FINISHING THE END OF THE CHESAPEAKE BRACELET:
OK. I'm lazy. After doing four sets of photos and having none of them
really suit my purpose, you would be too. I'm doing the star knot with a
whipped set of lines instead of making up yet another bracelet body first.
Shoot me. If you're doing this as a continuation of the previous page, your
braid will be stroped with a slippery clove. DON'T undo that untill I tell ya!
Here we have the standard "Patriotic" layout of six lines, two each of red,
white and blue, but just whipped together. Still works the same.
SEPARATE COLORS
First thing to do is to get the ducks in a row. Get your colors separated
as neatly as possible. You won't be able to get all three in perfect sets due
to the way the braid is constructed, but wiggle them about a bit until you
approximate the mess at the right. You'll thank me later. (Trust me.)
MAKING THE BACK LOOPS
Make an UNDER-LED loop in any of the lines (I chose blue). UNDER-LED
means that the free end of the line goes UNDER and out to the LEFT as
shown. (You may also, if left-handed, reverse ALL the directions on this
page and have the line going out to the RIGHT, but it MUST cross UNDER to
form the loop. ) This is important as otherwse the knot gonna fall apart.
Not a good thing.
Now feed the next line to the RIGHT up and thru the loop you just made,
then twist IT to form a loop, and then...
Keep on tucking lines into the previous loop, forming another loop and
so on until you tuck the last line thru. Fair up (GENTLY tighten things) and
you will have a confection similar to the one at the right. Note that ALL the
lines are coming UP and thru the loop to their LEFT. This little construction
will hold itself in shape once you reach this point. (A good thing.)
CROWNING AGAIN? Does it NEVER stop?
Yup. Make a crown to the RIGHT and continue doing this until all six
lines have been crowned. (Hey, don't blame me! YOU wanted to learn
this!)
ALL CROWNED LOOSELY NICELY FAIRED UP
BACKTUCKING THE CROWNS
This take a bit of explanation: Take any line you care to (I used white for
visibility) and note that it comes out between the next crown... you want to
take it and lead it back UNDER ITSELF as shown to the right (click on it to
get the big picture...it helps!), put your thumb on top of all the crowns and
tighten the line up gently. DON'T "over-pull" on things at this point, all
you'll do is upset the arrangement of lines and make it nigh impossible to
get a good looking knot out of your effort. Just snug it lightly as shown in ...
This picture. Note how it parallels the red line ? You want the tucking
line to the inside of the knot and flat (or as flat as you can manage) with the
loop you just made about the same size as the one under it. A litle time and
care here will save you having to go back and "tease" the knot tight,
something I dislike immensely. (Becos' it's a pain in the...ahh... I don't like it.)
Now, the red line that you just paralleled is coming up thru a loop already,
right? The line you're tucking with will (still paralleling the red one) now
get tucked DOWN thru that loop so that there are now two lines in the loop.
See the pic to the right and expand it for clarity. (It's why I put 'em here,
innit?) Once you've tucked this down, again, gently tighten it so that it
looks rather like the picture to our immediate right.
See how there are two lines going thru
that side loop and the white and red lines
are lying side-by-side? The work of a
masterful knotter, if I ever saw.... oh.
(Ahem.)
Now, the trick is to do this with each line in turn. This is tougher than you
might think, as it's very easy to put the tucking end thru the wrong loop, or
get the lines crossed up, but a little patience, some attention and laying off
the booze will help your accuracy as well as your humour.
(Remember...the first time is just practise! That's what she told me,
anyway...)
Continue doing each line in turh, take your time, use the spike to
clearance when you must, and eventually you'll have all six lines top-tucked
and down the rabbit holes, all lying flat and fair and you'll be ready for the
next step in this insanity. The pic to the right shows the assembly to this
point.
This picture shows the back of the star with the lines coming OUT of the
rabbit holes... and it's here we'll be working for the next few minutes.
(That's not a loop of any sort at the top, by the way. The line just folded in
that way...pay no attention to it, a'tall, a'tall...)
DOING THE "UP-TUCKS"
This is the part where the starknot get's it's real form and strength. You
WILL want to look at the larger pic as I prattle on. The first line you choose
to tuck up (again, I used white for visibility) will cross OVER two lines
before plunging into the center of the knot. Here, your spike will be almost
invaluable for clearancing the hole for the tucking line. The object is to
take the line, cross two lines to it's LEFT and then go thru the space and up
into the center of the knot's front.
