How to Make Chinese Knotted Jewelry
Chinese knotted jewelry mystifies so many. Its cord tied in a variety of ways and is a fascinating and wonderful artistic piece of work. As you stare at a pendant, necklace, bracelet or earrings You try to think of how it was done and it escapes you while looking at the weaving in and out of the cord.
In reality Chinese knotting it is really simple. What makes it easy is the use of pins to hold the foundation loops to begin the process.
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Things You'll Need
- 3 yards satin rat tail cord
- Glue
- Tassel
- Quilt Pins
- Empty Pizza Box
- Pencil
- Large faux jade fancy carved donut
- Tape
Instructions
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Making Chinese Knotted Pendant
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1
Take a pin and push it in upper center of the pizza box. This is the first loop anchor, then fold your cord in half and loop it over the pin.
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2
Go in a staight line from that first pin down about 9 inches and insert another pin, then insert another pin directly next to it. These are your center pins and bring the tails of the cord down between these two pins.
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3
Measure about 9 inches directly to the right of these two center pins and insert another anchor pin and then do the same to the left.
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4
Loop the left tail around the left pin and the right tail around the right pin and bring the tails back to the center and push the tails between the center pins.
If you did this step right you should have something that looks like a 3 leaf clover. -
5
Next take your pencil and lay it over the bottom two tail ends creating a loop on the bottom and bring those tail ends up to the right of the top loop. Place a piece of tape to hold those tails in place for a moment.
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6
Take the right side loop off of the pin and bring it over to the left, crossing the two tail ends and the top loop. Take a pin and push it into the box to hold the now crossed over side loop for a moment.
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7
Now take the top loop and bring it down crossing over the left side-loop. Take a pin and secure that loop to the box, your almost done wih the first knot.
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8
Now take the left loop, which is still sticking straight out and bring it down and cross over the loop with the pencil on it and push that loop that was being held by the pencil through the right side loop.
Pull the tail and and the loops to make it tight in the center and it looks like a square in the middle. This may take a few tries to get it right.
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9
Follow these directions again using the remaining loops that you have just made. and go over the center knot, these should be a bit looser and you have a pretty square center knot.
Add the Jane Donut
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10
The loop that is at the bottom of the design is slid through the jade donut hole, back to front and then the entire knotted piece is threaded back through the loop end. This is the larks head knot.
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11
To fiish the necklace part take your two tail ends and knot them together in a square knot.
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12
Toprepare your tassel end decoration, take an 8 inch piece of cord and fold it in half, slide the cord loop the into the loop top of the tassel and pull the tail ends through the cord loop, creating a larks head knot.
At the bottom of the donut thread the two tail ends through the donut hole, going from front to back and bring the tails ends from back around to the front. Bring the tail ends back through the tassel loop and tie with an overhand or square knot. Trim off excess cord. -
13
Apply glue with a Q-tip or brush to seal the knots into place. Apply glue to the very ends of the cord to prevent unraveling
Once dry your knotted jewelry is ready to wear.
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Tips & Warnings
Make the side loops of 12 inches or more to make bolder knots.
Use longer cord and stack your knots above each other
Combine single clover knots on each loop before making center knot for more interest.
For larger projects, such as door pulls, you can use colored silky parachute cord.
Choose jade, ceramic or gold beads and knot them in place for more glitz, before beginning your knots.
Do not use yarn, it is too fuzzy and catches on itself.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit chinese fashion image by Liu xiang from Fotolia.com
