Macrame- My First Love

      Back in the day- which was a Wednesday- I made hemp necklaces and sold them- I did pretty well selling them on the beach in the summers - well enough that I didn't have to dip into my school money to pay for fun stuff- like beer. Truth be told I loved making  these macrame gems- laden with awesome beads and plenty of imagination- I was fortunate enough to have an outlet to sell them at a time well before the likes of Etsy or really any online store. The popularity of hemp necklaces started to wane but I held onto all my beads and jewelry making supplies and still dabbled now and again over the years.

      Recently there seems to be a resurgence of handmade wrap style jewelry- the friendship bracelet led the call a few years back and now fibre jewelry is popping up everywhere! One of my favourite artists are those behind the small objects and jewelry shop Object & Totem- based out of Philadelphia- Object & Totem offers a minimalist, rustic aesthetic that I totally dig. Click here to see my current design crush- on my wish list and not going anywhere- this is one beautiful necklace!

       Another example of fibre based jewelry can be found in this collaboration between the ladies at 3191 Miles Apart and Quince & Co- I spotted this lovely wool creation the other day and decided to give it a try- with my own twist of course! P.S. adorable blog and magazine- just fantastic!

        The beads on the above left are actually belly beads from Ghana- another treasure brought home by my cousin years ago when our first Little was born- these beads were the inspiration behind the creation of my new necklace on the right. The imperfection of this string of beads could not get any better- the dangling white cotton threads against the perfect line of beads- this was to be my jumping off point.

      This new fibre necklace may hearken back to my roots of hemp necklaces sold by the beach on a summer's day- but the fibre used is a little more sophisticated than the coarse hemp of my University enterprise! Linen and Silk yarn in variegated blues are punctuated by a single vintage glass bead- the wabi sabi simplicity is what I think makes this work.

    This little project was a great way to spend a day making things with my hands- so tactile and working with the linen yarn was a dream. While I do spend a great deal of time sewing and making- it was nice to free style it and just let my creativity loose on some yarn- a trip down memory lane that perhaps my hands should take more often!