Aglets

Here are the laces looking for an aglet solution!

A brief search of my blog shows that there are no indications of my growing obsession with aglets!!!  What are aglets, you might ask? According to Wikipedia, an aglet is a small sheath, often made of plastic or metal, used on each end of a shoelace, a cord, or a drawstring.  

My quest has been to figure out how to finish a card woven band for a bootlace. John Mullarkey, at a class I took from him at Stitches West in 2017, suggested saturating the lace in glue and then rolling it between two fingers until dry; then perhaps coating with nail polish. John's laces look fabulous; really; but I was hoping for a different finish.  Google query yielded Ian's Shoelace site which is phenomenal;  there are a bazillion ways to thread your laces, tie you shoe know, and sure enough, a section on aglets for those who have lost an aglet or wish to shorten their shoelace. 

So I ordered a hot air gun, and a bunch of heat shrink tubing. I initially tried 3/16" (5mm) clear dual wall with adhesive... it looked lovely, though a little clunky, but would not fit through the thingy the lace goes through. What are those called? There's got to be a word for it. So I enlisted DH's help, and he ordered me a set of different sized heat shrink tubes. One of the tubes barely fit and had to be coaxed on to the laces and pulled by a string, but it seems to be the right size; without a metric ruler, I'm guessing it's either 2.5mm or 3mm diameter. And it fits his boot!

5mm on top (pudgy) unknown but suspected 2.5 mm (svelte) on bottom, untrimmed!

A brief history of the laces... I decided that my DH needed cool bootlaces for his hiking boots, which double as his scooter boots.  So right before I went to Esalen, I warped up the loom to make them,  and ASSUMED that three yards of lace was enough. Sadly, I need approximately 10 feet, so despite all my rapid work, I only have one lace, plus a whole bunch left over. At least I have plenty to play with the aglets!  So I'll need to warp up again for shoelace #2. And since DH uses the scooter to bring me coffee on Sunday mornings, maybe I'll use the remained for a tie on a coffee thermos bag?