Page 165 - Lindsey Philpott "The Ultimate Book of Decorative Knots"

purely decorative knots 159

spanish rinG Knots Knot. My favourite feature of the Spanish Ring
Unverified legends say that Spanish Ring Knots Knot is that it can be made with fine cord into rings
were brought to the Americas by Spanish forces or earrings for that special someone in your life.
in the 1400s, as decorations on horse
tack. If this Spanish origin is true, the
knots may have been derived from
Moorish knots brought to Spain
centuries before the discovery of the
New World. Today these knots are
sometimes referred to as Gaucho
Knots for their use in horse tack by the
gauchos of the South American plains. This pair of braided earrings was made for the
Bruce Grant’s magnificent book, Encyclopedia author’s wife by a very good friend, Barry Brown,
of Rawhide and Leather Braiding, shows some UK. Each was made using a single strand of cord
wonderful designs of Spanish Ring Knots. The and typifies the work of the gauchos, complex and
knots shown here are of the one-pass and two- yet from a simple base.
pass varieties, with a nod to the four-pass variety,
similar to the ones shown in Grant’s book. Other The pattern speaks to the endless cycle of life’s ups
varieties are possible once you have mastered the and downs, but it always stays together! This knot
pattern required. The knot or braid may essentially translates very well into leather, twine, cord, gold
be thought of a Turk’s Head Knot, which has been wire, or even rope if you treat it carefully. Let’s start
passed once again, or twice again, with the same with a five-bight, three-lead Turk’s Head, which
cord as is used to make the Turk’s Head, giving a forms the basis for the first Spanish Ring Knot.
very neat chevron pattern to the surface of the knot. First, make an ‘X’ by taking the cord once around
The four-pass knot requires a slightly different start, the tube; the standing part is under my thumb on
using a series of wraps instead of the Turk’s Head the left.

1 We start with a tube for ease of photographing 2 Bring the working end around one more time,

the subject – you may want to use your fingers
parallel at the back, to make another ‘X’ in the
or perhaps a paper grid pattern.
front.