Stew, regarding the flattened triple-pass finial:
This is gonna be awkward, in words, but I will try.
I cannot see from the pic, just what kind of finial you have there.
Basically, the building-up, of the star, means you have paralleled all the parts with which you,re working, and you,ll have doubled vertical rings which link through doubled horizontal rings. (Just think this through, a bit, before we go further).
This leaves you with all the working ends emerging in a direction AWAY from the body of the fob. ( make any sense?)
This is the basic star knot, and sailors commonly cut off the ends at this stage, or even, frayed them into a sort of tassle.
At this point,you have the choice, if you wish, of two forms of finial, both of which, will require the working end of each part, to be tucked inside the construction so as to emerge pointing along the direction of the fob body.
For the flattened triple, you take each working end, in sequence, and follow, yet again, downward through the nearest horizontal link (lug) and on , kind of sideways and downward, through the most adjacent vertical link...... so that each working end has been given finishing friction, by 4 tight nips, and it will not ease free. You can then nip off the ends, (sharpened pincers or sidecutters are best) close on the underside of the star.
Beauty of both the triple and the doubled crown, is that they can both result in leaving you with(if you need em) ,TWICE the number of original "working ends", with which to continue the remainder of the job at hand.
As before, whats really the grunt work, is the proper way to tighten-up, or, "work" the knot and the secret of that, is to just take your time , little by little, and stay in sequence. Dont try to tighten up, even slowly, through one whole ,"cycle" at a time.
Best way , is to easy-easy work through no more than a half-cycle, before moving on to the next working part. Then come back again and finish all the half cycles.
And then, go around the whole lot, yet again.......in half cycles,you will need to do the whole sequence, approx 3 or 4 times, dont lose patience.
As a time guide, just to show you about taking it easy, it should take ,perhaps, 10 minutes to form and finial a five-pointer star, in 6mm material, but to work it all really tight, will take you a minimum of an hour.
And, to think that I had the brass neck to comment about long-winded descriptions, eh?
Gotta give yer top marks for staying with whatever instructions you used, most folk just give up. Ditto your comments to Jake, the learning HAS to be a singular and specific experience.
A Cape - Horner, by the by, was an accolade of title, given to the wind-ship sailors, who survived a passage, in both directions, around Cape Horn. Its use, is from about the 1830,s, to date.
Right! I think its time for a plate of hot Stockholm tar and rope-yarn for breakfast.
Seagull
):
