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Attendees of Left Coast Crime 2018 might have snagged one of the two-hundred paracord bracelets I made just for that event. Here are some fun tips and tricks and videos.

Why paracord bracelets?

The victim in Bound to Die was bound in elaborate Shibari–a form of Japanese rope bondage. I blogged in detail about why to make the bracelets  over here.

I am not an expert in Shibari, though I have read a lot about it. Shibari is usually done with a thicker rope, so I don’t think using paracord for Shibar is really a great idea.

You could probably get away with a hand or ankle tie to see how it works. There are lots of youtube tutotials out there, but please, if you’re playing with this stuff please do it with a friend so you don’t end up hurting yourself.

If you decide to look up Shibari images, be forewarned that they are very often NSFW.  I personally find a lot of Shibari quite artistic in form. I looked for a fairly tame image to show you here, but decided I didn’t really want to get too graphic on this site. If you google Shibari Images, you have been warned!

Is this just a nice wardrobe accent, or will it actually work in an emergency?

I made all the paracord bracelets out of 550 paracord. This seems to be the gold standard in the paracord community. Yes, you read that right. There are a huge number of people out there who are totally into paracord.

Most of them are survivalist types, so it’s kind of fun (and maybe a little educational) to check out some of them. While some of the uses listed in a lot of the sites are exageration of the paracord ability, it’s possible paracord might come in very handy. When you go on a hike, wear your bracelet and take a good pocket knife with you.

There’s a lot of hype about how to use paracord in scary situations, but these bracelets are made with a weave that requires a bit of work to get the rope free. In other words, no quick release here. I’m thinking the most likely uses for your bracelet is as a wardrobe accessory. In the wild, it’s likely to come most handy when camping and you need to hang your food up and away from various critters. Still, it’s fun to take a look at what people might possibly use their paracord for other than having an excuse to have fun creating something..

Here are some fun videos featuring paracord.

The bracelet in this demo is very much like most of the bracelets I made for LCC.  If your bracelet is one color, then you will have one longer length of paracord. If it is two colors, you will have a similar amount of cord overall, but it has been melted together in the middle.

I pikced this one mostly because of the title. Who can resist something called  “Survival Homesteading and Zombies?” There are some fun tongue in cheek uses here, and I think the dad and son team is pretty hilarious.

As a mystery writer, however, I find some of their ideas rather clever. I might just make use of paracord as a plot device sometime soon.

These knots are useful for just about everyone whether you camp or go hiking or just like playing with rope.

If you decide to use the paracord bracelet, here are a few hints to help you take it apart.

Turn the bracelet over. See the shiny bits near one end?  This is where I pushed the melted end bits of the paracord flat to seal them. If you want to pull your cord apart, just cut where the red lines are. You’ll want to peel off the melted plastic bits. They can be used as fuel to start a fire and will burn for a little while.  Next, you’ll want to unwrap the paracord. If your bracelet is one color, then you’ll have one long length of paracord about 8 feet long. If you have a two-color bracelet, you should habe about 4 feet in each color.

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