I recently acquired a copy of the book “Tak V Bowes Departed” by Elizabeth Benns and Gina Barrett. Of course I had to experiment! I started by working some of the simpler braids which I’d made before (using instructions from different sources). The book instructions were easy to follow.
I then turned to a couple of braids I hadn’t tried before.
Pictured above:
Top: “a condrak lace departed” (p54), made using 7 bicolor loops of 6-strand embroidery floss. . I found this straightforward to work, even with my usual tighter tension. The take-up on the black side of each loop was much faster than the maroon side. The resulting braid was prominently textured, with little to no stretch.
Middle: “a lace bend broad” (p80), made using 8 single color loops of 6-strand embroidery floss (4 each of two colors). The book’s right – it is tricky to keep tension on the loops down one side of the braid. That said, I’m pleased with the result.
Bottom: “a lace bend broad” again, this time using acrylic dk, a stretchier yarn than the embroidery floss, to see what happens. Tensioning the looped edge was better, but it was more difficult to keep the compact part of the braid even.
Conclusion – Both laces show tension changes **really** easily. Stick to non-stretchy threads and practice!
Stringcrafter 