In the WRONG example, the line is coming from the back, but it is
SPLITTING the lines on the face of the knot. This is NOT good. The RIGHT
way shows the line going right into the center of the face and that's what
you want. Once you have the line exiting in the right place, (again, gently)
snug it down so that you get somehting like the picture on the right.... note
again that the line just tucked is laid alongside the first line and lies toward
the center of the work. Again, important for a really neat-o, peachy-keen
finished item.
And, finally, we have all six lines nicely tucked thru and led to the front
thru the knot's center. Here's a view of the finished back portion.
You may now remove that slippery clove hitch from the braid... the knot
wil now hold itself secure.
(We're almost done, believe it or knot!)
FINISHING THE FACE OF THE STAR
Some people just take and tuck each of the lines to it's immediate LEFT,
lying alongside the other two lines and down the rabbit hole again, but that
leaves a void area in the face of the knot. On a knot where you have six
lines, however, you can do something nicer... and it involves yet ANOTHER
crown! (But it's worth it.)
Here's a pic of the lines coming up thru the center... note that they're still
in color pairs?
Bundle three lines as shown above and then take the other lines and
tuck them down the rabbit holes as shown. Again, the line should lie nicely
along the other two. Snug up and repeat for the other two lines NOT in the
bundle. In the third pic, (1) has two blues and a white, (2) has two reds and
a blue and (3) has two whites and a red. (You gonna have to trust me on
that one.)
OK. Now make that crown from the three lines you bundled up. THE
CROWN MUST ALWAYS GO THE SAME DIRECTION AS THE REST OF THE
KNOT! Otherwise it looks like...well, it don't look good.
Tighten up the crown and make it nice, tight and symmetrical.
Here's our finished crown knot in the center of the face. Study the
picture and look at the WHITE line. That one is now going to tuck down
thru the rabbit hole where the TWO BLUE lines are, directly to the LEFT of
where it came out of the crown.
Here's a pic of the tuck in progress. Pull the line thru, do the other two
tucks the same way, then fair everything up. You may have to stick the
point of your spike under the two lines and lift them a bit, then tug on the
tucked line to have them all seat neatly, but for the purposes of this
instruction, just getting (part A) into (tab b) is gonna be a major triumph,
especially reading THIS gibberish!
And so I present to you the finished face of the starknot with a simple
crowned center. Pretty, innit? Take a moment to enjoy your work.
OK. That's long enough. Back to "turnin' and burnin' ".
We need to secure the lines so they won't easily pull out and ruin the knot.
Just clipping them off IS an option, but in nothing flat they'll pull out of the
loops and unravelling is not long to follow that.
So, the secure them fairly well, we need to do one more series of tucks on
the back.
By now you'll have noticed that each time we make a tuck, the knot is
growing tighter and tighter, more solid and more symmetrical. By now, the
spike will be indispensible for finishing the knot as we'll need to go under
TWO lines this time.
You'll be working on the back of the knot as shown to right .
FINALIZING THE STARKNOT
Using your spike, clearance UNDER any pair of lines, then take the line
immediately to the RIGHT of that pair and tuck it UNDER and THROUGH so as
to "lock" it in place. Draw the line all the way through and try to get it to lie
neatly, as we have done previously, closest to the center of the knot.
Snug it good when set, but not REAL hard... that's coming up.
I find it helps me keep things straight if I "trap: the just-tucked line as
shown when clearancing and tucking the next line.
Continue tucking each line as described until all have been tucked thru.
The last "tuck" will be under three lines.
NOW: Take each line in turn and give it a nice firm pull to seat everyting.
Go right around the work a couple times as this will seat the lines and
more-or-less make the knot symmetrical.
(Knot shown): Now, get your cutters or nippers or (shudder) knife) and trim
the ends off flush with the side of the knot. (See the finished knots to
right.)
Thank you for flying Confusing Airways! We hope you have enjoyed your
flight. Please be sure that all seat backs and tray tables are in their upright
and closed positions, or we'll throw you out of the plane before we land.
Now, How do I make a FOOTROPE KNOT FINIAL ???
OK. I'm lazy. After doing four sets of photos and having none of them
really suit my purpose, you would be too. I'm doing the star knot with a
whipped set of lines instead of making up yet another bracelet body first.
Shoot me. If you're doing this as a continuation of the previous page, your
braid will be stroped with a slippery clove. DON'T undo that untill I tell ya!
