The Fiddly Fun of Making a Tiny Rope Ladder That Actually Works

What a cool little thing to add interest to a piece. Love this man. Great video and great vid.

how about a "braided" small string, where you could pock the toothpicks through?

Very functional and it looked awesome! Since you ask, a jig with regularly spaced holes for the toothpicks was and is a good idea, you were on to something with jabbing them into the foam block. If it were me, I'd knot the string around each toothpick and then add a generous dot of medium CA glue, hold it gently taut until the cure. Coat with PVA before removing it from the jig and trimming. Get some 2 mm bamboo skewers (restaurant suppliers) and you could make 4 or 5 in a single batch. Superglue a half toothpick to the end of your string to make threading it through the rods easier.

That turned out really well👍

Finickyyyyy!!!

Next time, try a darning needle to pull the string. Its got a larger hole (eye), to thread the string, and the tip is more blunt (no stabbing yourself). They are also pretty cheap to get almost anywhere.

Dude you are so freaking back. I have been watching since probably 2017 and I gotta say I was bummed to see you straining to make something “bigger, better, more epic” and I am LOVING seeing you enjoying yourself just having fun lately. Keep crushing it.

I suggest leather working sewing line. It's already brown, and it's waxed, which makes it a bit stiff. With the wax, it wouldn't take paint, but since it is a good color already, not so much of a problem. The wax will also help keep the knots tight.
Then a jig for one end and tie clove hitches. If one end of the rung is open they can be easily tied by forming a couple of loops in the line, crossing them over, and sliding them down the rung. Work the excess through and move on to the next rung.
I have been a Scout Master, and have trained Scout Masters... I also learned knots at an early age due to family circumstances.
Love your videos!

NEAT

I've made tiny rope ladders by using thin strands of hot glue, but this looks very cool. Thanks for posting this.

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I'd try to do it in reverse. So, instead of trying to clumsily tie knots around each toothpick, tie overhand knots into the strings first (at a measured distance, all the way down both strings). Then, just push the toothpicks through the already made knots, like needles. You might even manage to push them through both strings at the same time.

You could probably use a cribbage board for a toothpick holder jig.

The devil is in the details....; and now outside the warp!

This turned out great. 
If you're concerned about the knot work that you used, you don't have to learn a lot of knots. Just look up rope ladders or model ship building and use one technique that catches your eye.

Honestly, I had my doubts at first, but the painting really sells it. I think the ladder looks great!

Amateur tip: Always be on the look out for interesting stones, I find a couple a month. It helps if you shoegaze constantly:)

I feel like if you were gunna use superglue to lock the toothpick to the rope anywhey couldnt you just forgo the knots entirely and just fold a single piece of string in half then place a toothpick down, twist it once, glue it, twitst it 3-4 times to get the rung spacing then put another toothpick down, twist, glue, repeat to length then put the dyed glue all the way down the rope end to end to lock the twists and stiffen it to your liking.

i feel like that would take like 2 minutes to do then while the dyed glue dries you make your rock before going on to the other side to repeat your twists and glues before painting the whole thing.

Always remember the mariners rule - "if you can't tie knots, tie lots!"

I daresay you could probably merge this toothpick rope ladder technique with the candle stir stick bridge project for some interesting rope bridges, both the intact "before" version and the broken "after" version. Could be fun to have a prop for a Temple of Doom bridge escape scenario...

I'd have looked up how a string ladder is knotted. then again, it's not like it's supposed to be a scale model, it just has to look the part, so there. :) but I thought poking the picks into the foam block was a good start; you might need something more easy to grip, I think. your method does work good, however. :)

I’d say use a thin coffee stirs drill small holes on the side. Then place a knot at the bottom then continue up adding knots for the wood to settle on till you get to the top of your rope ladder. Then do the rock and glue as you did before.

@Black Magic Craft You were on the right track with the styrofoam blocks before you switched gears to the tape. You just needed to put the toothpicks close to the top so you wouldn't have to squeeze your hands into that tiny space. gluing and painting the back side would still be easy enough, a paintbrush would get in there just fine.

