Making silk bracelets in Nara

We signed up for this AirBnb experience for the late afternoon in Nara. After taking the train to Nara, we spent the late morning and mid day walking around the big park with deer and giant buddhas, then walked down to a tiny workshop run by two old Japanese ladies, Michiko and Toshiko, on a street full of artists' shops.

Their friend down the street helped them set up the listing. Their english was minimal, but with the aid of handphone apps and a tiny bit of Japanese on my part we did fine! The important points are obvious by demonstration for something like this anyway, and we all had a nice time for a few hours doing these bracelets.

The two hosts were super friendly and laughed a lot. It was pleasant hanging out in the cozy shop while a group of middle aged ladies sat at adjacent tables chatting and having a beading group.

First order of business was to pick our colors. They had many lengths of silk fiber in bags and metallic thread on spools, so we each picked two silk and one metallic color. Our hosts then wound these onto wooden spools with cast metal centers. Each braid needed 8 spools and we had 5 people, so it took them a while to get us set up.

The braids were started from a weighted clip hanging in the center of the braiding jig, which was wooden and looked like a stool with a hole in the middle. The spools of fiber and thread hung around the outer perimeter and partway down to the table. The braid was formed by moving spools around about 170 degrees of motion in pairs.

Once the braid got long enough, it was removed from the jig and cut loose from the spools, then rolled on the table to smooth out the work. Next, fittings were applied by the hosts to the ends so that the bracelet would be suited to the wrist of the person who made it.

Even with help from Becky and I for the kids, we just had a lot of braid to do with many threads, so it took about three hours. The hosts graciously kept the shop open and helped us finish our projects just as the sun was setting.

We walked back to the train station and had a delicious dinner at a restaurant we passed on the way, followed up by some fantastic Japanese pastries (which we definitely did NOT get our fill of on this trip!). We got back to our house in Kyoto about 10pm and were ready for a good night of sleep on our futons after a full and enjoyable day.