Phat Hemp Jewelry

So I’ve been making hemp jewelry for a painfully long time, since 2002 or so. When I first started out, I just picked up hemp twine from the craft store and didn’t really think much beyond it. When I started up my Etsy shop, I needed a higher quality twine source so I went searching online. Better prices, better selection, better everything was to be had when I finally did that. So here are my favorite places, and prospective places, to pick up hemp twine online:

My favorite is unfortunately down right now, and I have no idea why. Hemp Bay, which is a direct retailer of Hemptique[1] brand hemp, used to offer their entire hemp twine product line. I love the quality of their hemp, and they also have the best variety of colors in both 10lb and 20 lb sizes. They also carry 48lb through 170lb hemp. Since most places only offered 20lb as their smallest hemp size, and usually not in any of the colors, I was quite excited.

While it’s annoying as hell that they don’t have their direct retail store active, I have found a good source on Etsy through the Hemp Beadery[2] . Global Hemp[3] is another favorite spot of mine to pick up Hemptique, although they do rebrand it to their own company. Fire Mountain Gems[4] also carries Hemptique brand, although they don’t offer the entire line. Fire Mountain Gems also offers a few other hemp twine brands, and is the only place I’ve ever found offering metallic accent hemp twine. They also offer MASSIVE discounts when you order a lot of stuff through them, so if you need beads or other jewelry making supplies, go through FMG, especially if you’re ordering over 200 units. The prices go down starting at 15 units, however, and shipping is flat rate.

Next up is Ecolution. Who, like Hemptique, kinda sucks at making it easy to buy from them directly. I don’t know what it is about hemp twine manufacturers that makes it impossible for them to have proper websites, sometimes. Ecolution doesn’t have as broad of a color selection as Hemptique, but it is good, consistent hemp twine to work with and it does have a pretty good color selection. It’s also significant for offering 48lb black twine, since most sizes about 20lb are not dyed. I pick up Ecolution through Global Hemp[5] . Rawganique[6] also carries Ecolution, but I have never purchased through them before.

For hand-dyed and custom hemp twine, I go through Receptive Earth[7] . It’s very good quality, and I absolutely love the colors that I’ve purchased from this store in the past. I don’t pick up a lot of hemp here, since it’s mostly for my guaranteed vegan friendly stuff, but it’s well worth checking out.

A hemp twine producer that I recently came across, the US Hemp Company, is one that I’m currently trying. I picked up a ball of teal hemp from Hemp Beadery[8] from that company, so I’ll update with links when I know whether or not it’s worth checking out. They have a moderate selection of colors and sizes.

Bead Smith hemp twine can be found online and is commonly in craft stores. I don’t have any complaints about it, but it has limited colors, and you usually can only find the black, brown, and natural options. Darice is another brand that you’ll find at craft stores and department stores. I like this one a little less than Bead Smith, as I’ve had some issues with size consistency and bunk spots on the twine.

Brands I know about but have not tried out (and why)

Hemp Basics: VERY limited colors/selection and prices are ridiculous. Eco Hemp: Seems to have a limited selection, website didn’t offer information on where to purchase retail. Hemp Sisters: Never heard of before an Amazon search.