeat of a color pattern), twist all the loops one by one a half turn to bring up the colors of the bottom shanks to the top. Proceed to braid as before, then the former inner braid comes up to the surface.
The principle of making covert and compound braids extends to any double-layer flat braids.
In the Serene this method has been applied to 7-loop 4-ridge as well as 14-loops 8-ridge twin flat braids with a twill/plain mix pattern. Although the Tollemache has instructions for both braids, none has been applied to this technique. The addition to the 17th c. publication is most likely to have been Lady Serene's contribution.
The methods to make covert and compound braids explained here are for the F-H L-M, the idea of such braids extends to the H-H L-M. Because of the 4-step construction principle of the H-H, approach is not the same, however.