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Square Braiding?

Started by vajewa, February 18, 2009, 03:40:17 PM

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vajewa

Has anyone figured out the the square braiding used by Dom Queron and his brethren for their hair or  is the a reference in how to do it in any of the reference material surrounding the the novels?  I think I might like to try braiding my beard in this manner. :o

BTW:  I might be willing to post a photo if anyone can tell me how.

Gratefully,

Valentius

DesertRose

That's a good question.  As often as I braid my hair, I've never tried a four-strand braid, but Bynw might know how to do one, or know who could tell you, as there are pics of him on this site with his hair in a g'dula.

And you must have one LONG beard! :)  (So saith the lady with hair she can almost sit on.)
"If having a soul means being able to feel love, loyalty, and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."

James Herriot (James Alfred "Alfie" Wight), when a human client asked him if animals have souls.  (I don't remember in which book the story originally appeared.)

vajewa

Hello DesertRose,

Perhaps I read it wrong  but I thought that the braid actually formed a squarish shape.  I have braided hair/beard with 4 strands before but it was a flat braid.  As you said though, perhaps Bynw has some insight on this.  Will check out his photos in the gallery.

The beard fuctuates in length.  It goes from 2-9 inches depending on the time of year and the nag level of my wife. :)  Currently it's at bout 4 inches.  Hair when I was a young man( not that mid 40's is old) was oft longer than shoulder length.  Currently it doesn't get beyond 3/4 of an inch and 1/4 in is the preferred length.

Be neat to have a photo of your locks braided thusly to go with my beard.


DesertRose

I talked to Bynw about it and someone else braided his hair for him, and he doesn't remember who it was.

As to the g'dula being a square braid, I'd have to re-read; I don't recall off the top of my head.  As I recall, Dom Queron talks about his g'dula in some detail in The Harrowing of Gwynedd but I could be mistaken on that.  Kelson and Dhugal wear their hair that way, but I don't recall them discussing it much.  But then, Dom Queron's g'dula had religious significance to him and the rest of the Order of Saint Gabriel and the Servants of Saint Camber.  For Kelson and Dhugal I think it's more a matter of it being a convenient way to wear their hair and in Dhugal's case, a regional tradition.

If we ever figure out exactly how to do it, I'd be glad to show off my hair. :)
"If having a soul means being able to feel love, loyalty, and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."

James Herriot (James Alfred "Alfie" Wight), when a human client asked him if animals have souls.  (I don't remember in which book the story originally appeared.)

vajewa

I've done a little looking on the net this morning and it seems that  there are several methods for square braiding.  Will go thru them and see which is easiest for me to do.  Maybe this won't be as difficult as it seems at present.

BalanceTheEnergies

I don't know that it's square; my recollection of the text doesn't suggest that shape, but I've not read the Camber or the Heirs trilogies in a while. I recall braiding bookmarks with yarn in school; with that many strands, it looked more like a woven band (rather than the series of V's that a three strand braid makes).
Dubito ergo sum

lenni

Quote from: BalanceTheEnergies on February 20, 2009, 02:16:40 PM
I don't know that it's square; my recollection of the text doesn't suggest that shape, but I've not read the Camber or the Heirs trilogies in a while. I recall braiding bookmarks with yarn in school; with that many strands, it looked more like a woven band (rather than the series of V's that a three strand braid makes).

Ya learn something new everyday!  I knew about a round four-strand braid, but not about a flat four-strand braid.

I googled for a four strand braid and found this flat one at ehow.com:
http://www.ehow.com/how_3391180_make-four-strand-braid.html

I learned how to make a round four-strand braid as a kid at recreation (hanging out at the local school/park for recreational programs).  This is the braid used to make the plastic lanyard/whistle necklaces that the recreation leaders used to wear.  Here are directions for this one:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2239083_create-fourpart-round-braid.html

I went ahead and braided my husband's hair in both of the above styles and took pictures.  If anyone is interested, I could post them to the gallery (although I'm not sure how well they came out).

