As mentioned in my review of the globe knot book, my bead group wanted to learn some globe knots so I picked 18JBD for it’s relative simplicity (facet number) and snazzy appearance. Of course, in order to follow the instructions from the book, one is going to need a tool. Since buying the official tool just to try one knot seems little excessive, I came up with a makeshift tool that should cost pennies to construct.

Start with 2 pair of disposable chopsticks. Unwrap. That’s it. Don’t separate them (we’re not eating with these ones, after all).

Line them up forming a square and push the first toothpick down between the sticks.

wrap the chopsticks with an elastic and push right down to the toothpick.

Add another toothpick crosswise, then another elastic to hold the toothpicks and chopsticks in place. Since you want to be able to tell the first set of crossed toothpicks from the second, another elastic to space them out would also be good.

Another toothpick and another elastic

2 crossed layers of toothpicks at the top and another set about a thumb’s length below, everything separated by elastics and you’re almost done.

Cut the pointy bits off the toothpicks. Leave about a centimeter sticking out of the chopsticks. Sandpaper (or a nail file) might help at this point to take off the sharp bits that might hook your cord.

Using a fine tipped marker, number the sides 1-4 and label the toothpick layers C, D, E, and F. Feel free to do so on all sides. You’re done! Ready to tie globe knots.

When you are done tying, you could either pull out the toothpicks to clear the way to remove the knot from the tool, or just slowly and carefully remove your tied knot.

For 18JBD which used the 3 column tool, you would just ignore the 4th column of our constructed tool. If you were wanting to build a tool for more complicated knots, clearly you could add in crossed toothpick layers as desired.

As for the workshop I gave to my bead group, I forgot my fine felt tip marker when I left home, and ball point pens (even space pens!) work poorly on the curved wood. Unlabeled tools are more difficult to work with (although not impossible). In the hour we had to work, we constructed our tools and tied the knot. Most were working on the doubling when time ran out.