Uncommon Uses for Common Things

While we're on the subject of helpful hints, here are a few others you might like.

Large Safety Pins: When you examine your braid for mistakes, stick the pin through the braid near the earliest mistake. Then unbraid down to the pin, remove it, and unbraid a few more rounds to make sure you’ve gone far enough.

Twist Ties (plastic-coated wire commonly used to secure bread wrappers): Use one to secure the final stitches in your braid before you remove the tama. It's so much easier than tying thread under the mirror.  After you remove the braid from the marudai, either stitch the end immediately or tie it more securely with thread.

Small Rubber Bands: Use them to secure the loose end of unused thread on a spool or cone.  I like the ones used to secure braids in horses' manes (they're finger-size), but bigger ones are ok, too.

Metal Snap Quilting Binding Clips or Snap Hair Clips (the ones you bend to snap open and bend to snap closed): Use them to keep threads organized into warps and to keep warp flat when you’re removing it from your warping pegs or warping frame.  I love these!  But if they're the bare metal ones, be careful that you don't catch thread in the crevices.

Large Jewelry Marking Tags (the kind that come with a fairly long string): Use them to label tama when you really need to know which tama is where. You can also use them on your braids for info about the braid (name, number of tama, tama weight, counterweight, number of ends per tama, colors, date made, warp length, etc.)

Cushion Foam (one-inch thick): Insert a piece into the hole in your marudai when you have tama sitting on the mirror. It keeps the tama from falling through if you knock them over.  I just hate it when that happens!