I got this picture from R. Owen's book 250 Braids



Beautiful sling.  I intend to use the braiding pattern on my next sling.  I love the reversing spiral!!  Awesome.  

My question up for discussion, seeing as how Barak brought up wrist loops in another thread, is:

This thing has like 3 wrist loops on it.  Why?

Adjustable length sling?  I'll throw that out there.  

Maybe they aren't wrist loops.  What's their purpose?

Just tradition, or decoration?  "Everybody makes their slings this way, so I will too," sort of thinking?  I've seen another Tibetan sling on the cover of National Geographic.  I think Hondero has it on his website.  It's interesting because it too has extra wrist loops if I remember right.  Maybe feathers too.  

Notice the release end of the sling.  It also has a bunch of tapering to it and so on.  

Fact:  Tibetan slings crack like bullwhips when they throw stones.  I guess that's not too hard to accomplish with a cracker at the end and a densely braided sling.

I read about these slings in The Australian Plaiter's and Whipmaker's Journal. They use the noise to help herd the animals.  Pretty cool.

I love the cradle design.  It looks like it's built separately and then the cords are attached through eye loops in the ends or something.

But I'm very curious about those extra loops built into the design.  What are they there for?  

                                        Ben

Hmm... I vote for adjustable sling length.  I read somewhere that the shorter the sling the better the accuracy.  Maybe they wanted to be able to adjust it depending on the desired use. 

Actually, I kind of doubt it.  It's an interesting idea.  But I would be more inclined to think it was a combination of aerodynamics and cultural aesthetics.  It's interesting that the release end tapers - like a whip.  It would make sense, not just from a cracking stand point, but from a resistance stand point; the taper may decrease resistence, allowing the sling to release the projectile faster and more smoothly.  The release end also has a totally different set of strands at the tip - perhaps to allow it to be replaced when the constant cracking wears it out?

My braided slings almost always crack when I throw a stone.  It's almost annoying, though it's actually a fairly accurate gage as to whether my throw was efficient and powerful or weak and poorly timed.  No crack, bad throw.

I like the flat braid for the wrist loop.  Makes it comfy.  The cradle is really interesting.  I can't really tell if it's attached separately by eye loops, but it would make sense as the cradle appears woven, simply because it is the warp threads that are shown and not the weft threads as with the Andean slings. 

Barak

I suspect they may be ornamental too, Hondero.  I wonder if it could be related to some other function that they also use slings for or something.

It's interesting how both ends are split like that.   

Barak has a good point.  The "cracker" apparently is removable.  Pretty cool.

I typically make my slings with release nodes, and so they don't crack.  I'm not sure if I like or dislike the crack myself. 

Well glad you liked the picture Hondero.  I just set it as my desktop background, it's very beautiful, and part of the inspiration for my black and white sling.

                                  Ben