Has anyone heard of this book? Sling braiding traditions and techniques: From Peru, Bolivia and around the World. by R. Owen and T.N. Flynn.
It's supposed to have 50 different types of sling designs from all over the world.

Yes, I'm aware of this book and it is on my "to buy list". Is it out yet? My usual source still lists it as "expected publication November 2017" ?

The 50 patterns does not refer to how many types of slings, but to 50 different braiding patterns for the cords. According to the marketing blob (see below) it will be shown how to braid an andean sling. I personally doubt that other sling designs are covered, but I hope to be wrong  ;).

Judging from his previous books (which are excellent by the way) the focus will most likely be on the textile techniques and not the actual slinging. I'm really looking forward to read it!


--- The marketing blob --- (from http://www.braidershand.com/bhbooks1.html)

This comprehensive, full-color guide features dozens of images of slings from various cultures, both ancient and contemporary. Slings had great significance in many cultures, particularly in the Andes, and were often used as both prehistoric weapons and herding tools. The book shows novice and experienced braiders how to make 50 designs, from 8 to 32 strands, on a braiding card or with a braiding stand and bobbins. Learn step by step how to make an authentic Andean-style sling with braided cords and a tapestry-woven cradle. A range of techniques useful for beginning, ending, and embellishing slings are included, and can enhance a wide variety of other items, like jewelry, garments, and accessories. This book is a key resource for historians, ethnologists, textile artists, weapons experts, and others to learn the practical skills for understanding the structure of sling braids.

Yes it's out. I saw it in a catalog from Edward R Hamilton booksellers.

Cool. Guess I'll have to look for my credit card tomorrow.
I'm curious what they put inside except more patterns.
Anyone interested in a short review once I get it?

Teg wrote on Jan 24^th, 2018 at 5:53pm:

Cool. Guess I'll have to look for my credit card tomorrow. I'm curious what they put inside except more patterns. Anyone interested in a short review once I get it?

Yes , especially about ending braids if you find anything interesting. Thanks.

I 2nd that.  ^^

You'll hear from me in a couple days or weeks.

I should be getting this book anytime soon.

I've also got some Alpaca wool ready, so soon I will become the new Jaegoor or Hubert of the Slinging world!  :D

I'll make millions, just you wait. Pretentious people will go "I think the strands are blue because he was feeling melancholic." And I'll go "I was just using blue wool, you idiot!"

"This piece,  "Teal Alpaca sling" was from Jackinati's famous blue period. 2018-2021"

Unfortunately, my usual bookstore did not meet my expectations. So I had to reorder from amazon and it got a bit more expensive than intended. The book should be due end of this week / beginning next week. However, this small inconvenience did not stop me from already starting the mess  ;D.

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Looking good! Braid On  :D

Wow Teg. So that's how the pros do it. I have a lot to learn.  :o

Just looking at the pic, makes my head hurt,  and hands cramp. But I been practicing

Oh boy... Yeah... I would rage quit this very quickly.

;D What you see here is a bit more messy than usually as I'm trying something new where the usual weaving techniques don't work so well.
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I received the book in question on Friday and gave it a good look. Enjoy the review below.

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Review of Sling Braiding Traditions and Techniques: From Peru, Bolivia, and Around the World by Rodrick Owen and Terry Newhouse Flynn, Schiffer Publishing, 2017.

The book «Sling braiding: traditions and techniques» by Rodrick Owen and Terry Newhouse Flynn is a must have for any individual interested in detailed knowledge of slings. The book is organised in seven chapters, ranging through a brief history of the sling, through an outline of recommended braiding equipment and an overview over commonly used yarn choices for braiding. Later chapters cover the complete working process for making an Andean sling (on this forum known as peruvian sling or woven split pouch), including the setting up of the braid with a fingerloop, ways of embellishing the sling, and finally, a complete guide including warp measurements and weaving instructions for the pouch. Overall, the book’s focus is on south American slings and sling use, with a focus on the textile aspect. While cultural aspects are covered in the introductory chapters, different slinging techniques are only mentioned superficially. The book has some overlap with their first book (Andean Sling Braids, 2016). It nevertheless offers enough additional information to merit the purchase, also for advanced braiders who already possess the first book. Furthermore, I highly recommend this book for any novice braider wanting to look into Andean slings.

In the following, I summarize and review the chapters of the book individually.

