Module 3 - Chapter 5 Cord Making (first part)

Finally I had the time to assemble and scan all my cords! I must say I absolutely loved making cords and found them seriously addictive. I had a feeling you can never exhaust this subject ...

I made no photographs of single machine stitched cords since I incorporated them all in more complex ones. I thought I loved the idea of mounting them on self-dyed fabrics in my two chosen colours for this module (blue and yellow/orange), so I dyed some commercial felt and threw all of it in the washing machine in order to get a more "natural" textured look.

Knotted cords

Sample 1 - Simple knotted cords

From left to right:

twisted cords (pearl cottons) - machined cords (wrapped tulle net) - two simple machined cords side by side - loosely knotted machined cords (mousetail, tulle net, plastic string) - machined strips of scarves

Sample 2 - Half knot cords

Sample 3 - A simple half knot cord and two wrapped pipe cleaners

The pipe cleaners hark back to last summer school (Maggie's workshop)

Sample 4 - Half hitch knot cords

Sample 5 - Another set of half hitch knot cords

Sample 6 - Half hitch and Turks head knots

I think it took me a good whole day to figure out the Turks knot! I only managed when I fixed pins on a hard surface and looped my cords around them.

Plaited cords

Sample 1 - Four-strand plaits

From left to right:

A B B A (wool threads) - A B A B (wood thread, fabric, pearl cotton) - A B B A (machined cords, fantasy thread)

Sample 2 - Four-strand plaits

From left to right:

A A B B (flat ribbons, metallic thread) - Spiral braid A B B A (wool thread) - A B B A (machined cords, cotton threads)

Sample 3 - Three-strand plaits

From left to right:

A B A (twisted cords, wool thread) - A B C (cotton threads) - A B A (fabric, machined cords) - A B C (machined cords)

Sample 4 - Various plaits

From left to right:

6-strand plait, loosely braided (cotton threads) - 5-strand plait A B C D E (cotton threads) - A B C (machined cords, beaded thread) - A A A (machined cords with knotted wastes of fantasy thread)