24X32 Plait Stockwhip

[Peter T]

G'day Everyone,

Here is a 24 x 32 Plait Stockwhip I completed recently. 24 strands in the thong and 32 strands in the handle. Colours are saddle tan and whisky.

Pete

[megabit]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

WOW! That is sure some nice work.

[Leatherpownder]

Very Nice.

[bucksnort]

Nice work Pete. The patterns in your braids amaze me. Buck

[GrampaJoel]

How do you do that???

That is a beautiful piece of art!

Is the black design painted on?

Joel

Edited December 7, 2013 by GrampaJoel

[fancye9876]

Beautiful

[Peter T]

Thanks everyone.

Joel, the two colours are from two separate kangaroo hides that I cut it all out from. In this whip it was a saddle tan and a black hide (oops, just realized I said whisky in my first post).

I pencil in my patterns on a grid and then write down what each strand has to do when you are plaiting it. For eg if a saddle tan strand is the next one to be plaited, i will follow the sequence I have written down for it to go through the 16 black strands. The sequence might look like

U2 O2 U3 O1 U4 O2 U2

I will have all these written down before I start plaiting (For a 32 strand handle there are over 400 sequences). I then organise with my wife to look after our boys for the day, make sure I've got nothing happening the next day (so I can sleep in!) and away I go.

I'll see if I can post a picture of a pattern I've drawn up when I get a chance.

Hope that helps.

Pete

[TXAG]

That's funny...that's the same way I notate how to tie different turkshead knots in my small notebook...

I probably need to start working on plaiting different patterns once I get a little better with the turkshead knots.

Edited December 8, 2013 by TXAG

[Feraud]

Sublime work, simply stunning!

[GrampaJoel]

Actually two different colored hides!

Now I am more impressed!

I would love to see your braid maps.

So on a 32 strand handle there are over 400 sequences!

You must be a genius to figure all that out.

My hats off to you Sir.

Joel

[Peter T]

Haha! Thanks Joel. I can tell you I am definitely not a genius. The whole process of designing the pattern is more time consuming than difficult.

I learned about how to do it by reading whipmaking books by Ron Edwards. Bushcraft 9- How To Make Whips has some descriptions on how to plait patterns. Once I understood the concept, I developed a way of doing it that suited me.

Thanks again for the kind comments, everyone.

Pete

[Tracym]

Wow. Just.... wow.

[Sovran81]

Absolutely beautiful Peter. A couple questions if I may. When mapping your pattern I assume you end each sequence with an under to lock it in. Do you have a set number of over/under to make a sequence, or is a sequence set as 1" of finished work? I have worked with up to 12 strand but never done any fancy ringwork. I am graphing a 24 plait handle with ringwork and am unsure how to divide the sequences. I for one would love to see some of your sequences graphed out and posted. Thank you.

[bucksnort]

Pete, You make it sound so simple. I can tell you that 3 strands is the only braid I can keep straight without much thought. Beyond that the difficulty increases by the strand. 8 strands, one color I'm OK, 12 I'm getting a headache. At 32 I'm curled up on the floor in the fetal position. Buck

[Peter T]

Here is an example of a 24 strand pattern that I have drawn up. The middle red zig zag line is the seam that I try to keep straight as I'm plaiting. I keep it in the middle on top of the handle as I'm going. I find that if I've prepared the strands correctly and well then it is much easier to keep straight.

Note that the dark strands on the left hand side are unders, but on the right hand side the dark strands are overs. When setting up for this, you would have 12 dark strands coming towards the left and 12 light strands towards the right. The top sequence on the left is U6 O6. You would take the highest light strand on the right around the back of the handle and take it under 6 dark strands and then over 6 dark strands. The next sequence to plait is the top one on the right. Again O6 U6. This time you would take the highest dark strand on the left around the back of the handle and take it under 6 light strands then over 6 light strands. Next sequence is second one from top on the left (U6 O5 U1). Then second one from top on the right. And so on...

Sovran81, hopefully that helps explain what I mean by a sequence. Good luck with your 24 plait handle. Let me know if I can help you out in any way.

Buck, I've been in that fetal postion haha. The thong in this whip is actually take 2. I spent a whole day and night plaiting it but wasn't entirely happy. After a few days of vigourous debating with myself, I decided to pick it apart (with the bittersweet fid!) and do it all again. It was worth it though. I added a few more patterns and was a lot more satisfied.

Hope this helps.

Pete

[Peter T]

This is a 32 strand handle in progress to give you a bit more of an idea of how it works.

Pete

[Sovran81]

WOW! I understand pull tight and plait loose, but that pic right there is making me think you sleep with the fid. LOL Thanks for showing a pattern. I am still curious as to how you split the pattern into sequences. Now I am thinking the sequence is the complete 'ring' no matter how long it is. Do I have that right?

[Peter T]

Yep, pull tight, plait loose alright. I very rarely use a fid when plaiting, except if I'm undoing work. The strands at the top of that pic should be tighter and in position much more than they were. I remember having a hard time getting them where they needed to be.

The sequences are simply the overs and unders that a strand needs to do. I sometimes call this the code and these are the numbers and letters written down the side, not the patterns themselves. The standard sequence for a 4 plait is u1 o1 and you would alternate each side. For an 8 plait it is u2 o2.

For the 24 plait pattern I posted it starts off as the standard sequence of u6 o6. That pattern is one that I plaited into a thong. So I would be plaiting u6 o6 on each side. When I get to the part of the thong where I want the pattern to be, I start following the code that I've written, plaiting each strand according to the overs and unders it needs to do. At the end of the pattern it goes back into u6 o6. There are two examples of 24 plait patterns done like this in the photo of the top section of the thong in the original post.

For a handle, I would have about 4 of the pages like the one I posted all stuck together with the codes or sequences written down the sides. I start at the top and just keep following the code down, alternating sides, right down to the bottom.

I hope this is all making sense. If not, keep asking and we'll get it sorted.

Pete

[TXAG]

Can you please post an example of one of your pages of code? I'm curious to see what it looks like and how it works.

[Peter T]

Hi TXAG, Is the pattern I posted yesterday with the codes down the sides what you were after? It's a couple of posts back. That's what I follow when I'm plaiting.

Pete

[TXAG]

Ahh...I see it now...that's neat. Maybe Santa will bring me the Ron Edwards book you mentioned before...

[acox4t4]

Sweet work