Recycle yesterday's fashion trends! Make a sweet cuff bracelet with the pages of last season's glossy fashion magazine and elastic. A great group activity! Once they know this Native American bead-work technique, kids can use the wire weave to turn anything tubular into a recycled bracelet, belt or ring with a look that's hot off the presses this season.
What You Need:
- Glossy fashion magazine
- Ruler
- Sharp scissors
- White glue
- Damp towel
- Craft dowel (at least .125 diameter)
- Elastic jewelry cord
- Clear nail polish
What You Do:
- Cut elastic cord. Warn your tween that it's slithery to work with! She might want to learn the beading technique with plain yarn and a few spare beads first. Otherwise, cut one length, four yards long. Before cutting through, dab all around the cord with nail polish and let it dry. Dab a little more polish on the cut ends.
- Cut 25-30 bead-making strips. Snip out 2" wide strips, cutting from top to bottom of the magazine page. Use a ruler to mark a straight cutting line. Cut through 5 or 6 pages at a time, along the line. Trim each strip to a point at one end.
- Roll a bead. Fold the straight edge of a strip up to overlap 1/2". Lay the dowel in the fold, then roll the strip up tightly around the dowel. Before reaching the pointed end, stop and apply glue to the point. Finish rolling, then smoothing in the same direction. Pay special attention to the tip and edges. Wipe your fingertips on the towel.
- Test the fit. Slide the first bead off the dowel. Thread the cord through the hole twice. Does it fit? Make some beads! If not, be glad you checked now. Find a fatter dowel (try a pencil) or a skinnier cord and try again.
- Wire Weave. String one bead and move it all the way to the middle of the elastic. Find the middle by holding the two cord ends and sliding your free hand down toward the bead. Now that it's centered, follow the diagram to add the second bead. Each end of the elastic goes through the same bead, crossing inside. Gently scoot the second bead next to the first and pull the elastic so it is snug (not tight enough to crease the edge of the bead.)
- That's it! Repeat, lining up the beads for color and effects. When the cuff fits, join the last bead to the first, weaving through second and third beads before tying off. Pull the elastic tight to tie it off. Poke the knot into a bead with a toothpick if needed.
Learn more: The technical name of this weave is a mouthful: the double strand warpless weave. It's one of the oldest ways to join tube-shaped beads. Native Americans used this technique for porcupine quill belts and straps long before the Victorian era, when it got its popular name. In the 1800s, jewelers used this kind of beading to weave tiny glass seed beads into rings and bracelets with wire.
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