Earlier this summer Marcus Ranum and Kestrel gifted Caine with a very special knife. Marcus custom made the blade and then sent it on to Kestrel who hand wove a beautiful braided leather handle for it. It was a gift that Caine treasured. Today Kestrel is sharing with us the story of how the handle was created. I’ll let Kestrel take it from here:
Marcus made Caine a knife as a gift, but first he sent it to me so I could cover the handle. I chose to use black and red kangaroo leather. Kangaroo leather is incredibly strong and durable, and I knew that Caine would like that color combo.
©Kestrel, all rights reserved
The ground work is done and that is my fid, which is the tool used for braiding.
©Kestrel, all rights reserved
I’ve started the braided knot. I’m using one very long strand of leather that will go around and around the handle, going over some strings and under others, such that when I am finished, every string in the knot will go over two and under two. The working end will come up perfectly in sequence with the standing end.
©Kestrel, all rights reserved
I’m putting in the last pass and you can see nearly everything is over two and under two, except for a little trail above my hand where the sequence is not perfect yet.
©Kestrel, all rights reserved
I’m adding in an interweave of red. Where the red goes, the sequence will increase to over three under three.
©Kestrel, all rights reserved
The final knot is tied onto the end of the handle to add a little extra grip.
©Kestrel, all rights reserved
The handle covering is done and I’ve put a finish on the leather to protect it from dirt. The knife is not quite 100% done here; I then sent it back to Marcus who sharpened it; if I had tried to braid on the handle covering with it fully sharp, the leather might have been cut, not to mention my fingers.
Rick told Marcus that Caine loved this knife and carried it with her when she could. It made me so happy that she liked it that much.
Beautiful.
That braid is excellent, thanks for the insight on how it was done.
That must have taken ages. I wonder what leather is the thin strip that it can be so long?
@3 Charly
Thank you abbeycadabra. I was looking, but not seeing.
*face-meet-palm*
It’s beautiful, and a wonderful look at an intricate piece of handicraft. You’ve got serious skill and patience, kestrel. How long did this take?
@rq: haha. It does not actually take *me* that long, but that is due to years of experience. As I like to say, it was kinda hard the first five hundred thousand times and then it just got easier… I never keep track of time because it does not matter to me, it takes as long as it takes, but probably a couple hours for the whole thing.
@Charly: if you cut around and around a circle spiraling inward, you can get a surprisingly long string. :-) The lace was all hand cut. I do have a tool for this: in fact I have several as it goes through a couple of stages. My first cut is wider than I want, and then I really stress and pull it through a process to figure out the weak points in the leather and to get any stretch out of the leather’s system, then I cut again to refine the width. In addition I cut a bevel on each side of the lace, so that the top lays flat in the finished product.
And finally, @Voyager: Oh. Thank you SO MUCH for that link to when she got it. I kept looking for it, but completely and utterly missed it which grieves my heart a little… I wish I could have responded to her when she was alive. :-( Well. Alas, I have to do a lot of other things in life besides this, so I should forgive myself, but it will be hard.
And thank you everyone for your kind comments. They mean a lot to me.
kestrel,
Do try to forgive yourself. Life is just full of bad timing and missed opportunities. Caine’s absence came so suddenly, but she truly loved your gift and I’m sure it was a treasured reminder of your friendship.
Interesting to see how these beautiful things are done. The pictures make easy to understand that a lot of skill is needed to get a good and even end result.
Is the fid made out of an old screwdriver?
@Ice Swimmer: Yes indeed, that screwdriver got totally mangled and you could even say screwed up… and hey, waste not, want not, so I shaped the metal to my liking. Braiding is a very ancient skill and I sometimes tell people that the next time they think people who lived thousands of years ago were stupid, they should sit down and learn to tie a braided knot. Without any instructions. Or internet. Or books. Even with all these aids, my experience has been that the average person has a brain melt-down when learning to tie knots. To me they are truly gorgeous. They are a mathematical formula come to life.
@voyager, thank you and you are right. I just can’t believe I missed that post, and I was earnestly looking for it too. However in fairness to myself I do a lot of things and right now, I’m working on a huge project and it is sucking up a lot of my time… and I don’t even get paid, it is volunteer work to make my community better. A perfect lesson in how valuable and short our time actually is. Still makes me feel sad though…
Wow, kestrel, thanks for sharing with us how Evangeline was braided. That so obviously takes an impressive amount of patience and skill, and of course dedication. Very beautiful end result.
Kestrel
Thank you for sharing your side of the making of Evangeline, the result is quite quite beautiful.
kestrel
We once offered a workshop on Celtic knotwork jewelry, made with modern cords. It was very popular, but also very exhausting.
<3
:(
Thank you Kestrel, for making the braid handle. It is an amazing work of art. C loved it the moment she saw it.