guest post - erin siegel

I'm thrilled to do a guest post here on LMAJ. Thanks for having me! Today, I'm sharing with you one of my favorite materials for jewelry-making - Irish waxed linen cord. I first discovered waxed linen about 5 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.

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, 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.  You can find all my tips, tricks and techniques for waxed linen cord in the new book I co-authored called, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry: 50 Designs Using Leather, Ribbons and Cords. You'll also find creative jewelry designs using waxed linen cord by our very own Mary Jane Dodd in our book. We are very proud to have her as one of our contributing designers. You won't want to miss Mary Jane's designs, they are some of my very favorites in the whole book! 

Find out more about me and my jewelry on my blog, Erin Siegel Jewelry.

Erin