Hints & Tips for Micro Macrame Knotting

Want to take your micro macrame pieces from so-so to WOW!?  There's only one rule you have to remember - neatness counts.  That's it.  That's the whole secret to great looking beaded macrame jewelry!  Make sure your knots are straight and even and your cords lay just right and your beads make the perfect curve.  Pay attention to the little details.  A few other tips:

The first thing I do when I'm making something (okay, the second - first you have to cut the cords) is to iron my cords.  Yep - I take a straight iron and run my cords through it.  As you can see from the photo, you can quickly tame an unruly pile of curls.  It's much easier to keep track of your cords when knotting if they aren't all kinky and tangled.  A big barreled curling iron will do the same thing as a straightener if you don't curl your cord around it - just pull the cord through it.  I've also heard that you can iron them, but I can't vouch for that.  "Ironing" is a bad word at my house.

The next secret weapon in my arsenal is pins.  I use a couple different kinds of pins - plain old straight sewing pins and small t-pins.  They will hold your work in place while you knot.  My rule of thumb is whenever I change the direction of a cord, I use a pin to make the corner sharp.  It also helps to keep my lines straight.  

You can never have too many pins.  The work surface I'm using in this photo is the new Beadsmith Macrame Board and it works very well.  I do still use my original, low cost cork board, too (old dog, new tricks thing I think) and you can see that here.

My secret for a nice finish involves two types of glue and small scissors.  The old school method for ending cords was to melt them with a lighter and I know some folks still do that.  It works, but I don't like the hard scratchy ends of melted nylon that are left (okay, they drive me crazy on the tender underside of my wrist!) so I use this method.  When I'm finished knotting, I coat my last row of knots with Fray Check.

Then I pull all the knots nice and tight and let them dry.  I clip the excess cord very close to the knots and then hit those knots again with some glue.

I like the G-S Hypo Cement for this step.  I've never had a problem with it not holding and the precision tip applicator lets me get the adhesive just exactly where I want it without making a mess.

So there you have it.  My secrets. If you're ready to try making some micro macrame bracelets of your own, I offer some tutorials in my Etsy shop with step by step instructions.

Edited to add:  I've added some new video posts here on my blog to cover some of the main macrame knots.  Check out the lark's head knot tutorial and the double half hitch tutorial.