Showing posts with label Brazilian Macrame Cord. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brazilian Macrame Cord. Show all posts

Friday, May 8, 2015

C-Lon Bead Cord - Comparing Sizes

C-Lon Bead Cord - Comparing Sizes
C-Lon Bead Cord - 4 Sizes in Orchid

C-Lon Bead Cord comes in 4 sizes. All the spools are 4 cm tall (1.57 inch) other than the Tex 400 spool a bit shorter at 3.8mm tall. Actual diameters of the spools vary a bit depending on how tightly the spooling machine is winding the cord onto the spool. The spools are measured by actual yardage, not by weight nor by the diameter of the spool. 

C-Lon Tex 400 Bead Cord ~ Ø 0.9 mm - The heaviest size, thickest cord. 116 colors.

C-Lon Bead Cord - Tex 210 ~ Ø 0.5 mm - 115 colors. The standard size called plain C-Lon Bead Cord, with no attributes. Often referred as Macrame Nylon #18, an appellation of older brands of upholstery bonded nylon such as Conso Nylon #18, Robinson Nylon #18, Mastex Nylon #18 and Macraworld Nylon #18 which used to be the standard size of bonded nylon used for macrame for jewelry making and for upholstery all the way back to the 1970's. Now the standard size for micro- macrame. 

C-Lon Fine Weight Bead Cord - Tex 135 ~ Ø 0.4 mm - In between the standard size and the micro size. 61 colors for now.

C-Lon Micro Bead Cord - Tex 70 ~ Ø 0.3 mm - The finest weight. 48 colors for now. Please note the card shown below has the wrong size it listed the inch size instead of the mm size!

The Tex 400 spools are easy to identify as they are shorter than the other ones. You can identify your spools by looking at the crossing of the cord on the spool and by feeling the cord diameter. 

Not sure what you'd like… Contact Marion & ask for a sample! 

The sample card will have a piece of each cord size about 1/2 a meter/yard long:

Micro - Oyster
Fine - Teal
C-Lon Bead Cord - Black
Tex 400 - Orchid

C-Lon Bead Cord - Compare the 4 Sizes

If you want a thinner cord than the C-Lon Micro Cord, several mono cords are available, C-Lon Bead Thread Size DC-Lon Bead Thread Size AA and KO Beading Cord. These are 1 ply threads with filaments that are parallel, not twisted into 2-ply or 3-ply cords such as the C-Lon Bead Cords. 



Sunday, January 20, 2013

Micro Macrame - The Latin American Version



ARUMI design by Martin and Ugne from Spain www.facebook.com/ARUMIdesign or www.arumidesign.etsy.com
While Macrame got its latest renewal as Micro Macrame in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia, another macrame revival has been taking place in Latin America.

The re-emergence of Macrame has been centered around jewelry, renamed Micro Macrame for short and mostly features knotted cords with beads or gemstones. DIY books have been published by artists and authors such as Joan Babcock, Kris Buchanan, Sherry Haab, Anika DeGroot and Marie Le Sueur. Websites such as Macrame Collective have been showing Macrame as an art form. The availability of materials to work with has been a major factor. You need cord. In 2005, I had difficulties finding bonded nylon in a wide range of colors for myself and my students, so when I discovered C-Lon, I decided to promote them.

At the time C-Lon made 24 colors of C-Lon Bead Cord and the C-Lon Bead Thread Size D and AA collections. Marion Jewels in Fiber, my supply website, was born in January 2006. Over the years I have helped C-Lon expand their collection and now they have 4 sizes of cords, with 72 colors of C-Lon Bead Cord Tex 400, 104 colors of the standard C-Lon Bead Cord, 24 colors of C-Lon Fine Weight Tex 135 Cord, and 32 colors of C-Lon Micro Cord. C-Lon is planning to add 16 additional colors of the Fine Weight Tex 135 cord in 2013. They added 24 colors of Tex 400 last year, so they keep expanding!

In the meantime, another macrame revolution has been taking place in Latin America centered around Settanyl and Linhasita, two brands of Brazilian waxed polyester cord. These cords have been difficult to find until recently when KnotMore.com started importing Settanyl. After sourcing Linhasita a number of years ago, I had considered importing it from Brazil, but I was already busy enough and running out of room to store cords, plus I found that I am allergic to the wax coating, so that idea was nixed. So it is great that someone else has taken the baton.

The work featured on this page is made with waxed polyester cord, artist names are listed.


Nicole Medema

Percy Palomino Tomayquispe


Teleisthai Macrame

Merlina Textile
Here is fun sculptural piece made with this waxed polyester cord by Merlina Textile. 



KnotMore.com was founded by Dawn Standera of Macrame Collective and Karen Forbes. Both Macrame artists were frustrated by the lack of availability of this type of cord, so they decided to venture into providing this cord for knotters, Macrame artists or anyone wanting to experiment with this cord. KnotMore carries 75 colors of Settanyl, a 1mm 2-ply waxed polyester from Brazil. The spools have 175 yards, so plenty of yardage for projects such jewelry, knotted sculptures, and basketry.

More : Read about comparisons between the Settanyl Brazilian Polyester cord and C-Lon Tex 400 Bead Cord at http://jewelsinfiber.blogspot.com/2013/01/comparison-between-settanyl-brazilian.html.















Comparison between Settanyl Brazilian Waxed Polyester and C-Lon Bead Cord


Dawn Standera

What's the differences between Settanyl Brazilian Waxed Polyester and C-Lon Bead Cord?

Nylon versus Polyester
Nylon is made out of continuous filament fibers. It imitates filament silk. Polyester is made of shorter fibers, spun together the same way as cotton and linen. 
Expect more stretching with polyester. Nylon after an initial stretch has minimal stretching. 

2 Ply versus 3 Ply
C-Lon is a 3-ply cord. Settanyl is a 2-ply cord. 3 ply construction makes a rounder cord. 2-ply construction makes a cord that can be more easily flattened. 

Bond versus Wax Coating
Bond is an applied coat to the cord after it has been extruded, spun and plied. It is similar to a resin coat that's applied, then dried in an oven. Tack is also often applied to cord when it is wound on spools. It kelps the spools from unraveling. Bond sometimes whitens over time when exposed to changes of temperature or heavy handling. Rubbing alcohol applied to the cord surface restores the transparency of the bond. 

Wax is applied after the cord has been plied. Wax is not a permanent finish. Over time the wax coating gets thinner, leaving the cord more susceptible to wear and tear. 

Size
The Settanyl Brazilian Waxed Polyester is about 1mm in diameter, just a tad thicker than C-Lon Tex 400 Bead Cord, the heavier cord of C-Lon. 


Wash & Wear
Both types of cord can be washed. Both will fade with long exposure to sunlight. 

Learning Curve
Bonded nylon is a bit harder to knot. Waxed polyester is easier to knot as the first half of the knot holds itself better as the wax creates a form of adhesion. Undoing knots is easier with bonded nylon and much harder with waxed polyester without damaging the cord. 

Personal Preferences
In the end it is all about personal preferences. Many types of knotting lend themselves to waxed fibers. Some artists, experts and beginners alike, will love the availability of this cord.

My recommendation 
Personally I would get a few spools to test if I could. Unfortunately, I have a major skin sensitivity to the wax coating on this thread, so I will leave this thread to other to play around and experiment with!



 >> Go to KnotMore.com