Page 85 - Des Pawson "Des Pawson's Knot Craft" 2 edit.

KNOTCRAFT 2009:Layout 1 23/10/09 12:17 Page 84

Monkey’s Fist/Door Stop

YING THE MONKEY’S FIST in the normal way leaves 2 ends. If
T a loop is required on the monkey’s fist, one end can be
formed into an eye and spliced or knotted into a loop, or the
ends could be spliced together. To my mind neither of these
options is very neat, especially if you wish to make a small mon-
key’s fist key ring.
I first worked out a neat and secure method of making a
monkey’s fist with a loop when commissioned to make floating
monkey’s fist key rings, using a table tennis ball as a core. The
previous maker had just tucked one end inside, held in place by
a dab of glue. It looked neat but, of course, it soon pulled out.
To resolve this problem, I introduced a loop by a slight deviation
from the usual pattern of turns.
After making hundreds, if not thousands, of these I wanted
to make something much bigger that would show off the
sculptural form of this special knot. Using 18mm manila, I
made the monkey’s fist in the same special way, but with a core
made up from scrap lead, folded and beaten into shape and
then covered with a little spunyarn to prevent the rope
becoming soiled as the knot was worked tight. These door stops
have proved very popular, and are sculptures in their own right.
This exact design can be made into a fender by substituting the

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