Know your knots!

Hey everyone!

So we've gone a little knot crazy this past week. One of our lovely new jewellery designers Claire decided to incorporate a decorative Josephine knot into her first bracelet design, so we were then on a mission to learn how to tie the things! There was much googling and tea drinking invlolved...it was most technical. Below is the result of Claire's hard work, i think it's beautiful! Once you know how to tie the knot, it's quick and easy to make...and guess what? Full instructions on how to make this Josephine Tassel bracelet are now in our design ideas department for you to follow....just click here to view the tutorial. 

I thought it might be useful for you guys if we compiled a few little knot tying tutorials so you get to do the tea drinking and skip out the excessive googling....sound good? Over the next week or so i will be posting little 'How To' tutorials on the various knots used in jewellery making.

Below are some of the knots we've been tying so far. We've gone through some of the most basic knots used in jewellery making to start with. I've selected a few as examples for this blog, click here for the complete jewellery knot introduction in the jewellery making guides department.

This is a Larks Head knot which is used to secure pendants on a length of cord. It's quick and easy and eliminates the need for headpins, wire wrapping or bails.

The Josephine knot is really decorative and reminds me very much of a Celtic knot despite originating as a nautical knot called the Carrick Bend. It's used in sailing because it stays super strong when wet and can hold a heavy weight. In jewellery making it just looks beautiful! Learn how to tie a Josephine knot here.

This is a square knot and is widely used in jewellery making, particurlarly macrame. To look at the square knot and how it's tied in more detail, take a look at the macrame bracelet at the end of this blog and click on the link below it.

The overhand knot above is probaly the most basic knot. If you can tie your shoe laces, you've created this knot many times. Used lots in jewellery making for securing beads in place on a length of cord and also for knotting Pearls on a string to keep them in top condition.

This is a sliding knot which is used to finish off necklaces and Bracelets and make them adjustable at the same time without the use of metal components and Findings.

The Macrame bracelet pictured above is made completely from knots. If you fancy having a go at this, check out our Knotting with Polyester Cord blog here. I've included step by step photographs so you can have a go as you're reading it! 

How much knotting have you done? I'd love to hear about your jewellery making adventures. Just drop me a comment below.

Catch you next week!

Emma xo