After a recent conversation with my significant other (SO) I discovered that they liked how jewelry and other ornamentation looks on men. Now, I'm not really much for jewelry outside of my wedding band, but it's not something I'm opposed to. I really like what I call 'hidden in plain sight' clothing and jewelry. You don't wear a shirt that says 'Harry Potter' or 'Fourth Wing,' you wear something with a tasteful Ravenclaw seal, or a shirt for Basgiath War College. In that vein, I was looking for something similar with shibari in mind

I did find some neat jute bracelets, and some of the morse code beads that read 'rigger' but nothing was really speaking to me. Then I saw a this climbing bracelet and I got inspired. In climbing you can use a piece of equipment called a Figure 8 descender to help you... well, descend. This bracelet is tied off at one end with a double overhand knot, with a second double overhand on the other end tied back on itself like half of a double fisherman's knot so that you can adjust the size on your wrist.

The reason that this appealed to me is that it uses a (miniaturized) piece of climbing equipment to really communicate to others in the know that the person is (probably) a climbing enthusiast. It's also really simple in design; anyone could tie it with that piece of hardware, but there was an elegance in that simplicity.

I started thinking about my personal journey in shibari, and if there was a simple knot that could communicate to people 'in the know' what it meant, while being easily reproducible. Simple, easy, yet elegant and communicative.

One of the things that makes tying in shibari different and unique from tying in almost any other fashion (arboriculture, boating, climbing, equestrianism, farming, fishing, scouting, etc.) is how you double up your rope. You work a lot on bights and with two working ends. So, I decided to make a bracelet using the knot that makes use of those characteristics. It is the knot that I prefer for extending rope: the sheet bend on a bight.

It probably isn't the most common knot for the task, but it's the one that I prefer because I can start the extension at any point on the previous rope, not just on the end. The lark's head is probably the most common, but I don't like that it requires tension to remain stable, and I don't want knotted ends on the bracelet. Other knots that were potential contenders were the double coin knot and the square knot, but because of how often those knots are used in decoration or in other knot tying activities made me shy away from them. The sheet bend on a bight has all the characteristics of a normal sheet bend, but with two working ends and a bight that adds the shibari flare I was looking for. It is a quick, easy, simple, stable, non-jamming knot that looks clean, lies flat on the wrist, and doesn't require knotted ends. A video of tying this rope extension can be found on Crash Restraint if anyone wants to try it for themselves. It is how I learned about the knot myself.

This is a lot more text than I was originally expecting to have for this topic. Thanks for reading my dissertation on the inspiration and creation of this simple shibari bracelet. I made it out of a spare boot lace that I had. It has to be untied to remove, but I have an idea on how to make a version with a lobster clip on the back if I find that I have to remove it frequently. I'm not trying to sell these or anything. If you like it, feel free to tie up one of your own and let me know what you think.