1st post-somewhat of a beginner

[cat]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum, and am somewhat of a beginner leatherworker. I've done several projects, but have really only been at this for a relatively short time. I'm trying to make a 16th century pouch, and am unsure of what I'm seeing in the photo of the original.

I am attaching some pics (hopefully) of my pouch attempt, and the original I am basing it off of. I'm a bit further along in my progress on the pouch than what this pic shows, but it should give you an idea of what I have to work with. The pic of the original is not the clearest, but I'm hoping someone will recognize how the braiding was done on the drawstrings. To me, the stuff just looks like a jumbled mess, so I'm hoping someone can tell me what I need to do to mine to make it look like the original. I've got 2 strands (well, two ends of one strand) for my drawstring, but the braiding on the original seems to indicate more than 2 strands.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks, and please excuse my newbie questions.

Cat

[Pip]

Thats a really nice job you've done there, there are a few braiders here that no doubt can point you inthe right direction. Welcome to the forum

[rgerbitz]

Welcome to the forum Cat.

I can't really tell from the pictures what kind of braiding is used. I would think that you could use a four strand braid and join or splice it together into an 8 strand braid(plait) then end with a four strand loop that is held in place or covered with a spanish ring knot or small pinapple knot. If you are not familiar with braiding I suppose this is all about as clear as mud, please don't be afraid to ask more questions maybe someone could do a tutorial on any points you may not understand.

Hope this helps,

Rob

[cat]

Thanks for the welcome and the responses!

I am totally unfamiliar whith braiding terms, but at least that gives me something to look up.

What I'm confused on is how many strands there are on the original. In some places, it looks like there are only 2 strands coming out of the drawstring holes, but it looks like the number of strands have been increased to multiple strands at the ends.

There's what looks like beads on these strands, right about at the place where it looks like the braided part begins. Do you think they're stitching on extra strands at those points? I don't see any indication of the extra ends sticking out past the bead, so I'm guessing if that's the case, the bead is covering them.

Thanks again,

Cat

[TwinOaks]

I think Rob has this one pretty well figured out, but I'd like to add in my two cents worth.

First, I don't think the drawstrings are leather, unless they're made out of lace in the x/32 range (that's itty bitty)

Next, it looks like it has a 4 strand round braid, running through a sliding ring knot, into a pineapple/turkshead. From there it becomes an 8 strand braid all the way to the next PA/TH knot where the strands are separated back to the original 4 strand and looped, then splice into themselves.

So, now that you're confused, here's a link to Myriam's site, where she does a tutorial on a braiding (4 strand). I hope this helps, and it's chock full of pics which really helped me figure it out.