Weaving Knotted Coasters

This project is to make an old style knotted coaster. It can also be enlarged to make a mat. Sailors for ages have used old pieces of rope to make mats and all types of knotted goods.

String. I use 3mm twisted natural cotton.

Pattern. There are many patterns available online. Or use Ashley's book of knots.

Scissors.

Tape. For taping the string ends to prevent unraveling. I tape the string before I cut it and cut it in the middle of the tape. Both ends are clean that way.

White glue.

Board for pinning the string. A couple layers of cork board will work. Or, I glued two layer its of foam board together and then a layer of packaging foam.

Pins. You can pin the cord directly, but I 3d printed some hooks to hold the cord. You will notice them in the pictures.

For this pattern I used 160 inches of cord. I find it easier to start pinning the string/cord from the center of the length.

Simply follow the pattern and run the cord over or under as you see on the pattern. I darkened the 'over' passes so I could follow the pattern easier. Pin the cord onto the pattern to keep it tidy.

Continue to weave the cord following the pattern for one complete pass. Double check that the cord is passing over or under as the pattern shows. You will find that once you have a complete pass, the weave will always be over, under, over, etc.

Follow through the weave until you use all the cord from the end you started with. Then weave the other end until you have four or five complete passes. Be careful to keep the cord from overlapping the parallel cord you are following as you go. When you are new at doing this, it's easy to twist or overlap the pattern incorrectly. Take your time while doing this. I move/place/remove the pins as I go along. They are useful when you begin weaving the mat/coaster but they can also get in the way as you progress.

When you have finished the weave, you will notice some sloppiness on the mat/coaster. It simply takes patience to tighten up and tidy up the mat/coaster. Simply start where you notice gaps and pull on the cord throughout the pattern. When you tighten the mat/coaster. make sure that the cord lays flat beside the parallel cords. You may have to repeat this process a few times.

When the mat/coaster looks tight and tidy we need to finish the ends. Bring both ends onto the same segment. If the mat has four cords where the ends meet you will see five. I trim the ends now. This time I had about a foot extra on one end and a few inches on the other. Now unravel both ends a bit. I wet the ends with white glue and untwist and retwist the cord to saturate the cord with the glue. I place a bit more glue on the ends and place the ends tight against the parallel cord besides each one. I want both ends to stop at this one segment. I re-trim the cord if needed. Now let it dry in final position. You can place it down on wax paper and weigh it down if needed.

When the glue has dried turn the mat over and flatten the cords. After a bit of use it will flatten out making a fine coaster for a mug or glass. I use the oval pattern for my cell phone. You can make different sizes and patterns to fit your needs. This is also a nice relaxing way to use an hour of spare time. Enjoy.