Leather Craft Lace

[Lesa1211]

Hello everyone. Ive been researching how to make parrot gyms, play stands, toys, ect. Ive been buying stuff for awhile now and I made my first toy yesterday. I have to learn how to upload a pic, i took one but with my phone.

Anyhoo, I made somthing that I thought was very simple. I took leather craft lace and strung it with beads and wooden ABC baby blocks. Simple right? Well I put it in Kia's cage and bot even 5min later she untied my knot, all the blocks and beads fell to the bottom of the cage:11: She did however love playing with the leather string.

Is there a certain knot I need to learn? I thought the leather was hard to tie but I did tie it the best I could, I at least thought it was tight. Or should I just use a different kind of string or rope? Any suggestions would be greatly apreciated.

Thank you!

 

[amysaviary]

Make sure that any leather u use is veggie tanned. To my knowledge craft leather is NOT veggie tanned. The cemicals in the normal (craft) leathers can kill birds.

As far as knots I don't know names or how to tie any certian knots. I just double and triple knot things and the birds can still untie them sometimes in any rope, string, leather I use. They r just smarter then me when it comes to knots, I guess! lol

 

[roxynoodle]

Yes, take care on what kind of leather lace you use.

As for knots, some birds are just great at untying them! But, one thing I do to get them as tight as I can is use a pair of vise grips to pull hard. That can help me tie a knot much tighter than I can do with just my hands.

 

[Lesa1211]

The package for the leather says all natural. I was going to try the cotton twine that you can use for food, or hemp twine. Ive read those are ok to use and they look like they would be easier to tie tan the leather.

What kind of string do you use?

 

[roxynoodle]

Merlin's previous owners gave me like 3 giant rolls of sisal rope, so I've been using a lot of that. It's really hard to knot! Without the vice grips, I wouldn't be able to, lol! In case you or your hubby (if you have one) aren't tool people, you can buy a pair at Walmart or anywhere that sells basic hand tools. They lock on unlike other types of pliers and allow you to be 10x stronger than your normally would be. I highly recommend everyone have a pair for toy making. They are also great at cracking nuts

 

[Lesa1211]

Thank you Roxy! We do have a few pair. I just bought a roll of the sisal. I ties 2 knots in a piece and hung it on her perch. Just to see if she can untie it, before I go making anything out of it lol.

 

[amysaviary]

if she likes to untie knots make that a toy! Have all kinds of rope, sisal, leather whatever u have and let her go to town untieing knots!!!

 

[Wulfgeist]

I have a knot undoer myself, my CAG. He hasn't so much since he's been home but at the place I got him they had to continuously restring his toy for that very reason.

On the bright side undoing all those knots is a sure-fire way to keep a fid busy.

 

[roxynoodle]

Untying knots was my Blue Crown's favorite thing to do. I bought these toys that had thick cotton rope with a ton of knots. It took her a long time to undo such large knots, but it entertained her for hours a day. It was like her life's work, lol! Once she had completely dismantled one, I gave her a new one. I bought them in bulk from an ebay seller called "abirdtoy". She can fit 3 conure sized ones into a Priority Mail envelope for you to save on shipping. They would be a fine size for a Grey, too, I would think. The birds like to cuddle against them at night as well, and Rowdy preens hers more than unties the knots. She calls them "block mops" in case she doesn't have any on ebay right now. You can message her and she will make them for you.