Nothing good is ever easy .

Slide foam to middle of spaced sticks knot top end, loop all the way down

"Why don't you just use a normal stone?" Because, even if you find the perfect stone, it looks different from the rest of the terrain and stands out.

As you are now a fan of caulk....I wonder if a watered down caulk version could work. Your finished creation worked out great though.

Suggestion: Run the tape closer to the center of the toothpicks, Then you have awesome amounts of access working on the outside. (You no longer have to weave, just wrap.)

The simplest way to make it easier would have been to glue down the toothpicks instead of tape, since you have to cut off the ends anyway. That's assuming you aren't mass producing.

Instead of double-sided tape, you could’ve poked toothpicks into two strips of corrugated cardboard, and then remove them later just a thought of course it’s easier for me to think about that while watching what you’re doing

Maybe using the double sided tape only in the middle, so you have access from both sides? And using floral wire instead of a string, to make it bendable?

👍👍

You got a really nice cave/mine scenary going on! I could totally see you making some dwarves having a small gold-mining operation on a wall suing some baking gold leaf!

It turned out awesome! I wonder if you would've had a resonable compromise between stability and manuverability if you had cut some scap XPS foam to a similar but slightly thicker size than the foam tape and stuck the toothpicks in like you were originally planning? May have worked, but I can also see it potentially being troublesome to get the toothpicks aligned straight between the two pieces in the first place. Either way, loved the vid and it clearly got me thinking! Great work!

I got a small cardbord box on my table, top cut off, for keeping my paints together. Where it was cut off, I could put in toothpicks. Theyd be evenly spaced out and sit tight, the "holes" are already about a mm wide.

What about using a needle and the rope to weave it back and forth and around it?

Rather than knotting off each rung, I would prefer to secure the cocktail sticks on one end (so the other is open for access), a jig sounds like a good idea for this; but perhaps some scrap foam core and a vice would be sufficient. If you loop the halfway point on your string around the first rung (a bight) then work up, adding three half twists between each, that might look less “field expedient” while not adding too much work.
The second “rope” is done the same way; but with the twist going the opposite way.
A dot of CA on each rung joint to secure them, and enough twists to make a tail, a knot (or whip the two tails together), and you can probably just use oil washes to retain even more flexibility.
Feeling really fancy? Hand saw, or set the depth on a fancy Proxxon and cut a small rebate in both ends of a bunch of rungs and you probably don’t even need the glue.

I did some rope ladders for a fire/watch tower i built a long time ago. I tacky glued the string/rope together. Didn't look as crisp as this though lol

I made similar, drilled the holes and thread it through.

Too simple. So good.

Crochet thread is tightly spun mercerized cotton so it looks like rope (although pretty smooth) and is very strong. And size #3 might be scale appropriate too. (Or size #10 if you're winding multiple strands around each other.)

If I were going to do this, I might try poking the toothpicks through the plies, of whatever I'm using for rope before arranging them on the tape and dabbing the connection points with super glue to secure, then winding another strand around the rungs.

I feel like that didn't make sense at all. 😂

I've got this Double Swallow brand Repair Kit that has larger needles for repairing canvas and leather gear. Something like that would help manage the thread through there faster, and I think you're on the right track with the wood jig part.

you could just drill a series of holes through two lollipop sticks.

This ladder gives me an idea for a cliff side city or maybe a kobold cavern city. There would be multiple levels all connected with rope ladders and rope bridges.

If you haven't found a good reason to learn knots, you should ask what Mrs BlackMagicCrafts has to say on the matter.

If you feel like challenging yourself some more, You could try to make the rope ladder rungs out of, well, rope! 🤪

These last few builds have been absolute bangers. And that rope ladder is freaking neat! I don't think I've ever seen one done like that, very cool idea, especially with it basically being modular!

Finding workarounds for these finicky build is the most gratifying part of the hobby 👌

I wonder if small jewelry chains would work, so long as the holes could fit the toothpicks. If they're too big and the toothpicks fall out you could just lightly hammer the metal to bend it around them. Wouldn't need to tie knots then, and it would be quite flexible.