PROCESS

Braiding jewellery with hair is a vanishing hand craft with a very labour intensive process. Since this artistry is almost forgotten all of the needed tools are improvised and the books on braiding patterns hard to find. To illustrate the process for you and to give you an idea how much work goes into a piece I made a little video series.  

 

•PROCESS VIDEO No1•

Counting hair. 1, 2,3,... I'm not a very pedantic person but for an even and perfect braid I up my precision and count each hair. Afterwards all those tiny bundles of hair are knotted to tiny weights -by hand- which go on a weaving loom called "Jatte". And then you braid like a mofo.

Counting Hair

 

•PROCESS VIDEO No2•

Dancing the dance of the hair braid. Ok, I have to admit, it's quite a repetitive dance and even though this video is mainly a time-lapse video of only the last bit of the braid, it's a tat ... ehm... boring. No sugarcoating that one. Nonetheless: enjoy! And yes, it's a labour- intensive craft but it's so rewarding to have the finished piece in the hands and see the transformation from a bundle of#700strandsofhair to a piece of very personal jewellery. Get's me every time

Weaving Process

 

• PROCESS VIDEO No 3•

The devil is in the detail.... that's why I make my own tiny details rather than going for store bought closures. These are the silver details for a pair of customized earrings which I oxidized. I just love the transformation of the shiny silver to the oxidized matt black ⚫️

Customized Details