Beading - Making Bracelets And Necklaces

Making your own jewellery or other beaded items can be really rewarding. You can sell your handmade items or wrap it up and give it to a friend as a birthday gift. And what is really special, is that whatever you make, is unique. No one else will wear that exact same specific item.

I am going to start of on how to make bracelets.

You will need some beads, tiger tail, crimps, clasps, jump rings, pliers and side cutters.

First you need to put a piece of tiger tail through a crimp, then through the clasp, fold it over and through the crimp again.

Then use the flat nose pliers to flatten the crimp. I know some like to use a special tool specifically designed for crimps, but I have found that these tools sometimes end up breaking the crimp.

You can then start adding beads. You will see that there is a shorter piece of tiger tail left. You can just push it through the beads too.

Once the bracelet is long enough, you put the tiger tail through a crimp, then through a jump ring and then back through the crimp again.  Pull the tiger tail through a couple of beads like you did with the first piece of tiger tail which was left when you started adding beads. This will make the bracelet stronger. If you cut the tiger tail off RIGHT against the crimp, the bracelet will break pretty soon.

Once you have pulled the tiger tail through a couple of beads, you can use the side cutters to cut of the excess.  And there you go, you have just made your first bracelet.

 

To make necklaces, you use the exact same method as making bracelets, you just make them longer.

If you want to make a necklace, where the beads are spaced, like this blue one, you just use crimps on top and under each bead to keep them in place.

Happy beading
Lena