Something Different - over 50 button knots by John Halifax
Published 1993 by Endeavour Ropecraft
In 1991 the author - a Guild member - discovered a new family of one-strand knots which he named the Suffolk Knot series. From a single (sometimes double) overhand or thumb knot, 54 practical buttons can be tied, to adorn clothing or be used as earrings, flat crests, etc.
In this booklet photocopies of the knotting enabled me to tie many of John Halifax’s knots on sight, and his concise written guidelines beside each stage of varied tucks and twists made clear the rest.
I worked through the lot in three sittings. After just a few knots I fell into his method, then it all got easy. At the end I could tie some unaided. So I certainly learnt something and had my money’s worth.
He tells us what tools are handy, and how to seal, colour and harden our completed items. And there’s a useful list (as long as it remains true) of suppliers for all these bits and pieces.
This is an A5 effort of 60 pages, centre stapled between a thin card cover. It is a modest example of desk top publishing, the kind of thing that puts into print useful stuff real publishers reject.
John Halifax promises us a sequel, the Norfolk Knot series, and I look forward to it. It may depend, however, upon whether or not sales of this current booklet recover his costs. That seems to me another good reason to buy a copy now.
G.B.