Woven Seed Bead Ring- Tutorial

How to make Woven Seed Bead Rings 

I made these rings with my 10yo's 4-H group, it's a great activity for kids ages 7+.  The tweens and teens REALLY got into it!  See my post here all about the project.  You'll notice in the picture that the rings all vary a bit with their bead colors and design motifs... the kids very quickly figured out that they could change the bead colors and numbers to create their own styles.  Watching this process develop was one of my favorite parts of the workshop!

Materials
18” of 26mm wire
Approx. 50 size 8 glass beads color A, approx 1.5 grams
Optional: 4 size 8 glass beads color B, or more if you get into personalizing the design
Wire cutters
Optional: Metal File

Instructions

  1.  Cut a 18” length of wire with your wire cutters.

 2.  String on 2 beads (color A) and place at middle of the wire.

3.  Thread on 2 more beads (color A), and before sliding them to the middle of the wire, thread other end of wire through them in the opposite direction.




4.  Slide down this pair of beads until “snug” up against first pair, make sure to keep the wires the same length on both sides.

5.  Repeat steps 3 + 4 five more times. (7 rows of 2 beads each)







 

6.  Thread on 3 beads (color A).
7.  Repeat step 4.

8.  Thread on 1 bead color A, 1 bead color B, 1 bead color A. (3 beads total)
9.  Repeat step 4.

10.  Thread on 1 bead color A, 2 beads color B, 1 bead color A. (4 beads total)
11.  Repeat step 4.









12.  Repeat steps 8 + 9.

13.  Repeat steps 3 + 4 seven more times.  This is a good time to try on the ring.  The dimensions here are given for a ring that is approx. 5/8” diamater (I don’t have a ring sizer) If you need the ring to be bigger, repeat steps 3 + 4 until it fits the way you want it to, if you want it to be smaller, repeat steps 3 + 4 fewer times.


 


14.  Finish off: Thread the wire ends through the center of the first beads again.  These will fit through because only one length of wire went through them. 






15. Snug up tight to form the ring.

16. Then weave each wire in and out of the side edge of the ring. Trim off as close as possible with wire cutters.  You may want to use a metal file to smooth the cuts sharp edges.





NOTE:  It is really important that you don’t let the wire “kink” while you work with it.  If you do, the beads won’t be able to slide over the kink and you won’t be able to “snug” the beads down before you being your next row.

Please ask ?'s or share your own experiences with this technique... I'd love to hear what you've been making!