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How to Create Multi Size/Shape Czech Glass Bracelet with Button Hole Closure
Learn to make a beautiful bracelet, using different size/shape beads, plus a professional buttonhole closure, while using the Original Jewel Loom! You can also shorten this bracelet to use as a bail, when the button closure is closed, forming a loop & hanging on a necklace, so the button can be a beautiful centerpiece of a pendant. The techniques Julianna C Avelar teaches in these tutorials are broken down, so you can quickly look up the techniques you want when designing your own different designs. Some different suggestions to use these techniques are given throughout the blog. This blog contains the videos you need, close ups of the bracelet as a pattern guide, & additional information.
First, you will need to warp your loom. If you have never warped a Jewel Loom before or need a refresher course, use the video directly below on how to do so. But, you will want to warp 4 warps, skipping 4 grooves between the warps, instead of what this video says. You can start watching at the 5:32 mark to save you time.
Jewels is using beads from the Havasu themed Jewel Loom July 2024 Creative Soul Box. From the box, she is using the blue Czech Glass button, larger round beads in different colors, the square top-drilled beads, pinch beads (3 sided beads), & smaller round beads. She also uses 8/0 seed beads for around the button & buttonhole. And she uses 11/0 as fillers between beads, so the beads fit between the warps & don't leave space.
Supplies Used:
- Havasu Themed Creative Soul Box
- 8/0 & 11/0 seed beads (your choice of colors)
- Wildfire: https://jewelloom.com/collections/jewelry-making-buttons/wildfire-beading-thread
- Jewel Loom Needles: https://jewelloom.com/collections/jewelry-making-buttons/beading-needles
- Original Jewel Loom: https://jewelloom.com/collections/jewel-loom-original-baby/products/jewelloom OR https://jewelloom.com/collections/jewel-loom-original-baby/products/jewel-loom%C2%AE-beaded-bracelet-starter-kit-with-bonus-baby-jewel-loom-and-needles
When you are ready to weave, Jewels starts with the button area. Below is the video, in which Jewels shows how to do this section. A closeup photo of the button area is included directly below this video, so you can check it out more closely. You will want to use your 8/0 seed beads in this area.
You can also use this tecnique to use a button as the centerpiece of a bracelet or pendant, by weaving it into the center area.
Below are photos of the beadwork, showing the patterns Jewels chose to use. These are 2 different style bracelets, with these bead weaving between the solid 8/0 seed beads between the button & the buttonhole. Please keep in mind, Jewels has a 6 inch wrist, so you may need a longer or shorter bracelet to go around your wrist. For a larger bracelet, make some sections of beading longer. For a shorter bracelet, cut out some rows. Please remember, the button hole area will overlap the bracelet, so the button can rest through the hole. You may want to make the bracelet slightly longer (the length of the bracelet minus the buttonhole area) to ensure it closes, plus for those humid days when your body swells up. Better to be able to close it, then not be able to wear it!
Once you get the center woven to the length you want, start weaving the buttonhole area. This technique can also be used as a design technique, such as making "peak-a-boo" bracelets & earrings. Or you can use it at the top of a pendant to attach beaded or woven chains through the hole to create a necklace.
Now you will want to finish the bracelet, giving it a professional look. And be sure to take Jewels' suggestions by weaving back through the buttonhole area & maybe the button area. Personally, I try to weave through this area 3 times, since the hole in the center does weaken the area more than if the area had beads all the way across. It does make a big difference on the strength of the bracelet, closing it, & how it lays.
These techniques used to create this bracelet can be used individually or mixed & matched with other techniques you have learned, to make beautiful jewely designs. Happy Bead Looming!!!
