This instructable is in response to a question made by medicbowling.
http://www.instructables.com/community/paracord-braidweave-collar-i-havent-seen-before/#previewlink
I loved the colors and look of the patern of this dog collar. His question was to ask if anyone knew how to make that pattern.
Well... I didn't, but I love a chalenge and was determined to figure out how it was done.
It took me a couple of nights, and gave me some really wierd dreams last night as I tried to figure this out in my sleep, but here it is!
The colorful picture of the collar is the one supplied by medicbowling, and the one that caught my eye. Unfortunately, I do not have such colorful paracord handy, but I did use three colors so the movement of the colors in the pattern could be seen.
I had no clips, half rings, or buckles to attach this to, but then i was just trying out the pattern. That is why it is being made on a piece of thin dowel.
Below are the blow by blow steps of how to make this lovely pattern.
I hope you find it easy to follow!
http://www.instructables.com/community/paracord-braidweave-collar-i-havent-seen-before/#previewlink
I loved the colors and look of the patern of this dog collar. His question was to ask if anyone knew how to make that pattern.
Well... I didn't, but I love a chalenge and was determined to figure out how it was done.
It took me a couple of nights, and gave me some really wierd dreams last night as I tried to figure this out in my sleep, but here it is!
The colorful picture of the collar is the one supplied by medicbowling, and the one that caught my eye. Unfortunately, I do not have such colorful paracord handy, but I did use three colors so the movement of the colors in the pattern could be seen.
I had no clips, half rings, or buckles to attach this to, but then i was just trying out the pattern. That is why it is being made on a piece of thin dowel.
Below are the blow by blow steps of how to make this lovely pattern.
I hope you find it easy to follow!
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: Step 1 - Setting up the cords
This is a 12 cord weave. That is six cords doubled.
Figure about a foot of cord for each inch. So a 7" bracelet would need six 7' cords.
The cord used is 550 para-cord, in three colors. Two doubled cords of each,
or four strands hanging down of each color.
* - 1 - fold each cord in half over your buckle, ring, whatever you are using.
set each cord with the back strand on the side you are going to work from. I
worked from the right, so the back strand of each pair is to the right when I
start.
Figure about a foot of cord for each inch. So a 7" bracelet would need six 7' cords.
The cord used is 550 para-cord, in three colors. Two doubled cords of each,
or four strands hanging down of each color.
* - 1 - fold each cord in half over your buckle, ring, whatever you are using.
set each cord with the back strand on the side you are going to work from. I
worked from the right, so the back strand of each pair is to the right when I
start.
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
This method is also known as Fingerweave. I did quite a few of these waaaay back in my Boy Scout/OA days, usually with yarn, which made it fairly easy to manage up to 36 strands. Another weave style is to start in the middle and work your way outwards with the strands (ie, when using 8 strands, you'll have them laid out L4-L3-L2-L1-R1-R2-R3-R4...start with R1 and weave it in the over-under pattern through the L's, then pick up L1 and weave through the R's, rinse and repeat). This will give you a chevron ("V") pattern. Using some creativity as to how you lay out your strands, I made one belt that had one solid black side, with the other side alternating black/white cords with solid gray on either side (IIRC, the original layout was B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B--G-G-W-B-W-B-W-B-G-G). Two strands next to each other will give a solid line down the length of the weave, and single strands will give a dotted-line pattern. Gonna have to dig around in the attic and see if I still have that belt somewhere, I got more comments on that weave at PowWows and various other functions than anything else.
Need to get some paracord sometime and try weaving with it...seen some interesting belts/shoulder straps/rifle slings online that I want try. Now...to win the Powerball.....LOL
Thanks
Okay, lets see if I can explain better.
Look at Step 4. This is very loose, because the paracord has to have something to hold on to in order to stay tightened when you tighten it. This is because this is a weave and not a knot.
In #5, I did start to snug them up a bit. See the purple line on the top left? That is the first tightening spot. Pull the end right next to the last green line. In #6, you can see both first rows good and tight. I followed up by pulling the first and second purple cord sideways, (to pull the hanging cords tight together) and then pulled the hanging part of the purple cords one at a time. Back and forth until you see it is holding. Then you snug up the rows below and continue until you can tighten those too.
So first pull the end of the horizontal part and then the down weaving part of each cord in turn and go back and do it again until you are satisfied with how even and tight it is.
you can even do this if you have gotten down quite a way and found that an earlier one was not tight enough. I would use a small nose pliers to grip the cord where it came out at the side, these are great for gripping a small area. Then go down two or three rows and pull on the down weaving part of the cord. Continue to do this until you can pull on the hanging end currently available and there will be no slack to deal with.
You may now I have to go back and re-tighten every cord.that came after it, so be ready for that too!
I had this problem with a completed knotted bracelet, oh what a pain! I did not check it out carefully enough before I finished it. Still, with paracord I was able to go back and knot by knot, adjust and tighten it all the way down. Time consuming, but worth it.
I hope this helped you! Write back if you have more questions, and thank you for liking my instructable!
You try to weave the end of the cord along the itself from the back until it has one or two cross cords holding it. Then you cut and melt the end withg a lighter. I usually pull the cord a little tighter than it has to be so I can let the seared end slip back under the last over cord. That way it sticks to itself out of sight from either side.
He has a lot of how to videos that you can actually follow!
http://www.youtube.com/user/TyingItAllTogether/videos
* - And this is his web site, if you are interested.
http://www.fusionknots.com/index.php