Page 371 - Brion Toss - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Figure 11-2. A Vanishing Overhand Knot. Hold the
end between your left thumb and forefinger and
grasp the standing part a few inches away with
your right thumb and forefinger. Both palms face
you. Move the hands together, turning the right
hand over as you do, and grasp the standing part
with your left thumb and forefinger to form a loop
(A). If you now reach away from you through the
loop with your right hand, grab the end, and pull
it out, you’ll form an Overhand Knot (B). Keep the
two parts pinched in your left hand as you draw
up the knot, then display it. If you reach instead
through the loop toward you and grasp the end with
your right hand, no knot will result, but as you pull
the slack out it will look exactly as the Overhand
Knot did when it was being drawn up. Cover the
“drawn-up” non-knot with your hand and pull the-
atrically on the end to make it “disappear.”

Figure 11-3. Instant Overhand Knot and Slipknot. Begin with the line draped over your hand, passing
between the thumb and forefinger with the end hanging over the back of the hand and extending
downward about 1 foot (A). Snag the standing part between pinky and ring finger (B), then reach
down sharply and grab as close to the end as you can with your index and middle finger (C). Shake
the loop off your hand while holding on to the end and an Overhand Knot will appear (D). The entire
maneuver takes less than a second. To produce an instant Slipknot, simply start with the end hanging
2 feet or more below the hand and grasp midway toward it.

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