I will "knot" stop!

 

One of my purchases at Bead & Button was The Knotty Do It All. I have always wanted to learn how to make that beautiful knotted jewelry, and watching the woman behind the product - Sandra - demonstrate, I was hooked. She made it look so easy, and the board came with a DVD tutorial as well. She had plenty of beautiful examples on display, which I was drooling over.

Furthermore, many of the projects in the Bohemian Inspired Jewelry book I also got at the show, feature these type of techniques (knotting, braiding, etc....). These are techniques that I have always been daunted by. Every time I attempt something like this, I end up in a pile of tangled mess and get frustrated.

The kit comes with a wood board (reminds me of a very large cribbage board), pegs, pegs with clips, some needle type tools and the DVD. I bought a basic brown linen cord, as I am still learning about the different types of material you can use. 

This week I finally sat down to watch the DVD and embark on my first project. I choose to try the macrame style knotting. I pulled out a gorgeous porcelain dragonfly by Nancy at Round Rabbit, along with some ceramic beads in the same blue and brown tones. Here is a perfect example of what always happens to me. I match a focal piece with some beads and then I'm like "okay, what other beads will look good with this?". I'm not saying that should be the only basis of a design.... of course I love mixing colors and textures and such..... but sometimes, you really want the focal to stand out and have a more simple stringing. I feel that the knots in between each bead are kind of like beads themselves. Instead of using a smaller seed or delica bead as spacers, the cording does this for you.

The tutorials are very easy to follow and I was able to start up with no problem. I decided to do 2 macrame knots in between each bead. The board has rulers on it so it is very easy to see your measurements at all times. Once I got knotting, it was very therapeutic and relaxing. Sometimes I really like that repetitive type of creating. This is very addicting and you can bet that I will be experimenting more with my new tool! It took me back to the days of making friendship bracelets...... scotch taping the end onto a book and working away! If you loved doing that, then this is the more sophisticated, grown up version for you!