February 2013 Update

It’s been a tad too long since I last updated, I must try to get back in to the habit of blogging more regularly.

Christmas Event

So to catch up from where I last left off, the Winter Fayre I attended at the end of November was a wonderful success, it was packed and was busy the entire time.

Christmas Sales

The Christmas buying season online, was better than I had expected. I even tried out Folksy in the run up to the Christmas season to see whether that would be another possible venue through which to sell. Although I did get one sale through Folksy, I was quite disappointed by the visitor stats, as they were very low and not what I had expected. Whilst I expected views to be lower than Etsy (as Etsy is more widely known worldwide) than Folksy, I didn’t expect a lower amount of views than my own web site obtains. So I’m not currently impressed with Folksy, although it’s a venue I will keep my eye on as it is targeted towards the UK market, whereas in comparison Etsy is very US targeted.

Community Pop Up Shop

The Community Pop Up Shop that I sell items through in Chelmsford town centre closed at the end of December. However, it has now reopened, yay! So my items have now been restocked there, plus it’s back in it’s original location.

New Items

I have been adding a new range of items to my stores ~ macrame charm bracelets.

Custom Colour Crystal Bar Square Knot Macrame Bracelet

Custom Colour Crystal Sideways Cross Square Knot Macrame Bracelet

Custom Colour Silver Infinity Charm Square Knot Macrame Bracelet

Custom Colour Silver Anchor Charm Square Knot Macrame Bracelet

Plus, I’m working on adding a range of macrame tutorials as well. I have one listed so far, but more will follow.

PDF Tutorial Square Knot Macrame Bracelet Single & Two Colour With Adjustable Slider

Monday Update

It’s been a while since I did an update, so I’ve got a number of new things to share, including events, shop locations, and new items.

Christmas Event

In a month’s time, I’m attending a Winter Fayre Event, which I’m hoping will be a fun one to do as it is the first Christmas event I’ve done. I had hoped to attend a few more events. However, there is a bit of competition with spaces for jewellery stalls at events, as a number of them restrict the amount of similar stalls at an event, and unfortunately I haven’t been lucky enough to obtain a stall at those events.

Community Pop Up Shop

The local Community Pop Up Shop moved location at the beginning of this month. They’re still based at the High Chelmer Shopping Centre but in a slightly different location, just round the corner. The volunteers did a fantastic job of moving everything in to the new shop, and managed to complete the move in a couple of hours. Items are now arranged over two floors, with the top floor predominately showcasing local painters and downstairs predominately showcasing local crafters.

My items are situated on a table by the window that’s covered in the red tablecloth. Since they moved in to their new location, I’ve added a larger range of items for sale in their shop.

New Items

First up, out of my new creations, is a silver plated necklace I created with beads received in my surprise package, and is currently for sale in the Community Pop Up Shop.

Green Glass Silver Plated Necklace

I’ve added two new macramé bracelets, and there will be more on the way in the future, as I keep on having ideas for other styles I would like to create.

Two Colour Macrame Fishbone Knot Friendship Bracelet – Custom Colour

Personalised Name Macrame Bracelet with Beaded Flowers – Custom Colour

The fishbone knot bracelet is created using square knots, but due to the order of how the threads are tied, creates a different look compared to a standard square knot bracelet.

Lastly, I’ve extended my range of hair accessories to include hair barettes, which are currently for sale in the Community Pop Up Shop.

Trefoil Gold & Silver Flowers Barette

Trefoil Red & Silver Flowers Barette

Macramé Bracelets

I’ve really been enjoying learning how to make macramé items, and I’ve now moved on to making macramé bracelets. I’ve got plenty of other ideas of things I’d like to try, but I’d thought I would post what I’ve created so far. I’ve made a number of items, both in a single cord colour and also in two cord colours. I have found it gives the bracelet a completely different look and feel when you add more than one cord colour.

First up, are the spiral bracelets that are created by using half a square knot, which creates the spiral effect. In this case I made the spiral go in the same direction throughout the entire bracelet, although it is possible to create sections spiralling in one direction and then the other.

