Rope Mats

Carpets in hemp rope.

Small mats of 4mm hemp. In the right size to have as a mat for hot pans/dishes or flower pots. Excellent to bring as a gift when you are invited to dinner if you think a flower is a bit boring.
You can learn to make them yourself, see under courses.

All measurements are approximate. The mats are named according to how many bends they have, for example a 5x5 is square with 5 corners on the side, a 10R is round with 10 bends on the side. The square mats are made with several ropes, a 5x5 uses, for example, 7 ropes. The rose carpet that alternates tarred and untarred uses 3 ropes. The other mats are made with one rope.

Square rugs

Small square rugs
Name: 3x3, Size: 12x12 cm
Name: 5x5, Size: 19x19 cm, Price: SKR/€ 400/40
Name: 7x7, Size: 24x24 cm
Name: 9x9, Size: ??? cm

Round rugs

A rose carpet
Name: Rose mat, Size: Φ28 cm, Price: SKR/€ 1200/120
The most popular carpet. Here with tarred rope alternated with untarred. Then you use 3 ropes, usually it is made with one rope.

A round rug
Name: 10R, Size: Φ20 cm, Price: SKR/€ 450/45
A 10R takes at least 2-3 hours to lay.
These mats (10R, 18R, 22R above and below) are examples of round mats available in many sizes (10,12,14,16,18,20,22 etc. bays).

A round rug
Name: 18R, Size: Φ30cm

A large round rug
Namn: 22R, Storlek: Φ38 cm
This mat has 22 bays and is made from a long 4mm rope. Diameter approx. 38cm. Working time about 11 hours (if you don't make a mistake somewhere...)
The time to make a mat increases much faster than its diameter. A 22R is almost twice as wide as a 10R but takes 5.5 times as long to make. I don't care to price them because it will simply be more than someone is willing to pay :-)

Oval rugs

Two oval rugs
Name: 22RO, Size: 30x18 cm, Price: SKR/€ 820/82
Name: 20RO, Size:26x18 cm, Price: SEK/€ 820/82
These mats are also available in different sizes, below is, for example, a 32RO (40x26cm).

A large oval rug
Carpets take time to make, you can't cheat and you can't use a machine for this, so you really have to pull like 30 meters of rope for a larger carpet through the carpet many, many times. The rope does get shorter at the end, but it still takes a lot of time. Smaller carpets go faster, a carpet with a diameter of approx. 15-20cm, i.e. just right for a underlay, can be made in 2-5 hours depending on its complexity. But of course it is difficult to sell it at a profit!
If you want to make real carpets (type diameter 60-80cm), you can increase the roughness of the rope to 6-10mm. At the same time, the rope then becomes even longer... and heavier to pull...
Pictured: double-twisted 4mm hemp rope is used for the mats here.
double-twisted 4mm hemp rope
I started making rope mats when I did military service in the navy in the early 70s. Then I made mini mats with 1mm rope (the mats will be about 5-10 cm in diameter, see the picture at the top). My ambition was to make all the rugs in The Ashley Book of Knots by Clifford W Ashley, knot "bible" for all knot geeks (about 600 pages with all possible different kinds of knots). I came a long way, but I didn't quite reach the finish line. It turned out to be about 100. Now I work almost exclusively with 4mm hemp or, if I make large rugs, 6-8mm synthetic hemp.
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