Here we have the standard "Patriotic" layout of six lines, two each of red,
white and blue, but just whipped together. Still works the same.
SEPARATE COLORS
First thing to do is to get the ducks in a row. Get your colors separated
as neatly as possible. You won't be able to get all three in perfect sets due
to the way the braid is constructed, but wiggle them about a bit until you
approximate the mess at the right. You'll thank me later. (Trust me.)
MAKING THE BACK LOOPS
Make an UNDER-LED loop in any of the lines (I chose blue). UNDER-LED
means that the free end of the line goes UNDER and out to the LEFT as
shown. (You may also, if left-handed, reverse ALL the directions on this
page and have the line going out to the RIGHT, but it MUST cross UNDER to
form the loop. ) This is important as otherwse the knot gonna fall apart.
Not a good thing.
Now feed the next line to the RIGHT up and thru the loop you just made,
then twist IT to form a loop, and then...
Keep on tucking lines into the previous loop, forming another loop and
so on until you tuck the last line thru. Fair up (GENTLY tighten things) and
you will have a confection similar to the one at the right. Note that ALL the
lines are coming UP and thru the loop to their LEFT. This little construction
will hold itself in shape once you reach this point. (A good thing.)
CROWNING AGAIN? Does it NEVER stop?
Yup. Make a crown to the RIGHT and continue doing this until all six
lines have been crowned. (Hey, don't blame me! YOU wanted to learn
this!)
ALL CROWNED LOOSELY NICELY FAIRED UP
BACKTUCKING THE CROWNS
This take a bit of explanation: Take any line you care to (I used white for
visibility) and note that it comes out between the next crown... you want to
take it and lead it back UNDER ITSELF as shown to the right (click on it to
get the big picture...it helps!), put your thumb on top of all the crowns and
tighten the line up gently. DON'T "over-pull" on things at this point, all
you'll do is upset the arrangement of lines and make it nigh impossible to
get a good looking knot out of your effort. Just snug it lightly as shown in ...
This picture. Note how it parallels the red line ? You want the tucking
line to the inside of the knot and flat (or as flat as you can manage) with the
loop you just made about the same size as the one under it. A litle time and
care here will save you having to go back and "tease" the knot tight,
something I dislike immensely. (Becos' it's a pain in the...ahh... I don't like it.)
Now, the red line that you just paralleled is coming up thru a loop already,
right? The line you're tucking with will (still paralleling the red one) now
get tucked DOWN thru that loop so that there are now two lines in the loop.
See the pic to the right and expand it for clarity. (It's why I put 'em here,
innit?) Once you've tucked this down, again, gently tighten it so that it
looks rather like the picture to our immediate right.
See how there are two lines going thru
that side loop and the white and red lines
are lying side-by-side? The work of a
masterful knotter, if I ever saw.... oh.
(Ahem.)
Now, the trick is to do this with each line in turn. This is tougher than you
might think, as it's very easy to put the tucking end thru the wrong loop, or
get the lines crossed up, but a little patience, some attention and laying off
the booze will help your accuracy as well as your humour.
(Remember...the first time is just practise! That's what she told me,
anyway...)
Continue doing each line in turh, take your time, use the spike to
clearance when you must, and eventually you'll have all six lines top-tucked
and down the rabbit holes, all lying flat and fair and you'll be ready for the
next step in this insanity. The pic to the right shows the assembly to this
point.
This picture shows the back of the star with the lines coming OUT of the
rabbit holes... and it's here we'll be working for the next few minutes.
(That's not a loop of any sort at the top, by the way. The line just folded in
that way...pay no attention to it, a'tall, a'tall...)
DOING THE "UP-TUCKS"
This is the part where the starknot get's it's real form and strength. You
WILL want to look at the larger pic as I prattle on. The first line you choose
to tuck up (again, I used white for visibility) will cross OVER two lines
before plunging into the center of the knot. Here, your spike will be almost
invaluable for clearancing the hole for the tucking line. The object is to
take the line, cross two lines to it's LEFT and then go thru the space and up
into the center of the knot's front.
In the WRONG example, the line is coming from the back, but it is
SPLITTING the lines on the face of the knot. This is NOT good. The RIGHT
way shows the line going right into the center of the face and that's what
you want. Once you have the line exiting in the right place, (again, gently)
snug it down so that you get somehting like the picture on the right.... note
again that the line just tucked is laid alongside the first line and lies toward
the center of the work. Again, important for a really neat-o, peachy-keen
finished item.
