I realized I could 3d print a lucet fork instead of going out to buy one and its working perfectly! Of course I would prefer a nice wood one but ill happily make do with what I have. Im doing a pretty loose braid here because I want to use this silver cord to embroider onto my headpiece for renfair and I think its coming out beautifully.
Just finished braiding some yarn to test out on my medieval dress. The believe the cord I was using originally was too thick for the eyelets and it was making it difficult to get the dress on and off so this is the first solution I'm attempting.
Not sure if the yarn will hold up even with the braiding but it's worth a shot before moving onto more extreme measures.
Fun fact braiding or weaving wool, flax, or leather was an extremely common form of cord making in viking and medieval period, though definitely not the method I used here.
This is a lucet (not my photo)
And it's a tool that can be used to weave together said previous materials and/or yarn into a strong cord (much stronger than a 3 strand braid). The benefit of such a method is you aren't limited to a predetermined length of cord prior to braiding and can essentially make a really long cord relatively quickly (with the added bonus of it actually looking historically accurate when used with historical pieces)
Seeing as I didn't have this tool on hand to try out and I'm really just in the testing problem solving phase in my project I just went with a regular 3 strand braid despite its obviously inferior qualities.
I could have also used a fingerloop braid instead which would be much stronger in the long run and would produce a similar result (and would still be historically accurate).
However, I forewent this method for the moment because I was unsure if I had enough yarn on hand to accommodate this method (I'm using the last of what I had on hand) and I didn't really have the time to learn how to do this braid for this project.
That being said though I hope to learn both methods for upcoming historical projects because there is nothing better than using historical methods when making historical garments.
Check out Fingerloop.org for great written instructions, documentation, and research!
The first fingerloop braiding video I made: https://youtu.be/NyjYqmWJ-uc
If you'd like to learn more fingerloop braids, the book "Tak V Bowes Departed" is absolutely fantastic! https://amzn.to/2OGdcr4 (it is currently out of print, but hopefully it will come back soon!)
First manuscript I mentioned: "1st quarter of the 15th century through the 17th century - The miscellany comprises texts on prognostication, astrology and braiding." http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.a...
Second manuscript I showed: "How to make purstringes. With samples of one bodyes-work and two-bodyes work. Circa 1600." http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O11...
