Knotter Howard Kanare
Featuring Knotwork by Howard Kanare
The Decorative Ditty Bag
I have to say that I do love a ditty bag, they are often great works of art, and show off a knotter’s skill set. Here we can see a wonderful example of a ditty bag by Howard Kanare. I incidently stumbles across his work in one of he Facebook groups that I belong to, so I thought I would post some of Howard’s work on this site.
Making a ditty bag is not easy, as the first one usually means learning a lot of new skills, new knots and most of all very sore fingers by the end of it. You also often hear people who have made a ditty bag say, “never again”. I have said that five times now.
Canvas Ditty Bag Structure
So, when we look at this ditty bag, starting at the top of the handle and working down; a piece of rope has been used to form an eye and then covered with ringbolt hitching (Cockscombing). The covered rope has been secured together with some Seizing. Next I would think that the body of the handle has been bulked out with some Puddening, then over the top of that some Spiral Hitching, then a form of Grafting. Finally on that section the scruffy bits have been nicely hidden using various Turks Heads.
Then a decorative slider has been made from leather, which has also been given a lovely Turks Head. Where the strings of the handle pass through the eyes of the ditty bag, they have been covered with a leather sleeve, then the loops have been formed with an Eye Splice. That splice has then been decorated with a Turks Head and then some Servicing is applied? (I may be wrong in the terminology). So the end result is a very fine ditty bag to be proud of.
Eye Splice and Leather Protection
Here in the next photo you can see in more detail the eye splice, Turks Head and the leather sleeve for protection.
Ditty Bag Slider
The ditty bag slider has been made rather ornate, with some tooling and decorative knotwork.
Decorative Knotted Needle Case
Here you can see a decorative knotted needle case that Howard is in the process of creating. Some Spiral Hitching and then Howard is experimenting with a Braid ABoK 3003 to go around the top (must find out if that did actually work out).
Doughnut Rope Fender
Finally here is a rather simple but beautiful Doughnut Fender, I just love the way that you can see how the core of this fender is made up. The core is then covered with some simple Ringbolt Hitching and a Diamond Knot around the loop.
Finally, I just want to thank Howard for letting me showcase some of his work on this site. You will also find him in some of the Facebook Knotting Groups.
Knot Craft and Rope Mats by Des Pawson
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 | Knot Craft and Rope Mats: 60 Ropework Projects Including 20 Mat Designs by Des Pawson Rating: |