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Please contact Jewels with any questions you have about her looms: email - hello@jewelloom.com
Transcript:
well hello
so I wanted to get a a jump jump start
ahead of it all of those words
um on the live that I'm doing on
September what is today September the
7th
um
2023 and so I wanted to get step one
part one dialed in and um so that I
could really focus on the technique so
here we go
um I'm going to be working with the
beige wildfire
and I'm also going to be working on the
original let's see original Jewel bloom
and I'm using of course
a jewel loom needle
and I'm going to be working with the New
Bright Lights Vega night so Vega Texas
has a print on my heart forever and a
day and if you haven't heard the story
you know I broke down
um in Vega and the dispatcher was
amazing and the deputy that sat
um with us until the tow truck came was
just seriously an angel you know totally
a God God sent angel of protection I
believe so I put together this um kid
it's a modification of a kit I had put
together for a memory pouch and so I
thought well we've done the pouch let's
do a bracelet so this is a gorgeous 8-0
Rosaline luster color and it's just so
so beautiful and then I've got a
terracotta
11-0 that I'm going to be using for the
loops this is going to be the base and
then if I need 80s for sewing on the
clasp later then I can pull from here as
well
typically a tube of eight o's with these
bracelets let me show you the bracelet
by the way so you know what the heck I'm
talking about so this is the bracelet
it's called Ocean's desire this
particular one this was in my book
and
um we're going to be doing this so the
first step is to build your base so
we'll be doing one two three four five
six we're gonna go six across with the
eight O's and for my wrist I have a six
inch wrist
so I'm going to build the base I think
it's like about five and a half long and
then the clasp now this is a this is not
the clasp that comes in the kit because
this is a reel
this is a real silver
um expensive oh my heck I think I paid
like 30 bucks or something
for that class but um yeah so we're
gonna do that and then
um just as a separate idea if you only
wanted to be the middle of your bracelet
we did this in the past this is this was
the Earth Tone kit one of my most
favorites we warped with um hemp and I
love love love love love this and it's
such a fun fun design so you could
always just do the looping in the middle
of your bracelet if you chose to but
with this particular demo
um project I am going to be warping and
using the Wildfire for both the warps
and the wefts so
um
I don't know you could still just do the
metal totally well we'll cross that
bridge when we get to it all right um
let me show you the kit that I put
together for you there are
um gosh at this taping I think there
were we were down to 15. so this is a
combination of Czech glass that you're
going to get in the kit and it's a
variety nothing is the same
um you'll probably have a big one or two
focal beads in there that you can or
cannot use in this project and then I
also put together
a bag full of gemstones now I'm just
going to put those in my hand I'm going
to take out the three buttonhole clasps
that you're going to have in your kit
because we're going to sew our clasp
onto this project so I'll just put that
to the side and then there's some aqua
Jasper every little baggie is a little
bit different the main
gemstone which is man-made is the aqua
Jasper but then in some of the kits I
sprinkled in little chips of
um like a topaz quartz and I don't know
there's come a couple other it looks
like some lapis got in this one so just
a fun fun assortment I'm going to keep
this to the side just so as I'm building
my projects I know where to pull from
and so yeah so this is our new kit and
it's all right here if you want to take
a lookie and um like I said I think at
this point we were down to about 15 of
these and so yeah all right I'm gonna
push I'm going to put all of this to the
side because for this part one we are
just going to focus on building the base
which again is just going to be this
area right here so let's go ahead and
clear the area
should have some backup uh backup noise
right beep beep
and oh I'm also have my scissors and my
Flats on hand
they kind of act as a
third third hand there
um let me bring in the jewel loom so I'm
going to put the rod in the bottom hole
and let me just kind of give you a
visual too so you know where my body's
at
I um this is my left hand this is my
right hand and this is my body so if you
look at the bottom of the jewel loom the
bottom of the jewel loom is closest to
my torso
and what I'm going to do is take the rod
and I'm going to put that in the bottom
hole
and then remember your jewel loom
not going to force it oh
let me pull back out hold on see when
that happens that's such a I love it
when that happens
turn the loom and just kind of
reposition the tension don't ever force
it because the jewel loom is made
from a flexible plastic not a bendable
plastic so do you see what happened just
right there when I first tried to put
the rod into that top hole it was like
yeah I'm not going to have it I'm not in
and so
um and so yeah so I just turned the loom
and and repositioned it and and it
worked so all all good but definitely
something to remember about the loom is
that it is you know it is a flexible
plastic not a bendable plastic so I'm
working from this big old ginormous
spool of
wildfire
I'm going to turn the loom over and this
button right here is closest to my body
all right and I'm going to just make
a loop and we're going to put that oh
and I tell when you're when you're
working with the slider color
uh wildfire
you got to pay attention because it's
