Monday 28 September 2015

Pastel alphabet bead bracelets


Hello! The other day I was going through my beading stash and I found some glittery heart and star beads and some alphabet beads in a little kit which I am 90% sure I've had since I was a child. I didn't actually have enough alphabet beads to make many words or phrases, but I made one bracelet, decided I needed to make more, and went out and brought more alphabet beads. What I've learnt: there are never enough "e"s.
 

Nonetheless, I made quite a few little bracelets and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

 
In my stash I also found some cute plastic heart beads with small shiny gems in them, faux pearls, and some random coloured plastic beads. I used stretch elastic for threading the beads onto, and found it a complete and utter pain to work with. There was one bracelet in particular that broke four times! I've found the best way to preserve your bracelets, and your sanity, is to do two double knots, and then coat the knots in glue; I used E6000 and found it worked well. The other tip is to roll your bracelets on, rather than stretch them out too much.
 





I made five bracelets in what I think of as the pastel colourway, and then decided to try out some black alphabet beads and make some Halloween jewellery ^___^
 



When making these, I found that cutting the elastic to ten inches, and then beading to cover six inches was a good way to get enough bracelet to go around my wrist and enough ends to make tying the knots not totally painful. If you have more dexterous fingers than me though, you may be able to get away with shorter ends.
 

Lastly, I mixed together the black and pastel beads to make myself a "muggleborn" bracelet. I don't know if I have a favourite out of these bracelets ... but this one is definitely up near the top!
 

Although I love making quick projects like these, I've found lately that I haven't been making many big projects. I think this is partially because I've been trying to post a new project every week, so I've decided to relax my posting schedule. I'll still be posting, but only when I've finished a project. Hopefully this will actually make for more interesting, involved projects, and more tutorials too! And, of course, if you feel like you're just not hearing enough from me, feel free to check out my Instagram ~___^

- Lisa xx 

3 comments:

Crissy said...

These are super cute! I love the Boo one! haha I was never good at doing those knots and it would just pop! Horrible lol

Witchcrafted Life said...

So fun!!! The Boo one is so perfect for this time of the year. What cheerful, delightful creations, sweet lady. Thank you for sharing your beading work with us.

♥ Jessica

Lisa said...

Thanks Crissy! The knots are super annoying! I have no idea how children are meant to make these. Luckily, I get to play with superglue, which really did help!

Thanks Jessica! I have a soft spot for seasonally appropriate jewellery; it may be slightly impractical but it's such fun! ^___^