A Japanese craft you can start today with cord, scissors and glue.
Mizuhiki is the stiffened paper cord used in Japan to tie the knot on a gift or a celebration envelope. It costs very little, it lies flat, and a single cord makes a knot that looks like fine metalwork. This book teaches one knot properly and then treats every other shape in the book as a variation of it, which is the quickest route from never having tied one to a piece worth giving away.
Written for an adult beginner with no craft background. Every instruction assumes you are holding the cord for the first time.
Inside the book
— 19 chapters, from choosing cord to storing and posting finished work
— The basic awaji knot step by step, with a check that catches a wrongly woven knot before you tighten it
— Long-ears and double-pass variants, the crane and turtle figures, the plum blossom and the star
— Which knot belongs to which occasion, and why the distinction matters in Japan
— Cards, gift bands, earrings, pendants and hair pieces
— Ten projects, easiest first, each with time, difficulty, finished size and a full material list
— Cord quantities, batch planning, a glossary of the Japanese terms and a troubleshooting table
Illustrated in black and white throughout. Tone, not color, is what makes a knot readable, and the book teaches it that way.
