Category: crafts

Glass and Clay Beads by madebyhippies on Etsy

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via View Glass and Clay Beads by madebyhippies on Etsy.

I’ve been chatting with Erik Granström from the Made by Hippies website who told me about these Rastaman beads for making the hemp bracelets and necklaces with. You know I never even thought about using these kind of beads. I had just assumed that the best beads to use were those wood beads.

This gives me a good idea on what kind of jewelry I could make as Christmas presents this year. He also told me about mixing in color hemp but it occurred to me that I have tons of embroidery floss from when I was 17 years old when I learned how to make friendship bracelets. I’ve been buying so many of them that I had to buy an organizer to store them in and I don’t even use them.

So, when I start making bracelets again I’m going to make them a bit more interesting.

They sell those beads by the way in that link at the top so if you are interested in buying cool rastaman beads for your projects go and click. They also have some cool salt and pepper shakers too. All of those things are one of a kind, you can’t find them anywhere else.

Bob’s Big (Hippie) Boy

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, JewelryLeave a comment

I realize that on the dorkometer I am probably off the charts but I was bored earlier today so I made a necklace for my Bob’s Big Boy piggy bank lol.

It’s not an exact replica but it was the best I could do with what I have to work with. Of course I had to attach a picture of my necklace below his to show how the colors are the same, although they are spaced quite a bit apart and the hemp is smaller in mine but it’s basically the same thing. Who cares about semantics hehe.

It was fun to make, there were times I thought it might be too long with all the knots and the amount of beads but it worked out on the first try.

Now, I see 2 teddy bears who don’t have any jewelry on.

Hemp Choker

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I finally made my beaded hemp necklace, or choker as you would call it. I didn’t really want a choker but I guess I ended up with one since I didn’t plan the pattern out right. I was winging it since nobody had this particular pattern for the size hemp that I have which is the #40.

I was thinking about trying again by adding more knots to each end but when I hold it down a little bit as if it had more length it doesn’t look great. Also, as I lose weight my neck will get thinner and the necklace will end up going down on its own so I think I’ll leave it alone.

My carpal tunnel’d hands hate my guts right now. I kind of hate me too for doing this knowing how bad my hands are but I really, really wanted a beaded hemp necklace lol.

The package of beads I got had 3 different sizes with 3 different wood colors so what I think I’ll do is remake the bracelet with the medium size beads since the necklace has the larger beads and the rings have the smaller beads, this way I’ll have a set lol. I don’t know if I’m going to take it further with earrings though, I think that would be too much.

Well, that solves my reward for losing my first 27lbs. I wanted jewelry. I didn’t care if it was handmade or store-bought as long as I had jewelry. I got my dragon and vine ring that I bought a couple of years ago that was too small that I could only wear it as a pinky ring. Now I have 2 hemp rings with 1 more in the works, a hemp bracelet and now hemp choker.

Oh I also have that eagle necklace I talked about last month when I made up the reward thing. Remember it was too small? Well, it just so happens that I found a bracelet (that belonged to Opal) that Darrin was going to give to one of our friends children but her parents said no, she’d lose it. Darrin didn’t care because he said it was costume jewelry so no big deal. He told me to just toss it but I kept it and guess what? It makes the perfect extension for my necklace.

It’s a gold chain that doesn’t exactly match the chain that my eagle necklace is on but it’s pretty close and they are both the same gold color. Who is gonna notice it? I don’t know if or when I will wear it but it’s low enough that I have that option now. I could wear it right now if I wanted to but I don’t know if a hemp choker and gold eagle necklaces go together lol.

So, I got my jewelry and I’m happy. I went years without jewelry and never really cared one way or the other and now I feel naked without it.

Hobby Lobby

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If you live in the US you might have been to a Hobby Lobby some time in your life.  I have been there once or twice with my aunts when I visited them in Texas at Christmas time in 2006.  My aunt Louise brought me there before Christmas to buy herself some jewelry supplies then on Christmas morning my Aunt Joyce gave me a Hobby Lobby gift card which I had to spend before I came back to California because we don’t have the wonderful warehouse.

If you have never been to one, I can only describe it as a cross between Wal*mart and Michael’s.  They probably aren’t as big as a Wal*mart store but they are bigger than Michael’s and they carry more merchandise than Michael’s.

