So, the Etsy  shop is finally starting to generate a few sales and also some inquiries for custom stuff.  Here’s a get-back whip a customer asked me to make. It is about 38 inches long with a 2-ball (not sure why, unless it’s just because it is blue) using black and royal blue. He also wanted a design element know as a “thin blue line” so I’m guessing that he is an officer. It’s a little difficult to get a straight, longitudinal line in braided and plaited pieces, but here is what I came up with, based on some paracord bracelets I’ve seen.

The build starts with a 8 bight x 9 part, 2-pass Turk’s head knot that holds the 2 ball. The knot is finished with a Matthew Walker knot that transitions into a 4 strand round braid to form the core of the whip. The panic snap is attached to these 4 strands with cow hitches, and four more strands are added and the 8 strands are plaited back down to the ball using a herringbone plait. Another 8 strands are added to the top of the whip and these are braided using an over-2 round crown sinnet that ends with a multi-strand diamond knot. I threaded a gutted piece of blue cord and threaded it down the length of the thong, going under every 3 strand of the herringbone. The heel not is a 5×4, 3-pass THK, the transition is the same knot except it is only a 2-pass and ends with a Spanish ring knot. The knot above the ball is a 13×4, 2-pass THK.

The key fobs are also custom orders and use a golf ball held by 21×18 type 3 pineapple knots built on a 7×6 THK. the knot is secured with a 2 strand Matthew Walker knot that transitions into a 6 strand star knot. 4 of the 6 strands are then braided with a 4 strand round braid to form the loop and the final two strands are used to make a 5×4 2-pass THK.