What "string" to use for a nursing necklace?

[clynnr]

Hi!

I was thinking of combining the "birth bracelet" idea with the "nursing necklace" idea. (Have my friends/family each send me a bead, then put them together into a nursing necklace.) I read in another thread that nursing necklaces need to be strong so they don't break when dc pulls on them.

Does anyone have a suggestion for what type of string to use? Fishing line? Something else? Thank you in advance!

[QueenSheba'sMom]

if you have beads with smaller holes, use nylon bead string. larger holes, hemp string.

good luck!

[clynnr]

Oooh, I forgot about hemp string! I used to make tons of necklaces with that when I was in junior high/high school! I've probably forgotten how to do the fancy stuff (okay, I only knew two kinds of...braiding? do you call it that?) but I won't need to braid it for this. Thanks!

[tboroson]

I made a bunch of necklaces when Talia was born, because I love wearing them and wanted things that would put up with her abuse Hemp and nylon will both eventually break from the edges of the beads rubbing, if a baby is pulling on them. I recommend braided steel wire, called tigertail, that comes in a variety of weights. You use something called a crimp bead to close it up at the end. The crimp bead is just a little silver bead that you loop the tigertail through, and then squeeze it flat with pliers. Here's what the stuff looks like:

http://www.firemountaingems.com/deta...ewer=&catpage=

Fire Mountain is a great company if you want to order from them, but I'd recommend finding a local bead shop and taking a look at the stuff in person if you can because you'll want to get an appropriate weight. If you have small beads, a heavy tigertail will be really stiff; on the other hand, if your tigertail is too fine, it could slip out of the crimp bead (I had this happen with a really light pearl necklace I made for my sister, I had to knot it and then crimp it - the knot wouldn't have held by itself either, but together the two techniques worked well )

We did a necklace like this for a friend for her baby shower. She didn't want a full-fledged Blessingway kinda thing, but we liked the idea of doing at least one thing dedicated to *her* instead of the baby, so we had everybody bring a bead with a blessing/story/nice wish. I strung them onto tigertail as each person presented their bead, and she took it to her birth and later used it as a nursing necklace.