Page 71 - Merry Barbara "Marlinspike Sailor's Knots and Crafts"

64 < Marlinspike Sailor’s Knots and Crafts
Supplies used to decorate the wooden frame and box
include cotton twine and a corkboard or similar soft
material to pin your work onto as you create the braids.
Note, however, that our project uses a 5 x 7 frame, which
holds a 4 x 6 photo (the inner black line), as shown here.
Decorated Picture Frame
5 inch by 7 inch picture frame
35 feet of #24 cotton seine twine, used for the
4-strand braid (36 inches total)
30 feet of #18 cotton seine twine, used to make
the cable
12 feet of #18 cotton seine twine, used for the five
ocean plat knots
white glue
corkboard or like material and T pins
masking tape
sharp knife or scissors
ruler
This small project is the perfect way to show off your
knot-tying abilities. This frame displays four practical
knots (the bowline, the figure eight knot, the carrick
bend, and the square knot). The frame itself is
decorated with the other type of knotting called
“fanciwork”—elaborately tied braids and sennits.
Making or tying sennits is a lot like making a bolt
of cloth. The first few feet are more often than not
unusable because the cloth got started with uneven
tension or the die didn’t get into the cloth properly.
The same goes for the end of the bolt. Mess-ups just
happen. It’s the same with these braids; it takes the
tyer a short distance of tying before he or she finds a
smooth, consistent tension to create the perfect braid.
Be sure to build in a little extra braid at the end to use
as a handhold. I understand that there is waste, but
it’s impossible to tie a perfectly smooth uniform braid
down to the very bitter end.
Making Three-Strand
and Four-Strand Sennits
You will use the three-strand sennit in the wooden box
project and the four-strand sennit in the picture frame
project.
It is fairly simple to make a three-strand sennit. Fol-
low these steps:
1 > Lay three strands of twine side by side.
2 > Take a strand on the right or left and set it in the
center.
3 > Now take the strand from the other side and set it
in the center, and so on.
The four-strand sennit is more complicated. Follow
these steps and see the diagram:
1> Lay eight strands of twine side by side in pairs of
two (four pairs of strands).
2> Cross the second (step 1) and fourth pairs (step 2)
over the pairs of strands to the left.
3 > Cross the new second pair of strands over the pair
to its right (step 3).
4 > Repeat this pattern to form the sennit (step 4).
5 > For the picture frame, tie one long sennit, glued on
the back at 8 inches, 8 inches, 6 inches, and 6 inches.
Let the sennit dry, and then cut mitered corners. You
will then tie an ocean plat knot and paste it over the
mitered corner (see photo). Full instructions follow
for completing the sennit for the picture frame.