Aerial Silks Hook

clove hitch on aerial silks hook

A silks hook is our preferred way to rig aerial silks, and we are happy to be able to offer the excellent Prodigy Aerial Silks Hook! This hook provides a strong and elegant rigging point for your fabrics, specifically designed for aerial silks.

The wider diameter of the aerial silks hook is ideal for reducing the load of the silks on any one point.  This means that the working load of the silks is effectively increased compared to a figure 8 or similar.

How to tie your silks to a hook

A clove hitch is a very secure, but non-locking knot that gives great separation to your silks.

  • step 1: to start tying this knot, it’s easiest to mark the centre point and end point of your silks with a small amount of tape. We marked our centre with green, and the end with red
  • step 2: pass the (red) end of your silk through the loop of the hook and pull through an arm’s length to the side
  • step 3 and 4: take that end and bring it to the front of the hook, and pass it back through the loop, laying it over the existing length of silk.
  • step 5: bring the red end back to the front around the bell of the hook and feed it through the loop formed by step 4, this is your clove hitch.
  • step 6 and 7: feed the body of the fabric through, following the steps you just did, until the (green) centre point is sitting neatly on top of the knot
  • step 8: neaten the loops and make sure they are sitting evenly over the ends of the bell
  • step 9: set the knot by pulling on both tails of the fabric and the top of the hook at the same time.

A Prusik hitch is easier to tie, and just as secure, but will not give the additional separation that a clove hitch will.

  • step 1: again, find the centre of your silks and mark them with tape. adding a twist to the fabric here also makes the fabric easier to handle
  • step 2: feed the folded in half silk through the ‘loop’ of the hook.
  • step 3: bring the centre of your silks around the back of the ‘bell’
  • step 4: bring the folded (green) centre of the silks forward between the 2 tails of the silks
  • step 5 and 6: post the (green) centre back through the ‘loop’ of the hook and give yourself 20cm of space
  • step 7: open up this space and pull it over the bell of the hook
  • step 8: set the knot by pulling on both tails of the fabric and the loop of the hook.

Videos coming soon