As a sailor of the high seas in old ships, Mike Lawnsby has been to corners of the Earth that most of us would only be able to view in shows like Planet Earth. One evening over a shots of espresso, he told all about sailing to the Midway Atolls Wildlife Refuge and the natural beauty of this protected bird sanctuary. As an amateur photographer, he captured stunning and breathtaking shots of the landscape, the seascape, and the wildlife. In describing his two month expedition it led into a conversation about his knot tying knowledge which is a requirement for sailing the types of old fashioned ships that he did.
Pulling out a green glass flask with raised lettering at the bottom which read, "POISON" he showed me a complex weave decorating and protecting the narrow body of the bottle. Inspecting it with my fingertips, my first impression was that some kind of adhesive must have been holding the weave together for it to adhere so tightly to the slick surface of the glass. Mike explained that the decorative quality is repetitive knot tying and the tightness of the entire weave is pulled by hand and leveraged by an awl like instrument one knot at a time. He was very generous with his knowledge by giving me a Turk Head knot tying lesson on the spot.
Pulling out a needle case that he crafted from bamboo and a wine cork, Mike used raw materials to make cool functional art that had a pulse. Of course he highlighted the art of tying tight knots on this piece and it's decorative quality. He burnt the image of the ship that he had sailed onto the bamboo as modern day scrimshaw on wood instead of on bone.
Thanks Mike for the lesson and for the opportunity to hear about your experiences!
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