Playing with Hemp

I love colors.  So I decided to buy a bunch of colored mother-of-pearl beads to make bracelets or something fun.  Because I prefer more natural materials I decided to buy a bunch of different colored hemp to experiment with.

Stringing beads to make it a bracelet seems so much easier than it actually is and I am just finding that out after having spent way too much money on beads thinking it would be easier!  I always thought, "Okay, just get some beads, get a string, string them and then put a clasp on the end.  Easy peasy." ... I guess in reality that really is just that but it really TRULY is a lot more difficult that it seems.

Perhaps my decision to string with hemp is what made the stringing process so difficult because of how much it frays!  Turns out there are some things to consider about hemp, and that there is more to consider when choosing a stringing material than just what seems pretty. So here are some thoughts and tips I have for those considering hemp:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/85566559/colors-galore?ref=v1_other_1

There is colored hemp and uncolored hemp; guess which one looks funner?  The thing with colored hemp is that the coloring process actually weakens the hemp and so it is recommend to use uncolored hemp along with colored hemp to strengthen your jewelry.  As for the bracelet above, I used uncolored hemp to string it, but because I am clumsy and I wanted to make it extra durable I actually strung in an unnatural clear string along side the hemp!

Hemp makes stringing beads difficult because it frays pretty much on contact.  I tried licking the tips to make it come back together.  After my mouth got dry I tried dipping it in a glass of water.  Doesn't work.  And by the way, putting water on your hemp is not good for the hemp - makes it less pretty. I also kept cutting the string to create a neater unfrayed end only to find I would eventually end up with a tiny baby bracelet.  Maybe someone out there has better advice for working with hemp but speaking only from trial and overnight experience I have discovered that this is the only thing that worked for me:
1) Put a piece of clear tape at the end of the hemp.
2) Twist the hemp around inside the tape so that the curls become tighter.
3) Keep twisting and twist off the piece of tape.
4) Then use your finger tips to twist the hemp end into a  finer tighter tip at the end.
I found that the little bit of glue from the tape really helped hold the hemp tips together and kept it from fraying while trying to put the thread through the beads.

After discovering the little bit of glue helped, of course I went to experiment and tried using super glue (Why?  Because its the most gung-ho of all glues).  DO NOT DO THAT!  Not only does the super glue get all over your finger tips making them rough like a construction man's, it also gets all over your nails, and everything else if you are clumsy like myself.  If the super glue gets on your beads it makes your beads look less shiny - and gracious forbids that that happens!  And lastly, don't do it because it doesn't work.  It makes the end of your hemp really rough and hard and poofy - so its actually even more difficult to get it through the bead hole especially if you have natural beads that sometimes have corners inside that tiny bead channel.

Lastly, I read somewhere that you can use bees wax to decrease fraying and to keep your hemp looking pretty.  I personally will never tried that because I will break out in hives from bees wax but please leave comments on whether bees wax works for you, or what other methods you have to keep your hemp from fraying.