The "Making of" Gallery - Rachel McCollough

[Ethan Mitchell]

Ok, cool. Thanks!

[Rachel McCollough]

Here we go with second bellies and binding:


I epoxy all layers of the Steer or any whip with an internal handle individually to keep from having any rotating motion when the heel knot foundation is added. Sometimes, if tacks have not been thoroughly inserted in the heel knot foundation, the heel knot will be mostly attached to the overlay. While it may never come undone, it allows for a loose feeling though it is not loose.





Here's all three, second bellies, of what has become affectionately referred to as The Triplets

[Mark Elliott]

Rachel, your bellies look better than my overlays. That's going to be a beautiful set.

[Ron May]

Always very interesting and informative.
Very nicely done.

Ron

[Rachel McCollough]

Beginning overlay with Twisted English Eye:

[Rachel McCollough]

I start from the "Heel" end and put a little painters tape every couple feet. I put a line down this for a center line. For someone more experienced or for a short whip it is not generally necessary; however, when I build a 12 ft or am doing a lot of fancy plaiting I'm going to do this as well as for matched whips.

Note the center is a guideline, I am actually using the side seams to visually locate the center.
I do this because the "center" seam moves around if you are doing single strand drops on the belly. I never trust the center seam, only the side seams.


This is perhaps a little superstition..... And I will explain later
Only a small piece of orange fabric ribbon; completely harmless and does not physically alter anything on the whip whatsoever.
Later... more to the story....

[Rachel McCollough]

Note... I do not leave any tape on the whip. All tape is removed as I go. Of course!

[Robert Gage]

Terrific, Rachel! And so fascinating to see each step of the construction....

[Wolfgang Timm]

Terrific, Rachel! And so fascinating to see each step of the construction....

Absolutely...very interesting! I hardly ever see the inner layers of a whip.

[Flemming Bo Christiansen]

Rachel - I have seen it in real life too, but can not figure out, how you make the first twisted part with the English eye - but I am really facinated of it

[Rachel McCollough]

Thank you!

Flemming, I appreciate it!
From the last few pictures, it is just twisted like a cracker and then you start to plait

[Flemming Bo Christiansen]

I still don't get it, but I have to take a piece of paracord and try a little.

One thing I see out of the pictures is, that with all the effort you put in your whips, I guess every whip will last for a lifetime (for an old man like me )

[Rachel McCollough]

Flemming, it is the two longest strands used for the four plait and they are folded in half. For a 5 foot whip, the strand would be about 20 feet long and folded in half at the 10' Mark. Now, I use one of Lasse's needles to put a small scrap of paracord inside one strand. This just gives rigidity but very smoothly. Now I put that strand inside the other long strand but only the distance of that scrap. That gives one piece for the loop but four to start plaiting. Now, I join it by running one strand through the other side to form the actual loop.

Here, you could begin plaiting a 4 plait if you wanted. I like the action the twist of the tip of a cow whip (which all of my whips are mostly based from), so I now take two strands and run through the other two strands to get two thicker strands to twist. I twist these like a cracker... And just like the tip of a cow whip.... And a twisted taper core... They are done mostly the same. When I reach the point of separation and have 4 strands again, I now begin plaiting over the single strand tip of the second belly.

[Rachel McCollough]

Some fancy plait pictures. All of the Triplets have the same patterns at the same distance on the thongs by percentages.

[Ethan Mitchell]

Ha! So I did guess right. For the stockwhip thong that I finished a few weeks ago I studied pictures of your whips to see if I could figure out how you did the EE. And I can see from your pictures that I did the exact same thing. Though the EE turned out a little oversized... One thing I had a very hard time with was getting the measurements exactly the same where the strands separated back to four strands, I ended up about 2mm off. Do you use tape to mark things out?
Very cool to see three whips being built at once Rachel!

[Ethan Mitchell]

I love the gaucho patterning shown in the third photo! I am a big fan of the gaucho pattern, in both knots and plaiting.

[Nadine Diek]

The whips look so great, Rachel.
I really like the alternating patterns.
And thanks for sharing these pictures especially how you made the english eye, very interesting.
I always have the problem with the shifting middle. I definitely have to try that, i think that'll help.

[Rachel McCollough]

Thank you, Ethan: I mainly use the tape in the pictures to increase visibility for the pictures... I use some of my tools as measurements for certain things. I eyeball alot of things, such as the English Eye with exception of running those strands back through. I just measure from where the English Eye joins and make certain those Two strands are measured exactly.

Most of the time, simpler is better That is how I figure most things.

I fully agree about the Gaucho pattern! Gio posted a sequence for plaiting here on WB for the Gaucho pattern, so I say thank you, Gio!
I fully believe helping each other learn is the best way.

Nadine, you are very welcome. One thing that helped me so much was when I realized the middle does really shift and don't rely on it at all. Tie that thong up and look down it and find the middle path based on the side seams, and you are in business with a straight path down the middle

[Scott A. Cary]

It is so cool to see a trio of whips come to life. Thanks for sharing it, Rachel!

[Ethan Mitchell]

My experience has been the side seams move, due to drops... But then again I am still having a hard time with my seams. I'll try focusing on my side seams on my next build and see what happens.