Kathleen

TerrierMom

I braid my just past my waist long hair most days for work. 3 or 4 strand braid. 3 if I am in a hurry, 4 if I have a bit more time. It's a flat 4 strand, but very easy to do. Secure hair in a ponytail with a scrunchie, hair elastic or ribbon. I'm mostly ambidexterous, I can write and do just about everything left handed as well as right-handed. However I was taught/learned to be that way. I started off  my writing days as a Righty, so the instructions will be sort of Righty based.  Divide hair into 4 strands. When you do this, 2 of the  strands will be on the right side, and 2 on the left. Start with the the right hand  pair of strands. Cross the right most strand over the left one. Then move to left hand set. Cross the right side strand of that pair over the left. There will be two stands in the middle. Cross the left side middle strand over the right side middle strand. Then move back to the right side pair. Cross right side strand over left. Then switch to the left side pair. Right side over left. Switch to middle strands. Left over right. Repeat  process until braid is as long as you want it, or you run out of hair. Secure with a ribbon, elastic, etc. Voila! 4 strand braid! I'm pretty sure starting from the left hand set would work just as well. I'll have to try it out in the morning and see! I've found it easiest to braid when the hair is wet, at least my hair is. I have a lot of hair! It's not just that it's well over 2 feet long. There's a  whole bunch of it, and all of it is very fine. For a beard, just secure the hair that's closest to your face. Probably wouldn't even need to secure the beard hair at the top, but as I don't have a beard I can't be sure  of that :D Might not even need to secure the hair in a ponytail first, if one's hair is less prone to think it is Houdini than mine is.

lenni

I'm afraid that I have to practice.  I can do my own hair in a three strand braid, but not a four strand (flat or round) braid yet.  Especially not down the back!   :D

Kathleen

Bynw

#9
Hmm didn't notice this topic before but I think I will post to it. Here is a pic of my own hair (when it was long) tied in a g'dula (4 strand braid or border braid as it has been called before).


*note* removed the old link and added an attachment instead.

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Curlytop

#10
Quote from: DesertRose on February 19, 2009, 10:22:10 PMIf we ever figure out exactly how to do it, I'd be glad to show off my hair. :)
Your hair looks beautiful. Why don't you show it off anyway?

Spare a thought for one whose hair cannot be braided (or even grown long) unless something drastic (no thanks!) gets done to it first.

Rahere

As a ropeworker rather than a hairdresser, I'd take the approach of the old scoobidoo plastics, separating the beard centrally and then splitting each half equally fore-and-aft. Keeping the first tail loose, secure it's running end with the next tail, and repeat with the third securing the second and the fourth securing the third, before tucking the fourth end under the loop left in the first and tightening the loop up. Repeat until out of beard.
The result is likely to be something like the Egyptian pharaonic beard, extremely stiff and jutting out from the chin due to the solidity of the weave.

Evie

A ropeworker?  Darn, wish you'd been here to give input when I was trying to work out whether to go with Franciscan knots for the red and blue cincture of my Servant of Saint Camber robes just a couple of weeks ago, or try some sort of fancier "cording lore" knots.  As it turned out, though, since I had to take apart a red and a blue cincture to get the cords to twine together to make a single red and blue one, the resulting merged-colors cincture was too loosely wound to allow for fancy knotwork, so I ended up having to settle for plain old overhand knots and a Franciscan knot at the very end.

Welcome to the Forum, O Prolifically Posting One!   ;D 
* Evie scurries off to read your other posts
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

Rahere

If I remember rightly, it's little more than a scarf knot, the cincture rope itself is knotted first with the drop end (a form of heaving knot) and then with a series of bottle knots around one end to represent the vows taken. That implicitly doubles the cincture and leaves a bight for the ends to pass through.

That, however, is an RC approach, and I tend to think a Camberian cinture might be a tad more military, so some form of lanyard, whilst remaining functional, ie easy to do up and remove. Your description of unlaying two existing cinctures gives me a clue: your problem lies in that they were pre-twisted in being laid up in the first place, and in separating them you undid the twist which was holding them close. It should be in the opposite direction to the twist in the strand. If you clamp one end and start twisting each, you'll see the cords start to lie up against each other and a new rope form.
At that point, you're talking about a rope and an eye can be formed in a rope, particularly if you're forming stopper knots. What you might do is form a thumb knot in red around the blue as a core, then butting a thumb knot in blue formed around the red, and again red around the blue. Leaving the two unlaid for a short distance, say an inch, before repeating the knots as the foundation to continue the laying-up creates an eye, and an eye serves as well, indeed better, than the bight in a classical cincture. A series of eyes can interlock each other >----o-o-o--------o-o-o----===.  (This is actually a standard military engineer's lashing rope). 

Laurna

I just ran across this topic. Which got me curious enough to look it up on the web. I found this cool tutorial. 

http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/hairstyles/time/10-15mins/box-fishtail-braid/
Has anyone tried this braiding style?
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