How to Make a Beaded Bracelet With Skinny Beads

Make a delicate beaded design with skinny beads -- also known as "bugle beads" or "tube beads" -- to wear as a bracelet. Go a step further from making a regular beaded bracelet and use bugle beads to create a simple design like a ladder. Look for bugle beads and the other supplies you need at a craft store or in bead or jewelry specialty shops.

Things You'll Need

• Ruler
• Beading wire
• Wire cutters
• Clasp
• Seed beads
• Bugle beads

Instructions

1. Measure and cut two pieces of beading wire with wire cutters to 1 foot long so you have enough length for the bracelet. Wrap the ends of the wire around the loop at the end of a clasp about five times.

2. Hold the other ends of both pieces of wire together, slip a seed bead on the ends and slide it all the way down. Separate the two wires and add two seed beads onto each end.

3. Add a bugle bead to the left wire and slide it all the way down against the other beads. Feed the end of the right wire through the top hole of the bugle bead and pull it through until it stops up against the beads on the wire on the right. You now have a wire sticking out on either side of the bugle bead.

4. Bend the two wires gently so that they are at right angles pointing up from the sides of the bugle bead. Add two more seed beads onto each wire and another bugle bead to the wire on the left. Feed the end of the wire on the right through the bugle bead and pull it all the way through. Continue this process until the bracelet can wrap around your wrist. Add one more seed bead to both wires together.

5. Hold the ends of the wire together and feed them through the loop at the end of the other side of the clasp. Slide it down to the last bead and wrap the wire around the clasp loop five times. Trim the extra wire with the wire cutters and bend the ends down so you won't get scratched by them. Your bugle bead ladder bracelet is complete.

References

• Bead Jewelry Making: Beaded Ring and Bracelet