My creation of traditional tongan handicraft
Below are images of traditional Tongan necklace and kafa I have made from a variety of different coloured shaped beads, white coral, sea shells and black woollen thick rope. All of these products I purchased from ebay.com. My daughter is modelling the necklace and kafa displaying what it looks like on a person wearing it.
HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE TRADITIONAL TONGAN NECKLACE The images on the right is a step by step guide to making a traditional Tongan necklace. Image 1: The required items: 4 packets of 12mm red star/snowflake beads, 1 packet of 3mm round plastic gold spacer jewellery, fishing line - not to thick, 1 hand sewing needle - preferable between sizes 10-15 and a medium size red ribbon. The essential tools are: a scissors, a lighter and a small bowl to place the beads in. Image 2: Cut about 30cm of fishing line and thread it through the hand sewing needle. Image 3: Place 1 red star bead into the needle and pull it along the fishing line about half way. Image 4: Place 1 plastic gold spacer into the needle and pull it along the fishing line stopping next to the red bead. Repeat steps of threading red and gold beads 13 times. Image 5: Shows what the beads looks like after repeated process. Image 6: Tie both ends together into a knot twice. Image 7: Displays what it look like at this stage. Image 8: Cut the fishing line of both ends leaving about an inch off from the knot. Image 9: Burn the remaining fishing line. Image 10: Make sure not to burn to the knot. Image 11: Place the red ribbon through the ring of beads. Image 12: Pull down the ring of beads. Image 13: Repeat the previous steps of making the ring of beads joining them together until your preferred length of necklace. Image 14: The finish product, of a simple traditional Tongan necklace |