I received a couple of Green Girl Studios pewter skull beads from BladeOps.com.For one skull, I used a two foot length of gutted paracord, making two-strand wall knots(ABoK knot #775)in a series. I think it gives the lanyard/fob a look of vertebrae coming down from the skull...
For the other skull, I used some 1.4mm nylon cord to make a four strand round braid, added the skull bead, then finished with a Matthew Walker knot, shown used as a zipper pull on my backpack.
The hole on the skull bead is 1/8" diameter, so it can fit up to a single strand of ungutted 550 paracord. To be able to pull a loop of gutted paracord through the hole, it needed to be slightly enlarged. I used a 9/64" drill bit, manually screwing the skull down over the bit, so that it cut out a small amount of the pewter material. I used a diamond file/sharpener to smooth out any sharp edges, and that was just what was needed to snugly fit a couple of gutted paracord strands through the bead.
The skull's eye holes also look good for adding some glow-in-the-dark powder and epoxy mix, and then they'll be ready for lanyard/fob/zipper pull/pendant duty...
Those look nice SD, I might pick a few up. I just got in a Benchmade Mini Bone Collector it's a little small so I think it would work well with a lanyard and skull beads.
ReplyDeletedo you sell any of your stuff?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, I rarely sell anything online anymore, preferring to keep knot work as a hobby, and not get burned out on it.
ReplyDeletenice work on the zipper pull. but do you think it'll be much better if you did a celtic button knot or maybe a lanyard knot instead of a matthew walker knot at the end of the zipper pull?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, I don't look at the finishing knot that is used as being a better choice than another, rather that the knot is functional in it's application, and that I like how it looks.
ReplyDeleteSince I had four working strands from the braid, I could easily use all of them with the Matthew Walker. They could be doubled up for a lanyard knot or a pair used for a Celtic button knot, or a double wall knot, etc...
nice...
ReplyDeleteEverything you do is not only useful, but artful. You've given me inspired direction in several (admittedly crude) projects. I'm so glad to have found your page....
ReplyDeleteI wanted to try and make this for my knife, I just ordered some of the skull beads. I'm a novice when it comes to paracord projects and am having trouble figuring out how this is made. The ABoK pics don't help me much. Can you help me out?
ReplyDelete@merideth, The snake knot starts off with the two strand wall knot, so look at tutorials for it to see how it's done.
ReplyDeletereally nice..
ReplyDeleteThis is a great resource. I watched a video where you described your basic tool kit. I can not find it again. Can you tell me the name of the flat blade knife you use? also, where you got the shortened knitting needles.
ReplyDeletethanks
Phil
I have made a lot of the snake knot lanyards, both for knives and longer ones I use for my camera.
@Phil, The video was most likely someone else since most of mine just have music playing or are silent.
ReplyDeleteThe shortened knitting needles I have were given to me by a friend out in California, and I believe he said he found them at a dollar store.