This was one of the coolest projects I decided to take on, I saw a gourd bottle on Stormdrane's blog, and decided to make my own. One of my first attempts at half-hitching, I did this without needles or hemostats. One regret about this project is that at the skinniest part of the gourd, where i started half hitching, it kinda bunched together and doesn't looks as good. I also tied some Turks head knots above the half hitching, 1 in black, 3 lead, 1 in OD green, 2 lead, and another in OD, 4 lead. These were difficult and I kinda used my own method of tying a Turks head, because it seems I'm severely challenged when it comes to these knots. Not knowing what to do with the extra cord at the bottom from the half hitching, i simply ran the cord up and through one of the Turks heads, and back down that length, tying some simple overhand knots periodically to that length of cord, and running it back up, repeating the process making a semi-decorative sling for it that i just managed to make up. This thing is now hanging on my closet door as a decoration, because i have found out the walls on the gourd is severely thin and would not be sturdy enough for a bottle, oh well its a nice decoration.
Now this thing was a real pain. This is what happens when I consume coffee at 2 in the morning. It started as a celtic type mat I wanted to make, and i made it out of 2 strands of blue and 1 strand of OD paracord. Strange combo I know but it works. I had alot of spare cord left over so i decided to do away with it with an infantry braid at the top and i hung it on a doorknob, I thought it looked too bare so I looked up another knot called the masthead knot, and I kinda messed it up a little and added another bend to one side to make it a little more symmetrical. I liked the way it looked on the mat instead of as a necklace as i originally intended. Having that in mind, I attached it to the mat and ran the spare cord around it in a random line style inspired by a transmutation circle I saw once (Full Metal Alchemist fans, yes you read that right). I loved the way it looks so i now have it hanging on my doorknob, as kind of a lucky charm. Sorry I dont remember how much cord I used, but it was more than i'd like to admit
Now this little thing may seem ridiculous, but I like it. It's a standard carabiner wrapped in gutted paracord, with a keyring attatched. I made this out of both frustration and inspiration. I like to keep my keys on a carabiner on a belt loop, and the junky free ones you always see have those nylon straps on it that i feel are just too long and lets the keys flap around too much. plus this carabiner had the horrible text of "goarmy.com" (sorry everyone, I'm an Air Force guy) and I wanted to cover that up. So I removed the inner strands out of about 10' of paracord (I had alot of extra) and decided to use an infantry braid to go around the carabiner, and to attach a keyring to it. I think it adds a nice decorative touch, and the key ring will almost never rip off unlike with cheap nylon straps. I still keep my keys on this thing.
These two belts I made over the summer while I was staying at a hotel, they both took me several hours to finish. The tan belt on the bottom was made with about 100 feet of tan nylon rope I had gotten at the local flea market, and I used a buckle off an old suitcase. I made it using the Bush Bar I found on TIAT's (Tying It All Together) YouTube channel. The belt was my second attempt, and was flawed and not easily adjustable so I decided to untie it. The OD green and black belt on top I made using two 50' sections of 550 paracord using a wide Soloman Bar, also found on TIAT's site. The buckle came from an old belt from Goodwill that I liked. The belt is al more well made and I put alot more time into it, and it is still servicing me today as a great pants-keeper-upper.
Just a few bracelets I've made sever since I've gotten involved with paracord. The black and black and woodland camo ones both have button securing, and the solid camo has a modified diamond knot and loop. The maroon and blue bracelet has a small side release buckle(not pictured, for it is an old picture and I have lost the bracelet). I've gotten the paracord online from SupplyCaptain (link below) because they seem to have the lowest prices for bulk paracord that I've seen and they have a lot of accessories for whatever project you have, and from a (not so local) surplus store.
I learned how to make these bracelets when I was at a military summer camp, we made these in our spare time (which wasn't much) or whenever we got injured and has some time to kill. They taught us how to make one the military way, with the button and loop and since then I fell in love with paracord. All of these bracelets were made with the cobra weave (also know as the infantry braid, or Soloman's knot) with the exception of the camo and black one, which is the King Cobra weave.
Supply Captain
