Know Your Ropes

Know Your Ropes is a self guided walking tour delineated by a continuous “rope” graphic painted on the sidewalk. This path creatively winds its way through a neighborhood introducing participants to unique often overlooked areas of their community. Along the twists and turns of this “rope” there are a series of mariner knots depicted in the classic “Book of Knots” style. Each of these mariner knots serve as an interactive node, where a participant can access additional information relative to the theme of the route. The objective is to introduce residents to new areas of their community effectively “tying it together”, additionally it offers insight into the unique “gems” each neighborhood has to offer.

My team-mates on this Project were Sean Alexander, Rebeca Solverson, and Anneka Olsen. We were able to secure a “Walkability” grant offered by the health department which partially funded the Know Your Ropes project. My initial plan was to cut all the stencils cut out of eight by four sheets of plywood. Preliminary calculations indicated that a one mile circuit of stenciled rope was going to require spraying an eight foot stencil six hundred sixty times. The challenges of executing a project of this scale suddenly hit me and this particular revelation added a dark and bitter element to the entire project.

One evening I was lamenting my situation over a couple of beers. The thought of being responsible spraying 660 stencils was weighing heavily on my heart. It was at this moment that my drinking companion Dylan Betz floated the concept of a circular stencil. A circular stencil!?! This was the breakthrough I needed. Suddenly building a mechanical stenciling machine was much more attractive than the sum of the entire project. So I set to work engineering the Dylan Betz Unlimited – Rope Machine-.

The final project is so much larger than myself. I couldn’t make this happen without the assistance and expertise Of Sean, Anneka and Rebeca. There were meetings with the city about paint and permitting. Sean’s company AM Independent was responsible for the branding and website. Also the development and programing of the guided tours was something I never would have considered in the original concept. It rounds out the project in in such a way, giving it depth and breath, ant truly marrying it with the community.

The Know Your Ropes visual walking tour system was developed by myself and can be applied to any neighborhood or business district. This system uses temporary marking paint to create imagery and will naturally fade in a couple of months. If you have interest in hosting a visual walking tour in your area please contact Oliver Doriss

Components necessary to execute the Know Your Ropes sidewalk mural.