I've had this hobby for a few months now, but only do it every now and then. I'm not great at making bead bracelets, but its fun, they're cute, easy and addictive! I have to stop myself from buying beads, but buy them in unexpected places ( like H&M for the coloured square box below)I made a few for my friends this Christmas and thought I might try doing a tutorial on making a bead bracelet. I would have posted this earlier but my internets been down all day, but I was going to Winter Wonderland today anyway!
Beads and lots of them! When I first started I picked specific beads for specific bracelets and counted in some extra but now I just buy loads of whatever colour I fancy. I particularly like multi packs and silver packs, most of the beads aren't in their original bags, as I have a little system going on so the prices on the packs aren't accurate. You'll also need some elastic thread which you can buy in any bead shop, it was about £2 for a whole roll, which will last me for ages. Scissors are needed for cutting the thread, and clear nail varnish is handy as it keeps the elastic thread in place.
This is simple, just wrap some around your wrist and give yourself extra room for tying the knots, you cut the excess off later. Don't be stingy because tying knots with short elastic thread isn't easy later on! Make sure the knot is big enough so the beads you want to use won't fall off, triple knot it or more (or you could always put a small bead on the ends and then use normal sized beads after them). Then put clear nail varnish on the knot, as mentioned above, the clear nail varnish helps keep the knot in place. Go for clear since if you use a coloured one it looks weird.
Pick the beads you want and sort them into a pattern that you like. The amount of beads you need depend on how big the beads are and how big you want your bracelet to be. Roughly try to make seven one inch patterns, it should fit a wrist, but add in a few more just in case you drop and loose some or its a bit tight. I like to use those 'made with love' hearts on the end just because they look cute.
Make sure the first bead won't go over the knot since the weight of the other beads might make it slip over if its big enough and then you have beads all over the floor. Threading the smaller beads can be annoying but you just have to have patience.
Once you've finished threading the beads on, hold the top end tightly and wrap around your wrist to get a general idea of it it'll fit, you can add or take away some beads if you need to, then tie a triple knot and put nail varnish over it. This knots just keeping your beads in place for the next step.
Tie both ends together, make sure its really tight and secure as this is holding the bracelet together and coat the nail varnish all over it.
Then you cut of the excess elastic so it looks nice and neat. You will have a knot there though, but there are beads you can use to cover them up. I'm too lazy to do that though usually, and you don't tend to notice anyway.
And there you have it! A very easy way to make bracelets. I think they're fun little presents to give, among other presents and to make for yourself. Sorry for the flashy pictures, it was dark when I did this. I'm always more productive in the night and leave blogging till last minute so I have to manually change the time to fit into the "right" day haha!
