Macrame Net Amulet Necklaces

Like many witches, I love stones and shells. They fill my home. I consider almost everything in my house an altar—even vertical surfaces. Myriad stones and shells bless and empower these altars.

I’m always looking for different ways to wear my stones and shells around my neck or hang them in my home. These bags are an easy method: I saw DIYs on making tiny net pouches you can add stones to and, when you want, remove the stones and put in different ones.

This is the same bag as in the photo above, but holding a shell:

I love these bags so much I made lots of them to wear or hang in my home. Below are some of them. You’ll see it’s easy to really change their appearance by adding dangles or using different color cord:

These bags are perfect for knot magic. With so many knots, if you repeat or add an intention with each knot you tie, it adds up. I’ve not said specific intentions on the bags I made myself, just general blessings, because I want magically versatile bags.

If you want your bag to include additional magical elements along with your rock(s) and/or shell(s), you might tuck in a leaf. Use a large leaf so it doesn’t fall through the netting. Or add a pretty piece of cloth dabbed with essential oil, chosen for its specific magical properties.

The following bag does not want to allow me to remove the stones. I’d made the holes in the net too large for the stones I wanted in this bag. They fell out. So I wove more cord through the net, which holds everything securely and permanently.

Think of the possibilities: e.g., magical keychains, crystals hanging above your altar. For years, a huge coral chunk has hung on the wall by one of my doors, as a protection. The enormous coral was a gift from a merchant marine friend who found it decades ago. Hanging by a cord I gerry-rigged about 10 years ago, the coral easily falls out of its string casing if bumped. But now I can make a net bag for it. … Oh … my … I’m not sure I can stop making these bags … ever.

Below are links to some DIY blogs. I adapted their processes a bit for my purposes and encourage you to do the same. For one thing, I didn’t braid the cord you hang the bag around your neck with because… no way am I going to braid so much cord. I just tied a few knots along each bunch of strands.

I also tried for my aesthetics—I may be an old hippie, but I attempt adding a touch of elegance to it. I used waxed cotton cord, 1 mm a .5 mm. I prefer the look of the .5mm for such small weavings. The right color waxed cotton cords, perhaps combined with other color waxed cords, matched to the right bead, created the simple elegance I desired.

Some people add a slidable bead at the top of the bag. (See vid url below.) The bead can be slid down to close the bag so its contents don’t fall out, or slid up when you want to replace contents with new ones.

It was easier for me to add beads because the strands had a lot less girth, since I had not braided them together.

Here are net bags in which I put shells with air plants tucked into them. The sliding bead makes it really easy to get the plants out to soak them in water (which is how you water them).

Except for the bags in the last photo, I made all the others maybe two months ago, dunno. But a few days ago I spun yarn for the first time and want a bag macramed of yarn I made.

Not only might it be pretty but … Talk about magic! With all that spinning and knotting, I’ll only have to create one bag to generate enough hoodoo to take over the world.

Net Bag Necklace Tutorials:

http://sustainabilityinstyle.com/diy-gemstone-necklace/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Macrame-Interchangeable-Stone-Necklace/

I didn’t watch all of the following vid but, at 11:25, it shows how to add the bead if you’re having trouble: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fnH7FojQDC4