Project #19 - Macrame & Friendship Bracelets

When making friendship bracelets, we are using a fiber arts technique known as "macrame".  Macrame is an organized system of making knots to create anything from bracelets to scarves, or even creations beyond your wildest imagination, as you'll see from the artist inspiration at the bottom of this post. 

Materials - Yarn (or string, embroidery floss, hemp cord), scissors, tape

Making - The easiest way to learn how to make friendship bracelets, or the craft of macrame, is to watch someone and then try it yourself, so enjoy the different approaches demonstrated in each of the videos here. 

Inspiration - Examples of macrame are seen in many different cultures around the world and date back to ancient times. It is believed that the word macrame comes from the Arabic word "miqramah" which translates into "striped towel" or "embroidered veil".  Others suggest it comes from the Turkish word "makrama", meaning "napkin" or "towel". These words all appear to be cognates, words that are similar across different languages.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of the use of traditional crafts amongst contemporary artists. Ernesto Neto is a Brazilian artist who uses macrame and crochet to creates large scale works of art. Much of his art works are large interactive environments that people can enter into.