Japanese Cord Braiding

My first cord.

The portable version of the foam disk.

Recently I took a class on Japanese cord making (Kumihimo). And after working on it steadily for a week, I'm finally done with the first one. The colors I used were purple, red, white and gray.
My mind has already planned the next one to be in gold and green. Hopefully I can get started on that one today. Once I have the card threaded, it's a good project to work on during TV commercials and short car trips as a passenger. That's why I like the little portable wheel. But I am looking at yardsales for a wooden stool to turn into a Marudai . You drill a hole about the size of a fifty cent piece in the center and use that as your braiding stand. The stand method is quicker because you can work with both hands and move two threads at once and it is more traditional. Of course if I found a Marudai  at a yard sale I'd be over the moon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumihimo