yarn wrapped statement necklace

When my friends over at iLoveToCreate asked if I would try out their new product Tulip® Custom Color Lab, I was pretty excited. While I don't knit, crochet or weave, I LOVE finding interesting ways to create with fiber. Custom Color Lab lets you take the art of dyeing yarn into your own hands which means you can create one-of-a-kind yarn to craft with.

iLovetoCreate was kind enough to send me three different types of yarn to play with-  chunk weight, worsted weight and lace weight and a ton of different colors of dye.

DYE THE YARN:
1. I started by mixing the dye- this process is as simple as adding water to the bottles of dye and shaking them up. 

Note: Dye comes with plastic gloves but I forgot to wear my gloves..of course!

2. Next I dampened the yarn with water and laid it out on a work surface.

3. Technically you are supposed to untwist the skein of yarn and lay it in an oval shape but I like to break rules! I actually found (by experimenting) that twisting and untwisting my yarn skein throughout the process of dying enabled my colors to blend and I was able to also hold onto areas of white yarn- something I wanted to achieve.

Note: there are a variety of different ways to dye the yarn- you can dip it into containers of dye, you can space dye it (like I did), use a paint brush to apply dye or even dye projects that are finished.

4. I used a variety of colors on each skein of yarn.

5. Next, I wrapped the yarn in plastic and let it set for about 4-6 hours.

6. Once the dye was set, I rinsed the yarn and let it dry.

I knew I wanted to create a wrapped statement necklace. I loved the warm rich colors of my yarn and I thought they would create a really unique piece of fiber jewelry.

CREATE A NECKLACE
1. Using cotton clothesline rope (you could use any kind of rope), I began to wrap my yarn using small dots of glue about every 1/2 inch. 

2. I alternated colors to create contrasting stripes. 

3. I thought it would be fun to add another element besides fiber so using some sterling silver wire, I wrapped wire over the top of the yarn.

4. I continued this process on five strands of yarn wrapped rope, using different color combos for each strand. Each skein of yarn that I dyed had so many different shades of color (black, grey, turquoise, blue, fushia, brown, etc) so I was able to use a lot different colors and shades.

5. The last step was to add to add a clasp to the back of the necklace. After gluing all of the edges of each strand together, I glued painted canvas over the raw edges.

6. Then I hand sewed silver end bars to the canvas.

7. Last, I attached a lobster clasp to the end bar.

I am so happy with the way that this project turned out! While a fiber statement necklace isn't for everyone, I love how textural and unique it looks!