cat's paw fishing knot tutorial used for jewelry making
The world of fishing knots has a lot to offer to jewelry makers! I came across a couple of cat's paw fishing knots which are great alternatives for attaching cord to gemstone, glass, polymer clay and other donuts.  (Also see the past links below for different kinds of fishing knots.)

It is not wrong to use the method below. But it is oh so boring!

So here are my tips for making the cat's paw knot work for jewelry.  The cords must be supple enough - especially if you are using thicker cords.  The tutorials I referred to used paracord. Rat tail cord is also a good material as it is soft and slippery - ideal for knots. I find cotton cord a bit coarse and stiff but that is a personal preference. But for an elegant look, nothing beats leather.


The kind of leather I love for necklaces is stitched leather. They come in a wide variety of colors and diameters.  Shown here are samples I received from Sun Enterprises, a large European manufacturer and wholesaler with great prices. 

They are offering a 5% discount on top of wholesale prices to all readers.  Use this code : 
05PEARL1709LEAT


The leather itself is soft and comfortable. The cotton core is what makes this type of leather cord so flexible.  Not surprising, one of the bestsellers from this supplier.

The 2.5 mm stitched Nappa leather cord I used for this tutorial costs 22.5 Euros ($26) for 10 meters.

Cat's Paw Knot Tutorial
Some of the Cat's Paw tutorials I found are designed for attaching to large hooks.  But I liked the  tutorial by The Paracord Guild because it works for donuts too.



It looks easy, right?  But I fumbled with it. I actually made 3 attempts before I realized how I should be doing it with a large gemstone donut rather than with a carabiner clip as in the tutorial.

So here are my steps...

I used 40 inches of 2.5 mm stitched Nappa leather cord which should be enough for average length necklaces.  After doubling the cord, it is important to put the loop portion into the donut hole from the front.


Pass the cord ends through the loop.


As in the tutorial, the loop portion has to be some distance from the donut. The cord ends and loop are opened up.  Rotate gemstone once ie give it a twist- 180 deg turn.

Now take the gemstone donut and bring it up through the loop from below. For a triple Cat's Paw, I repeated the twist and pass through steps 3 times.


This is what resulted.  It initially confused me as it looks a mess but it is really okay!


I rotated the gemstone donut again until this happened :


Only then could I begin to tight the knot, making sure that the stitched parts are showing reasonably  evenly.  


You know when the knot is correctly done if you see a top horizontal loop which goes right across both cord ends.

cat's paw knot tutorial with gemstone donut

Modified Cat's Paw (Napoleon Claw) Knot Tutorial

Bart Colosino of ExtremePara, modified a cat's paw knot into what he called the Napoleon claw. It was named after his cat!

It is a very easy knot to do. I didn't have any trouble at all!



I placed the knot above the glass donut as I liked the look.  But you can site it against a donut if you prefer.



Before You Go:


Photography
I used my iPhone 6S with the Camera+  app. I used  the Orangemonkie studio which comes equipped with LED lights - for artificial light photography in my windowless basement studio. The Foldio2 is particularly affordable. I use the Foldio3 with extra lights because I need the room for tutorial photography. 

My online class Easy Guide to Smartphone Jewelry Photography is now available. Read more about it here.  

Disclosure
This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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