First, a BIG “thank you” to PandaHall for supplying these colorful jade beads. The beads are 8mm, faceted, and dyed a bunch of different colors to create a pretty rainbow affect. When I saw them temporarily strung up, I knew I wanted to use them all together to take advantage of the color combinations and turn the strand into a piece of jewelry that I could wear with lots of different outfits.
This is a good beginner project since you don’t need a large amount of tools or supplies to make this bracelet, but it may take a few practice sessions to get the knotting down. Along with the jade beads, you will need some 1mm bleached hemp cord (at least 3 feet), small ruler, and scissors. I also find using a pair of round-nosed pliers helps me if I goof up a knot and need to pull it out. They work like little fingers.
Measure 6 inches from one end of the cord and make an overhand knot. Now string on your beads in the order you want them on, so you may want to take a little time with this so that you get the color combination you want. For example, I did not want two of the same color beads next to each other.
Push the first bead strung up against your knot, and then tie another overhand knot, making sure to push your knot close up to the hole in the bead. You do not have to make this super snug, but you do not want tons of space between knots and beads either. Keep doing this – move a bead, knot, move a bead, knot – until you have six inches strung up.
Obviously, you could make this longer with adding more beads. I used up all but about 4 or so beads from the original bead strand. If you wanted a chunkier look, you could use two strands of beads, make the center part 12 inches instead of six, and then wrap the bracelet around your wrist twice before securing it.
Once you get all the beads strung on and knotted, measure another six inches of hemp and cut any remaining hemp so that you have two 6 inch strands of hemp on either side of the bracelet.
To secure it to your wrist (and you probably need someone to help you do this), just tie the tie the two six inch pieces of hemp together into a bow.
