Spools of Irish Waxed Linen Cord
Hello and Welcome. Stay tuned for a waxed linen jewelry
giveaway at the end of this post! Today, I'm sharing with you one of my favorite materials for jewelry-making -
Irish waxed linen cord.
I first discovered waxed linen about 7 years ago and I've been using it
in my jewelry ever since. The more I use it, the more I fall in love
with it. Waxed linen cord is a strong, durable and versatile material
that works great for knotting, braiding and bead stringing. It's made up
of fine threads twisted together that's referred to as "ply". The waxy
coating on the cord helps make well-defined, crisp knots and holds them
in place without the need for glue.The highest quality cord is Irish
waxed linen cord made by Crawford Threads in Belfast, Ireland. I like to
buy my waxed linen wholesale by the spool from
royalwoodltd.com. You can also purchase it by the yard or the spool at
ornamentea.com or
jewelryaccord.etsy.com, which also offers cord color palettes. The color mixes offer wonderful inspiration to start your jewelry designs. Below is a bracelet tutorial I created for the Jewelry Accord shop on Etsy using one of Lorelei's many color cord palettes:
Fortuneteller's Bracelet
Waxed linen has traditionally been used for book-making and
basket-weaving, but it's become quite popular for jewelry-making in
recent years. Jewelry designers are drawn to the variety of beautiful
colors it comes in, it's affordability, as well as it's strength and durability. Waxed linen
comes in different plies or thicknesses. I use a 4-ply cord in most of
my jewelry. A single strand of 4-ply will string through most beads. I
tend to like to use multiple strands in my designs. More strands gives
me more design options when I'm making jewelry and I also love the
texture and fullness I get with multiple strands.
Tribal-Inspired Beaded Bracelet
I want to show you the range and versatility that waxed linen can
provide in your jewelry designs. You can get a lot of mileage out of the cord if you let it provide multiple elements in your pieces. Use waxed linen to it's fullest
potential by using it as your stringing material, using it to add color, using
it to add texture and using it as part of your clasp all in one piece, like in my Tribal-Inspired Beaded Bracelet above or the Fortuneteller's Bracelet above that. If you look carefully at each piece, you can see that the linen cord is: the stringing material, adding color, adding texture and part of the clasp element.
Although I didn't make any new jewelry for the hop, I have plenty of designs I've done in the past to show you and this isn't even every piece! I have broken up my collection into 3 categories:
Modern Brights,
Earthy Bohemian and
Feminine Romantic.
Which collection below is your favorite? I've provided links to tutorials for some or links to magazine issues where you can find the tutorials for others.
Modern Brights Collection
Feminine Romantic Collection
A special thank you to my friend,
Diana of Suburban Girl Studio for hosting the waxed linen jewelry blog hop. I hope you have enjoyed viewing a variety of jewelry designs created with waxed linen. Now, it's time for my waxed linen jewelry
GIVEAWAY!
Win your choice of a digital copy of a waxed linen jewelry-making tutorial from my
Etsy shop: Bohemian Knotted Earrings, Macrame Flower Bracelet or Triple Row Macrame Bracelet.
Or win your choice of a waxed linen bracelet kit from
Ornamentea.com: Knotted Friendship Bracelets or Silver Branches Bracelet.
Which jewelry collection from above appeals to you most? Modern Brights, Earthy Bohemian or Feminine Romantic?
Leave
a comment answering this question and you will be entered for a
chance to win a digital copy of one of my waxed linen jewelry tutorials OR a waxed linen bracelet-making kit!
Leave your comment by Sunday, June 1st to be entered into the giveaway and please leave a way for me to contact you, if you win.
Thank you for stopping by, hopping and helping us celebrate waxed linen jewelry!
Kelly Morgan
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