Gemstone Chakra Bracelet Tutorial

Created by: Michelle Horning

Designer Tips

Cut a length of stretchy cord about 6" longer than you'll need for the finished bracelet, to make it easy to tie the finishing knot. Double the cord if doubled cord will fit through all your beads. Add beads in desired pattern starting with a few of the black beads:
The bracelet pictured is made with twenty 8mm gemstone beads, and perfectly fits a 6" wrist.
To make the same length bracelet with 6mm beads, use 26 or 27 gemstone beads.
To make the same length bracelet with 10mm beads, use 17 gemstone beads.
Add an extra black gemstone bead or two if not using spacer beads.
If using Elonga or Gossamer Floss, tie a few square knots, and trim excess cord, leaving approximately 1/4" tails. Pull knots into one of the black beads as much as possible.
Gossamer Floss and Elonga are super stretchy, so jewelry made with them is very comfortable to wear. However, it can fray if the jewelry is played with or taken off and on excessively.
Stretch Magic is stronger but not quite as stretchy. It can be a little trickier to knot successfully. The makers of Stretch Magic suggest a surgeon's knot:
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more tips for stringing with Stretch Magic
Tip: When possible, use one large-hole black gemstone bead, and hide the knots inside the large-hole gemstone bead. If you look closely at the upper right corner of this photo, you may be able to see a bit of clear cord (we did not use a large-hole bead).
This bracelet was wear-tested (with half a dozen sterling bangle bracelets beating it up) for about 2 months before being photographed. It was not taken off for gardening, showers, or 100-degree summer days, and the pale blue angelite bead is the only bead on the strand, to visibly show signs of wear. (This bracelet was made before we had the chakra strands in stock, so we used the colors of beads we had in stock at the time.) TierraCast's silver-plated faceted spacer beads still look brand-new, too!
Suggested Supplies
1 spool #61-449-07-25 Elonga Cord, 0.7mm, 25 meters
or
1 spool #61-037-25 Stretch Magic Cord, 0.7mm, 25m - Clear
1 strand (use 7 beads) #21-888-236 Chakra Assortment Gemstone Beads, 8mm Round
1 strand (use approx. 13 beads) #21-888-004 Black Onyx Gemstone Beads, Round, 8mm, or other neutral gemstone beads of your choice
Optional:
1 100-pack (use 8 beads) #49-997-05-AS 5mm TierraCast Faceted Heishi Spacer Beads - Antiqued Silver Plated
1 strand (use 1 bead) #21-001-004-02 Black Onyx Gemstone Beads, 8mm Round with Large Hole