I've finally finished a tutorial for making a Tut sling.

http://www.seekyee.com/Slings/howtos/tut1.htm

My brother's idea for using a flat loom works very well; much better than my triangle looms, so the instructions are for the flat loom method.

I simplified the design to make things more clear, but I have directions for the un-simplified version.

There are also three new braiding tutorials as well:

http://www.seekyee.com/Slings/howtos/4strand2.htm
http://www.seekyee.com/Slings/howtos/4strand3.htm
http://www.seekyee.com/Slings/howtos/8strand1.htm (Thanks for the correction, David)

I'd be interested to know if the directions are clear enough to use. Since I know what I'm trying to show, it's clear to me, but my instructions would be valueless if nobody else could follow them. Also, please let me know if I made any spelling errors.

Enjoy!

-Timothy Potter

Looks wonderfully made to me. A common complain about how to's to braiding is using the same color of string for the demo.
I understand it fine, but some people need the strings to be of diferent color.

Great job Timothy, good luck.

That is absolutely fantastic, I totally get that. Bravo!

You probably meant to use this as your third braiding link: http://www.seekyee.com/Slings/howtos/8strand1.htm  ;)

Wow! That was a lot of work and I really appreciate the effort. I can see how the pouch holds conical shot perfectly. I look forward to making one of these slings now. Thanks!

brilliant just brilliant!! ;D ;D :) :)

[smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]......i don't beleive it, it seems simple enough, especially how the strands are twisted to make the cords...i gotta make this sometime with something close to that material (hemp? i can't find linen anywhere

one word - perfect.

:)

i have a question though, the remaining un woven warp threads once pulled would turn into a very long single strand right? then what happens to that long single strand?

i'm thinking that it is used in the twist on 1 side

also, i found a small mistake, you spelled pull as pulles

Thanks for the gracious comments!

Thanks to Chris, the tutorial is now available here on slinging.org:

http://slinging.org/index.php?page=a-method-for-reproducing-a-sling-found-in-the-tomb-of-tutankhamen---timothy-potter

xxkid123,

Thanks for the correction; I actually noticed a couple of other errors when I was re-typing "pulles."

To answer your question about the warp:

You actually end up with two long strings when the warp is pulled through because the warping is done with both ends of the warp string. So when the warp is pulled through, it is done so from both sides at the same time. The instructions show how to sew these ends through the weaving and trim them off, but your idea of twisting them into one of the cords would work as well.

-Timothy Potter

Hello
Really great tuturial  :)!
I hope youll go on making toturials.Yours are absoluteley fantastic and easy to understand.
Bye Axel

Great tutorial!  Now I can live my childhood dream of being a pharaoh!  ;D

But for real.  You know that it's good if I can understand it.  I will have to try it asap.  Thanks!

Timothy Potter wrote on Jul 25^th, 2009 at 11:22pm:

Thanks for the gracious comments! Thanks to Chris, the tutorial is now available here on slinging.org: http://slinging.org/index.php?page=a-method-for-reproducing-a-sling-found-in-the-tomb-of-tutankhamen---timothy-potter xxkid123, Thanks for the correction; I actually noticed a couple of other errors when I was re-typing "pulles." To answer your question about the warp: You actually end up with two long strings when the warp is pulled through because the warping is done with both ends of the warp string. So when the warp is pulled through, it is done so from both sides at the same time. The instructions show how to sew these ends through the weaving and trim them off, but your idea of twisting them into one of the cords would work as well. -Timothy Potter

thanks, i probably will twist it into the cords, but only for an inch or so, makes a cleaner looking appearance

beautiful work, Tim.  :)

Going to build the loom tomorrow and give it a go. Will let ya know what I think when it is done.

Marc Adkins

The best tutorial I've seen so far! And the way it's done,I would have never figured it out by myself so it's really useful, carefully shown.Thank you!

I will add to the gracious comments.  Thank you for contributing some very worthwhile content to slinging.org.

yay, another project to ward off winter blues  :D

thanks for posting.

Thanks for kind words! I'm always glad to hear when people find my tutorials useful.

Recently, I've been considering making a revised Tut sling tutorial, showing how to make a sling more like the original artifact (finer linen, larger number of warps, braided cords, etc), rather than just showing the basic method for the Tut pouch.

Is that something anyone would find helpful?

-Timothy

Timothy Potter wrote on Mar 7^th, 2011 at 5:17pm:

Is that something anyone would find helpful? -Timothy

Very! And maybe some advice on how to tighten the weft threads without breaking them.

Masiakasaurus wrote on Mar 7^th, 2011 at 6:08pm:

Timothy Potter wrote on Mar 7th, 2011 at 5:17pm: Is that something anyone would find helpful? -Timothy Very! And maybe some advice on how to tighten the weft threads without breaking them.

Seconded!

You know, I'm experimenting with that Tut's sling pouch weaving method to make assorted other stuff too - scale it up to a portable tree swing for my lil niece

Yeah but let me get this one done first.

