30 Fall, 513AV
A few days before Fallan had been reminding himself of braiding techniques that he had once been taught by his brother, techniques which he had not used enough to easily bring to mind all of the more complex patterns which he had been taught. The process had reminded him however of a related and equally complex field of leatherworking which was of the decorative knots used to cover the braid ends which were in themselves often shaped for example at the end of handle.
Knots could be used for all sorts of reasons but as far as Fallans purposes were concerned he was mostly interested in the decorative purposes which could be used to make the finished piece look far more professional than simply leaving it with a whipped end which though as functional did not look anywhere near as good.
Experienced craftsmen could weave the knots on the fly, but it was a rare novice who managed to achieve that, something which Fallan knew to his cost as he had tried in the past to shortcut the process and simply weave directly onto whatever it was that he wanted the knot to sit on. Without a single exception the knots had been poorly executed. Some of that was simply his lack of skill and experience but equally much of it was down to the fact that he was unable to properly review and correct his work, especially since the type of knot that Fallan was interested in were very three dimensional.
His aim was to craft at least one knot to place over the braid he had tied over the bone. Now that he had time to think about that there were several things that he would have changed, but then that was the purpose of the practice and so he tried not to be as irritated with himself as he might otherwise have been.
The tools for the knotting were simple and easily made by the fire at the end of the day which is what he had done. The first step had been to find a new bone which was thicker than the braided bone with its leather covering. The idea was to make the loose knotwork oversize on the second bone and then to slip it onto the first bone and pull it tight.
The next step, and for this he had needed to get his brothers help, was to mark out the bone for the pins. He borrowed too from his brother a metal awl to then carefully drill the holes at the marked points. Following his brothers advice he had marked out more holes than he needed for this so that he could use it for larger knot that had more bights to them.
Bone in hand with drilled holes it had been then a simple matter of carefully carving more bone with his newly honed knife into pins which would sit tightly into the holes. The pins he recalled were somewhat replacable as over time they became a loose fit in the hole since they needed to be removed and replaced but since bone was relatively simple to come by that wasn’t too much of an issue and neither was the work needed to remake the necessary pieces.
A few days before Fallan had been reminding himself of braiding techniques that he had once been taught by his brother, techniques which he had not used enough to easily bring to mind all of the more complex patterns which he had been taught. The process had reminded him however of a related and equally complex field of leatherworking which was of the decorative knots used to cover the braid ends which were in themselves often shaped for example at the end of handle.
Knots could be used for all sorts of reasons but as far as Fallans purposes were concerned he was mostly interested in the decorative purposes which could be used to make the finished piece look far more professional than simply leaving it with a whipped end which though as functional did not look anywhere near as good.
Experienced craftsmen could weave the knots on the fly, but it was a rare novice who managed to achieve that, something which Fallan knew to his cost as he had tried in the past to shortcut the process and simply weave directly onto whatever it was that he wanted the knot to sit on. Without a single exception the knots had been poorly executed. Some of that was simply his lack of skill and experience but equally much of it was down to the fact that he was unable to properly review and correct his work, especially since the type of knot that Fallan was interested in were very three dimensional.
His aim was to craft at least one knot to place over the braid he had tied over the bone. Now that he had time to think about that there were several things that he would have changed, but then that was the purpose of the practice and so he tried not to be as irritated with himself as he might otherwise have been.
The tools for the knotting were simple and easily made by the fire at the end of the day which is what he had done. The first step had been to find a new bone which was thicker than the braided bone with its leather covering. The idea was to make the loose knotwork oversize on the second bone and then to slip it onto the first bone and pull it tight.
The next step, and for this he had needed to get his brothers help, was to mark out the bone for the pins. He borrowed too from his brother a metal awl to then carefully drill the holes at the marked points. Following his brothers advice he had marked out more holes than he needed for this so that he could use it for larger knot that had more bights to them.
Bone in hand with drilled holes it had been then a simple matter of carefully carving more bone with his newly honed knife into pins which would sit tightly into the holes. The pins he recalled were somewhat replacable as over time they became a loose fit in the hole since they needed to be removed and replaced but since bone was relatively simple to come by that wasn’t too much of an issue and neither was the work needed to remake the necessary pieces.
