How to Make Hemp Cross Necklaces
Hemp jewelry is attractive and good for the environment. Thin hemp twine is best for bracelets, necklaces and lanyards. Hemp has historically been used for cloth, thread, rope, and the making of sacking. It is light, easily worked and takes bright dyes well. Hemp's association with the drug culture had all but eradicated it in commercial use until the sixties and seventies.
Things You'll Need
- 3 mm hemp twine
- T-pins
- Macrame board
- Necklace rings and closures
- Measure eight strands of 3 mm hemp twine 24 inches long. Lay strands next to one another so that none overlap. Measure 12 inches from one end. This is your center point. Run a short piece of hemp twine under all the strands and tie it in a tight square knot. Trim ends of the piece of twine up to the knot. Use a "T" pin to connect the knot to a macrame board, with the 12-inch ends dangling down away the pin.
- Separate the strands so that none are crossed or overlapped. Take four strands from the right and four from the left. Make four square knots down the eight center strands to create the top of your cross.
- Take the right four strands and put them flat so that they are not crossed, parallel to the knots you just created. Repeat the same with the left four. Using the top and bottom strands of the right side, create square knots to the right, over the center two strands. Do the same on the left. Wrap the final half-inch of each arm of the cross.
- Return to the eight middle strands. Utilize the left two strands and the right two strands to create square knots to the end of the middle four. Wrap the last half inch of the cross hangman's noose style. Trim the edges so that no more than 1/2 inch of loose hemp twine expand past the nooses. This creates the cross pendant. The pendant will dangle from the necklace you will create next.
- Using four strands of 3 mm hemp twine, measure three times the seek length of the necklace. Locate the middle and apply a quarter inch gold or silver o- ring to connect the hemp cross. Use a T- pin to hold it in position while you finish the necklace.
- Tie square knots starting at the cross and working your way to the edge of the four strands on the right, then do the same on the left. Put on the necklace closures to both ends of the necklace, or create a big knot on the left end and a loop on the right for a natural closure.