What is Paracord and what you can you do with it?

You may well have heard of Paracord, without really knowing what it is and what you can do with it. As the name suggests, it is used to make parachutes. Made from Nylon, it is very strong and durable. It is created from several fine cords, with a woven cover, it gives it extra strength as well as a smooth finish.

The numbers given to Paracord are in relation to the weight the cord can with stand in pounds. 95, 324 and 550 being the most popular strengths (and what we stock). The weight is very important when being used to suspend someone from a parachute. However less important when using paracord for jewellery making. What is useful to know is the different diameters of paracord.

There’s so many different knots you can use with paracord. It’s a great materials to start with if you’re new to knotting. As it’s very easy to un-do if you make a mistake (which we all do when learning something new). It looks great with 2 sizes combined together like this bracelet example. Here we used 550 in black and 325 in green. This is a great example of a fishbone knot, simple and very effective.

Paracord bracelet or keyrings are popular amongst trekkers and outdoor adventures as they can double up as a invaluable bit of kit. Should there be an emergency that requires some super strong cord, you can just unravel the bracelet. They’re often referred to as survival bracelets. This can be made much easier by using a knot that naturally unravels when pulled. Years ago I made 2 survival bracelets and after researching suitable knots found the Unique Double Chain Sinnet knot was easy to do and looked great.

Not only can you use paracord for robust crafts, it can be used for any knotting. It looks great used in traditional Macrame designs as well and basic knotting. It’s effective in these designs below/ The bracelet is an embellished trilobite knot. The necklace is a Josephine knot in 2 colours with square knots on each side. I’m also tempted to make myself a plant hanger using paracord too, it’ll certainly be strong enough.

If you want to have a go at paracord but you’re not sure where to start we have a range of kits which include simple keyrings as well as bracelets and a monkey fist maker (see example below).

If you’re looking for something a little different to get started with we’ve gathered lots of great inspiration over on Pinterest. We have a whole board dedicated to “knotting, macrame & paracord”.

If seeing all these knots and designs has sparked an idea you want to put into practise our Ezzz-Jig bracelet maker is ideal. It helps you get your sizing right. As well as acting like a very helpful second pair of hands by keeping everything held in place while you get knotting.

We hope this blog post has answered some of your questions regards what is Paracord and what you can you do with it. Let us know what you make.