Hemp Jewelry Designs

This, in my opinion, is the most tricky part of making hemp jewelry. Figuring out how much cord do I need to make my hemp jewelry! At first it was a guessing game for me, but the more I had worked with lengths and such, it became more easy.

There are a few factors you must decide on to help with this process. Ask yourself these questions:

• What type of jewelry am I going to make? Necklace, bracelet, anklet, etc..
• What is the finished length do I need? (I always measure in inches, it is just easier for me)
• Will I be using knot bearing cords as knotters as well? (for example: the switch knot)
• What kind of closure am I going to use.

I am going to use a for example to walk you through how I determine how much cord I am going to need for a project, using these factors as guidelines.

What type of jewelry am I going to make?

This is an easy one. I am going to decide to make an hemp anklet.

What is the finished length?

If the anklet is for me, I can just measure my size and go from there. Let’s say the finished size needs to be 7 inches.

What knots am I going to use?

I must decide the style that I want. Do I want just square knots, half knots, switch knots? For this example I am going to decide on just square knots. The knot bearers will not be used for knotters. Which is important to note.

What closure do I want?

I am going to use tie ends for my closure.

Deciding how much cord

With all these factors decided on, I can figure out how much cord I need. I know I will need 4 cords cut. 2 for the knot bearers and 2 for the knotting cords. I will cut the knot bearers first, well because it is the easiest.

Knot Bearers:

So my finished length will be 7 inches, and I know that with tie ends I need extra length on each end. For me, I like to leave at least 3 inches. So my knot bearers will be cut at about 14 inches, because I always like to leave a little extra room.

Knotters:

The knotters are somewhat more difficult. Well maybe not more difficult, but more of a pain in the butt.

As a rule of thumb, you will need about 4 times the amount of cord of your finished length.

So, if our length is 7 inches, I need about 4 times that: 28 inches of knotting cord.

There are a few more factors to consider as well.

1. The type of knot you are using: Some knots take more cord and some take less. Half knots will take little more cord than square knots would. Switch knots will take less cord than square knots.
2. The thickness of your cord: If you are using #20 weight, you will need more cord. If you are using #48 weight, you will need less cord.

I know this is somewhat of a long post. But it is important to understand it.

Is there anything I missed? Can you add to this post? If so, leave me a comment!

Happy Knotting

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 at 10:15 am and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.