Realistic looking Spider Web
by MorTis

I have seen a lot of "spider web" nets made by people, but know of them have ever looked like a real spider web. They were either Indian Dream Catcher style (triangles), or Square Cargo net style, but never a real looking spiral spider web.

Well it takes some preplanning, and some math. I had a tut I wrote up some where with a really good diagram and calculation, but I couldn't find it, so I just made up one really quickly for you.

1) Sketch a box with a shape you going to put it in, with correct dimensions (graph paper is prefect for this)

2) Sketch out how you want the web to look. (see image above)

3) Figure out how many, and the lengths of the cross rope (the arms), if you want 8, you need 4 ropes, 10 you will need 5 etc. Measure there distances from one side to the other, and add 25% to them so you can tie the end off. ( Remember, to find the diagonal distance, 1/2 base X height = diagonal distance and add 25%)

4) then drawn your spiral pattern of the web. Measure that arm to arm, add it up, add 25%

5) Now on your sketch, anywhere the spiral crosses an arms, drawn 2 dots. Before you tie the arms of the rope up to the frame, you going to make two knots about an inch apart everywhere they cross. This makes a locking port for the spiral to lock into. So you have to pre-measure where all the knots are. But remember to leave like a foot or so on each end of the rope, to use it to tie to the frame or arms.

6) when finished, tie up all the arms, from one side of the frame, to the other, and make sure its stable.

7) Then take the spiral and tie the beginning end to where it is going to start.

8) Now take the spiral rope to each series of knots you made for anchor points and tie it into the center of each knot grouping you made. Rinse and repeat. When you get to the end of your spiral, ties it off and cut off the extra.

9) and if you want a hole in the center like a spider web, cut the arms in the center, and tied off the ends to the last knot series of each spiral joint.

10) Clean up, and cut off all the loose ends.

The one I did, I used MFP rope for. So I just used overhand knots, then melted a little extra rope onto it, to melt them together a little. But you should be able to use any kind of rope you want too. It does take a good deal of preplanning, and measuring. Expect it to be an all day project, maybe 2 to do! Using MFP rope, it should be able to suppose about 1000 pounds of weight for play without a problem.