PAINTING WITH KNOTS TO MAKE A SWING

Almost an entire day was dedicated to tying a swing for Ayu, my dear nephew, who will be eight years old by this November. You may wonder why I should take an entire day to tie a simple swing. Well, to be frank, after tying the swing, I also had the same thought “Why the hell did I take so much time? How did time fly so fast?”. So I planned to write down the thoughts and conundrums I had experienced while making the simple swing.

I have been playing with different kinds of knots for some months and loved tying some of them from my memory. However, challenges were many to make a swing using different kinds of knots. The swing had to be removable as the veranda in my home, which was planned for the swing, was also used for lying on a hammock (The hammock can be removed when not in use). DIY videos were helpful yet not complete for my scenario. So with the given constraints, I started revolving around some questions.

1. What benefits does the swing with two different hanging points have compared to the swing with a single hanging point? Should I suspend the swing from a single point or two points?

2. While considering a knot for a swing, what are the benefits of a running bowline that tightens only when loaded over a swing hitch that is always tight irrespective of the load?

3. What should be the height of the chair from the floor once the swing is tied completely? What should be the relationship between the swing seat height and the knee length of Ayu?

4. With the planned length of the swing, will the swing touch the neighbouring walls?

Even though some of the above questions were not satisfactorily answered, I reached my veranda gathering my arsenal for making the swing: swing seat (an old swing seat with four holes for reeving rope through them), the required length of rope with its diameter matching the holes of the swing seat (yellow coloured nylon rope with diameter 7.5 mm measured with a vernier calliper), masking tape, gloves to protect my hands, hooks and scissors.

KNOTS USED FOR THE SWING

Swing hitch (RH1, LH1)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ApsfvHVo84)

Alpine butterfly loop (RH2, RH3, LH2, LH3) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw9fNxSGqAo)

Overhand stopper knot (RH2, RH3, LH2, LH3) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwdJ5op25SM)

Double bowline (RH4, LH4)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c0-h4Nh0ek)

TYING THE ROPE TO THE PURLIN

I planned for a top-down approach by starting from the purlin (a horizontal beam along the length of the roof). The right top arm of the swing was considered first. I tied a swing hitch (RH1) that is secure and tight around the purlin. This was not disturbing the metal sheets above it when movement happened in the hanging rope. A Swing hitch is usually tied over a horizontal bar and the pendulum motion of the swing can happen in the forward and backward direction. However, the motion of my swing was sideways or in the direction of the purlin instead of going forward and backwards (check out the photo). After pulling the rope from the purlin, I noticed that for the swing hitch, even the sideways motion does not capsize the knot. This was an unexpected observation; the swing hitch does not discriminate between sideways motion and forward and backward motion.

The height of the purlin from the floor was 216 cm. Once the rope was hung from the purlin using the swing hitch, I made a butterfly loop (RH2) on the rope at a distance of around 40 cm from the purlin. The butterfly loop was ended with an overhand stopper knot. Before cutting the rope, I wound the rope with masking tape and then cut the rope from the middle portion of the wound masking tape. This process saves the ends of the rope from opening up. All the ends of the rope used in this swing were cut in a similar fashion. I followed a similar routine for the left half of the swing. Two hooks were inserted into the butterfly loops (near RH2 and LH2) and finishing touch was given to the top portion of the swing.

ATTACHING THE SWING SEAT WITH THE TOP PORTION OF THE SWING

After the top portion of the swing was done, I started taking care of the bottom portion of the swing. The swing seat had four holes; two on the right side (the right side in the photo) and two on the left side. I reeved the rope through the top right hole on the swing and took it out from the bottom right side hole. The end of the rope coming out through the hole on the bottom right side was attached to the rope using a double bowline knot (RH4). Again, a butterfly loop and an overhand stopper knot were tied (RH3). Similar knots were tied in the left side of the swing seat.

A LITTLE BIT OF BORING PHILOSOPHY

While tying knots on the left side, the only difference was that I started to reeve the rope into the hole that was lying near the bottom of the swing seat. Whereas on the right side, I had started to reeve from the hole near the top of the swing seat (Just compare the knots at RH4 and LH4). I had watched this kind of arrangement in some youtube videos. Though I did not exactly understand the utility of doing so, neither do I believe that it was required, this step proved to test my ability to tie a bowline knot in a mirror image configuration. It was quite rewarding for a knot enthusiast like me who dared to do something without understanding the utility of a step yet landed into an unexpected experience that opened up a scenario to apply my previous practice of mirror image knotting to real-world application. It is not out of the box or mind-blowing, yet such unexpected rewards truly inspired me. These are the moments when the subjective aspects of a very objective subject, like knots, peep up. And when it peeps up, it made some form of communication with me. Had I not recorded such moments, they get forgotten as time passes and I might not be able to remind myself or someone in the future that such moments had come up. Knots have the ability to communicate with us. It taught me to move on despite getting stuck and not getting answers. It taught me how a simple activity can give so much inner pleasure. However, I feel that knots at RH4 and LH4 should have been symmetrical. But then, after making the swing a little less symmetry was not disturbing the swinging motion. Hence, I did not care to tie it symmetrically.

CONNECTING THE ENTIRE SWING

The top portion of the rope skeleton of the swing, which was hanging from the purlin, was made up of a swing hitch and a butterfly loop. The bottom portion comprised of a double bowline and a butterfly loop. Both top and bottom portions are connected with hooks. Looks like the butterflies in the top and bottom portions are kissing each other. I wonder how easier and secure it would have been had I tried a figure-eight-on-a-bight knot instead of the butterfly loops.

FINE-TUNING AND SWINGING

It was a little challenging to match the length of the left and right-hand sections of the swing. Initially, I had anticipated this problem with matching lengths. Yet I went with approximate lengths, comparing with the other side just by looking and not measuring exactly. Though the exact length of ropes can be measured, planning the exact rope length required for knots is difficult to achieve as curves are involved. Maybe next time, I will try to bring some exactness with some basic coding. But there is some fun in hitting trial and error, especially while tying knots. In the end, the swing was tilted towards one side. I adjusted the length of the double bowline in the bottom portion of the swing to make it even on both sides so that the swing exerts the same force on both halves and also there is straight and smooth movement. Fine-tuning the length of the swing felt like fine-tuning a violin string to achieve perfect pitch. Fine and precise activities optimize the system and the system starts singing in its perfect tone. However, playing with the delicate balance between being precise and being approximate generates an art form that was unknown to oneself; the art that gives continuity for energy expenditure, a sense of beauty, and hope. The first time when Ayu sat on the swing, he got transported to his own world and started humming some songs. I just watched him swing and listened to his humming. What a day!

SOME EXTRA THOUGHTS THAT I HAD REMOVED TO IMPROVE THE FLOW

1. Initially, with the rope, I tried making a running bowline ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC9CxSoIS0M ) around the purlin. But the running bowline knot, while swinging, was putting pressure on the sheet above the purlin as the running bowline is not tight over the purlin. This could have eventually destroyed the sheet over the veranda.

2. The height of the purlin from the floor was 218 cm. Ayu’s knee height is 35 cm, much shorter than that of a normal adult, which comes around 47 cm. I planned to keep the swing chair at a particular height so that his feet barely touch the floor. This enables him to swing freely without touching the floor and touch the floor with his feet when required to speed up. So I planned for a seat height of around 52 cm. This implies that the length of the swing from the purlin has to be 166 cm. (height of the purlin from the floor was 216 cm. 218 – 52=166 cm)

24 September 2020