February 2012 Mini Project Shamballa Style knotted Bracelet

The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Limited 7 Market Street Nottingham NG1 6HY Tel. (0115) 958 8899 Fax. (0115) 958 8903. www.mailorder-beads.co.uk info@mailorder-beads.co.uk

You can’t open a magazine at the moment without seeing a celebrity wearing a shamballa bracelet, so why not make your very own shamballa style bracelet - check out the second page for more ideas.

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Takes approximately 20-30 minutes

to knot the bracelet.

Materials Used: 5 or 7 x 10mm beads (see our various designs on the next page) 2.5 m x 1mm black cotton cord

Tools used: Tape & scissors

1. Cut a 50cm length of thread. Knot one end and thread on all

of the beads of your choice and knot the other end, to prevent the beads from dropping off the thread. To make the knotting

easier secure your thread to a table top using tape. Cut a 150cm length of thread and tie this in a reef knot (left

over right, then right over left) approximately 7cm from the

start of the cord taped to the table. Make your first square knot; take the left thread over the central cord, then pass the

right thread over the left, under the central cord and up through the loop created by the left thread.

Central cord

left thread

right thread Reef knot

2. Pull the left and right

cords tight to complete the first knot.

3. Make another square knot, but this time take

the right cord over the central cord first and loop the left cord under and through the loop

on the right side (reversing the first knot).

4. Make two more square knots, reversing

them each time. Slide your first bead into position close to the last knot. Tie another

knot around the bead.

5. Pull the knot tight and

continue to make alternate left and right knots. Tie

three knots inbetween each bead. Once you’ve added

the last bead, tie 3 more

knots and finish with another reef knot.

Secure the reef knot with a small amount of super glue.

Once the glue has dried, cut off the excess cord.

6. Overlap the end of the bracelet

(with knots to finish each end). Use the remaining 50cm of cord

and knot over both pieces of cord. Make several alternating square

knots, making sure you don’t pull

the knots too tight (so the cords can still move inside). Once you’ve

made about 8 knots, finish with a reef knot and secure with glue in

the same way (being careful not to get glue on the bracelet).

For this striking bracelet we used 12mm scratch beads teamed with some

handmade sparkly beads.

Here are some Shamballa style bracelets we’ve made to help

give you some inspiration...

The sparkly beads were created with (3g) black Geomfix clay and 2mm SWAROVSKI

ELEMENTS foiled chatons.

For this simple, yet stunning bracelet we used 10mm alex silver Murano glass

round beads and black cord. This could easily be adapted with a change of bead

or cord colour.

As Murano glass beads are hand made, not all the holes are exactly the same size. We used a bead reamer to widen some of the smaller holes so that they would thread on

to 1mm cord well.

These bracelets don’t have to be all sparkly, we made this neutral earthy bracelet with natural 10mm wooden beads and 1mm brown cord.

It’s always hard trying to think of things to make your male friends for gifts, so this could

be ideal - why not personalise them using different coloured beads.

It could be the perfect Valentine’s gift...

This bright fun bracelet has been adapted to create a subtle twisted effect - simply

achieved by only using left square knots all the way around, instead of alternating left &

right

Using different coloured beads, like this rainbow bracelet creates a fun look and is

an ideal activity for half term!

We hope you have fun playing with beads and creating your own bracelets!