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In this tutorial I demonstrate how to braid the 2 color conquistador braid.
The conquistador braid is a well known braid that has traditionally been used on belts. In the paracord community, the braid is also used to make great looking bracelets.
One of the ways you can use to spice up the already beautiful braid is to introduce a second color. This is a simple procedure, which I will describe below.
With that said, let’s begin braiding!
Supplies
The supplies for making a 2 tone conquistador braid are basically the same as the single color version:
- paracord 550 or any other type or rope or cord, in two colors
- a buckle to attach the braid onto
- a lacing needle. I recommend two if you have them, but it can be worked with one just fine as well. You can make a lacing needle using the lacing needle tutorial.
The 2 color conquistador braid tutorial
The photo and video tutorials below should be enough to braid this style of braid. There are basically three major steps in the braid:
- braiding a section with one color
- transitioning into the second color
- braiding the second section using a different color.
Let’s see how this is done.
Be sure to work the braid tightly for best looks.
Braiding the first section
The first section is made just like a regular conquistador would be. We basically attach the cord to the buckle, braid it up and down, by inserting the cord through the top of the loops.
Note that the cord passes behind itself when we are braiding up, and in front of itself when we go down.
Introducing the second section
The second color is very simply introduced and the braid is continued in a different color, just like the first section.
Transitioning into the other color
A big part of making this braid is to transition between colors. This is done by simply taking the color we are going to use and pass the end trough the very first loop of the other color.
Below are a few images of how this is done.
A video tutorial on the entire braiding process is also available:
In conclusion
I really find this braid to be very useful. When you make your first length, you may notice that the edges on one side do not look perfectly even. This is the back side, so this is not that problematic, but I wanted to point it out, to avoid any suspicion on the correctness of the braid. Thank you Rick Paracord for your help with this!