The first chapters reviews the history of the sling first in a global context, both from a historic and contemporary viewpoint. In a second part, a detailed account of the history of the sling in south America is given. This second part is detailed and covers a multitude of aspects such as a historic account of the sling in different ancient south American cultures from a social, technological and militaristic viewpoint, concluding with an outlook to contemporary slings, which is picked up again in later chapters of the book. The first part about the global context of the sling is rather short but touches upon the most important historical accounts of slings in a concise fashion, with a good bibliography enabling the reader to start his own research. Being concise, this part misses a few important points such as the different sling designs made from leather, and, as it is of personal importance to me, mentioning the second, older, el-Lahun sling. A short selection of contemporary slings from around the world is given, also showing a Saudi Arabian construction technique, which was unknown to me.

The second chapter details the needed braiding equipment and is basically identical with their first book. It covers the braiding card and the braiding stand.

The third chapter tackles the braiding material: the yarn. It starts with an outline of the historic preparation process of the fibers, including dying and spinning, but without detailed instructions. The focus is on animal fibres. Later sections give an overview of the different yarns suitable for braiding, also giving advice for yarn selection.

The fourth chapter is in most parts also identical with their first book. It explains the needed preparatory steps before setting up the braid, including calculating the warp length, measuring the warp and winding bobbins as well as setting up the braiding stand.

The fifth chapter treats the different braid designs. They included a good mix of simple patterns, already treated in their first book, and further variations of the more complex patterns, not found in their first book. The braiding instruction for the card and the stand are not as exhaustive as in their first book, but clearly given, thus enabling also novice braiders to follow the book without buying their first book. My only point of critique is that original technique, fistbraiding, is not described. Although it is stated in the introduction that it was left out willingly, with reference to Sling Braiding of the Andes by Cahlander, I feel it would have earned some coverage, even if very shortly, being the original braiding technique of many of these slings.

The sixth chapter treats forming the finger loop, with detailed instructions on how to arrange the threads to perform this task. Thus, splitting and combining braids is covered. Also, several blunt-end starting techniques are described in detail. As for sling decoration the techniques of stitching “beads” as well as two ways of binding tassels. As a special topic working braids over sculptural forms is mentioned briefly. The use of cross-knit looping for braid finishing, sling decoration and cradle reinforcement is shown with detailed instructions. Last, it is quickly touched upon sewing on other braids for cradle decoration. I miss that the ending of the braid is not treated in more detail, as there are a couple more options.

Chapter seven finally shows how to make a complete sling. Also, regional variations of sling making are mentioned. The chapter guides the reader through the whole process in a detailed and clear manner, beginning with the finger loop, then showing detailed how to increase the number of used strands and preparing the warps for weaving the cradle. The reader is then guided through the process of weaving the cradle in the same way. It includes the basics of tapestry weaving, which is of great use for novice braiders. It is also described how to reduce the number of strands when braiding the release cord. The chapter finishes with two stories of sling makers, one of Ben Turner, to some known as a member of this forum.

The appendix contains further braiding instructions, which were treated in their first book in the main text. As in their first book, instructions for making a braiding stand with a core frame as well as braiding cards are given. Furthermore, a table with the full dimensions of 11 slings is given. The book concludes with a good bibliography.

Thank you for the review,  it's definitely going into my list to buy.

^Agreed. Sounds perfect for my needs.

Teg wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 2:57pm:

Unfortunately, my usual bookstore did not meet my expectations. So I had to reorder from amazon and it got a bit more expensive than intended. The book should be due end of this week / beginning next week. However, this small inconvenience did not stop me from already starting the mess  ;D.

:o WOW!

So I got the book...

I heartily recommend it, though I did get confused and I did screw up my chevrons but I somehow fixed it through some kind of sorcery or whatever.

I must say, I don't think I will ever wrap my mind around doing those diamonds, that just looks like magicery... how the hell do you do that! (Okay, I kinda know how you do it, there are diagrams saying how but it is confusing me.)

So my first sling is going to be a 24-strand core-less, diamond-less sling, just so that I can get used to it. It'll also look tacky because I'll use grandma's acrylic yarn from like the 80's... But by god it will be fun!

And dreadfully slow too... but fun.  :)

and this is why I use leather and paracord :-)
http://slinging.org/forum/yabbfiles/Attachments/Peru_wool_bwg_lr.JPG

Don't have that kind of patience :thumb:

A simple cord + leather pouch sling is like the AK 47 of the slinging world, cheap, easily replaceable, reliable, not the fanciest or the nicest but it works.
Than we have Jeagoor, Luis (and many other professionals on here) - tier slings. They're like the HK416s of the slinging world, more expensive to make, true quality and beauty to look at and extremely clean and nice handling. But they need some more care so they stay in nice condition, and replacing parts is harder and can be more expensive ( in relative terms).

I'm working on my sling now, using a Palma braid.

Expect to see pictures as soon as I am done...

Oh boy this is going to take me a few days.