[Tedder]

My boat is a Southern Cross 31 cutter. I need to make two pendants (pennants) to allow two new jibs to clear the bow pulpit and life lines. The ones on my other sails are 5/16" steel wire, 24" long, one end spliced into the tack.
I cannot work with wire, so I thought to make them out of some NE Rope 3/8" double-braid I have. I have practiced with some loose ends. I find that the first eye splice is easy enough, but I cannot get enough slack to fully bury the cover on the second splice. Brion calls for a 24 x diameter bury, but Samson only asks for a 21 x diameter bury, which makes me think I could probably cheat even more since I believe my rope is plenty strong to hold the jibs.
How much can I reduce the recommended eye splice dimensions and still make a reasonably strong splice?
Any ideas how to make these pendants?