New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Knot tying and splicing expert Barbara Merry will demonstrate nautical knot tying techniques at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum on Thursday, December 11th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Barbara brings more than thirty years of experience to the craft of marlinspike, a skill sailors use to make, customize, or fix a boat’s rigging and lines. As Barbara notes in her book “Marlinspike Sailor’s Arts and Crafts,” sailors also use their marlinspike seamanship skills to make decorative items called “fancywork”. This program is a free event and is co-sponsored with the Working Waterfront Festival.
In her presentation Barbara will demonstrate some of the decorative uses of this skill and the techniques involved in making such designs as a “Turk’s Head” sailor’s bracelet and a “Monkey’s Fist.” Examples of her students’ work on display at the presentation will showcase the variety and intricate skills of this traditional craft. The students are from the New Bedford fishing industry under the New England Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. Barbara’s book will be available for purchase and she will happily sign and personalize it, just in time for holiday gift giving.
This program is co-sponsored by the Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum and the Working Waterfront Festival, a free celebration of New England’s fishing industry.