And, finally, we have all six lines nicely tucked thru and led to the front
thru the knot's center. Here's a view of the finished back portion.
You may now remove that slippery clove hitch from the braid... the knot
wil now hold itself secure.
(We're almost done, believe it or knot!)
FINISHING THE FACE OF THE STAR
Some people just take and tuck each of the lines to it's immediate LEFT,
lying alongside the other two lines and down the rabbit hole again, but that
leaves a void area in the face of the knot. On a knot where you have six
lines, however, you can do something nicer... and it involves yet ANOTHER
crown! (But it's worth it.)
Here's a pic of the lines coming up thru the center... note that they're still
in color pairs?
Bundle three lines as shown above and then take the other lines and
tuck them down the rabbit holes as shown. Again, the line should lie nicely
along the other two. Snug up and repeat for the other two lines NOT in the
bundle. In the third pic, (1) has two blues and a white, (2) has two reds and
a blue and (3) has two whites and a red. (You gonna have to trust me on
that one.)
OK. Now make that crown from the three lines you bundled up. THE
CROWN MUST ALWAYS GO THE SAME DIRECTION AS THE REST OF THE
KNOT! Otherwise it looks like...well, it don't look good.
Tighten up the crown and make it nice, tight and symmetrical.
Here's our finished crown knot in the center of the face. Study the
picture and look at the WHITE line. That one is now going to tuck down
thru the rabbit hole where the TWO BLUE lines are, directly to the LEFT of
where it came out of the crown.
Here's a pic of the tuck in progress. Pull the line thru, do the other two
tucks the same way, then fair everything up. You may have to stick the
point of your spike under the two lines and lift them a bit, then tug on the
tucked line to have them all seat neatly, but for the purposes of this
instruction, just getting (part A) into (tab b) is gonna be a major triumph,
especially reading THIS gibberish!
And so I present to you the finished face of the starknot with a simple
crowned center. Pretty, innit? Take a moment to enjoy your work.
OK. That's long enough. Back to "turnin' and burnin' ".
We need to secure the lines so they won't easily pull out and ruin the knot.
Just clipping them off IS an option, but in nothing flat they'll pull out of the
loops and unravelling is not long to follow that.
So, the secure them fairly well, we need to do one more series of tucks on
the back.
By now you'll have noticed that each time we make a tuck, the knot is
growing tighter and tighter, more solid and more symmetrical. By now, the
spike will be indispensible for finishing the knot as we'll need to go under
TWO lines this time.
You'll be working on the back of the knot as shown to right .
FINALIZING THE STARKNOT
Using your spike, clearance UNDER any pair of lines, then take the line
immediately to the RIGHT of that pair and tuck it UNDER and THROUGH so as
to "lock" it in place. Draw the line all the way through and try to get it to lie
neatly, as we have done previously, closest to the center of the knot.
Snug it good when set, but not REAL hard... that's coming up.
I find it helps me keep things straight if I "trap: the just-tucked line as
shown when clearancing and tucking the next line.
Continue tucking each line as described until all have been tucked thru.
The last "tuck" will be under three lines.
NOW: Take each line in turn and give it a nice firm pull to seat everyting.
Go right around the work a couple times as this will seat the lines and
more-or-less make the knot symmetrical.
(Knot shown): Now, get your cutters or nippers or (shudder) knife) and trim
the ends off flush with the side of the knot. (See the finished knots to
right.)
Thank you for flying Confusing Airways! We hope you have enjoyed your
flight. Please be sure that all seat backs and tray tables are in their upright
and closed positions, or we'll throw you out of the plane before we land.
Now, How do I make a FOOTROPE KNOT FINIAL ???
| The Chesapeake Bay Lifesaver Bracelet Part II STAR KNOT AND FOOTROPE KNOT ENDS (Continued from PAGE ONE) |
| Last updated 2008-11-23 |
| Click on any picture to bring up a larger verzion! |
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 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
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While the instructions here will stand alone for making either a six-strand starknot or a five strand footrope knot as a finial end,
they are intended to complete the instructions on page one. If you have any questions or comments on these pages, please feel
free to EMAIL same to me.
they are intended to complete the instructions on page one. If you have any questions or comments on these pages, please feel
free to EMAIL same to me.
