PDFs of Scans of Printouts of the Contents of Masako Kinoshita's
Loop-Manipulation Braiding Research and Information Center

I started to learn kumihimo in 2008, to support my costuming and other activities in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). As my research continued, I discovered the website of Masako Kinoshita's Loop-Manipulation Braiding Research and Information Center (L-M BRIC). I knew then what too many people have only begun to learn about the Internet: everything on it is ephemeral. So, I printed out every issue of the L-M BRIC News that had been posted, and collected everything in a binder.

Roughly ten years later, Ms. Kinoshita's health began to wane, and lack of maintenance to her website resulted in the loss of all its material. Her daughter started reposting the information to a new website, but the process of transferring all of the information is arduous, and only six of the thirteen issues have been posted. The complete articles are available through the Wayback Machine, but this is a cumbersome way to view anything.

Then, in 2022 Masako Kinoshita passed away at the age of 96. I realized that the only thing I could really do right away was to scan in all my printouts and make them available to June Kinoshita for use in re-creating the website. She very kindly gave me permission to host the scans on my own website writing, "I think my mom's biggest interest was to share this information as widely as possible." Because I cannot thank Masako-sama personally, I thank June for her generosity.

The newsletter issues and accompanying illustrated instructions are available below. You can also download a single archive with all files. I pulled out some of the major headings from the PDFs as spiderbait, but the PDFs themselves should be fully searcheable as well.

Note that some issues have their associated illustrated instructions in a single PDF, while some are two separate PDFs. Please don't ask me why I did it that way, it's too difficult to fix.

L-M BRIC Illustrated Instruction Series

For Finger-Held Loop-Manipulation Braiding
 

L-M BRIC Illustrated Instruction Basic Procedures

Kute-Uchi Basic Procedures
 

L-M BRIC Illustrated Instruction Series Section 2

Side-by-side Interconnection of Two Braids
 

L-M BRIC News No. 1

Three Recent Findings Relating to the Loop-Manipulation Braiding Technique
The Chinese Bronze Ware
Indian Gold Braider
The Two Maidens at the House "Zur Kunkel"
 

L-M BRIC News No. 2 & Illustrated Instruction Series No. 2

Spirit Bridge of Cuna Indians in Panama
Burial Strings of Cuna Indians in Colombia
Tie Strings on a Coat of the Khanty People in Siberia
Braids with an unorthodox pattern used among the Kunas in Colombia and Panama, and the Khantys in Siberia
 

L-M BRIC News No. 3 & Illustrated Instruction Series No. 3

'Fingerloop' Braids from the 12th - 15th c. Dump Sites in London, UK
L-M Braiding in China from the First Century BC
L-M Braiding of Thai Minority People; the Karens and the Akhas
"Old English Pattern Books For Loop Braiding" by Noemi Speiser
List of Observation Points for Recording L-M Techniques
 

L-M BRIC News No. 4 & L-M BRIC Illustrated Instruction Series No. 4

Special Issue: Loop-Manipulation as Lace-Making Techniques
The basic two procedures used for making Katheren Wheele
 

L-M BRIC News No. 5 & Illustrated Instruction Series No. 5

Loop-Manipulation as a Technique for Making Single-Course Twining
F-H L-M OF Hunza People: Reports from Ray Napier (UK)
SCOT Braids from Fifth-century Japanese Burial Mounds
The Yaos in Thai practice the 5 loops inner-finger-operated F-H L-M
The L-M used in India has been found to be 'inner-finger operated' method
Mystery of a Beater Stand Illustrated on the Face of a Cypress-strip Fan
About Single Course Twining
Single Course Twining
 

L-M BRIC News No. 6 & Illustrated Instruction Series No. 6

Family Tradition of L-M Braiding Kept in Aomori, Japan
Loop-braiding in Early 19th-c. Egypt
A Loop-Braiding Text from the Bad State Library, Karlsruhe, Germany
The F-H L-M METHOD 1 is also used in Finland
Braids on Frederik III's gown
Mrs. Kumeda's Method
Braids Found in The Karlsruhe Document
 

L-M BRIC News No. 7 & L-M BRIC Illustrated Instruction Series No. 7

Loop Braid from the Bronze Age
Discovered!! Fragments of Tortoise Shell Design Braids Proving the Practice of the Procedure Proposed by N. Speiser in 1986
About Tortoise-shell-pattern (kikko) braids
Braids on Relic Purses in Sion, Switzerland
A Florentine fresco shows loop-manipulation warp-twining
Edge Trimmings on the Llangorse Textile from Wales
Single-face Tortoise-shell Design Braids
 

L-M BRIC News No. 8 & L-M BRIC Illustrated Instruction Series No. 8

L-M Braiding Instructions Found in a Seventeenth-c. Printed Book
Comparison between the Tollemache book and the Serene book
Braids with an unorthodox pattern in English records
Braiding Techniques of Toraja People
Field Report on the L-M Braiding Practice in Mamasa
Twin Flat Braids with a Twill Pattern
 

L-M BRIC News No. 9 & L-M BRIC Illustrated Instruction Series No. 9

Braiding in Toraja / L-M braiding (2)
On the Braided Seal Strings on a Document from 1590 in the Danish National Archives
An Excavated Silk Sock at Reshui in Dulan, Quinghai, Northwestern China
L-M braiding in Ecuador and in Ethiopia
Braid Making for the Replica of "Kozakurakawaodoshi Yoroi"
Report from Frieda Sorber (1/8/06)
Symposiums on L-M Braiding: "Handling Carriage Horses like Braiding"
List of Observation Points for Recording L-M Techniques
L-M Braiding in Sulawesi Island, Indonesia
 

L-M BRIC News No. 10 & Illustrated Instruction Series No. 10

Wale'keru: L-M Techniques of the Guajiro Indians in Colombia
'Kaku-hira-uchi Braid Fragments' of Engakuji Temple, Kamakura, Japan
Loop-Manipulation Braids on a Fifteenth-century Purse
Xi, Lace-like Fabric Fragments Excavated from Lianling Mashan Tomb No. 1
modern Attempt at Making a Medieval Fingerloop-Braiding Booklet
F-H L-M Braiding Technique of Guajiro Indians
 

L-M BRIC News No. 11 & Illustrated Instruction Series No. 11

Finnish Finger-Held Loop-Manipulation Braiding Operated by the Small Finger
Braids in Chinese Classics And Excavated Braids from the Warring States Chu Cemetery
Loop-Manipulation Braids Found among Yi People in Sechuan Province, China
Idiosyncratic Appearances of Braids with an Unorthodox Pattern
Young People Enjoying Braiding
Fingerloop Braiding with 9 (and more) Loops, Using Method 2
 

L-M BRIC News No. 12a & L-M BRIC Illustrated Instruction Series No. 12

Initial Observations on "The Nun's Book"
Loop Braiding in Sulawesi Island, Indonesia (3)
Serene, recipe no. 66, page 437 "A lace vice of three colours"
 

L-M BRIC News No. 13 & L-M BRIC Illustrated Instruction Series No. 13

L-M braiding of Hongtou (Red Head) Yao People
Book Review - European Loop Braiding: Investigations and Results Part I, Part ll
L-11/I BRIC News Index No. 1-12
Three Warp-twining Braids