My interest in slinging has led me to study slings and sling related subjects from around the world. Much of my focus in this area is to analyze the way slings are, and have been made. This page is where I will post information on my current research projects.

April 10, 2009

The Tibetan sling is finished. I have posted some pictures of it in the Gallery. This sling has been a good experiment, and I have been enjoying trying some new techniques to make it. The mehtod of sewing togehter 8-strand braids seems to have potential for some pouch experimentation, and I hope to try out some ideas I have soon.

April 8, 2009

I have two slings in progress. One, which is nearly finished, is a Tibetan style sling, made from wool. The other is an ancient Peruvian type of sling. The Tibetan sling is based mostly on a picture from Sling Braiding of the Andes, by Adele Cahlander. My background with horsehair braiding came in handy with the flat braided portions of the sling, as the Tibetans used the same techniques in their slings as I've used to make hatbands. All I have left on this sling is to finish weaving about half of the pouch. I hope to have pictures up soon. The Ancient Peruvian sling is not as far along. Working from photographs has been more difficult with this sling than most, because of the decorative border on the pouch. It is almost impossible to see what happens underneath the weaving and hitching (at least I think the borders of this type of pouch were hitched). Even though there are a lot of slings that have survived from ancient Peru, only a few have fallen apart enough to see the inside structure, and I have been unable to locate a clear photograph of such a fragment. So, I have had to guess a lot for the design of this sling.

Copyright 2009 by Timothy Potter