Exclusive Interview with TIAT's J.D. Lenzen

Exclusive Interview with J.D. Lenzen of Tying It All Together

 J.D. Lenzen, creator of the famous ‘TIAT’ YouTube videos stops by to answer a few questions for us!

J.D. Lenzen of Tying It All Together

We took a week off, but the Paracord blog is back and better than ever, this week featuring an exclusive interview with J.D. Lenzen. J.D. is the creator of the ‘Tying It All Together’ (TIAT) videos on YouTube, the author of the Paracord Fusion Ties books with another coming out this year; and an inspiration to millions of people worldwide. J.D. was kind enough to grant us an opportunity to get to learn a little more about him, how his knot tying began and where it is headed.

Sam: How did you get into knot tying originally?

J.D.:

Having a restless nature, I suppose. When I was a kid, about 7 or 8, I started tying lanyards to pass time and occupy my mind, but I quickly grew bored with the limitations of flat (lanyard) cords. So I started fiddling with rope. By my teens, I’d memorized nearly all of the practical and decorative knots in The Ashley Book of Knots (ABOK). In my early twenties I began breaking knots down into their component parts—studying the techniques for tying them, then reorganizing them by to their fundamental structures. By my late twenties, I’d established a style of tying I call Fusion Knotting, or innovative knots and ties created through the merging of different knot elements or knotting techniques. I still enjoy tying historical knots, but my primary passion is Fusion Knotting. This style of tying provides me more creative freedom and has allowed me (and others) to shift knotting from a finite field of study, to an expansive and infinite expression of creativity. I'm still restless, but now I have something to show for it.   

Sam: You work full time as an environmental chemist, how did your hobby of knot tying become a second full-time job?

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