Grommet Practice

Day 354: Before tackling two-inch lengths of slippery synthetic sash cord, I thought it might be wise to refresh my skills at grommet manufacture with some leftover sisal. Any ply can be used, but three strands are by far the easiest to end off with a simple short splice.

To make a grommet, you take a length of rope three times the circumference and then some and carefully unlay it until you have three strands of single-ply material. Each one will be used to create a single grommet. Using the center of the length as the bottom-most point of the circle, bring the ends together at the top and lay them across each other. Following the lay of the rope, re-ply taking each end in the opposite direction until both come back to the starting point. You should have extra length to work with at this point. Separate each strand into two equal parts and tie the middle two in a simple knot. Work these two "tails" back into the grommet with a short splice and then trim all four ends close to the surface of the lay. If desired, roll the grommet until the bristly bits of the ends are to the inside. There ya go! In no time at all, you'll have a whole handful of little rope circles which, if you'd thought about it beforehand, you could have joined in imitation of the Olympic Rings. Hindsight...it's always clearer than foresight!