After making one bracelet with the neon rainbow hued satin cord, I decided to give another a try. The inspiration for this one was a knot I found on the internet (which happens to me often, I liked one rope tying group, now my feed is filled with knottiness and ships).
Photo description: satin neon rainbow cord with a loop at one end, and two strand knots with the last knot shown loose to see the construction
I’m not terribly happy with this knot. It is fiddly getting the new knot tightened against the old knot. The finished cord tends to skew slightly and is also slightly springy (which was at least tactility interesting). I do like the way the two colors from the two strands interact.
Photo description: knotted bracelet with loop and button knot
I finished the bracelet with a Celtic button knot, which is one of my favorite knots.
I have a new favorite tool! I have been sealing the ends and of my cords (that are not natural fiber) with the flame of a candle, which is not very precise. So I went looking for something heated and controlled, like my pyrography pen, but without getting goo on my wood burning tools. I found a thread zapper.
Photo description: Bead Smith Thread Zap II device with a neon rainbow hued lucet cord bracelet
This AA battery powered, hand held device has a thin wire loop, and when you press the button, the loop glows red hot. I can apply that heat to the end to the cut end of a cord and melt the fibers together. I can even melt the end a little to the side of an adjacent cord to lock the knot in place.
Photo description: Button knot with the cut end melted and tacked with a thread zapper
To make the bracelet I first made a Lucet cord from neon rainbow satin cord.
Photo description: Antler Lucet Fork with an in-process cord
To finish the bracelet I took a separate piece of rainbow cord and made macrame square knots over the doubled ends of the Lucet cord. I then made celtic button knots at each end to keep them from sliding all the way out of the knot.
Photo description: Zoom in on the bracelet closure with square knot macrame slide
Without the thread zapper, securing all the ends of the bracelet with a candle flame was an exercise in frustration. With the tool, the ends came out neat and secure. I really like the ability to have a little sculpting power over the melting as well.
This is not a paid advertisement, by the way. I just really like the tool.
I made this book stand in December of 2004 and graffitied it with pen, paint, and pyrography as an homage to Terry Prachett’s Disc World book series, specifically the wizard’s university library.
Photo description: Oak book stand with “Property of L Space”, math equations, an aboriginal style kangaroo, and Latin words. Two hooks at the top hold clear elastic filament which helps hold books open.Photo description: side of the stand with angle bracket reinforcement and Greek words in red penPhoto description: back of the book stand showing the prop with hinge and restraining chains
I finished the wood with a clear coat of urethane.
My chorus is using kazoos as a training device to learn to increase resonance. To keep the kazoo close, I made a lanyard with sliding knots and a Lucet cord.
Photo description: kazoo secured to a sliding knot loop with the rest of the cord braided with a Lucet fork. Antler Lucet fork in the background.
It took me a couple hours to braid and knot the cord, and it is rather fiddly to work. When I stepped away, my brain came up with a much simpler way. Here is a video on how to do a simple, removable wrap on a kazoo using a string necklace (large loop of string).
Sometimes it is good to take a step back, or go do something else for a while, or go for a walk, to let ideas coalesce.
Today we are going back to December of 2004 and a leather book weight I made and decorated with painted bees. It seemed appropriate to share this in nod to my bee visitor this week.
Photo description: tooled and painted leather book weight with painted bees on red, blue, and green circles on each end, the sides have been sewn with leather lace with a braided edge. Black velvet background (which was totally a thing back then).
The ends of the book weight are filled with small bags of sand to give it enough heft to hold a book open. The back side is suede to be gentle on the pages and have a bit of grip. I’m still quite pleased with the stitches around the outside, I love a good decorative braid stitch. I do have to admit that I have to look up how to make the braid every time.
Critters and Craft 