Lacing includes information on the following topics:

The Spiral Cut Lace Calculator

and download a loaner copy of the calculator. 

To purchase a personal registered calculator visit Knotworkn Market
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Instructions for lacing a canoe seat 

 Using rawhide lacing or cordage, Follow the lacing diagram above. The lacing in the diagram is shown alot more loose than will be the case when you actually lace the seat, this is done to show the details. The lacing should be pulled tight but not overtight especially if you are using rawhide lace as it will shrink and tighten as it dries. After you make the last Larkshead knot add twoadditional half hitches around the lacing that runs from position 34 to the end. The half hitches act as a lock to prevent the lacing from loosening.

A 10 inch by 15 inch seat will require  require  roughly 70 feet of lacing. This amount of lacing can easily be cut from a 15 inch diameter circle of rawhide if you cut 3/16 inch wide lacing which is a good width  of lace for this project.

 If you are using  rawhide lacing you need to work the lacing damp.  Adding some borax to the water you soak the rawhide in to soften it  will improve the life span of the lacing.  I also like to use saddle soap on the lacing as I work it and to clean it anytime after it is finished. 
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Mayan Hammock Instructions

The Loom
The  Mayan hammock is woven on a loom.   The loom does not have to be fancy, just a couple of old broom handles or sticks of a similar size will do. The length of the hammock body is dependant upon the spacing between the loom posts.   I make my hammock bodies seven feet long so I set the loom poles at a  seven foot spacing.

The picture below is of a hammock as it is being woven and gives and indication as to how things will look as weaving progresses.



 
I drill a hole near the top of the loom pole so that I can attach cordage that I use to prevent the loom poles from tilting inward as the hammock weaving proceeds.




Figure 1 shows how the tops of the loom poles are tied back.

 This hammock will require roughly 3000 feet of #18 nylon seine twine. The #18 seine twine is is sold in 500 and 1000 feet spools.

The Warp
Figure 1 demonstrates how the warp is to be placed on the loom.   It is not necessary to place all of the warp on the loom before beginning weaving in fact it will only get in the way so tie the start of the warp to the top of a loom pole and wind on about 5 times down and back. 

Make sure you start on the front side and go to the the other loom pole then around the back side and to the front before you return (See Figure 1).

It is not necessary to wind the warp real tight nor to tie the working end of the warp when you weave just lay the spool of cordage near a loom pole out of the way (see Figure 1 above) .   Add  more warp (usually 3 to 5 times down and back) as required when needed.

The Weft
The method of weaving the weft threads is shown in Figure 2.





Initially tie the weft cord to the top strand of the warp near the loom pole.

Weaving downward go behind 3 strands, bring the weaver to the front and go over 2 strands, take the weaver to the backside and moving upwards go under 2 strands, then move the weaver to the front and pass it upwards over 3 strands. The weaving should resemble a sine wave as shown in Figure 2 and the spacing from the top of one sinewave to the next top should be about 6 inches.

Repeat the weaving sequence above until you reach the other loom pole and try to space the weaving so that when you get there you are coming up to the top of a sinewave passing the weaver over 3.

Take the weaver around behind the loom pole and as you come to the front take it under 3 strands while dropping down as shown in Figure 2. 

 Repeat the weaving process until you have 82 strands around each loom pole. this will be 20 passes down and back on the loom.

The Edge Weave
The edging is added as shown in Figure 3.



  
Figure 4 is an exploded detail of the connection to the first five warp strands of the hammock body and the interweaving of the edging as it is woven on.



The edging is started by tying a loop around the loom pole and then begin tying into the warp strands and moving from left to right.  At the opposite end go behind the loom pole and to the front and then moving right to left tie the second pass of the edging.  Continue until the left loom pole is reached and go behind the left loom pole and around to the front and then moving to the  right again tie the third and final pass in the edging. Continue until the right loom pole is reached and go behind the loom pole to the front and tie the end back upon itself forming a loop.

This process will have to be repeated on the bottom edge of the hammock as well.

     ** DO NOT  ** DO NOT REMOVE THE HAMMOCK FROM THE LOOM YET. **

Tie the edging on the bottom ,  realizing you will have to go up in order to tie into the hammock body instead of down as shown in figures 3 and 4.

The edging and interweave are shown in the photos below.










The Harnesses
Pass a separate cord through all of the loops on each of the loom poles. This cord (shown in red and running vertically on the loom pole in Figure 3 above) will be used to make the harness for that end so it will have to be at least 100 feet long. It is not necessary to unwind it from the spool/s at this point just be certain that there is enough cordage to do the job.

After the free end of the cordage has been past through all the loops on its end take it outward three and a half feet (see Figure 5  below) and anchor it there.



Count down seven loops from the top (see Figure 3 above ) . The seven loops consist of two loops that make up the edge work and the next five loops below them.
Place your finger under the cord that you ran through all of the loops at this location and pull a loop back to the location of the anchored free end.
In Figure 5 this is shown as loop 8.

Return to the loom and count down six more loops below where you just pulled the last loop and insert your finger under the harness cord . Pull the harness cordage back (forming harness loop 6) to the location where you have the free end secured and harness loop 8 and place loop 6 on top of loop 8. Continue in this process until you near the bottom edge. Make sure that there are enough loops to gather the last five loops and the two used for the bottom edge to make up the last loop shown as loop 9 in Figure 5.

It is not necessary to gather EXACTLY six loops in each of the inner loops but strive for that number and if you get five in one group try to get seven in the next and get back to six as soon as possible so that the distribution is nearly equally shared by the harness elements.

In Figure 5 you will notice that the center loop is labelled loop 1 and then the loops are numbered loop 2 above and loop 3 below then loop 4 above and loop 5 below and so on. Once all of the harness loops are made then you will tie the two free ends together and the loops should be arranged with loop 1 on the bottom and loop 2 above it then loop 3 and then loop 4 and so on until the free ends are tied at the top. I put mine through a carabiner to hold them in order.

Repeat the process for the harness on the other end and when it is done you can   remove the hammock body with the harnesses  from the loom.

Hang the hammock making sure that the ends with the caribiners are level as well as both edges of the hammock body.   While in this state the elements of the harnesses are still able to be  adjust a little to ensure that the hammack hangs correctly.

Once  satisfied with the hang of the hammock I use dental floss to bind the center location of the harness loops, so that I can  serve (wrap) over the loops. I start the serving six inches on either side of the center location and then continue the wrapping until I reach six inches on the opposite side. Then I bind the servicing into a loop and bind them together by seving back over the previous wraps for about an inch and then add a couple of frapping turns in order to lock the binding in place. To finish the binding take the end of the cordage and pass it from in between the two frapping turns underneath one of the turns the bring it over the top of both frapping turns and pass it from the outside underneath the other frapping turn and exiting up between the two frapping turns. 
The picture below show the routing through then frapping turns.



 Pull all it all tight and clip the end of the cordage.  Repeat the process on the harness on the other end .   The next photo shows the process completed.

Now all that is needed is to hang the hammock and enjoy.  The hammock should hang in a cantenary shape and not be stretched tight.

When adding more cordage to the body of the hammock place the knot/s where they are added near the ends close to the loom so that there are no knots to lay on.  For joining the cordage, when working with nylon seine twine, I prefer to use double fishermans knot  and melt the ends . You can use others if you feel good about the security of the knot.

In the spirit of making this information available to others I am releasing the this information now before I have completed the section.