How to make Love Beads

This is intended to be done with small glass beads (also known as "Indian beads"), but it could probably be done with larger beads if one wished. You need plenty of beads, and plenty of patience.

1 - On graph paper, create a design, either a word or a picture, with each square representing one bead. It is easiest to have each letter five beads high, and four or five beads wide. It is also best if you chose a short word, such as "LOVE" or "PEACE" or if you chose someone's name, make sure it is short, or use a nickname.

2 - Wrap the thread you intend to use for the beads five times around your hand, just above the base of your thumb. For better accuracy, measure that part of your hand and multiply it by five to get the length of your thread. It is also a good idea to add a couple of centimetres just in case.

3 - Chose two colours of beads. One for the background, another for the design. If you've created a picture, you could try more colours.

4 - So you can visualise how this is going to work, what the final product should be is a string of beads, that when wound around one's hand five times, shows a message or picture in front of your hand, and only the background colour on the back of your hand. If you're having trouble working out how your design is going to work, you could try to arrange the beads on a piece of corrugated cardboard. The first corrugation should hold a line of beads as long as the width of your hand (as specified before) and should have the first horizontal line of the design. The second corrugation holds the beads that go around the back of your hand. This line should be the same length as the line above. The line below that one has the second horizontal line of the design, and below that, another line to go around the back of your hand. Continue this, and you should end up with ten lines.

5 - You can begin threading now. Before the main design, it would be a good idea to thread on about 25 beads. Have patience! It takes a long time! It will be a lot easier if you use a needle that will fit through your beads (such as a beading needle). If you designed it on the corrugated cardboard, and arranged the beads correctly, you could try and drive the needle through each line of beads, picking them all up at once instead of each one individually. Make sure you don't knock it though, or you'll have beads everywhere!

6 - When all the beads have been threaded, tie the ends together, making sure the knots are tight. Now you can put it on, and see how funky it looks!!!