cork & hemp necklace

cork and hemp necklace, otherwise known as, my ‘drunk & high‘ necklace. cork, drinking, and hemp, smoking, ya know? this necklace is crazy, easy. this necklace took me years of planning. this necklace took me about an hour to actually figure out and make simply because i was avoiding cleaning.

the prototype, i made with thread… and it wasn’t as long. since it’s been deconstructed. it’ll be reconstructed into one with a hemp cord now too. hemp just fits this necklace. it would probably look amazing with a thin silver or gold chain… very thin! (but adding that would take away from the drunk and high appeal of this one.)

this is what you need; cork, bottle top, hemp cord, jewelry pieces: ear wire hook, eye pin, barrel clasp.

not much at all right? cut the hemp cord to 40 inches. that’s what you do first, measure and cut the hemp. in the end, the necklace will be approximately 36 inches.

first, ignore my nail polish or lack thereof, please. second, take the bottle cap and secure it to where it falls naturally into place. place the awl in the center of the bottle cap and cork. push, push, push… pretty easy. the hole you make will noticeably larger than the eye pin.

that’s an eye pin. yeah i didn’t know the name either until recently. it came in a package of jewelry findings i had. cut it with scissors. it’s thin enough that it’ll cut pretty easily. leave about 1.5 inches.

my ears are gauged so i totally didn’t really even recognize what this was. it’s for your ears! it kind of reminds me of looking through my moms jewelry box in the early 90s (after i realized what it was, of course). find the EAR WIRE HOOK, start positioning it in the opposite end of where the bottle cap goes. take the awl and make another large hole slightly off-center. the ear wire hook will go there.

barrel clasp…

thread the barrel clasp with the hemp. tie two knots for security. one is fine because the cork is so light, but two makes it really really fine. then, put the EAR WIRE HOOK on the side that isn’t hemp cord’d, (new word).

remember that hole you made with the awl? that hole is where you’ll put the looped side of the EAR WIRE HOOK. i don’t think it needs glue. you could use a little, if you really wanted to. just push it very firmly into place. it should hopefully stay, mine did. make sure you secure both ends of the EAR WIRE HOOK.

glue time. i used a glue gun. i had not had a glue gun since i was a teenager until about 2 years ago. i had forgotten how useful they’re.

with a glue gun, be fast with this. put the glue on the cork. put the cap on the cork. then, push the eye pin in.

if the glue dries before you get a chance to put the eye pin in, take a needle or the end of the eye pin, and clean out the dried glue… then, set the eye pin in place. (but try to do this when it’s still wet – so it affixes to the glue as well).

no glue gun? don’t wanna heat one up? it’s too messy. yeah, i know.. you can do this with super glue as well. make sure to read the label to see if it bonds with metal/cork/etc.

thread the eye pin with the hemp. tie two knots again. trim. and finished! i really should make gift tags for these..