Learn how to make stunning braided jewellery using the popular technique of Kumihimo - the art of Japanese braiding. Kumihimo is enjoying a surge in popularity in contemporary jewellery making as an innovative and on-trend technique. This beginner-friendly guide features step-by-step diagrams and photographs to help you start braiding and create beautiful jewellery projects at home. Written by renowned jewellery crafter and first Ambassador for Swarovski Elements, Dorothy Wood, The Beginner's Guide to Kumihimo is the essential guide to Japanese braiding techniques for jewellery craft. The book covers a range of techniques including flat braids, square braids, honeycomb braids, hollow braids, spiral braids, braiding with beads, using different cords and wire, and finishing techniques. It features templates to make your own Kumihimo disk and plate, plus a handful of contemporary projects for jewellery and accessories so you can put your newfound braiding skills to use straight away.

Paracord handle wraps are popular with respect to survival knives and tactical knives. They rest comfortably in your hand, they're slip-proof, and they're impervious to moisture and temperature fluctuations. In an emergency, the wrap can often be undone and then you have a practical rope at hand. This clear, straightforward guide teaches everything you need to know, including selecting the paracord itself and weaving the correct wrap styles for underlays, tactical uses, skeleton handles, and more. Over 16 styles and approaches are covered, from basic handle wraps to standard military or looped wraps, to paradox wraps, all the way up to artistic Japanese tsukamaki handle wraps. The techniques are explained step by step, including detailed photos. The costs for making your wraps, in materials and tools, are minimal, and you can equip both your handmade knives and your manufactured knives with paracord handle wraps.

For marine, boating, and climbing amateurs and professionals at all levels, splices-the strongest way of attaching or joining the end of a rope-are essential. Why? Because a splice gives the strongest way of attaching or joining the end of a rope to any object or to another rope. (Every knot, on the other hand, weakens a rope.) In this much-anticipated handbook, world-renowned expert Friedl guides you through modern splicing techniques with his clear directions, one-of-a-kind color diagrams, and 200+ color photos. The book is supplemented by four-plus hours of excellent video instruction. Throughout, every type of splice is shown by an expert climber and shipbuilder. Learn what to know before starting to splice, then build a solid understanding and competence of modern cordage, its construction, and its fiber materials. Friedl has over 35 years of sailing experience, including several Atlantic crossings, and is also a professional climber. He teaches seminars and workshops on modern splicing worldwide, and in 2006, Friedl made the modern soft shackle internationally known. Now, his much-anticipated book allows you, whether you are a hobbyist or a professional, to leverage splicing skills to become more self-reliant while making your maritime or climbing pursuits safer.

The String Book opens with a note about an 8,000-year-old piece of string that was found at a Stone Age settlement in England, about which the editor of British Archaeology said, 'I don't think the average person realizes what an important piece of technology string has been over the ages.' The String Book is here to set that right. What the author calls a 'cornucopia of cunning and knowledge' fills this informative and charming collection of history, knot instruction, facts and surprising trivia. The chapters and sections are: * Roping Yarns Knowing the Ropes; Stringing History; String, Rope and Religions; * String Along Day-to-Day String; String Fanatics; * Get Knotted 40 stoppers, reefs, bends, hitches, loops, whippings and shoelacings; * The Art of String Cultured String; Sporty String; * Loopy Science Discoveries and Inventions; Stringy Theories; * Country Ties On Land; At Sea; * Loose Ends String Miscellany; Stringy Websites. Amusing two-colour illustrations highlight the text. Here are examples of the stringiness in The String Book: * The Ancient Egyptians probably used string to help align pyramids north-south and east-west. The Polynesians possibly used rope to move the Easter Island moai statues into place. * To water plants while you're away, trail a piece of wet natural string from a bowl above the plants into the soil. * Farmer Francis A. Johnson spared four hours a day to wind a ball of string until he needed a crane to move it. * The great 15th-century inventor Leonardo da Vinci had many ropey inventions, including a parachute, a ropemaking machine, and rope-operated pulleys. * How to do magic tricks, how to tie a Hojojutsu ball, how to weigh a pig, and how to make a seismograph, a cat's cradle, a friendship bracelet, and a jar sling to carry your bottle of water. This is a fun and surprisingly informative book that is a great gift for any reader.

Are you a knitter, crocheter, crafter, or none of the above?This clever book gives yarn lovers,both knitters and non-knitters alike,50 fun ways to use their stashes without taking out their knitting needles. The projects are easy and simple, but with a modern aesthetic that manages to be both sophisticated and inviting. Get your hot glue gun fired up, adhere some pompoms to an old office chair, and make the most ho-hum seat in your house into a cozy piece of pop art furniture. Or treat your neck to a stylish infinity scarf. All you need is some bulky yarn and the ability to braid. This book will strike a chord with DIYers who love yarn but don't always want to take the time and effort to knit something from it. Projects also include a Sputnik lamp shade, a welcome mat, friendship bracelets, and even a rehabbed woven lawn chair. Put away your needles and crochet hooks and create fabulous projects, from accessories to home goods and more!

This book features 25 decorative projects that is shown step by step. The age-old art of stringwork celebrated in inspirational designs and practical projects is shown in over 200 specially commissioned photographs. There are practical step-by-step instructions for 25 superb projects: a knotted rope deckchair, a string-embroidered laundry bag, a string-wrapped candelabra and a jute tassel. It is a complete guide to materials, equipment and techniques. It comes with photography by Peter Williams, the highly regarded craft, cooking and lifestyle photographer. From the very earliest times, successive civilizations have twisted, wrapped and looped rope, string and twine to create practical and decorative objects. Nowadays, the most familiar form of the medium are seaman's knots, but the availability and low cost of rope and string have led to a renewed interest in their more artistic applications. This book presents 25 varied and exciting practical projects for you to try at home.Specially commissioned step-by-step photographs take you through each idea in easy-to-follow stages, allowing you to create beautiful and functional objects as diverse as a string-wrapped picture frame, a garden tassel made out of twine, and a coiled string needlework basket. The book will help craftspeople everywhere to rediscover this traditional craft in an instructive and inspirational way.