Spring Bling Week – Woven Ankle Bracelet

Good morning, friends!  This week I’m working with some other bloggers who love DIY jewelry projects as much as I do for Spring Bling Week – a week of tutorials and resources on jewelry!  We’ll be wrapping up on Friday with an awesome giveaway, so be sure to come back all week!

Today I have a tutorial for a woven ankle bracelet.  I love working with hemp for jewelry, it creates such an earthy look.

This one is removable – mainly because of the cabochon I added.  While it will certainly stand up to a lot, making this a tie-on ankle bracelet is a lot of wear for spring and summer.  Being able to remove it for showers, swimming, wear under socks, etc. will certainly extend its life. :)

Like everything I show you – feel free to put your own spin on this design!  I’ll show you what I used and how I made it, but half the fun of DIY is coming to a design that’s all your own.  Let me show you how you can put one together for yourself!

This is a pretty quick project – 20-30 minutes.  You will need:

• Hemp cord – cotton would work well too.  I used the small stuff, 10lb.
• A bezel for your cabochon that has a link on each side.  I loved these ones from Consumer Crafts, but if you see something similar, give it a try!
• A cabochon to fit your bezel – totally optional.
• Glue-on end caps and jewelry glue.

First – attach cut off 6 strands of hemp about 12 inches long.  If you are running low on hemp, you could probably get away with making these as short as 10 inches, but having the extra length at the ends makes it much easier to work with.

Take 3 strands and double them, so you have 3 loops with 6 inch tails.

Now, you’re going to make a Lark’s Head knot  onto your bezel connector.  I talk about this a lot when I’m showing you jewelry made with hemp or twine.  You just feed your loop through one ring of the connector –

And feed the tails through your loops.

(It’s a two-handed job, I’m just showing you with one hand so I could show you a photo, haha.)  Now, tighten it up, and you’ll have a nice knot.  Do the same thing with your remaining three strands on the other side.

Now, you’ll want to braid these cords to create your bracelet.  If you love making six-stranded braids, they are lovely.  They aren’t as easy for me as three-stranded braids, though, so I take the faster route and braid a three-stranded braid with two cords in each strand.

The length you will need to braid will vary based on a couple things – the length of your center connector, and the length of your clasp.  For an ankle bracelet, you want a total length of 9-10 inches.  My connector is about and inch, and my clasp adds about an inch.  So that is 7-8 inches I need to braid – only 3 1/2 to 4 inches on each side.  At the end of each of those braids, make an overhand knot to close it off.

Now, you could leave this as a tie-on bracelet at this point if you prefer!  But I’m going to add a clasp so that it’s removable.

To do that, trim up your excess cords evenly.

Add a dot of glue on the inside of your end caps, and glue them onto each end of your bracelet.  Now, you will just need to attach a clasp!  I like the security of a lobster clasp, but use what you like.

Now, I just need to add my cabochon.  A bit more jewelry glue on my bezel connector, and I can add a little flower to dress it up!

There are so many different ways you could make one of these, this is just my design for the day. :) Hope you enjoyed it! I will have more jewelry coming up this week – and so do some other fabulous bloggers!  Be sure to check out the other blogs and get inspired!