Ideas for Beaded Stretch Bracelets

Choose your Thickness

Elastic stretch cord is inexpensive and available at most jewelry supply or beading stores.
Decide on the general size of the beads you’d like on the bracelet. Different thicknesses of stretch cord are on the market, and will each will give different results. A thicker cord needs thicker beads, while small holed beads may be too small to fit onto larger cords.

Spacers

One simple idea is to make your bracelets a bit more interesting by adding spacers between beads. If using larger beads, you can use one after every bead. Silver or brass colored spacer rings add some shine and contrast to the bracelet, especially if using glass or wood beads.

Double Layer Stretch Bracelet

Take your bracelet to a new level by making it doubly wonderful. Make a double bracelet by using medium sized beads with a straight pin looped on either side of the bead as central connectors to two separate bracelet strands. Make many of these beads with loops. As you go about making two strands, connect the strands every so often with the looped beads. Voila – you have a double stranded bracelet that is a cinch to make.

Finishing Off

There are several ways to finish the bracelet off – one is to use a crimp bead. I personally don’t like this idea because the crimp can have rough edges. Another is to use a sailor’s knot. A sailor’s knot is very strong and will likely hold as long as the cord stays intact. It can be tricky to learn the knot, but with once you know it; you’ll be able to do it forever. You can see a demonstration at: http://www.tollesburysc.co.uk/Knots/Carrick_bend.htm which helps immensely over trying to read about it.

You can also use a double knot, which isn’t quite as strong, but isn’t a bad way to go. A drop of jeweler’s glue can help make the knot last longer.

Other pages you might find interesting are bracelets and handcrafted jewelry.

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