Anyone here into macrame?

[Le Taz Hot]

I did a lot of it in the early 70's and sold my projects to earn money for clothes and things I wanted but put it away as it had gone out of style. I recently picked it up again and holy cow! I'm LOVING all the new materials and cording. (I'm seriously considering building a shrine to S-Lon cord.) I've gotten into "micro" macrame -- using very small cording and tiny little beads. My husband rigged up a set-up with one of those large, round magnifying glasses with the circular light -- usually seen on drafters tables.

Anyway, I was just curious to find out if anyone else here macrames.

LTH

[gizmonic]

1. Funny you should mention it...

I've been hankering to do a little macrame recently -- so I bought a vintage magazine. I haven't done anything except a few macrame mice -- I'll post a pic when I get home tonight.

I remember my mom used to macrame too in the 70's. When I was a kid I thought the owls she made were nifty.

I'm thinking of making a rabbit or raccoon. :)



:hi:

[Nite Owl]

2. Long time ago

like you back in the 70's. We used to make necklaces and even wall hangings one of which I still have hanging up. We moved from this to jewelry, semi-precious stones, then to soldering and silver. We did some shows too, we had a robbery and almost everything that was made was stolen. It was right before the holiday season too, sort of put a damper on future efforts. We did more but it wasn't the same. The kids came along shortly after too so time was at a premium. I'm just getting back into making things now. Isn't the availability of materials wonderful today! Back then you had to scrounge to find stuff, we actually ordered phone books from the southwest to find the silver and beads back then.

[eridani]

3. Yes-- I'll post some of my stuff later

What is the gauge of S-Lon? I'm wondering if any of the micro stuff scales up. I just got a book on micromacrame, and am itching to try some.

[Le Taz Hot]

4. Dear eridani:

Gauge? Scales up? Please translate to English. Thanks.

Your Friend,
LTH ;)

Seriously, I have no idea. I'm one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants artists who spies a piece of tangerine twine and envisions a great choker. Anyway, S-lon is something I purchased at a local beadery (Bella Beads) and was able to get like 15 different colors. I originally wanted C-Lon as that is something the new macrame books are recommending but haven't been able to find it locally. I did find listings for C-lon cording on E-Bay and they list an AA and a D size which is probably the scaling you're looking for.

[eridani]

5. Gauge numbers are like the 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24

--numbers that are used to describe craft wire. The 18 gauge is about 1 mm in diameter, and the 20 gauge about 0.8 mm. Just trying to get a handle on the diameter of your thread. Do the S-Lon people say what diameter it is?

[Le Taz Hot]

7. I checked the S-Lon

package and there is no indication of size. It's smaller than waxed linen and, of course, there's not cording on it. I've been looking all over and so far I've only seen it at Bella Beads (a local mom-and-pop).

[eridani]

6. Here goes

Wooden bamboo beads and waxed linen thread


Horn and bone beads, replica Chinese coins, artificial silk thread


Hemp and wooden beads, and recycled bamboo hairpiece


Leaded glass, glass beads, soft rainbow hemp


Soft rainbow hemp with acrylic and wood beads

[Le Taz Hot]

8. Great stuff!

I love looking at other people's work. I especially like the rainbow hemp. I've not worked with hemp yet, how do you like it? I've done a couple of projects with Bella Corda (from JoAnn's) which is actually paper, but I wasn't real crazy about it. It's not pliable enough. My husband and I have started a website which I hope to have up and running by this weekend. In the meantime, I'll post a few pictures here on DU when I get a chance.

[eridani]

11. Hemp twine is pretty stiff, and its diameter varies a lot

That makes for rough looking pieces. The softer hemp yarn is much nicer to work with, and it comes in all kinds of colors, including tie-dyed. I get mine from--

http://www.hempjewelryshop.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=26

[Arkansas Granny]

9. Back in the 70's I made a few plant hangers using jute twine. A few

years ago I made a stab at hemp jewelry. I tried the craft fairs, but barely recovered my booth fees, so I wound up giving most of it away to family and friends. I mostly used the 30# hemp with glass or semi precious stone beads. I made some really nice things out of a pure white 10# hemp that I found. It was referred to as my "girly hemp". I haven't made anything new in a few years, but I've been wanting to get it back out again and try some new ideas that I've had.

[Raksha]

10. I haven't done macrame in ages,

but I learned to do it in the Sixties at the beginning of the macrame revival, after Virginia Harvey's book came out. I have no idea what happened to my copy, but I still remember the author's name. I believe it came out sometime between 1965 and 1967.

Way back then in the Dark Ages, finding suitable materials for macrame was a real problem. I didn't do plant hangers and stuff made out of jute. I used to make necklaces and chokers out of Speed-Cro-Sheen and DMC size #3 pearl cotton. I've often thought that with all the incredible cotton yarns available today, there should really be a macrame revival. These are mostly sold for knitting, but IMNHO the worsted-weight cottons make uncomfortably heavy sweaters. But they'd be perfect for macrame.

[eridani]

12. Anybody got pictures?

I'd really enjoy seeing what other people are doing.

[cmd]

13. I haven't done anything big in years

Back in the mid seventies I made many plant hangers including two huge ones that hung from the gables of our house. Unfortunately, jute doesn't last many years. I still have Spindleshanks, a life size macrame skeleton that I hang in the front door for Halloween. He has developed a lovely ivory "old bone" patina. I wish I still had the pattern for him.