Easy Macrame Bracelet Stack

Lots of you have asked me for patterns or instructions for macrame jewelry.  I've never written any tutorials, so we're going to have to start out with something simple.  The bracelets in this stack are all made with a single type of knot:  the square knot.  I varied the beads and buttons as well as the colors to make the stack more interesting.  

Hmm.... I used too many steps to put all of the pictures here, so let's try this:  Tutorial

I hope you'll give it a try - and let me know what I can improve for my next tutorial!

The Essentials

Macrame doesn't require much in the way of tools or gadgets, so you don't have to make much of an investment to give it a try.  This is a picture of my workboard.  Upscale, isn't it?  It's what I started with and what I'm used to, so I'm still using it after four years (although I have had to replace the cork once).  It's just a clipboard from the office supply store with cork clipped on it.  I cut the cork to the right size and glued two layers of it together to give it more depth, but if the cork you find is thicker, you might not even have to do that.  My clipboard has rulers down both sides - one in inches and the other in metric.  Very handy.

You'll want something to fasten your work-in-progress to the board to keep everything in place while you're knotting.  You can use regular old sewing pins for this, but I prefer a combination of those and t-pins.  The t-pins are a bit larger.  You'll also need some scissors.  I like a smallish pair.  And let's see... other than that... something to knot (cord, hemp, etc.) and maybe some beads.  That's it!  Oh, wait...

A couple more things that are nice to have - Fray Check and glue.  If you dip the ends of your cord in the Fray Check and let it dry, you'll have a much easier time threading beads onto it.  And I like to put a little glue on the knots at the ends of my pieces.  Peace of mind;)

An Intro

Awww.... look - it's a brand new baby blog.  All right, all right - so it's not much to look at yet.  Babies aren't always adorable right off the bat, either, you know.  Sometimes it takes a while - they have to grow into their ears and stuff.  I'm sure that given time, just like the ugliest baby, this blog will blossom:)

So.... I make jewelry.  I'm obsessed with making jewelry, really.  I used to be obsessed with genealogy and before that it was cake decorating.  But now, I'm all about jewelry and have been for years.  I do mostly micro macrame, but I'll attempt just about anything.  I've tried  bead weaving, torch fired enameling, acid etching, chemical patinas - you name it.  I didn't say I was good at any of that stuff, mind you - but I've dabbled.

I am married and have been for 26 years.  My husband and I have two kids - my son just finished his first year of college and my daughter is sixteen and will be a Junior next year.  We have a cat and three dogs - one's the most spoiled mini doxie EVER - that one's mine.  The two big dogs belong to my husband.  One's a big black lab that was supposed to be a hunting dog, but he's not really into that.  He'd rather lay around and be cuddly.  The other dog is a retired police service dog - he was my husband's K-9 partner until he retired last fall.

I work full time and make jewelry in most of my free time.  And that's me in a nutshell.