Knot Tying Folk Art

Decorative ropework, the sailor’s craft of fancy knots and macrame made from marline and small stuff during off-watch hours. Forms include the Turk’s head, coxcombing over rails and stanchions, bell ropes, sea chest beckets, and ornamental mats. The tradition is the practical fancywork side of seamanship, distinct from working knots. Clifford W. Ashley documented some 3,900 knots, including the decorative repertoire, in “The Ashley Book of Knots” (1944), still the standard reference. The craft is preserved by the International Guild of Knot Tyers, founded in 1982.