very light
so
I guess I could have pulled some black
out but I really just for my project I
haven't made a full bracelet in a while
so this is going to be really fun for me
and um and I want Brown
and so let me just get a little bit of
this loose here so we're going to be
going six across which means we want
seven
warps and I'm working from the spool
and so let me just bring it up here I'm
going to lay this down because I'm just
working with a section of the Loom I'm
not worried where I really start I just
kind of typically start off to the side
here from what I would refer to as the
middle lining up with that back button
so I'm going to lay
the Wildfire into one of the grooves
and then I turn my loom over and I help
to guide the Wildfire all the way down
to the bottom
and I'm just eyeballing it okay if you
want to get technical and count you can
but really just kind of eyeball it I
think you'll be fine and then I'm going
to turn it over again
and now I'm going
around that back button now I'm working
with the Ado so I want to skip one
Groove
flip it over again bring it all the way
up to the top
skipping a Groove
flip it over wrap it around
and we're just going to continue to do
the same motion same process here
skipping a Groove
oh it looks like my
Groove down my
did you pop back in I'm going to fix
that later I'm not worried about it
so my my thread bounced over one
but it's on the bottom so I'm not gonna
have
no kitten
and we're just gonna let me come up to
the camera here
so what do I got four so I need seven so
I gotta do this a few more times
this is my last my last one
if you ever feel like you need to get a
grip just do see how I I grabbed it with
my pointer because you don't want to
lose your tension so if you ever need to
readjust your hands so what do we got
one two three four
five six so I need one more I need seven
warps because I'm doing uh six beads so
it's always one more Warp than it is
the beads you were doing across
Ed so there's my seven and so now what
I'm gonna do and let me just give myself
a little
extra
space with that
um so now I'm just gonna grab the warp
and I'm going around the button make
sure you don't grab the metal rod
because then your warps are going to get
loose so just go around that back button
a handful or you know a few times
and then I'm going to put pressure with
my thumb
and then I'm going to come over here and
a waste so I'm just going to clip it
I don't know I have
several lunches I guess you could say
and then what I'm going to do is I'm
going to find the end
ah it's so light colored
and then I'm just coming under all the
warps
so the goal here is to get a knot and
really however you get to that
um you may be like oh well Jules I I do
it this way and that's fine whatever way
you do it the goal is to just get your
first knot so that you don't lose your
tension Okay so
so that's how I did that and then again
so I'm just going to come under all the
warps
and grab that little Wiggly towel
through the loop
and pull it up
so probably okay with just those two
knots so I'm going to go ahead and trim
and wonderful okay
so where was that area
you know what it's so far down I'm not
going to worry about it I might try to
fix it but I think it's fine so what I'm
going to do now is I'm going to remove
the rod and I don't want to confuse you
so let me tell you what happened down
here my my warp my thread went over too
instead of one at the very bottom
it's not a deal breaker because I'm
making a bracelet I'm working up in this
area it's not going to like ruin my
project I I'm just not going to go back
and worry about it so give yourself some
leeway to make a little boo-boo like
that and
call it a day it's not going to distort
anything it's all good so what we want
to do now is I'm going to take my
pointer
and
um in and listen if we weren't recording
this would I have stopped and gone back
and corrected it probably I mean but
again people are so hard on themselves
and if it's not a deal breaker for the
project then then just
don't worry about it okay so I'm going
to take my pointer I'm putting it over
the grooves just to hold it now for this
I may need to let me see if I could get
it without putting it on my body I think
I'm gonna have to push this end up
against my chest here
oh and once again it doesn't want to
come out that direction so I turn the
loom around transfer that tension and
then again
pop hey hey
all right awesome oh my gosh
[Music]
okay and then typically the distance
that you want to see between the bottom
of the Warped jewel loom and the top bed
of the warps it's a good it's about two
inches maybe a little bit hair more but
I've seen people wear man they have
really
they've just done it a little too much I
would you know you got to be careful
because again the plastic is flexible
it's not bendable and also when it's too
tight you're losing the base you're
losing the length of of the warps for
your project so I would say again that
from the bottom dip here of your jewel
loom all right where it's warping two
the top bed here to the top of the warps
you want about a two inch it's about a
two inch spread nothing too much far
over that okay
so listen we are already into this for
uh just about 15 minutes and what I'm
gonna go ahead and do is I'm gonna come
back I'm going to upload part one and uh
we're actually going to have a part two
and then tonight when we go live that
will be uh part three because it just um
you know you I just like to keep things
in chunks
simple chunks so that you can um you can
learn better uh with with what technique
you need to versus sitting and watching
something for so long all right listen
that's that's a good warp that's a
really good warp all right I'm gonna
upload this and then we'll get started
with building the base