Advice on making stretch-bracelet

maiakity

maiakity

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May 12, 2012
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I'm new to the world of pearls and have never tried beading anything before. I'm considering making a stretch bracelet, and was wondering if anyone had tips/tricks or advice on the materials to use. I am a TOTAL novice, so please explain any jewelery-making lingo if you would be so kind :)
 
You'll need some pearls!
And some stretch beading thread stuff. Doesn't have to be brand name. thread pearls onto stretchy..watch them fall off again (it's tricky stuff with a mind of its own) and start again. Eventually you have them threaded. to finish, do proper reef knots . Tip - stretch the whole thing before tieing each knot, seems to stop them stretching themselves undone.
If you have access to a drill and can handle it, enlarge the first little bit of the first pearl to about 1.5mm and then pull the knot into that little crevice and glue it there to hide it away
I had planned to make a video of this, so now I know I need to do this!
Hope this helps
 
Reef knots...can I just you-tube this for instruction? When you say stretch the whole thing before tieing each not, I'm assuming you mean the finishing knots (I would assume a stretch bracelet isn't knotted between each pearl like a non-stretchy one). Any tips on type of glue to use? I don't want to use something that would damage the pearls. Thanks so much for the response!! Now...onto shopping for the right starter pearls for this project :) If you get around to making the video, please post a link!!!
 
right over left and under, left over right and under (I knew being a brownie several hundred years ago would come good)
no knots between pearls
I use hypo cement for gluing the knot into the hole. just sort of splodge it in and then pull hard to pull the knot into the hole. If it argues I use somethng like the end of pliers to shove.
There's a lot of glamour in making pearl jewellery!
 
maiakity said:
I'm new to the world of pearls and have never tried beading anything before. I'm considering making a stretch bracelet, and was wondering if anyone had tips/tricks or advice on the materials to use. I am a TOTAL novice, so please explain any jewelery-making lingo if you would be so kind :)
Click to expand...

Hi maiakitty, just wondering if you finished a bracelet?

To all the LB's, Stretch Magic comes in .5mm, .7mm, and 1mm. I assume 1mm is too thick for most pearls and .5mm too weak, however I once had a stretch bracelet on this type of elastic and it frayed and broke very quickly. What has your experience been? Do you have a favorite elastic that works with "normal" sized drill holes, or would it be better to enlarge them to accommodate a thicker, stronger stretch cord?

I don't know what I was thinking, but I recently got a 10 strand hank of one type of pearl (because it was a good deal) but now I have them coming out of my ears and don't know what to do with them all. I think they're good candidates for stretch bracelets or a pearl swap if LB's ever do such a thing.
 
maiakity said:
Ooh, what kind of pearls did you get?? Never ended up doing a stretch bracelet...yet, but it's still on my list! Pearl swap...now there's a good idea!!
Click to expand...

They're large white freshwaters, with deep rings. They're short and fat and have that nice bumblebee look that I love so much. I'm not used to such big pearls though, kind of Marge Simpsony.
 
So, I finally got around to making some stretch bracelets! And to be honest...I think they are my new favorite accessory :) I used a silver bead as an accent bead, and luckily the holes for the silver bead were large enough to encase the knot, so no knot showing! I bought some of these cheapie dyed CFWP and thought they would be perfect for my stretch bracelet experiment. I like them so much I ordered more! They have that tahitian-y look (for those that don't know tahitians well) at the low price, I wont mind if the bracelet breaks and I lose all the pearls, I'll just make more!



 
Ha ha, I'm not even sure! It was Darice Jewelry Designer Stretchy Cord, it's clear and it worked great! I might consider doubling up on it though for the next ones, it's pretty stretchy but I did manage to break it while I was trying to knot the 2nd one up, ended up picking up the pearls that rolled all over the kitchen floor and trying again. wore them all day today though and they didn't stretch out of shape!
 
In the past I used Stretch Magic but found it to be too stretchy. I doubled up the .5mm and knotted every 3 or 4 pearls. I like Beadalon Elasticity better. It doesn't stretch too much like Stretch Magic and feels more secure, just my preference. My local brick and mortar Michaels and Hobby Lobby don't carry Elasticity. I found it at Artbeads.com.
 

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Those are great dyed pearls and really pretty bracelets. The color looks good on you. The indirect natural light in the car is perfect.

Cathy, I'll have to try that type of cord when I get around to making stretch bracelets.
Wendy, great tip about drilling the extra space to hide the hole. If only I had more time. I certainly have the pearls! :)
 
The colours and size looks fantastic on you. Are the two stands attached to each other or can they be separated?
 
oh too cool! i'm so going to try that now - i have some random stretchy stuff that someone gave me a while back, and of course plenty of pearls. great inspiration, thanks!
 
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