Marc Adkins


Timothy Potter wrote on Mar 7^th, 2011 at 5:17pm:

Thanks for kind words! I'm always glad to hear when people find my tutorials useful. Recently, I've been considering making a revised Tut sling tutorial, showing how to make a sling more like the original artifact (finer linen, larger number of warps, braided cords, etc), rather than just showing the basic method for the Tut pouch. Is that something anyone would find helpful? -Timothy

winkleried wrote on Mar 8^th, 2011 at 12:22am:

Yeah but let me get this one done first. Marc Adkins

No worries, it takes a lot longer to make a tutorial than a sling, and it takes me even longer to get around to making a tutorial.

-Timothy Potter

Masiakasaurus wrote on Mar 7^th, 2011 at 6:08pm:

Very! And maybe some advice on how to tighten the weft threads without breaking them.

I assume you mean the warp threads, since those are the ones that are tightened after the weaving is finished. I'm not sure what advice to give, since I've never had the threads break on me, but it might depend on the material. I've made this type of pouch with linen and wool, but both were strong enough not to break; perhaps a thinner thread or yarn would, though. One problem I've encountered when weaving these pouches is to accidentally sew the weft through a warp thread, splitting the plys. When weaving with a needle without the aid of a loom with heddles, this is an easy mistake to make. This causes problems when you go to tighten the warp, because the warp won't be able to pull past the place where the weft is sewn through it. Once, I had to cut the warp of of the weft in this situation. Happily I was using a thick wool yarn, and there was enough strength in the part of the warp that wasn't cut to hold together, but I can envision the warp breaking in a similar situation. I know that this might be confusing since I don't have pictures to show what I mean, so if it doesn't make sense,  I can try to clarify it.

-Timothy Potter

:-? I've always tightened the weft...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Kette_und_Schu%C3%9F.jpg
The weft are the cords placed on the loom before weaving. After I weave the pouch there's always a little slack to work out, and by the end I usually end up snapping the weft cord somewhere. I've had 3 tut slings turn out well, but I can't even count how many I've ruined. At least 4x as many.

Masiakasaurus wrote on Mar 8^th, 2011 at 7:56pm:

:-? I've always tightened the weft... http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Kette_und_Schu%C3%9F.jpg The weft are the cords placed on the loom before weaving. After I weave the pouch there's always a little slack to work out, and by the end I usually end up snapping the weft cord somewhere. I've had 3 tut slings turn out well, but I can't even count how many I've ruined. At least 4x as many.

I'm pretty sure that warp is the term what's put on the loom and weft is what's woven through it, but whichever it is, the problem is obviously how to avoid breaking it. One thing that I recently tried that might help a little is to tighten the thread from the middle, and work out to both ends, tightening a little on one side and then the other. This means that you have half as much slack to pull through at one time, and maybe that would help some by not putting as much stress on the thread. If nothing else, it seemed like an easier way to keep both halves of the pouch even. When I did this I used two separate threads for the warp and tied each onto the loom dowels, instead of starting the warp from the middle of a single thread like the tutorial shows.

-Timothy Potter

Been there, done that. :( It may be the thread that I use...

Masiakasaurus wrote on Mar 9^th, 2011 at 2:23pm:

Been there, done that. :( It may be the thread that I use...

What kind of thread is it?

One other idea I had would be to try weaving a little looser, so there would be less friction on the thread that is being tightened, but you may have already tried that.

-Timothy Potter

Harbor Freight Flax, mostly. I've used hemp, which is smoother, but it tends to be less uniform in diameter and harder to tighten. My next step is to buy linen rug warp similar to what you use and try weaving that.

Oh Crud that was what I was going to use. :(

Still a moot point until I can get the loom finshed. Real hard to build one when all of your hand tools are at the bottom of a stoarage shed. :(. but with a little redneck engineering I managed to at least get the body built :)

Marc Adkins


Masiakasaurus wrote on Mar 9^th, 2011 at 9:00pm:

Harbor Freight Flax, mostly. I've used hemp, which is smoother, but it tends to be less uniform in diameter and harder to tighten. My next step is to buy linen rug warp similar to what you use and try weaving that.

winkleried wrote on Mar 10^th, 2011 at 2:03pm:

Oh Crud that was what I was going to use. :( Still a moot point until I can get the loom finshed. Real hard to build one when all of your hand tools are at the bottom of a stoarage shed. :(. but with a little redneck engineering I managed to at least get the body built :) Marc Adkins Masiakasaurus wrote on Mar 9th, 2011 at 9:00pm: Harbor Freight Flax, mostly. I've used hemp, which is smoother, but it tends to be less uniform in diameter and harder to tighten. My next step is to buy linen rug warp similar to what you use and try weaving that.

When I attempted a (cotton) Tut sling, I used two long watercolor paintbrushes tied to the legs on a chair I had laid on the ground. (The brushes were used to bridge the gap between the chair legs.)
I ran out of cord roughly halfway through the pouch, so I'm not sure if the end result would've been "pretty." ;D
It was a little user-unfriendly, but not so much that would prevent the rig from producing a sling from what I could tell.


Redneck rigs ftw ;D

Donnerschlag wrote on Mar 13^th, 2011 at 9:03pm:

Redneck rigs ftw ;D

9x12 picture frame and 1/8" wooden dowels make a loom almost exactly like the one from the tutorial. But oh so much more redneck! ;D

A common weave on how to use the same color lines demo.I good understanding of complaints, but some people need the string is a different color.