one button rope bracelet with polymer clay beads pewter 2764

 This one button design features handmade 10 mm round polymer clay beads placed in a field of blue green and grey cords. The oven bake clay is a "pewter" color which has a bit of a sheen to it.

Read the illustrated tutorial showing how to make these bracelets here.

The beads are secured with the edge binding thread.

 A small button and loop toggle holds the bracelet closed and is easy to manage.

Size is "small" 7" (178 mm) inside circumference when closed.

Here's a similar design you might like.

Here's one made with blue glass beads.

Here's a similar design made with wood beads.

                     Available here



See similar designs in the fiber art section of my Etsy shop.

design and photographs © copyright 2013 WhatKnotShop

Stegosaurus spiked rope bracelet 2766

 Resembling the tail spikes of the childhood favorite dinosaur these polymer clay beads look dangerous but are not very sharp.

The spikes are blunt and flexible. These also look like sea urchin spikes but of course the color is not a match.

The polymer clay comes out like a hard rubber texture after the 15 minute curing in the oven.

Here's another design you might like.

The longer spikes are held apart by small drum shaped beads. The edge stitching pattern secures all the spikes and beads together. Read more about how to make this type of rope bracelet in this tutorial.

This design is made for a larger wrist measuring 8  5/8" (219 mm) inside circumference.

 The infill cords are grey and dark purple. The spikes are "elephant grey"the drum beads are "pewter" both materials made by Sculpey and available in craft stores and online.

The closure is an oversize black plastic button and loop.

                     Available here


design and photographs © copyright 2013 WhatKnotShop

Illustration from "Dinosaur Time Machine" 

wide double diamond herringbone weave turks head knot 2767

 Every so often I confront the box full of leftover scraps including this 28 ft piece of white nylon cord remaining from another project. This piece was just barely long enough to construct this 17 part x 25 bight herringbone weave knot.

parts x bights x strands click here for explanation

The layout started with 4 bights (first pass around the mold) set up in a double diamond pattern. The opposing bights set up an even tension when the knot is worked up so it doesn't get all lop-sided.

 The mold used is an 11" circumference tube which actually needed about 31 ft of cord so I had  to use another piece of cord as a placeholder. Later after working up the knot I was left with about 12 ft of slack so the knot you see here only really requires 16 ft. Scraps go back in the box!

The single strand or "pass" makes this bracelet able to stretch out to 8 5/8" (219 mm) and contract to about 7" (178 mm). It can slip on over a big hand then crush down to the size shown in the pictures. Works kind of like  a chinese finger trap (remember those?)

The herringbone weave is famous for the double "V" patterns so popular in fabric design. You can pick them out in the first photo on the red pool noodle background.

                    Available here

More like this in my Etsy shop, including these other wide cuff designs in the white rope bracelets section.

design and photographs © copyright 2013 WhatKnotShop

nautical knot rope bracelet with blue accents 2756

 This versatile nautical bracelet design is shown here made with a natural white cotton cord and ultramarine blue cotton floss. In this variation of the design the loop has an extra piece of cord secured by the coach-whipping. The monkey fist knot is made with the cord end tucked into the center of the ball.

This is a "small" size measuring 7" (180 mm) inside circumference when closed.

 This design is adjustable opening up by sliding the cord through the barrel knots as shown here.

See the posting about adjustment here.

You might like this variation on this design.

or perhaps this one made with hand dyed taupe cord.

Or this one made with extra large barrel knots.

The monkey fist knot rides along inside the loop when the knot is drawn up to it's natural size.


A collection of these special bracelets are available online here.



design and photographs © copyright 2012 WhatKnotShop

hybrid weave turks head knot bracelet white nylon 2758

 This is a 14 bight x 15 part x 2 strand compound or hybrid weave turks head knot made with ordinary 1/8" white nylon cord.

The weave pattern is:
U2-O2-u1-o1-u1-o1-u1-o1-U2-O2+running part

U = "under"
O= "over"


The layout was done on a 10-1/2" cardboard tube using about 30 ft of cord


The edges come out with the thicker double layer of cord while the center area is thinner, roughly this shape:
  ________                               _________
(_________)_____________(__________)
(__________________________________)

Here's a similar design you might like:

Extra wide hybrid weave bracelet

This design can be easily slipped on and worked up to a 7 3/4" (195 mm) wrist size

Similar designs can be found in the Etsy online shop section white rope bracelets.





design and photographs © copyright 2013 WhatKnotShop

one button rope bracelet grey white with clear glass beads 2749

 Whenever I use a grey and near-white cord combination the potential for color actually increases. The grey takes on a warm or cool tone as the eye compares it to the surrounding materials. The off-white braided framing cords push this grey in a "cool" direction. The clear glass beads put in a tiny bit of  spectrum color which the camera filters out of these photos.

Here's the tutorial showing how to make one of these bracelets.

 The other challenge is trying to white-balance the image which has a disproportionate effect on the appearance of the object. These were all photographed on a bright white field with a white balanced camera setting. After importing the the image from the camera the white background is normalized using the Graphic Converter software. Even after this you an see the background retains some residual color.

Here's a more colorful cousin of this design.

Here you can get a sense of the transparency in the embedded beads.

More on-button designs in the Etsy Shop.

                  Available here


design and photographs © copyright 2013 WhatKnotShop

one button cuff with paper beads 2750

 Paper beads made from glossy catalog pages come up with the most interesting textures and colors. During the making of the beads they are all covered with the sealant/glue that creates the hard coating so it is not easy to see the color. When dry they begin to show.

These are roughly 6 mm oval beads worked into a simple one button design.

 The infill cords are ecru and dark grey setting off the eclectic color of the beads.


How-to tutorial here.

Another paper bead design you might like here.

A simple grey plastic button and loop form the closure.

This one is going in a special summer consignment at the Walker Art Center shop. If you are in Minneapolis between June and August stop by and check out this and other work by Minnesota Artists.

design and photographs © copyright 2013 WhatKnotShop