Welcome to a very beautiful world
What's best depends on what you want to do and which techniques you use.
For sling braids you have mainly three possibilities:
- Working freehanded (so called fistbraiding), the peruvian way.
- Marudai.
- Kumihimo disk
Freehand:
Pros: No tools are required, work can be packed up tightly and done everywhere.
Cons: The possible techniques are more limited and there are certain braids that can not (easily) be done.
Varia: That's my preferred way of working. Feels very natural to me. Works with the method "Look at it and pick the right one" aka: "The master of chaos"
There are many possible patterns.
Marudai: I have very limited personal experience, mostly theoretical from books and hearsay.
Pros: Very versatile, very broad range of patterns are available. Tensioning is done by counterweight and is thus more even.
Cons: Requires a lot of material especially for larger projects, bulky to transport, requires space.
Varia: For people that like to follow drawn schemes. many books are available. It is arguably the fastest method as only little manual tensioning is required and both hands can be used to manipulate threads.
Kumihimo card:
Pro: Easy to make yourself out of cardboard, modestly small and thus easy to transport, keeps your threads always in order.
Cons: Not very fast. Threads can be damaged when popping them in and out of the slots.
Varia: Beginners choice. Only the ability to follow numbers is required and no deeper understanding of the structure of the braid. Plenty of books around. I find it easier when braiding freehand to get the tensioning right.
So if your frustration tolerance is high I would go directly to freehand or Marudai as these are from my point of view the advanced methods. If you want a first fast success, get/make a card and follow a recipe.
About the retention loop: Yes, that's how you do it.
Transitions are the real "trade secrets" and everyone is doing them a little bit differently. There are just too many different ways. For a first attempt: Grab all your strings (including core), split into two groups. Rearrange strings and put half of them away. Braid both groups individually to your designed pattern and combine again or use another technique such as weaving. It usually turns out okay. If necessary, cover up the transition with a colourful wrapping.
Make sampling pieces to test techniques!
Hint: for the first piece, don't use a core. it just adds difficulty. Just split the threads into two groups and braid them as you like or use a weaving technique as done in many peruvian slings.
Books:
http://www.braidershand.com/bhbooks1.htmlYou might find the book due in November especially interesting (i'm going to buy it
)
Others:
Andean Sling braids by Rodrick Owen and Terry Newhouse Flynn (card, marudai, all patterns possible to be done freehanded, covers braids with cores).
Braids - 250 Patterns from Japan, Peru and Beyond (Marudai and Card) also by Owen
Sling Braiding of the Andes by Adele Cahlander (original publication on fistbraiding)
I can recommend all of these.
Free info:
https://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/tutorials/tutorial-palma-and-margarita-braids/
(fistbraiding).
For the card and Marudai just search the web for the basic ones:
-
http://fene4ki.ru/en/kumihimo-bracelet-tutorial.html-
http://craftdesignonline.com