Hey!

This is an instructable on how to make a woven, beaded bracelet out of cord and beads in just three steps. This bracelet took about two afternoons to make, and aside from being fun to wear it also makes a great gift for that crafty, bracelet-wearing friend. For this bracelet, you will need eight things:

A clipboard
Some cord that should be a few inches longer than what it takes to wrap twice around your wrist- you should also be able to easily stick a needle through it
Medium beads- these are going to make up your bracelet
Clear nail polish or other clear, strong glue
A closure bead- I used a coin with a hole in it but buttons work too
Scissors
thin thread the same or similar color as your cord

two needles (three if you're prone to losing things like me)

Once you have all your supplies, let's get started!

Step 1: Setting Up the Cord

First, take your cord and fold it in half. Tie a knot about a half inch down so that the top part makes a loop. Make sure your closure bead just fits through this loop, as this is going to be part of your clasp. Next, take a piece of thin thread twice as long as the cord, fold that in half, and tie it on top of the knotted cord so that you have two hanging pieces of thread of equal length. Thread your two needles on both of these and reenforce the knots with clear nail polish. Once you clip this to your clipboard or tape it down, you're ready to start weaving!

Step 2: Weaving on the Beads

Now It's time to start weaving on the beads! This is easy to do, but kind of hard to explain. First, take one of your threaded needles and poke it through one piece of cord where you want your first row of beads to be. Thread the desired amount of beads on the needle (the more beads, the thicker the bracelet) and then poke the needle through the other piece of cord, pulling the needle tight. Now, take your other threaded needle and stick it through the opposite side of the row of beads you just wove, pulling it tight as you draw it through the other piece of cord. You should end up with your two threads on opposite sides. You just wove your first row of beads! Now continue to weave until you reach about half an inch short of your desired bracelet length. Then tie a knot at the end, and reenforce it with clear nail polish! Next, weave your two smaller threads back through the last few rows of beads, clip the threads, and glue them down with the nail polish.

Step 3: Adding a Closure Bead

Now it's time for the final step: adding a closure bead! Tie and reenforce a knot a little bit away from your last one, thread on that closure bead, tie a nice fat knot on top of it and, of course... Glob on some clear nail polish to finish it off! Congrats! you've just finished the bracelet. :)