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Make a Beaded Ankle Bracelet

Make a pretty beaded ankle bracelet for yourself or a friend. It's easy and fun, and this is a great project to do with kids 8 years old and up.

It might be a little tricky to see exactly what's going on in the tutorial video but if you follow the instructions as the anklet maker narrates, what he's doing, you'll be able to get the gist of the thing pretty darn well me thinks :)

Who is This Ankle Bracelet Project For?

This project is for anyone with enough manual dexterity to string some beads and use two pair of pliers at once. No special skill is needed. This is a good project for kids (though you may have to help them with the finishing off parts).

Anklet Tutorial Video

Tools and Materials Needed

Supplies

(Convenience links below open on Artbeads.com supply pages in new tabs or windows. I love Artbeads:)

Beads (assortment)
Beading cable or beading wire about 9 inches long
(I recommend beading cable that is 19 strand, .018 mm size)
Clasp
Crimps (I like 2mm x 2mm crimp tubes with crimp covers)
Extender chain.

Tools

2 pair chain nose pliers ( OR 1 pair chain-nose + 1 pair flat-nose pliers)
Flush cutters
Crimping pliers

Summary of Instructions

Thread beads onto beading cable about 9 inches long, thread on a clasp, crimp the ends and add an extender chain.

Variations

You can use this simple beaded ankle bracelet recipe to make anklets as different as there are beads and bead order variations.

Try one of these variations:

Eclectic Ankle Bracelet: Use a mixture of orphan beads (orphan beads are ones that you have left over from other projects. Not enough to make anything with so they just live in your stash. Poor little orphans!). Mixing up orphan beads of similar sizes make for a pretty, eclectic look.

Christmas Bell Anklet: Here's a fun idea for making anklet with kids. Get a bunch of jingle bells and string them as you would beads. (Added bonus - you'll know where your kids are.)

Learning About Patterns Beaded Ankle Bracelet: Younger kids love creating repeating patterns. They don't even realize they're honing some math skills and learning the basics of rhythm and art composition. They are making their brain smarter and having fun doing it.

Use the beads to teach about 2-2-1 patterns, 3-1-2 patterns.... Have the kids make their own patterns.
You can weave in information about patterns being pleasing to the eye and art history, percussion and beats... Ok maybe I'm getting a bit carried away.

-----Sidebar---- In my younger years I was all about chaos. Now I am really fascinated by patterns in nature and our innate resonance with pattern and repetition. Luckily, I have this website where I can drone on about random thoughts and obsessions :) ----End sidebar-----