Transcriber's Note: To see a larger version of each pattern and table layout, click on the image.
AKE sixteen strands, eighty hairs in a strand, and place on table like pattern. Commence at A, take Nos. 1,—one in each hand—lift them over the table, one on each side of the mold, and lay them between Nos. 1 at B, and bring back the Nos. 2 from B, one on each side of the mold, and lay them between Nos. 2 at A; then go to C, lift Nos. 1 over between Nos. 1 at D, passing one strand each side of the mold, and bring back Nos. 2 from D, and lay between Nos. 2 at C. Then you are through the braid, ready to commence at A, as at first, and repeat until finished.
Braid this over a mold, made of small wire, with a hole in one end like the eye of a needle, so as to draw a small cord in the place of the wire. When you have it braided, take off the weights, tie the ends fast on the wire, and push the braid tight together; then boil in water about ten minutes, and take it out and put in an oven as hot as it will bear without burning, until quite dry; then slip it off the wire on to the cord, sew the ends of the braid so it will not slip, and put a little shellac on the end to keep it fast. If you want it elastic, use elastic cord. To vary the size of the braid, vary the number of hairs in a strand.