The reason this came to mind today is because last night I was watching these tutorial videos from ehow.com on how to make hemp necklaces.  The woman doing the tutorials showed all the 4 different sizes of hemp and said to get them from Hobby Lobby.  Well, Michael’s only had 2 sizes but she had all the sizes which means Hobby Lobby must carry everything when Michael’s only carries half.

I looked at the map on the Hobby Lobby website to see how many states away we are from Hobby Lobby and I was shocked to see that California and Oregon are the only 2 states on the west coast who does not have a Hobby Lobby.  That sucks big time.  I think that they need to bless California with their presence starting with Bakersfield lol.  If not, at least sell merchandise on your website!

Thicker Hemp

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We went to Michael’s to buy some thicker hemp today.  The hemp that Erik “the Hippie” was using in his tutorial was much thicker and is what I wanted to buy but Michael’s didn’t have it.  They had the #20 and #48 but no thicker.  They actually had a thicker one but it wasn’t the same stuff and it was extremely itchy.  I’m not going to get an itchy cord to wrap around my neck and constantly be irritated from it.

The #20 is good for rings and for smaller projects but not very good for making necklaces.  I don’t know how the #48 is going to look yet so I’ll find out when I start working with it.

Chips bracelet keeps falling off of his wrist so I’m going to make him another one because I bought some barrel clasps that I’m going to put on his new one and my new one too.  I don’t mind using a pony bead as a clasp but if they are going to keep falling off then it’s not worth it.  I also wanted the barrel clasp for making a necklace because I don’t want extra hemp cord tickling the back of my neck.

I didn’t get any extra beads because I have plenty for now.  Also, I’m still a beginner so I don’t want to have all these extra craft supplies if I burn out on it you know what I mean?

So, off I go to remake our bracelets to find out if this new stuff is thick enough for a necklace.

Lessons From A Real Hippie

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I’ve always loved hippie jewelry which is why I finally learned how to make the ring and bracelet that I made last night but I wanted to learn how to make the thick necklace like Karl has on GHI. Well, I didn’t know that I had bought the wrong hemp string yesterday. I bought the fine string, I need the thicker string.

As you can see in this tutorial on how to make a hemp bracelet on the Made By Hippies website, he is using a really thick hemp string. Which means… I gotta go back to Michael’s  .

I have this thin stuff so I guess I can still use it for making thin bracelets with the small beads with matching rings for selling but if I really want to make the necklaces I should buy the thicker hemp. The beads I bought aren’t meant for the thin hemp but at least when I buy thicker hemp I won’t have to buy more beads cause I got a bunch lol. Although, they had this huge package of wood beads for $5, I might buy it for making necklaces for selling, who knows.

LOL I’m a beginner and I’m already talking about selling them. I’m ambitious aren’t I?

A Ring? For Moi?

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, JewelryLeave a comment

I’m waiting for my ambien to kick in (as it is while I’m typing) and I was looking for free patterns for making hemp hippie jewelry like rings and necklaces.  I made the bracelet but I want more lol.

So I found this website that actually sells the rings for about $5 and thought, well shoot, that’s easy, that’s the same exact pattern I used for the bracelet.  Left right 10 times, add a bead, left right 10 times then tie the bottom to itself to form a ring.  Done.

So I present you with my new hippie ring since I am too broke to buy a real ring for myself.  I actually like it way better than an expensive ring because I have skin allergies to metal which is why I never wear jewelry unless it’s pure gold.  That’s the only metal I can wear is pure gold.  Anything else gives me some strange effect where it oozes and scabs up lol.  It took me years for my ears to heal when I was a teenager because they didn’t pierce them with gold.

Anyway, tell me what you think… too gay?  Ask me how much I care lol.  I’m going to make the matching necklace tomorrow lol.  Chew on that.

Hemp Bracelet

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I finally did it! I made my first hemp bracelet. I wanted to make a necklace but in order for me to make something that big I had to learn how to macramé and this pattern was a good start.

Although this isn’t the first one, this is the 2nd one. The first one I used all pony beads and they were too big so I had to start over with smaller beads. You know what that means don’t you? Yes, I had to cut the pony beads out. OUCH! Yeah, that did hurt but it’s fine.

