[...]... Fibrillated and spun cords have a softer feel to the hand Let’s take a look at the types of materials with which you will be making your decorative knots! Leather Leather, specifically split leather hide, is one of the oldest cords used for practical lashings and for decorative work Leather is the hide of an animal, such as a cow, deer, or kangaroo (serious leatherworkers prefer kangaroo leather, which ranks... rejoin the start cord 28 the ultimate book of decorative knots Thump Mat This round mat is seen in The Ashley Book of Knots, number 2360, which he refers to as a Thump Mat It is used on ships, with blocks through which lines are passed to change the direction of the line, fastened near the deck It is made as a mat around a deck fitting in such a way that the block may ‘thump’ against the mat instead of. .. be set against bamboo or other natural materials Sisal is also extremely durable when used as a cat toy or as a covering for cats to clean their claws, instead of using your furniture! Coir is also very rough but has the added benefit of being able to take rough treatment and so is used frequently for doormats and other places where hard-wearing characteristics are needed Henequen and seagrass are frequently... 3 flat knots Flat knots are made in two dimensions and come in round, square, or other geometric plane figures Cruciform (cross-shaped) knots are covered in Chapter 11, but all other flat knots are in this chapter They are, of course, not really flat – rather, they are made so that there is only one intended depth, that of the crossing of one line over another ROund-Shaped Flat Knots One of the first... left is a photograph of a hank of coir (pronounced cawr) which is made from the husk of the coconut seed It is the only natural fibre to float without treatment The cells are hollow, to help the seed float the world’s Southern and Indian Oceans The photograph of natural fibres (right, below) is of a hank of raw sisal Sisal fibres are very white mate r ial s , meth o d s , mea s u r eme n t s , a n d... frequently used when making stools or seats – these very good-looking fibres have great, hard-wearing characteristics! Silk is well-known as hard-wearing What works Natural fibres are at their best when their natural colour is used to enhance the appearance of something like a wall-hanging, a purse or shoulder bag, or even a jacket I have seen natural fibres in many applications, some of the best being outdoors... thumping the deck, which could mark and/or damage it and the block One of the features about its style that I like is that it forms a pleasing round mat but has half the number of bights in the centre that one would see in a Turk’s Head flat mat of the same size The Turk’s Head mat would have the same number of outside bights as inside bights The thump mat uses a less lumpy centre, which makes it ideal for... you are making a mat, lay your cord in everdecreasing circles, starting at approximately the outside size of your finished mat, until you reach the centre Measure the total length of all line laid this way, then increase that length by a third for a loose weave or by half for a tight weave Last, add a foot to give yourself some working room Making Jewellery When you are making a piece of decorative. .. can add a new section by skiving a new length of lace on to the existing piece and then hiding the join under a crossing section Skiving is a term used to describe the action of paring away two overlapping pieces of leather in opposing slopes, gradually tapering each side of the joint, and then gluing them together so that the overlapped thickness appears not to have changed Ask your local leather store... it can take When tanned, leather is both pliable and strong It can even be carved, which is a separate subject area and one that we do not cover in this book After constructing a decorative knot with tanned leather one should treat it with neatsfoot oil for conditioning, and mink oil for waterproofing Varnish or other hard finishes are usually not appropriate for tanned leatherwork Seen above are photographs . use a decorative knot. Some decorative knots lie flat, A square knot that cannot be undone, garnish- ing the cape on a marble statue of Ferdinando d’e Catolico at the Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain history of knotting. You will also find information about the tools and materials used to craft decorative knots. At the end of the book I have included a chapter of projects that put a few of the. effectively show all decorative knots that could be made. There are as many classifications of decorative knots as there are individual knots. To simplify things, I have classified knots into the following