TLDR: We made a neat split-material string, but it’s too difficult to do at any level of scale.
Split Material String
[Note: Aaron wrote this post in first person for clarity, but we (Aaron & Amelia) do everything together]
I’m not 100% sure that no one else has done this, so please let me know if someone came up with this idea before me. I searched around but couldn’t find something similar.
When I first started making strings we messed around with some candycane stuff. It was fun but a lot of work. This idea came to me because if you don’t get your candy cane just right you get a little solid tail at the yoyo loop end. It’s kinda funny but not all that functional. So I wondered: What if I could make that useful?
I love playing with pure nylon, so soft but also pretty slippery and the finger loop can loosen up mid play. Thinking back to the funny little tail I was pretty sure I could make the finger loop end (which is much grippier) pure poly while having the ‘body’ be pure nylon.
Here is a diagram of what I came up with. It’s basically candycane with an extra loop.
Diagram
Unfortunately because the nylon portion needs to be a seamless loop I had to tie a knot somewhere. I measured how long my typical strings is and did the math to figure out how long each section needed to be. Because of this knot I think each string would basically need to be made at custom length to make it playable, so not really feasible.
Ideally there would be no candy cane at all and the colors would have a hard stop. I tried three separate times and got closer each time and I’m sure I could get it almost perfect but it took a long time so I just kinda gave up on it. (Making the poly loops the same distance doesn’t work because the anchor end reduces faster than the drill end)
All three attempts together
It was a fun experiment and it does work! The loop is much tighter and basically plays like a pure nylon. I enjoyed the process but probably won’t be making too many more. With that said I would love to see what everyone else comes up with based on this technique.
What if you started a single strand of the middle color on one side, did the bulk of the wrapping with it in the middle and then finished a single strand on the other side? It would obviously have those two strands mixed in, but if done with complimentary colors like neon yellow and neon green, it could blend in. Definitely a special project string for fun or a special treat for a lucky person.
Yo thanks for the suggestions @MattB and @Mystik
I was really hoping to make something that had a hard line between the two materials with no blending, but that might not be possible.
Almost. The middle color starts on the left anchor and ends on the right anchor so it’s balanced in the twist. However, this necessitates an odd number of strands, so your way would use an even number, but the blue wraps on the left should be fewer than on the right to balance the total on each side. Of course, since you are using different materials, maybe the odd strands vs even isn’t a problem, but a useful option.
The split material string is now just split. The wind wasn’t quite tight enough on this one so that might have been the issue. Haven’t had a chance to try the other possible technique but will this weekend
Happened at the juncture? I only considered this technique for a fade, so the junctures are staggered and of the same material so less abrupt and not in one concentrated spot. Still, it’s a surprising break. Fun experiment.
Ya it broke right where the candycane transitioned to pure poly, which was at the finger loop. I had a sloppy bind so I did a normal, hard throw and binded again. It returned pretty fast and it snapped right when I caught it. I think your idea on the extra loop will work better though!
Here is my attempt using the string lab looping technique. It doesn’t have the exact material split I was looking for but the couple of nylon strands in the finger loop section are pretty minimal and functionally it solves the slippery nylon problem. I appreciate the idea Matt! We have one other idea that we will try as well.
I’ll throw this on a throw to try it out this week and see if it lasts!
