Perler Bead Safety Pin Bracelet

And so the Perler bead craze continues!

(You know how they have "Shark Week" on tv?   Maybe I should have called this "Perler Week..."  Hmm...)

Last night while watching tv, I strung a whole bunch of black and white Perler beads onto some safety pins.  Why?  Well, because I wanted to make this bracelet...

The black and white design makes it quite graphic, the Perler beads make it fun, and the silver safety pin bits make it a bit edgy.  When I wear it, I imagine that I'm a hip preschool teacher going out to a club.  (Wow.  I really need to get out more....)





Materials:
- Around 70-100 safety pins
- Perler beads
- Masking tape
- Elastic cord
- Scissors

Directions:
1. Wrap a piece of elastic cord around your wrist.  Cut it so that you have a couple of extra inches on each side.  (You'll need those extra bits to tie off your bracelet.)

2.  Measure and cut another piece of elastic cord the same length as the first.   (Now you should have two identically long strings.)

3. Decide upon your design.  I wanted to make black and white triangles, so I basically repeated this design below.

4.  I needed about 80 safety pins to make this bracelet.  Half of the safety pins were left bare and used just to fill space.  The other half had beads strung on them.  (I just kept stringing the safety pins as if I was making my white triangle design over and over again.  So, I just kept stringing a sequence of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 white beads onto the safety pins over and over again until all 40 were filled with beads.)

5.  Lay out one of your elastic cords and start stringing your safety pins.  You're going to have to  alternate between a beaded safety pin and an empty safety pin.  You're also going to have to string the cord through the tops of the beaded safety pins and the bottoms of the empty safety pins.  (The empty safety pins are fillers.They ensure that your bracelet will be evenly spaced throughout.)

6.  Once your done stringing your first elastic cord, tape down one end of the cord.  Now you're going to string another elastic cord through the bottom of your bracelet.  (To prevent your safety pins from falling off, you can also tape down one end of the bottom cord.)

7.  After all the safety pins have been strung through both elastic cords, lift off the tape and flip the bracelet over.  The bracelet's back/bottom side should now be facing you. Tie the opposite ends of both elastic cords together with triple knots.  (Your knots will be on the back of your bracelet.)  Now, flip the bracelet again so that the front is facing outwards.  Trim off any excess elastic cord.

Voila! Now you have your very own one-of-a-kind bracelet.

Happy crafting! 

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