Bead-Stringing

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Bead-Stringing
With Elastic Cord

This article" bead-stringing" is about making bracelets with elastic cord.

As this website is about making jewelry using simple techniques, it seems important to give details about bead stringing with elastic cord.

This is a simple technique and it makes very nice bracelets with any types of beads, gemstones charms…
They are "casual" bracelets, easy to wear and are suitable for women, man and kids.

You can use gemstones symbolics and magical properties to make a gift or use any types of beads and charms.
You can also make these type of bracelets with left over beads. We like using this technique with polymer clay beads and we make many "rows of bracelets" with beads in different colors or sizes. Because polymer clay is lightweight, even with many bracelets, you don't feel you have something heavy in your wrist.

This technique is great to use with kids, you don't have to worry about needle or pliers. You just need to be careful with scissors!

As we said i is a simple technique BUT you need to choose a good quality elastic cord and finish it neatly in a secure way. I made a lot of bracelets for gift and my friends gave them back to me because they were broken!

First of all, elastic cord comes in different weight, so choose one according to your bead's size. If you are using gemstones, be careful: Gemstones are heavy, drilled by hand and holes are not always well polished so they may break some type of elastic cord!

Now let's see how to finish this type of jewelry.

You can make a square knot (left thread over right and make a knot and right thread over left and make a knot). Click here for detailed pictures.
If you can't hide the knot inside a bead, you can use a crimp bead cover or a bead cap if that one has 2 parts and can be open (scroll down until the end of the page).

Unfortunately, both crimp bead cover exists only in silver or gold tones. Same for this type of bead cap: it exists only in metal craft finishes.

Design Ideas

Maching the coral necklace

Matching bracelet for the coral/pendant necklace.

The knot is hidden inside the focal bead. We used left over beads.

Big winter bracelets

These bracelets are made with felted, resin and flat wood beads. The felted beads are strung with a tapestry needle and we used an heavy elastic cord otherwise it stretches with time.