Marudai

A marudai (丸台^?, marudai) meaning "round stand" is the most common of the traditional frames used for making kumihimo, a type of Japanese braid. The marudai is generally made of a close-grained wood and consists of a round disk (kagami or "mirror") with a hole in the center, supported by four legs set in a base. The Japanese style marudai is often about 16" (40 cm) high and is used while kneeling or when placed on a table. The Western style 26" marudai allows the braider to sit in a chair to braid. The warp threads that form the braid are wound around weighted bobbins called tama. Tama were once made of clay, but now are most commonly wood filled with lead. The weight of the tama maintains even tension on the warp threads, and is balanced by a bag of counterweights called omori that is attached to the base of the braid.

Modern braiders often replace the marudai with a foam disk with numbered slots that tightly grip the warp threads so that no weighted bobbins are needed to maintain tension on them. Instead flexible plastic bobbins are used to prevent tangling of the threads. Unlike kumihimo disks, marudais have no indication of where the thread should be placed; it is done freehand.

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