A simple design with many uses from Bill van Gilder!
Here is what Bill has to say:
"There are lots of simple tools to use when decorating your work. And often, simple is best! These roped dowels are easy to use and extremely effective. Held between your fingertips like a small rolling pin and using a steady, gentle hand pressure, roll a roped dowel across a soft clay tile in one direction. Turn the tile and roll again. Inlay thin cardboard as "resist." Using a roped dowel, roll over your design to create an interesting 3-D decoration. You can stamp into and over a roped texture, too. Use them to rope-texture a leather-hard pot; plate rims, handle surfaces, vase and cup forms. Use the large dowel for big pots, the small dowel for small ware. Try inlaying slip into the roped surface. Allow the form to dry until stiff leather-hard, scrape off the top slipped surface and over-glaze as a final step. Beautiful!"
The large dowel is 5" long x 3/4" diameter.