How to Make Quality Baby Bracelets
Making jewelry for your infant creates a personal and heartfelt gift that you can save as a treasured keepsake for both of you many years down the road. However, making jewelry that will be worn primarily by infants raises safety concerns. Therefore, your main objective when creating quality jewelry for babies is to ensure their safety and comfort. While this necessitates some special supplies and a little extra care, you can still make strong, durable, and attractive jewelry for your baby.
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Things You'll Need
- Durable beading cord
- Crimp beads
- Bead tips
- Pliers
- Beads
- Jump rings
- Lobster clasp
Instructions
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1
Purchase a very strong non-kinking beading cord or beading wire. Babies often pull and tug at jewelry, so you need to make it more durably than you would make jewelry for adults. Having good stringing material for baby jewelry is a must, because if the cord breaks then the baby may choke on the loose beads that escape. These cords can be purchased at your local craft store or a reputable online dealer.
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2
Purchase smooth beads without a lot of sharp corners. This does limit your choices as far as bracelet design goes, but smooth beads are less likely to scratch or cut your baby if she falls and uses her arm with the bracelet to break her fall. In addition, avoid painted or varnished beads, as well as beads with shiny "rainbow" finishes; babies tend to put everything in their mouths, and these finishes may be toxic. Generally, plain acrylic or plastic beads should be safe for your child.
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3
Slide a bead tip and a crimp bead over one end of the cord.
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4
Tighten the crimp bead around the cord with crimping pliers and then use a drop of superglue or craft glue to secure the crimp joint. Close the bead tip shut with pliers so that it hides the crimp completely.
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5
Attach a jump ring to the bead tip and close it securely. You may want to use a heavy gauge jump ring (18 gauge or lower) to create a more secure connection that will hold if your baby pulls it.
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6
String your beads along the cord. Make sure that you measure your baby's wrist first so that the bracelet doesn't become so large that she can easily yank it off.
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7
Repeat Steps 3 through 5 with the other end of the cord to create a secure bracelet end with another crimp bead, bead tip, and jump ring.
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8
Open one of the jump rings on the end of your bracelet, put the ring through the loop of your lobster clasp, and then close the jump ring with pliers. Although you can use almost any type of clasp to complete a bracelet, a lobster clasp is probably the safest for a baby because it is the only major type of clasp that cannot pop open accidentally and will not open under stress. This makes it less likely that your baby will manage to take off the bracelet and choke on it.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not make necklaces or dangling earrings for infants. Anything around a baby's neck can choke them if it gets caught, and a child can be seriously injured if she yanks hard on a dangling earring in her ear.
Make sure that all of your components are lead-safe so that your child cannot get lead poisoning if she chews on the bracelet.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit bracelet de perles image by Georges Lievre from Fotolia.com
