The Friendship Ring - A Micromé Project

The Friendship Ring

This little knot project resulted from my playing around with the idea of square knotting in small media. In this case I was using Marlow #4 waxed whipping twine. It crossed my mind that you could make a closed loop by overlapping strands and produce a small grommet with a nice uniform structure.

Beginning with about four feet of small twine, double the material and produce the closed loop of approximately the desire size. Allow a small overlap to the center as shown. This could also be two two foot strands fused together at the bend.

Holding the loop at the approximate size, cross B end over the outside of the loop as shown. Don't worry too much about size too much at this point as size can be adjusted a bit later.

Now cross A end over B and through the center of the ring as shown and then through the bight formed at A. This establishes the first half knot. This will take a little practice to work out the best technique but it is worth the result.

We then cross B over the outside of the ring (it is now opposite its original side).

We proceed to finish the first full square knot by crossing A over B and then preceding through the center of the ring and through the bight formed by B as shown. Having completed the first square knot tighten the knot and adjust the strands to assure even lay of the following square knots. Sizing should consider that the inside diameter of the ring will be slightly smaller than the strand loop that it is tied around.

The ring is completed by continuing to square knot in the above fashion until the circle is complete. If using two strands of different colors you will have two bands of one color on the outer sides with a central band of the other color. The width of the ring will be about 3/16 of an inch.

The length of material required depends on the material selected and you can determine this by your own experimentation. Careful snug knotting will produce a ring of quite firm structure.

Small adjustments of size can be made when the ring is finished by pushing it over a tapered mandrel (I've even used the barrel of a marker pen). Finishing depends on the material selected. If a natural fiber is used then the last ends should be secured with the appropriate glue and trimmed close. If a synthetic is used, then the end can be flame fused to the body to secure.Careful attention to tension will yield a firm structure and attractive ring form. By the way I call this micromé because of the small size of both the media and the end result.

Another small scale square knot project can be see in the Dragonfly Knot.

Take your time and have fun with this one. A scan of one of my earlier experiments with this one is seen below.

JK 8/22/97

Beginning with about four feet of small twine, double the material and produce the closed loop of approximately the desire size. Allow a small overlap to the center as shown. This could also be two two foot strands fused together at the bend.
Holding the loop at the approximate size, cross B end over the outside of the loop as shown. Don't worry too much about size too much at this point as size can be adjusted a bit later.
Now cross A end over B and through the center of the ring as shown and then through the bight formed at A. This establishes the first half knot. This will take a little practice to work out the best technique but it is worth the result.
We then cross B over the outside of the ring (it is now opposite its original side).
We proceed to finish the first full square knot by crossing A over B and then preceding through the center of the ring and through the bight formed by B as shown. Having completed the first square knot tighten the knot and adjust the strands to assure even lay of the following square knots. Sizing should consider that the inside diameter of the ring will be slightly smaller than the strand loop that it is tied around.