Glass Jar Covering and Tudor Rose Plug

This is a project that I have been fiddling with on and off for quite some time. It started with a caper jar we had for a recipe. I washed it best I could and soaked off the labels. The jar is covered with an 8 strand covering knot from the Ashley Book of Knots (ABOK 2224, see reference from Google Books below). The cord that I used for this knot is "bait line" that I purchase from Hamilton Marine. This cord is really stiff. I often use this cord when I am trying something new and I really want something that stays put when I working with it. The drawback with this cord is that it is so stiff that it has some spring to it which can make it hard to tighten and it sometimes leaves undesired gaps in knots.

 To close the jar I tied a plug. The decorative knot for the plug is called a "Tudor Rose Knot" that I tied with instructions from a tutorial I found on Knot Heads World Wide. The knot for my plug has 6 strands where the tutorial only uses 5. There were a few head-scratching moments getting through the tutorial, but overall it was fairly easy to follow. Because of the stiff cord I didn't get a very good "twill" from the Matthew Walker Knot that was tied around the edges. After tying the Tudor Rose knot I crowned the remaining lines around the standing ends and tied a 6 lead by 5 bight turks head around the crowning to make the plug. It fits nice a snug in the jar. Frayed Knot arts has a very nice tutorial for tying a star knot plug which is similar and an excellent reference.
 

Logging Hook 5 Strand Ring Bolt Hitching

This is a logging hook I received as a gift a few years ago.  We have a wood stove and burn wood in the winter for heat.  These hooks can be very useful for handling wood that is either split or un-split.  I covered the handle with 5 strand ring bolt hitching.  This hitch is woven creating the effect of a tight braid on the handle.    It must be kept fairly tight during the weaving process and takes some working to keep going relatively straight.  It might be easier to do out of a larger diameter cord.  The ends of the ring bolt hitch are covered with 6 lead by 5 bight turks heads. UPDATE: I did a tutorial on 5 strand ring bolt hitching.  It can be found by .

Turks Head Flashlight

This is a flashlight I tied for my son.  The bottom comes off to install the batteries, so I could not cover the entire length.  To tie I first straight whipped the center section which was thinner than the top and bottom of the flashlight.  This evened out the width to roughly match the ends.  The end turks heads are 3 lead by 4 bight turks heads.  The center turks head is a 6 lead by 5 bight turks head.  For the cost the LED flashlight works well.

Fire place chompers

Here is the handle that I recently completed on a set of fireplace "chomper"  or log tongs.  I completed this handle using overhand grafting, using alternate pairs of colored string which were bound to the top of the handle. The top of the handle are finished off using 6L x 5B turks heads which were expanded from 4L x 3B turks heads.  I left the end uncovered just because my hearth is made of brick and I thought that the iron ball on the end my hold up better than a covering knot.

Bottle Opener

This is the bottle opener that I have been working on for the last week.  I bought a combination bottle/paint can opener and cut the paint can opener off.  Next I drilled a hole in a piece of 1 inch diameter dowel and inserted the bottle opener.  The dowel was wrapped in adhesive tape to help keep the string from slipping around.  The blue portion is 3 strand ring bolt hitching, also know as cockscombing.  The ends of the ring bolt hitching is covered with 6 lead by 5 bight turks heads.  The turks heads were tied by first tying 4 lead by 3 bight turks heads and then enlarging them.