Making Jewelry Out of Hemp

This isn’t what springs to mind when people deal with anything cannabis related, aka weed. But before making something or anything out of hemp we should understand what real hemp is. It is the fibers of the plant of cannabis spun into twine. Twine made of hemp like this can be used when crafting jewelry or other, similar handmade items.

Hemp is very popular with jewelry makers because it is surprisingly practical. Fairly inexpensive, it comes in an array of different sizes and levels of thickness. Dog leashes and gift accents such as ribbons are just some of the products that use hemp rope.

Necklaces are the one item of jewelry that are commonly made because basically because they are the easiest to do with the biggest retail value. The natural un-dyed hemp color still attracts the most attention and is associated the most with hemp twine, but other colors also exist. The usual thickness of the hemp is 20lb or 1mm twine. But you should make sure to check the evenness of the twine. These days you can find hemp necklaces that deviate from the original all-hemp design; some will have beads, charms, etc., and a few even have metal clasps, which the hemp purist may deride.

Having good macrame skills is beneficial when making jewelry from hemp because a lot of the effort is due to making knots. It is these knots that make up the look of the piece that runs along through it.

Four separate lines of hemp are used to make these knots. You just alternate one knot over another and for a pattern that looks like a double helix (or double spiral). You keep repeating the particular type of knot to make the entire length.

You can finish off the jewelry with beads, buttons or tied knot clasps right up to the slider-knot or to the aforementioned metal clasps.

Hemp can be used to make many things aside from the basic hemp necklace from the ordinary to the outrageous.

Before making hemp jewelry, one should read one of the many books that are available for this particular art form.  These books are available at a wide variety of book or hobby stores. If you are involved with making hemp jewelry it would be helpful to get books from your library which have instructions in how to do macrame.