Beaded Cuff Tutorial

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Mucho thanks for the uploading of these pictures.
fuuangel & displeasure have them uploaded on their servers as I am a big dork and cannot figure out how to do it on my own.

This is meant for the memories section. Maybe people will stop asking me how to make these now…lol…*knock on wood*

I am putting it behind cut because it is huge

Cross-posted to bracelet_whore and jewelry_bazaar

Instructions For Turtle Beaded Cuff


Supplies Needed
Elastic String-*Or whatever type of string you prefer to use. I use. I use Elastic String as it is really cheap to buy and you get a lot. I buy it from A.C. Moore’s for like a buck and I believe I get 30 yards of it…Maybe more.
*See Picture Below*

Needles-I use needles as it is easier for me to put the beads on them and do the criss-cross stitch. It is easier for me to thread the string through the beads with needles. You don’t have to have them though, but as you will see, it makes life a little easier. Also, if you are going to use needles, get ones where the eye-the hole at the top of the needle-is pretty wide. Wide enough to fit the string through. *See Picture Below*

Graph Paper-I like to always graph my design out on paper first. But, it is not needed. I imagine you can graph it out on normal paper. Graph Paper also makes life a little easier. *See Picture Below*

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Scissors-Have them handy for cutting and trimming the string.

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Beads
I used mini pony beads in this design. You can use regular pony beads, but the amount of beads used it different.

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With mini pony beads I usually make the cuuff anywhere from 27-30 beads around/length. Anymore and it’s too big, any less and it’s too small. In the turtle beaded cuff, I used 28 around and 9 high. I try not to make them more than 10 beads high as they are too big for my wrist. In height, i’ve made them anywhere from 2 beads high to 10 beasds high. It is yor choice though how big/long you want them.
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First I have my design on graph paper.

B stands for Brown
G stands for Green
BL stands for Black.
*It is easier to use one or two letters in substitute for the entire word*
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Then I wanted to see what the colors would look like together before I made the design on the bracelet. So I graphed it out on paper and colored it in.
*See the top two turtle colored in.*
I then decided I did not like those colors-too plain-blahhh, so I recolored them in. *See the bottom turtles colored in.*
I liked that much better.

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Then I counted out the beads I needed for this design.
Beads Needed
2-Black
8-Yellow
12-Orange
16-Hot Pink
12-Purple
38-Green
164-Blue
252-Total
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I then cut my beginning piece of string. It may seem short, but I will tell you how to add more later. I usually cut mine about my arms span in length. Any wider and I’ve learned it gets tangled up way too easily and that is no fun. If you wanna measure it out…I would say no longer than a yard…
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Then I tie each end of the string to a needle.


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*I am left-handed, so you will have to switch this around if you are doing it right handed.*
I always put the beads on from the top of the graph to the bottom of the graph. So in this case, they are all blue…no way to screw up there. And I always put the beads on…top to bottom…and always on the same needle side. So since I am left-handed, my beads are always put on the needle that is on the left-hand side.

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Then I pull the beads to the center, so that if I hold my two needles up, the beads are pretty much in the center. It is not important that they be exact.
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Then I add nine more beads to the left-hand needle, starting from the graph design, top to bottom.


Then I slide the right hand needle through the right hand side of the beads. Make sure to get it through all the beads. It shold look like the picture below, with a pointy tip sticking out of each end.


I then proceed to pull the needles out of the ends of the beads, like shown below.


If all goes well, you should have something that looks like this:

Don’t worry about how loose it looks. It can be tightened up later. And the more rows you add, the tighter the design becomes.
When doing a beaded cuff, you always want to pull the beads snug at the end of each row. You can do this by pulling on each end of the string at the same time, with opposite hands.
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You continue doing this stich over and over until you have reached the length you desire, or your design has run out.
Always remember….stick with the same from the beginning. Top of graph, bead goes on first. If you start with the left-hand needle, always use the left-hand needle.
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Here is what the design looks like half way through the first turtle. See how that first two rows really pulled together?

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Now here is where I add more string to the already too short string. Make sure to leave yourself plenty of room for the tie off.
I just basically cut the string, and by using an over-hand knot, tied more on…



Then I trimmed the excess string, off of the knot, down to about an eighth of an inch. The shorter it is, the easier it is to hide. But you don’t want to cut it too short, as it may come apart when you tug on it to make sure it holds.

Here is a picture of the bracelet after I added more string. Can even tell can ya?

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Here is a picture of the bracelet half way done. See any strings?


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Here is a picture of the finished design.

I ended up using glow in the dark blue beads for the background.
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Here is where you pull it together.
What I usually do is fold the bracelet in half and you just do what you have been doing all along.


Put the left-hand needle through the left-hand side of the beads, and the right-hand needle through the right side of the beads and pull tight.

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For some reason, I cannot find the final pictures…I wonder what I did with them. I know I took them. I thought I uploaded them, but apparently not.
Weird. I probably have to retake them as I most likely did not save them.

But what you do after you fold the bracelet in half is, continue threading the string through the beads for awhile. I usually do if enough times as to where each bead has 3 pieces of string through it. It makes it sturdier, while stretchy still, and holds the design together.

To tie it off, I simply pull the needle through half of the beads, in this case 5 beads, and pull the other needle through the remaining 4 beads. I then pull them up through the beads and tie them off. Like in the overhand knot, same as earlier. I then trim the string down to about an eighth of an inch and pull on the opposite ends of the string to hide them inside.
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Well, sorry about loosing the final pictures to this. I must have had a moment and not uploaded them. I promise to make another breacelet soon and take pictures of its final moments/steps.

Lemme know if these directions work for you or not.
Are they too hard to understand?
Am I missing something?
Anything will help.