Teaching Hemp 101

I went back to my home town this weekend and decided to do something new with my by hand project. I still continued to explore the more traditional hemp jewelry work. I made a bracelet and some beads, but this time I had some help. I decided to include a couple of people in my project for the week. I wanted to teach my little brother how to make hemp jewelry because he liked the bracelet I made him last week so much. My boyfriend was also at our house and he decided to join in on the crafting. We started out by picking our supplies. I let my little brother pick what hemp he wanted to use. He chose the navy blue hemp twine again. We also choose to make our beads out of the oven clay. Then, we measured out our twine lengths and started playing around with the clay to find what type of bead we wanted to use. The beads had to be crafted before the bracelet was completed because they had to bake for ten minutes to harden. I made a blue rectangular bead with a white marble swirl pattern. My boyfriend made two square beads with a similar pattern using the blue, green, and purple clay. Once we put the clay beads in the oven we began crafting the bracelet. I attempted to teach the knot pattern used to make hemp jewelry to my little brother, but this first lesson was most definitely unsuccessful. He is only 11, so the knot pattern is very confusing for him. He attempted to do a couple of knots but never could get it right. He had me finish the bracelet for him, but hopefully we can try again another time. Even though my brother didn’t learn how to make hemp jewelry he enjoyed watching me make it for him and enjoyed spending time with me. I also enjoyed spending time with my little brother and boyfriend. Crafting can bring social networks closer together. You are all doing something together and you all feel accomplished together when the project is finished.

First Hemp Bracelet

This week I made my little brother a hemp bracelet. I used the navy blue hemp and a white clay bead that was left over from my keychain project last week. Ever since my little brother has heard about the hemp projects I am doing this semester and seen my first couple of projects, he has been begging me to make him something. He told me he wanted a bracelet that was very simple and did not have a bunch of beads on it. So, I told him I had some navy blue hemp I could make him a little bracelet out of so it wouldn’t be too plain and boring and he loved the idea. I started out measuring the hemp around my wrist because I figured we have relatively the same sized wrists. I then made this length twelve times its size because remember the two outer twines must be six time the length of the final product since they are the ones that are being knotted. I wanted to make a loop at the end so it can work as a clasp with the bead at the other end. I folded this twine in half and I had my loop and the two outer twines six times the size or the final product. Then, I cut another twine that was twice the size of the final product, folded it in half, and I had my two inner lengths of hemp. I made the bracelet with the flat hemp pattern again because I thought it would look more masculine and professional. I am getting very good at these knots. I did not make a single mistake in this project! Last, but not least, I tied on a white clay bead at the end so it would serve as a clasp with the loop. The bracelet looks awesome and I can’t wait to give it to my little brother. I am going to get lots of hugs for making it.
During this project my brother was kind of like the patrons we spoke of in class and I was the artisan. He told me what kind of hemp jewelry he would like me to make him and gave me some guidelines about what to include and what not to include. I, in turn made some of my own subjections and we came out with a product that he will really love. During this project I was in the Lifestyle DIY category that Atkinson speaks of in his article. It was construction with a conspicuous consumption. I made the bracelet for a class project, as well as to get hugs from my little brother and be his favorite sister for the weekend since I do not get to see him that often.

Colts Keychain

Last week I made an Indianapolis Colts keychain out of hemp as a gift for my boyfriend’s birthday. I thought this would be a really great present for him because he loves the Colts and his birthday was on the same day as the Super Bowl this year. It was a perfect gift for the occasion. I started by making the beads that I eventually put on the key chain. I made the beads out of the clay I bought. The clay can be baked in the oven which causes it to harden. I rolled up several little balls of blue and white clay. Then, I took a tooth pick and poked it through the middle of the little clay ball to make a hole for the hemp to go through. I had to make a bead with a big enough hole so that the thicker hemp could thread through. I simply used the tooth pick to hollow out a big enough hole on the bead and then attempted to thread hemp through the hole to make sure it would fit. I made eight blue beads and eight white beads, but ended up not using all of them. To make the Colts pendant bead I put on the key chain, I used the blue clay to construct most of the bead and then used the white clay to construct the Colts emblem onto the bead. First, I rolled up a bigger ball of blue clay and then constructed the Colts emblem with the white clay. I then stuck the emblem onto the bead and added small blue dots along the Colts horseshoe. Again, I used a toothpick to hollow out an opening for the hemp to thread through. The bead did morph a little from its original shape as I created the hole, but it still looked pretty good so the beads were ready to bake. I baked the beads at 300°F for ten minutes, took them out of the oven, and let them cool for a few minutes. Finally, I made the keychain using the flat hemp pattern and alternated blue and white beads on the outside of the keychain. At one end of the keychain I put the Cults pendant and at the other I beaded on a round, metal key ring. My boyfriend really liked his gift. He said that now he would never lose his keys!

