Hand Dying my own hemp! :-)

Last year, a huge local supplier for dyed hemp went out of business. Ecolution, (who also supplied pretty much the world) had the best hemp. Romanian hemp, multi-ply and soft with bright and rainbow colors. When they went out of business, I almost did too.

But I sat down one day and thought, why can't I dye my own hemp? So, I did the research.
I found the best dyes to use that hold well, have wonderful colors, and aren't bad for the planet.

I had to work pretty hard to track down the 6ply and 12ply Romanian hemps that I was used to as well, but I did it!

So, now for the past few months, my husband and I have been working hard at getting good at this new technique. We now have dyed all of our own colors, and do not use any pre-dyed hemps. I have to admit, it feels really good to be self-sufficient.

Its so much fun, too! Its just like tie dying when we make our Rainbow and Variegated hemps, because they have gradient colors. We now have everything Ecolution had to offer and more.

1000 Sales and more intricate Macrame designs!

So, we did it. We hit 1000 sales on our Etsy Page. I'm so happy that I've been able to sustain for this long. A lot of people say that its pretty hard to have a successful Etsy store, and thay are right. It is a lot of work. But its been worth it to be able to spend my time doing something I love, and sharing my designs with people who enjoy them, meeting cool people along the way.

So, I had been pretty much doing the same knots for a long time on my designs. Square knot, lace knot and fish bone encompassed much of my design work. I had gotten crazy enough to make combination's of these knots on some of my pieces, such as my V necklaces. But honestly, it had been a couple of years since I say down and learned something new. I thought with the success of my store, I should add some more elegant and intricate macrame designs.

So, I got out my old 1970s macrame book that my friend got for me, and cranked out some new stuff.
I made this watchband (which comes with the watch) with 10 strands of black unwaxed hemp. The design neatly wrapps around the rainbow moonstone beads, hugging the piece together.

I also made 2 bracelets using 10 strands, with a similar knot style in different variances. All of these pieces have a very sturdy feel to them, like a band of canvas.
You can click on the images if you would like to see the items in my Etsy store.

A special thanks to all of my customers for supporting my art and making my life happier than ever!