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How to Tie a Sliding Knot for Jewellery How to Tie a Sliding Knot for Jewellery

Posted on Jan 25, 2021 by Lesley Armstrong

Bone Pendants

- how to tie sliding adjustable knots

Some of our traditional Maori Bone Necklace s or Pendants come with untied cords, so you can tie them how you like. However, some of you struggle with that, so I've come up with an adjustable sliding (slip) knot which should mean you only have to tie it once.

I'm (k)not a knottie person, so if you fall about laughing at my knot-tying techniques, that's OK! But this one has worked for me, so I hope it works for you too. Let me know what you think of it ( be gentle!) by clicking here.

Thanks to J Nichols who said on 16 May 2007: "EXACTLY the info I was looking for to finish a couple of necklaces! Thank You!!!".

And thanks to Joyce who wrote on 30 July 2007: "Just wanted to let you know that your site showing how to do this knot is perfect! Please don't take it down, like ever. ;) I just spent an hour searching sites that supposedly teach this knot and yours was the only one that worked on my first try! Thank you so much for offering these instructions!!"

And Nila R from Canada said on 18 March 2008: "Thank you! The knots in the necklace came undone and I didn't have a clue how to re-tie them. Thank God you were out there. Very easy to follow instructions. Excellent pictures. Excellent! Thanks again".

And if it all becomes too much and you'd rather buy a cord with the slip knots already done for you (you'll have to have a necklace that the cord can go through and be turned back on itself), you can buy one here.

Sliding Knot Instructions - Steps 1 to 6

For the purposes of this exercise, the Pink cord is the left-hand (LH) cord of your pendant, and the Off-white cord is the right-hand (RH) cord of your pendant.

Take the end of the LH cord and wrap it around the RH cord, looping it back to the left as pictured. Slide the end of the RH cord over to lie alongside the main section of the pink LH cord.

2.

Wrap the end of the pink LH cord around the two cords, looping it towards the left and at least 2-3 times.

Now poke the end of the LH pink cord underneath those loops and back out the right-hand end. Pull tight. Voila! You have your first sliding knot!

4.
sliding knot instruction
If necessary, pull some more of the RH ( off-white) cord thru to the left, so you have enough to make another sliding knot. Wrap the end of the RH cord around the LH cord, as shown above.

5.

Wrap that end around the two cords, wrapping towards the right at least 2-3 times.

6.

As before, poke the end of the RH cord back towards the left and under the loops. Pull tight, and you're done! Trim ends if desired.