I bet anytime you hear the words hemp knots, you think of those bracelets or necklaces with beads and Puka shells. Although these pieces of jewelry can be nice, there are more intricate pieces of art utilizing this and other materials. The use of hemp knots isn't anything that is new, nor is it something that was started by the hippies of the 60's. Sailors have been using them for both practical and decorative reasons for centuries. As one can imagine, sailors have always been super efficient when it comes to tying knots. Knots are used on board all types of ships for various reasons, tying off sails, as lanyards for tools, even used for decoration. In the world of sailors this type of knot-work is called marlinspike seamanship, and it is making its way into the homes of people world wide.
Using the skills acquired through training, sailors would get creative and make artwork using hemp knots. By tying knots over and over again they would make hammocks, bags, floor mats, and decorate railings and bottles. Anyone who has spent time around a boat or ship, especially those of the worlds Navy's, has seen this intricate rope work up close. This type of macrame is incredibly beautiful and people are beginning to decorate their homes with this art. The modern day artists that are weaving these great looking art pieces are using hemp, manila and cotton rope to make some of the most intricately wrapped bottles, floor mats and coasters. I was at a family friends house and he had an antique liquor cabinet that was full of bottles wrapped with hemp knots, and cotton knots. These bottles were extremely unique, beautiful, and one of a kind. No one bottle had the same design on them, and with the different types of rope used, each had its own distinct color as well. Needless to say, the second I got home I began looking for a place to buy some of my own.
Art made with hemp knots can easily be found on the internet, and can also be made right at home. If you are a person that has tons of time and an even greater reserve of patience then I would say give it a try. There is a multitude of resources available to those patient ones in the reading audience. I myself have the patience of a two year old so making my own hemp knot-work is out of the question.