Black & White Macrame Spiral Bracelet

Blue Macrame Spiral Bracelet

Next up, are the bracelets where I used the square knot in an alternating manner to create this pretty dainty pattern. The green and pink bracelets were a custom order.

Lilac & Purple Macrame Alternating Square Knot Bracelet

Pink Macrame Alternating Square Knot Bracelet

Green Macrame Alternating Square Knot Bracelet

Black Macrame Alternating Square Knot Bracelet

Lastly, I’ve created a number of items using the square knot, either by itself or with other components like rings and beads to create different looks.

Red & Black Macrame Square Knot Friendship Bracelet

Purple & Pink Macrame Square Knot Friendship Bracelet

Navy Blue & White Macrame Bracelet with Oval Silver Plated Ring

Grey Macrame Bracelet with Oval Silver Plated Ring

Red Macrame Bracelet with Black Acrylic Pearl Beads

Black Macrame Bracelet with Purple Acrylic Pearl Beads

I have other ideas I’d like to try, one of which is to create a more personalised macrame bracelet utilising letter beads. Plus, I’d also like to try out different macrame knots to create some more intricate patterns, particularly making use of several colours at once as I really like the look that can be created, as I find it really emphasises the patterns created by the knots.

Macramé Bookmarks

To date the majority of the items I’ve made (with the exception of elastic bracelets) has been very much metal based. So I decided to learn something new and work in a different medium to create a completely different style of item than I have done previously. Macramé is the art of knotting material (a variety of different materials can be used to do this including, thread, ribbon, wool, leather etc) and has been around for centuries.

The first item I decided to create was a bookmark, as featured in the book The New Macramé by Katie DuMont, although I chose to go with a different colour scheme. The knots utilised in the design of the bookmark are the diagonal double half hitch and to finish off the ends the square knot. Unfortunately, for a complete beginner there is a lack of photos along with the written instructions, as there is only one picture of the finished item, which shows in the photo the opposite side of the one you see whilst creating it. For some reason, the pictures of the knots at the front of the book only show the diagonal double half hitch when going from left to right, and not how you should do it when working in the other direction from right to left, which I initially had trouble with.

Thankfully, the internet exists and I was able to figure out how to create the bookmark when I found the instructions (particularly pictures) lacking in aiding me to create the item. Demure Designs had lovely colourful instructions of the diagonal double half hitch showing how you create it in both directions. Which given that this knot is the main one creating the bookmark was extremely helpful to me.

I used a small cork notice board to help with pinning my project too. I also found that it helped to have a number of pins at the start to align the diagonal double half hitch knots (as the bookmark is created from the centre outwards). Plus, I had pins at the bottom of the cork board (shown in the right picture below) to help separate the embroidery threads used, as it made it easier for me to see which threads I needed to use next. The only pinning that was stated in the instructions was for holding the overhand knots used in the centre to hold the threads down to the working board (the large blue and red pins at the top of the left picture).

I also found Olga’s Macramé Hobby Site, which has a really useful picture of the Clear Edge Method which is utilised in creating the neat V shape at the ends (shown in the left picture just before using the clear edge method), before the bookmark is finished off with square knots (shown in the right picture).

The picture on the right also shows that the threads used to create the square knots are threaded back up the centre of the square knots. So to finish off, those threads are cut, and a small amount of glue is added to give a secure finish. Plus the ends of the bookmark are trimmed to create an even tassel look.

The finished item – the left picture is the working side, and the right picture is the underneath side that you don’t see whilst creating the bookmark.

The completed bookmark (as per the instructions) I feel gives a slightly too thick bookmark for my personal taste. So I created a second one, but without doubling up the thread as in the first one I made. I however, did add on two extra cords to help widen the bookmark up, as not doubling up the threads would have made the macrame bookmark not as wide. The thicker bookmark is for sale in my local Community Pop Up Shop and the thinner bookmark is now available for purchase in my online shop.