I've been working on a poet shirt for my spouse to wear as part of his Morris kit and it needed some cord. I wanted it to be white and non-slippery so it would stay tied and didn't really think a cut off shoe lace would look the best, so I got out my lucet and whipped up 4 feet of lucet cord while watching a few episodes of the Muppets.
I dug out some white pearl cotton I just happened to have and found my lucet. Lucets have been used for cord making for hundreds of year, possibly as far back as the Viking age. It typically has two prongs, although I have seen some four prong ones. I made this one a while back, along with others to be given away as largess at an SCA event. It's made out of walnut, using my scroll saw. I drew up the basic shape, modified it to be comfortable in my hand, cut it out and sanded it so all the edges are rounded and smooth. I experimented a bit with various wood finishes and settled on wax being the most comfortable surface for holding in my hand and sliding the string over the prongs on the lucet.
The process for making cord on a lucet is similar to that using a Knitting Nancy - the old four nails in a wooden spool that I made long rope things with as a kid. I'm not going to go into how to do it here since there are great web tutorials out there and some wonderful YouTube videos that do an excellent job of showing the process. Actually, there are several ways to make cord on a lucet, but this time I did the most simple and most common way which makes a nice square cord. I also use the lucet to make a nice flat cord suitable for trim.
Here's a picture of the cord close up.
7 comments:
I had totally forgotten that I actually own a lucet until just now! Thank you :D I've been "into" knitted (needle or knitting nancy) cords lately...the lucet might be a nice change of pace.
I have never seen anything like that!
That is cool! :)
I'm going to have to try this :D Seems like a good thing to know how to do when I need drawstrings for so many things
oh i want one! looks alot easier and more comfortable than the knitting nancy.
Oh, that is just wonderful. I can see and imagine all the pretty cords it could make.
Thanks so much for visiting! Your blog is so interesting and you are so talented. I'd never heard of a lucet before but I remember (now you mention it) doing stuff on a knitting nancy when I was very young, though I wouldn't have a clue how to use one now!
As to Morris dancing, there is a fear that it will die out here, which would be such a shame as it has been a British tradition for hundreds of years and it's so much fun, in addition to it's traditional meanings.
I think the medics are looking for my immune system turning against me, such as slow onset MS or some kind of nerve damage. I have nerve damage to my right eye, causing double vision, and am unsteady on my feet. Thanks for asking! Let me know how you go on. My tests didn't take nearly as long as yours. You poor thing, you are so brave! Please keep in touch. My email is blackDOTcatsDOTfolliesATgmailDOTcom (squish as normal).
Your cats are gorgeous :) xxx
This is such an interesting post! I had never heard of a lucet until now! Thanks for such an educational post!
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