Making Shamballa style bead bracelets is really quick and easy, follow our step by step instructions here…
Click here to download and print these instructions
First gather your supplies:
1mm Waxed Cotton, Nylon or Leather cord in your choice of colour
Sparkly Shamballa style beads and/or other beads with at least a 1mm size hole
GS Hypo Cement Glue
Clear Nail Polish
Bead Mat
Pin
Instructions:
1. Begin by cutting a 40cm long length of cord, add a dab of clear nail polish to each end of the cord and allow to dry (this will make the beads much easier to thread). Now thread on a bead and tie a knot in one end of the cord. Now slide the bead along the cord until it is approx 10cm away from the knot and tie another knot. Now pin the cord to the bead mat as shown in the picture below.
2. Next take a 1 meter length of cord (it's always better to have a little too much than too little!) and knot it onto the first cord as shown in the picture below:
3. Now you're ready to begin tying your square knots – don't panic, it's really easy once you get the hang of it!. First take the thread on the left and make a loop so that it sits over the centre cord – kind of like a number 4, see below:
4. Now pass the cord on the right underneath both the other cords and up through the middle of the number 4 – see below:
5. Pull this knot tight but not too tight (the central cord needs to be able to move through the knots so if you make it too tight then there's a risk your central cord might snap when you come to wear the bracelet – this is especially important if you're using leather cord which is more brittle than cottton or nylon). Now you've made 1/2 a square knot.
6. Now do exactly the same thing but with the right hand cord – make a loop with the right hand cord so that it resembles a back to front number 4 and pass the left hand cord underneath both the other cords and up through the centre of the number 4, pull it tight and you've made your first complete square knot.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 and so that you make another square knot, now thread on another bead to the central cord – your bracelet will look like this:
8. Now bring the outer cords around the bead and tie another set of two square knots:
9. Continue adding beads and tying two square knots inbetween each bead until got 5-7 beads separated by square knots
10. Now you're ready to finish off the outer cords – simply tie a reef knot in the two cords, pull it tight and add a dab of GS Hypo Cement to the knot – give it a few minutes to dry and snip off the outer cords. Thread on another bead and you're almost done:
11. Now tie another knot in the end of the central cord after the last bead and take it off the bead mat. Cross both ends of the bracelet over one another as shown below, keeping the two final beads at the ends of the cord against the knots:
12. Now take a 60cm length of cord and knot it around the two ends of the bracelet as shown below:
13. Finally tie a series of square knots over the main bracelet cords as shown below (remember not to pull the knots too tight as the central cords will need room to move so that you can open and close the bracelet):
14. Once you've tied around 5 or 6 square knots you're ready to finish off – simply tie a reef knot in the two outer cords, add a dab of GS Hypo cement and snip off the excess cord.