I have been making very functional projects that differ from the traditional hemp jewelry. This was not my original intention when I picked hemp jewelry for my By Hand project, but I thought it would be really cool to make things other than your typical hemp necklace or bracelet. We have discussed in class that a lot of the time a crafts form will reveal a lot about its function. This is true about my crafts as well. The dog color I made has a clasp on it for easy removal and a metal ring for a dog tag and leash to attach to. The key chain is very long so it can serve its purpose as well and keep keys from being lost easily. According to Atkinson in his article “Do-It-Yourself: Democracy and Design;” I would fit into the Pro-active DIY category. I fit into this category because I have manipulated the design of my projects to differ from original hemp jewelry in order to make functional products that I could use or give away to people as gifts. For my next projects I will make more traditional hemp pieces like bracelets and necklaces, but I will also be giving them away as gifts to some of my family members.

Hemp Dog Collar

The first project I decided to make was a new dog collar for my pup, Gucci. I got online to find some instruction and I came across http://www.beadage.net/hemp/index.shtml, which was very useful for my first craft with hemp because it provided me with very simple instructions to make the basic hemp knot patterns. Hemp jewelry, if you did not know already, is made by a series of knot patterns one after the other. The first step was to measure out the twine to the appropriate length. I needed four lengths of the thick hemp that where six times the length of the final product. I then tied a regular knot with all four twines at one end to keep them in place. Next, I began alternating the two basic knots that you can find on the website listed above. I needed to alternate these two knots because this would give me the flat hemp pattern. If I were to keep making the same knot, the same way, the patter would end up appearing spiral, like a double helix. After I completed about an inch of the pattern I added on a pink bead. This is where I came across my first problem. The hemp I was using was very thick, so I could not string it through both the inner twines. I decided to string it on the outer left twine and secured it with another knot in the same pattern I had been doing. This technique placed the bead on the outer part of the collar instead of the middle. I actually ended up really liking that look and I would alternate putting a pink bead on the left side and then one on the right side about every inch of pattern from the previous bead. I ran into some technical difficulties at the beginning too, because I had a hard time remembering which knot I had just done and hadn’t I had not gotten a hang of the pattern yet. So, there are some spots on the collar that I was not alternating the knot patterns and it got slightly messed up. Once I understood how the pattern worked it was smooth sailing until the end. After I added on the metal ring that holds her name tag and is where you can attach a leash, I had to add on the buckle that snaps the collar together. By the way, I cut the metal ring and the buckle off of Gucci’s old collar. I was having troubles trying to tie the buckle on the collar tightly, so that it would not come off of her if I was tugging on it with a leash. My roommate figured out a great way to place the knots that hold the buckle onto the leash to face the outside, and the smooth part of the buckle face Gucci’s neck. This way the knots would not bother her neck at all and they were also strong. I had problems with getting the collar to be the right size, too. First, it was too tight. So, I added more knots on and tried to stretch out the hemp a little. Then, it was too big and I had to remove some knots. I finally got it to be the right size; I put it on Gucci’s neck, and took her out for a walk to see how it would work. It works awesome and it looks super cute on her! Overall the project took me about two hours to do with all the resizing and everything. So hemp and beading may be pretty expensive, but it really isn’t very time consuming. It also makes long lasting products because hemp is a very durable material. So, if your dog has a beat up, old, collar--recycle it by taking it apart, and keeping the metal half moon ring and the buckle. Put these recycled peaces onto a hemp necklace, and you have yourself a pretty heavy duty, durable new collar that really looks great on dogs.