I also didn’t do it exactly right, I did all the knots going one way which made a spiral pattern which I did like but that’s not what the pattern was. So for me to do it right I had to type out left right left right…. bead… left right… then check them all off as I went to be sure I was doing it right.

It was touch and go here and there but I finished it. One of the beads in the middle is too loose so it doesn’t look right. I think what happened was it got turned around because the ends of the hemp that I had to put the beads on with was getting frayed so I had to keep cutting them and when I started putting in the knots it wasn’t going great. I had to undo some knots and start over and I think that I allowed it to be too loose when I should have kept it tight.

At any rate, it’s all finished and I like it. The beads that I bought had 3 different colors and there were 8 beads total in the pattern so instead of using 1 color I chose all 3 in this pattern. Light, medium, dark, medium, medium, dark, medium and light. You can see the light one at the very top of my wrist.

So my next project will be a necklace but I have to find a great pattern because this hemp is too thin, I might have to double up on it to make it thicker because the one Karl was wearing on GHI looked thicker.

Anyway, I’m glad that I was able to learn so easily how to make this pattern or knot, I’m going to try out some more things later.

Hemp Jewelry Supplies

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Jewelry1 Comment

While I was suffering with my website, Darrin came in my room to tell me that he had to go to Geico to make his first payment.  Yes, he just saved a bunch of money on his car insurance by switching to Geico.  There, I said it.

He said it was over on California Ave. and Stockdale Hwy so I decided to get away from my blog problems and go with him to get out of the house and get some fresh air.

While we were out I wanted to go to Michael’s so I could buy some hemp cord and some wood beads for making my necklace.  I don’t care anymore about making it my “reward” for when I drop down to 200lbs.  Mainly because I’m in a plateau which is frustrating and a necklace will make me feel better lol.

They didn’t exactly have the beads that I wanted like the ones that are sold at Acajou Games and Crafts but the ones that I did find will do just fine.  The ones I found at Michael’s were cheaper and came with a variety of colors and sizes at only $1.99 with 80 pieces.  I also got a package of wood pony beads for $3.99 with 90 pieces.  I’m pretty sure I have enough wooden beads to last me a long time.

I got my bracelet pattern which will teach me how to make the same pattern for a necklace and since I’ve never made one of these before, the bracelet will be my teacher so I can make the necklace without wasting too much hemp cord.

This macramé project will keep me busy for a while and I will take a picture if it turns out ok and post it lol.

Well I’m just about finished with the bracelet and the pony beads are way too big so I’m gonna have to do something that will hurt me, I’m gonna have to cut the entire bracelet up to remove the beads and put them back in their bag and start all over.  That’s ok because it’s all a learning process, you can’t learn if you don’t make mistakes.

The other bag that I got for $1.99 has beads of many different sizes so I think the little beads will work for the bracelet and necklace.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with all the big beads, I’m sure I’ll find something.

It’s going to be awhile now before I can supply a picture so until then…

My Spirit Board Finished

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Well I finally did it.  I made a spirit board.  No, not a “Ouija” board because that name is copyrighted.  This is my own personal creation.  Although I copied the idea, I burned it.

The font I used for the letters and numbers is Captain Howdy and the yes, no, hi and bye is obviously Comic Sans.  I didn’t want to have big words like Hello and Goodbye and I’m sure Hi and Bye are perfectly acceptable.

I added the sun and the moon because I read you are supposed to ask the “spirits” if they are from the sun or the moon.  Sun meaning good, moon meaning not so good.

Look, I don’t know if a spirit board works or not and I don’t know if or when I will ever use it, I just wanted to make one lol.

I showed awhile ago my planchette that I made but it was too big for this board so I had to cut a smaller one out of it and I am not going to drill a hole in it, instead the “spirits” can use the point from the top of it to point to everything.  I could drill a hole the size of a nickel but it’s not necessary.

For now I am finished burning but I’m not completely finished with it.  I still need to put some lacquer on it.  I’m waiting until I can buy a spray lacquer instead of wasting yet another brush that I can’t clean.  Also I’m sure spraying is smoother than brushing.

I hope you like it.  Oh by the way, the wood is the “irregular” from Walnut Hollow’s website so it was only $2.25 and it measures 13.5″W x 10.25″H.  Pretty good price for a spirit board right?

myspiritboard