I’ve been on a jewelry making bender lately. Don’t worry paper, I still love you so much, and Fall and Winter is when I tend to get my glitter on, but right now it’s a bead thing.
Have you Shamballa’d?
Shamballa bracelets have their origin in Tibetan Buddhism but they have become a very popular fashion accessory. Here's what one looks like:
Like every other fashion trend, they range from the high end in the thousands of dollars, to where people like you and I come in…knocking them off at a fraction of the price.
The core of the Shamballa bracelet is a macrame square knot. I just love the look of them. And so did Mr. Chocolate who had the nerve to tell me he thought it looked too hard for me to make.
Of course that meant it was ON. I was planning to try to make one already, but there’s nothing like a little competitive incentive am I right?
The one on the left I used moonstone and a charcoal crystal bead in the middle and waxed cotton cord by Bead Landing from Michaels; the one on the right I used these kind of foiled / dusted silver beads and a thicker twisted Bead Landing cord.
The square knots you see in the middle are actually a type of sliding clasp and the ends with beads slide within the knots to tighten / loosen the bracelet so you can get it on and off.
There are tons of videos out there so I will not try to teach the knotting technique. I used a three part series from
Beadaholique. You can find them all on You Tube and the first one is here:
Shamballa Bracelet Pt 1. There are several other videos on You Tube so you can easily find one that works with your learning style.
The most important thing is to make sure the beads you choose have holes big enough for the cording you choose. You can use hemp, leather, waxed cotton cord, whatever you want.
The other tip I’ll share is to glue your knots before you cut the ends of your cord. For this I like the original drippy kind of super glue. For other projects I prefer the gel kind for more control ( and less likelihood of gluing my fingers together) but you want this to seep into the knots.
The supplies you’ll need are:
- Beads of choice
- Cord of choice
- Super glue
- A little patience to get the knot technique
So here is the inspiration for what Mr. Chocolate wanted:
$550
David Yurman . Uh No. He also didn’t want the double strand.
Here’s what he got:
He even went with me to Michaels and picked out the beads ( that’s a whole nother blog post!). Lava rock and silver.
He also didn’t want the long dangly ends ( picky customer!). It might not be David Yurman but it also wasn’t $550! The most expensive item was the 250 feet of cording for which of course I used a 40% off coupon. Total cost was less than $20 with cord and beads left over for other projects.
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