Ney wrote on Jan 27
th, 2013 at 7:10pm:
I meant if you added extra fibers just before braiding the pouch (hence the term "doubled").
Nevertheless, I'm surprised at the quality of the braiding on the bast sling. Considering the free handed method (never tried this, I guess it's normal for natural fiber slings) and the difficulty of braiding a 5-strand braid with natural fibers (It's quite a mess at the beggining) its quality is exceptional.
I'd be thankful if you could send me as much high-res pictues as you can, I'm preparing agave fibers for a balearic and I want to learn as much as possible.
Especially from a master sling maker such as yourself.
Also, one last question. How do they crack?
In the white one I added strings right after I split both arms. Otherwise the diameter of the retention cord does not change. But you can also add them before the split.
The diameter of the bast sling continuously increases from 9 mm (about 5 cm after the finger loop) to 15 mm (1 cm before the split). The thickness is around 4-5 mm.
For the mess in the beginning just one hint: Fix your fibers in the middle with a clamp or a piece of string. Then start braiding. Before you fold the loop for the finger undo the very first 0.5 cm you braided. This way you can remove any irregularities from the start of the braid.
Further I have no idea how many strands I used in the bast sling. It is way more important to make the braid "compact" and evenly and to keep the center line in the middle. But you will see
.
I will drop you a PM with a link to my project folders during the day.
And thank you very much for considering me a master slingmaker
.
Oh yes, my right ear is nearly deaf
.