Elliott C. Evans is a technical writer and trainer from Pittsburgh who portrays a medieval Japanese nobleman named Ishiyama Shonagon in the Society for Creative Anachronism. This hobby led to traditional Japanese skills including woodworking, costuming, and braiding. Elliott has been studying braiding for more than 15 years.
He is a founding member of the American Kumihimo Society, and a member of the Braid Society.
I started learning marudai braiding in 2008, mostly from books, after making my own braiding equipment. Later, I was able to refine my skills by taking two workshops with Rodrick Owen back when he was traveling to the USA regularly.
In 2016, I was selected to travel to Japan to record an episode of the Nippon Ikitai unscripted television show. My trip to Japan was mostly about eboshi hats, but I spent a day in Makiko Tada's studio learning kute uchi hand-loop braiding.
In 2022, I acquired a used takadai and began studying takadai braiding using Rodrick Owen's book Making Kumihimo.
In 2025, I was introduced to the sankakudai and shigeuchidai braiding stands. These stands are unpopular today even in Japan, since they are less versatile than the marudai. I constructed each stand from photographs and learned methods for their use from videos. From my experience, I published a short booklet on sankakudai braiding, and I believe it to be the only published instructions for this stand.
Conferences I have attended:
Most of my teaching has been through my activities in the SCA. I have taught or demonstrated braiding almost every year for the past ten years at the annual Pennsic War event in August. I teach and demonstrate braiding often at local events, and at larger regional events. I have taught classes in marudai set-up, marudai braiding with both 8 and 16 tama, and kute uchi hand loop braiding. In 2018, I was inducted into the SCA's Order of the Laurel, which is the highest honor bestowed on those who research, practice, and teach medieval crafts. I have written, designed, and produced all of my own teaching materials.
At Braids 2025, the Sixth International Braiding Conference, in Cleveland, Ohio, I taught a 1-day class titled "Odd Braids for the Marudai". Most marudai braiding uses an even number of tama (bobbins), but these braids combine familiar marudai movements with an odd number of tama to create uncommon shapes, textures, and color possibilities. These 9-, 15-, and 17-tama braids bring new life to ancient structures and your existing equipment.
Classes I am prepared to teach:
I am a technical writer and trainer, mostly working with cutting-edge software and hardware. I graduated Carnegie Mellon University in 1995 with a degree in Professional Writing and a minor in Visual Communication. I have worked in the high-tech worlds of: railroad signaling, robotics & self-driving vehicles, high capacity networked data storage, finite element analysis for mechanical and electrical engineering, and smart buildings.
I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA with my wife Sharon Booth and her cats. My hobbies include woodworking, braiding, sewing, and hiking.