Meet the Braider

It seems vaguely strange to me that as many people as have should come to my site and have no idea who I am, what I look like, or even to know what the faces of my model or photographer look like.  Thus, more pictures.

Mary Bertke, braider see more Mary hair pics	Mary with Amanda, instruction model
	Chris is responsible for most of the instructional pictures on this site.  That's right, the little one.  Ok, no, I mean the proud uncle.

I've been braiding hair about as long as I have had long hair, and possibly longer.  I don't remember where I learned a basic three-strand braid - I do remember braiding Barbie dolls and Barbie horses.  I first learned to French and Dutch braid in high school when I had insomnia.  I got bored, didn't care what the resulting braid looked like, and it gave me something to do since I was awake anyway.  I highly recommend the method of learning to braid by attempting it at times when people aren't going to see you immediately afterwards.

Many of the braid variations I describe on these pages I learned from Karen Ribble, a professional braider who has booths at the Ohio Renaissance Festival and Scarborough Faire (another Ren Faire) in Texas.  She has been braiding hair for as long as I've been alive and is a wonderful woman.  If you're in the area, go to the festival and patronize her booth, Braided Image!  She has a hair braiding video/DVD in which you can watch her creating some of the hair braids described in these pages.  She also has some books - she has even started a series that focuses on braiding your own hair, rather than someone else's.