A simple modification of a mystic ‘+’ from Lydia Chen’s Chinese Knotting 2 gives us a nice ‘T’. There was nothing inherently difficult about the process, but I had to retie it a few times because I kept miscounting and ending up with one side longer than the other (not paying enough attention while doing). Also, in trying to keep the stem and crossbar join crisp, I ended up tightening the whole works a bit more that I would like, in final analysis.

So, I had this scrap of wire in my wire working box (cutters, pliers, cup burs, etc) and it was… 20cm long or so. What had I originally cut it for? What had I cut it off of? Dunno, but is it long enough to do anything with? Often when I’ve got some cord scrap in my hands they will do what they so frequently do: flower knots, button knots, double connection, double coin, etc. So, this little bit of wire, could I tie a flower knot in it with some beads? How would it look with such a small gauge of wire?

Somewhere in China there is (or was) a street lined with giant glowing mystic knots.

Notes: The Pan Chang knot (also known as the Endless knot or the Mystic knot) is one of the eight buddhist treasures. It represents the endless cycle of life, the infinite wisdom of Buddha, the duality (yin and yang) of existence, and is also a symbol of balance and harmony.

What I’ve done here is taken the cut end of the 3mm red satin cord and butted them together and sewn them with a black thread. If I had wanted the join to be more invisible, I should have (1) used red thread and (2) either lightly heat sealed the ends or treated them with Fray Check or similar product.