How to make a Yoga Necklace or Mala
Yoga necklaces or Malas are traditionally used in prayer and meditation.
Typically they include 108 beads (some associate the possibility of enlightenment with taking only 108 breaths a day while in deep meditation). Others connect the number’s significance to the heart chakra, as there is said to be 108 energy lines leading to it, one of which is believed to be the path to self realization.
However you can of course include as many or as few beads as you like!
Ingredients
Superlon Bead Cord in your chosen colour
Semi-Precious Stones – either 6mm or 8mm will do (we’ve used an 8mm bead in the picture above).
2 x 5mm Sterling Silver Stardust Beads
Focal Bead with a hole size of at least 1mm – we’ve used a butterfly bead but a shamballa bead or kazuri bead works really well too!
7mm Silver Plated Open Jump Ring
GS Hypo Cement
Method
1. Begin by making your tassel. Take a piece of card approx 6cm long. Wrap a 2 meter length of superlon bead cord around the card as shown below:
2. Now take a smaller 10cm length of superlon cord and slide it underneath the cord on the card and tie a double knot, add a dab of GS Hypo Cement to the knot and leave to dry. Snip off the excess cord from the thread you have knotted and remove the card.
3. Next take a 20cm length of superlon bead cord and fold it in half to make a loop. With your left hand hold this loop close to the end of the bundle of thread:
4. Now wrap one of the loose ends from the thread you are holding around the bundle of threads up towards the loop that you are holding:
5. Now take the end of thread that you’ve just been wrapping around the bundle and pass it through the loop that you created in step 3:
6. Pull both ends of the wrapping thread tight and the loop will tighten up and disappear from view. Now add a dab of GS Hypo Cement to both ends of the wrapping thread. Leave to dry and then trim. Now cut the unbound end of the thread so that it becomes a tassel. If the tassel is looking a bit wild and doesn’t hang straight then dampen it with some water and shape with your hands and it will straighten out.
7. Now add a 7mm Open Jump Ring to the tassel:
8. Now you’re ready to start making your yoga necklace or mala. Take two 1 meter lengths of superlon cord and thread both of these into the jump ring on the tassel so that the tassel sits in the middle of the pieces of thread. Now thread all four ends through a 5mm sterling silver star dust bead, a focal bead and another star dust bead. This might be a bit tricky to get all four threads through the beads and if you find it hard you might like to try using a Big Eye Beading Needle. Knot all four threads together after the last bead.
9. Now take two lengths of thread and add on a semi-precious bead and tie a knot in the two threads. As you tighten the knot use your fingers to push the knot up close to the bead.
10. Keep adding beads onto each side of the necklace as shown until your necklace is approx 3cm shorter than you want it to be. It needs to be long enough to slip over your head as this necklace does not have a clasp.
11. Now thread a bead onto each side of the necklace but do not tie a knot after these beads. Now thread one thread from each side of the necklace through a third bead:
12. Pull everything up tight and tie a knot around the threads either side of the last bead. Add a dab of GS Hypo Cement to each knot and leave to dry. Once the glue is dry trim off the ends of the thread and you’re done!
