Bends And Buttons

Day 337: Carrick bends (the doubled "figure-eight" knots shown here) are simple to tie and make an attractive belt or bag strap. Various means can be used to finish the ends depending on the intended purpose, and since this small piece was only destined to be a demonstration, I decided to get some practice tying single-strand Chinese buttons.

To tie a Chinese button in the hand generally requires a bit more cord length than I allowed here, and the finished knot can be positioned before the running end is trimmed by working out the surplus in either direction. These functional knots are often found on traditional Chinese clothing, as the name implies, and are frequently doubled (two turns using the same cord) to make a larger version.

If you're interested in doing serious knotwork, I highly recommend "The Ashley Book of Knots." It covers everything from simple hitches to marlingspike seamanship, and will provide you plenty of ideas for projects utilizing ornamental knotwork.