As I took to the air this morning to stretch my wings, I decided to fly by Stonehenge. It's a place I rarely go visit. I happily rose into the flowing air stream high in the sky as I love that I can glide using the flow of the air currents. Once I arrived above the monument I banked and decided to fly lower to get a better look from up in the sky. As I looked around I saw a bluish shimmering pool about 5 meters above one of the stones. I went to take a closer look, so I landed in the center of the rock formation. I was intrigued by this pool of swirling silver and blue air that reached all the way to the ground. So being the curious dragon I am, I decided to touch it. Why I did that I will never know.
Once I touched the pool of blue, the ground seemed to shift. I was bombarded with noise, shouts and screams reached my tender ears. I quickly looked around. Oh my dragonlord! I was surrounded by people working on Stonehenge. However, these people looked to be using rocks, chisels, and rope. They were all at a standstill because it looked as if I appeared out of nowhere to them. I tried to think and I'm fairly sure I was transported to another time, I looked over and asked what year it was, much to the dismay of the man next to me. He stuttered and told me it was 2084. I was confused until I realized it was B.C.
I ambled over to the guy who looked to be in charge of the whole operation, looking around as I did. I saw women and men off to the side making what looked like rope. One of the stones was in the process of being raised to an upright position. WOW. I asked if I could look around, but the overseer said no, however, you can help. I was put to the front of a huge line of men to help raise the stone. As we pulled the stone upright, I realized how hard these guys had to work to get this thing built.
Once the stone was raised and in place, I was sent over to the women to help make rope. They were using shredded plant fibres to make the rope, in my head It was amazing to learn from these primitive people. It gave me a new appreciation for the monument that we see in my time.
All of a sudden the shimmering pool was back. Knowing what to expect this time, I reached out with my long, scaly, tanzanite tail and touched it. The ground shifted again, although this time I had to extend my wings to keep my balance. Looking about, I realized I was back in my time. I took flight and headed for the air stream up in the sky and forged on toward home. I knew exactly what craft I would show you, my dear readers. The precise one that I had just learned from the women at Stonehenge.
Materials
-Wand
-cutting charm
-plant fibres or twine
-string if wanted
Instructions
1. Choose your material. Rope can be made from a large number of materials, many of which you may have lying around the house, yard, or campsite. Depending on what you have available to you, you can make rope from:
-Plant fibres like grass, hemp, flax, straw, bark, nettles, yucca, and any other fibrous or vine-like plant.
-Twine, string, thread, or even dental floss.
-Plastic bags or paper, shredded into strips.
2. Cut or gather your threads. Your thread could be a blade of grass, or a piece of string, or a strip of bark, depending on what you're making rope from. Make sure that all the threads are roughly the same length and thickness. For a thicker rope, you will need more threads; for a thinner rope, start with about six pieces of thread.
-If you are working with a material like string, where you are cutting lengths, remember that your rope will get shorter as you twist it together.
-With materials like grass and other plant fibres, you can easily splice in more lengths of thread later to make your rope longer.
3. Tie your threads together. Lay your threads together so they are all lined up, and tie a knot at one end to keep them secured together. Then, divide the bunch into two even sections.
-Once you divide the sections, the bundle will be in a V-shape that's attached at the knot.
4. Twist the two sections. Grab one section in each hand and begin tightly and evenly twisting all the threads in the same direction. --It doesn't matter if you go clockwise or counter-clockwise, as long as it's always the same direction.
-As you continue twisting, the two strands will begin to wrap around one another, forming a rope.
5. Splice in additional threads to make a longer rope. For ropes made of plant fibres or grasses, it's especially easy to splice in more lengths of fibre to create a longer rope.
As you near the end of your first bundle, grab two more sections of thread that are the same thickness as the original two.
-Overlap the tails of the original thread sections with the heads of the new sections, making sure the tops of the heads actually extend beyond the tails, so that the new threads are anchored into place.
-Continue twisting. Eventually, the twisting will wrap the new and the old sections together, giving you an additional length of rope.
6. Tie the rope off. When you have finished twisting your threads together and have a rope of a suitable length, tie another knot in the end to prevent the rope from unravelling.
-If you are working with nylon or something similar, you can also burn the ends to melt them together and keep them from coming apart.
7. Trim the excess. Especially with grasses and plant fibres, trim off any excess that's sticking out from the rope, particularly where splices occurred.
-To make an even stronger rope, repeat this process, and then twist those two ropes together using the same method to make an even thicker rope.
-You do not need braided or super strong ropes for decorative projects, as they do not have to hold up too much weight.
-The ply and braided ones are probably the strongest.
-The single twist is quite strong, but it's more for decorative purposes.
This month, I had an amazing learning experience provided by none other than the actual workers and creators of Stonehenge. What a blast. I hope you have as much fun as I did making your very own rope. Till my next adventure, this little dragon is putting her pen down.