DIY Woven Bead Necklace

After a little inspiration from Diva (seen in this post), I decided to try out something similar with a whole lot of beads I bought (initially reserved for S and my craft day, but I couldn't wait that long... We'll have to make a larger more epic version!).


Not too shabby, ey?
Here's another (easy) DIY for you to try - complete with a short video this time!!

DIY Woven Bead Necklace


Step 1: 
Rustle up your bits and pieces.  I used a full hank of Czech opaque seed beads (really cheap from here if you're a Perth person!), a couple of those hooky things (can't remember the name...), a clasp, some crimps, and some nibs from old pens of all things!  (finally, my hoarding of crap pays off for something).  I re-inforced the strands of beads with stronger nylon string with the help of Simon.

Step 2:
Time to weave!

Separate your hank into 4 equal parts, then lay them out flat, taping them to the table.
Taking the outermost chunk, weave it through the 3 remaining bead strands like in the first picture.
Then, take the outermost strand from the opposite side from where you started (not counting the one you just wove through), and do the same thing - weaving it through the remaining strands.
Rinse and repeat.

It should look something like this if you use 4 strands!

Step 3:
Once you've finished the weave, it's time to secure the ends.  I bunched the ends together then took a thin piece of nylon string and tightly tied it around the end.  Then I cut the end of the remaining bead strands to get rid of the extra length.  Secure each strand with a crimp to stop the little beads from falling off and rolling all over the floor.

Step 4:
Attach one of those hooky things, then thread the pen nib on to hide the ugly knot!  Curl then end of the hooky thing into a circle, and attach your clasp to this.

Et voila!
Not bad, right?

Style it with a button-up shirt, with the necklace just peeking out from below :)

xx T