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Five Strand Braids
Last summer I took a one day course in Haliburton, entitled “Stalking the Wild Material”. It's a great course to take if you are interested in learning about natural materials. One of the things I learned from this course was that there are many different kinds of braids. Between the course, and a braiding book I borrowed, I discovered a whole world of braiding! Most people know all about 3 strand braiding, but how about 4 strand, 5 strand, anything in a odd number strand, 8 strand, braiding in a zig zag, and braiding in a circle? After taking this course, I decided to use some of my treasured bundle of bulrush to make a continuous 5 strand braid. Bulrush is hard to find, and even harder to get at and harvest, so I had been waiting for just the right project before dipping into my limited supply. Basing my selection on similar diameters, I hand picked each bulrush stalk for this braiding project. I wanted the material to be as uniform as possible to make it easier to produce a uniform and symmetrical braid. I mellowed the 4 to 5 foot bulrush overnight in the bathtub, and it was soft enough to begin braiding the next morning. Starting with 5 pieces of bulrush, I cut 6 to 10 inches off the bottom of each stalk as the bottom is always thicker. After those few inches, the bulrush maintains the same diameter until the tip, where it begins to taper. Before using each stalk of bulrush, I run my fingers down the length of the round stalk to flatten it, and squish out any air. These first five pieces for the braid are staggered in length, so that the addition of new pieces will also be staggered. A new piece is added when the tapered end is reached. Usually I add in when there is about 4 to 6 inches of material left. The addition of a new piece will change the diameter slightly, but that’s the challenge and the joy of natural materials. To end the braid, I simply tie it off with string, loosely coil it and let it dry. Once dried, I can cut the braid and it will hold its shape without unravelling. One of the many good qualities of bulrush is that It doesn't shrink as it dries. I'm quite happy with my foray into bulrush braiding, and the strength of the finished bulrush braid is impressive. I also like the soft green and brown colours. I wanted to make another braid, but with bulrush being such a treasured material, I decided to experiment with something a little more common and settled on cattail leaves. Cattail leaves have a few things going for them that bulrush lacks. Firstly, they're far more plentiful, and easier to get at and harvest. They also tend to be longer than bulrush stalks, which means less adding of new pieces, and the leaves are also conveniently flat. For this second braid, I chose cattail leaves that I had harvested from the heart of the original cattail clump. These leaves are more uniform in width and are not as wide as the shorter outer leaves. I followed the same process as described above for mellowing and staggering the starting lengths, and made a 5 strand cattail braid. When new cattail leaves need to be added, the flat nature of the leaves makes it easier to work them into the braid. The finished cattail braid was wider, flatter, lighter in colour, and more uniform than the bulrush braid. Because I was working with longer material, I also decided to make a non-continuous braid which didn't require adding in. I started with cattail leaves that were 6 feet long, which gave me a finished 5 strand braid that was 3 feet long. Since making both braids, I now have the challenge of how to use them. So far I have used the bulrush braid in the body of a little twig basket, and have attached it to the rim of a small rectangular plaited basket. I’m looking forward to finding other uses for these 5 strand braids.
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