Thomas' non-traditional

Nice looking sling sir.
Got a couple that look similar,
Although Sisal and Hemp are my favorites vegitable fibers to braid.

Marc Adkins

elephas17 wrote on Feb 24^th, 2008 at 3:59pm:

Very nice. Did you start with a split pouch like the one in the previous photo and just weave the solid pouch over it?

If I ever get a digital camera I could make a tutorial but in the mean time, lets see if i can explain...

I take 8 strands that are long enough to make both cords and the length of the pouch.  Fold them in half.  Take 4 strands that are long enough for the pouch and long enough to braid the excess a couple of inches into the cords. Fold these 4 in half. Put them with the eight strands.  I like to move like an inch and a half from the centers of the cords and tie a string around them to hold them in place. Get all the shorter stings in the center, it will make weaving the pouch easier later. Do a 12 string square braid for like 3 inches. Separate out the short strings and take all the long ones and do a 8 string square braid until you get your desired length.

To weave the pouch I tie all 12 string to a dowel. The pouch comes out better the wider you spread out all the strings. Now here is where this sling differentiates from the other woven pouches. I use a strand approximately 9 feet and put the middle in between 6 of the strands of the sling. Pull both ends together and cross them on the one side. You have to get one going up and one going down. I really don't know how to explain it. In a normal weave the string goes under one, then over the next. In this one end is going under a string and the other one goes over. Its pretty simple, just hard to explain. I group 6 together for 2 rows, then 4, then 3, then 2, then 1....keep weaving to get you half the pouch. Then move the 12 strands together on the dowel. And do the same as before, only reversed. Tie the two ends of the string your using to weave when your done. You can manipulate the pouch to get the shape you want. Pulling the outer ones will give you a rounder pouch.

To finish it up, go back to a  12 string square braid till the 4 strands are all most used up to. I try and get both sides even. Then separate the 4 shorter strings. With the remaining 8, do a square braid again until you get your length you want.

You now have 4 strings hanging out of the cord in 2 places. I like to put them on a needle and thread them through in the opposite direction to hold them in place. 

Tie your release knot and make a retention loop and your done.

I hope that makes sense!!!

My dear that sling is gorgeous, in fact, when I go home I am going to test out your tutorial!  

Ethan, I really like the photos of you slinging...as photos themselves and not just the sling.

I finally uploaded the sunset one... I like it. These are all taken by my brother, Jake.

and this is a close up of the pouch
sorry the images are crappy, i took them with my cellphone