How to make a Native American choker

Making an authentic, and attractive looking Native American choker isn't that hard to do. You can make chokers of any size and width. Just follow these steps:

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Leather to cut into strips and to cut out the end holders.
• Good sizzors.
• Sinue or leather string. You can get these on spools from an arts and crafts store or an indian shop.
• Super glue.
• Leather dividers.
• Leather punch for punching holes in end holders and dividers (if needed).
• Measuring tape to measure neck and leather strips.
• Either plastic or real hair pipe bone and some sort of round beads. I used real hair pipe bone, and torquoise and silver round beads.
• Lighter for burning ends of sinue.

1. 
   measuring around neck.

   Measure your neck at about the middle. Take that measurement and add about a 1/2 inch to it. This is in case you want to wear the choker a bit lower on youf neck (as I like to do). Be sure and write the measurements down.

2. Decide on how many strands you want your choker to be and the pattern of the beads. Do this by laying out your pipe bone and round beads in the pattern you'd like.
   When laying out your pattern, take your leather dividers and put them wherever you'd like.

3. 
   leather end holder.

   Cut leather strips, sinue/leather string, and end holders.
   If you need to cut your own leather strips, just cut them into 1/4 inch widths. These will be for tieing your choker. The ties will need to be about 10" long each.
   Take your sinue or leather string and cut as many lengths as you want, make these about 1 foot long to ensure you have enough to work with. If using sinue, you'll be tieing and burning the ends to ensure it holds in the end holders.
   To make the end holders, cut a oblong piece of leather out, depending upon how many layers your choker is. For a 3 strand choker, about a 1" wide and 2.5" should be good. Take your hole punch and punch vertical holes down the middle to equal however many strands your choker is; ei: 3 strands, 3 holes. Make these equal widths apart.

4. 
   sting through end holder.

   Take an end holder and a length of sinue/leather string. Put an end of the sinue, or leather string, through one of the bottom holes of the leather end holder. Tie whichever you are using in a good, decent knot and make sure the knot is big enough that it won't slip back through the hole.
   
   If using sinue, take a lighter, and burn the knot of the sinue just until it becomes a waxy ball, then put it out. Don't totally burn the ball off. This ensures that the knot will not come undone.

5. 
   my bead pattern.

   Now that your sinue/string is in place start applying your beads and bone pipe in whatever pattern you laid out. I just started out with a hair pipe bone. I put a divider on after those, then a hair pipe bone. Repeat your pattern till you've got the choker as long as you want it.

6. Repeat steps 4 through 5 for the rest of the strands of your choker.

7. Now that all your strands are together, hold both ends of the choker (the fixed end and the open end) and carefully wrap the choker around your neck to see if the choker is too long or not long enough. If it's too long, simply remove some beads. If too short, add more.

8. Once you have the desired pattern and length of you choker finished, put the open ends of sinue or leather string through the holes of another end holder and tie and burn those ends (sinue).

9. Now that the ends of the choker are secure, fold the end holder in half so that the ends are together evenly. Use some super glue and glue the halves together and let dry. Do this for both ends.

10. Once the glued ends are dried, use the hole puncher to punch one hole in the end. Take a leather strip and thread it through the hole evenly. tie the strip in a knot. Do this to the other side.

11. 

    Your choker is now complete!
    You can now add a bit of adornment if you'd like. I put a abalony shell on mine.

Tips & Warnings

• The bead dividers are best bought at a store because they are made from thick leather and the holes are usually already punched in them. This ensures your choker strands will be evenly spaced.
• The dividers can go between the round beads and the hair pipe bone or between other round beads, whichever looks best to you. But be sure to put them between each hair pipe bone. This keeps the choker more stable.
• When deciding on how many strands your choker will be, remember that a maximum of 3 strands looks best for women and a maximum of 4 or 5 strands for men. This is just so that the choker doesn't look too overwhelming and isn't too heavy.
• When punching holes in your leather end holders to hold the strands, chose a very small size punch. This will ensure your strands don't slip through.
• If creating a choker with a child, and using sinue, be sure to burn the ends of the sinue for them to ensure fire safety.
• Never make a choker too tight for your neck. You can tie it snug, but not so snug that it is uncomfortable.
• Don't make your choker too long either. Once you've tied the choker, there should be atleast 1" between the ends. Making the choker too long will make the beads start to overlap once tied and the choker will be too loose.

[FrazzledNanny]

on 3/20/2009 This is beautiful. Thanks for the directions for making a Native American choker. I put it in my favorites and 5*

[soanyway]

on 3/9/2009 Thank you for this informative and easy to follow article! Look like fun too! Welcoms to Ehow! I have recomn'd you

[goodselfme]

on 3/9/2009 Wonderful detail in your well done article on chokers. 5* and a recommend.

[Saka]

on 3/5/2009 Wow, great article, it give me some new idea for my handcraft... personaly i use a bone (white) or a horn (black) spacer for do the some think... Thanks agan for sharing (5s)

[jennen]

on 2/20/2009 These are beautiful chokers and very creative... great article 5***