Make a Bracelet out of Safety Pins

Safety pins can be used to form an interesting and very presentable bracelet that will get a second look. It takes a bit of patience to make but once you're into the rhythm, it's an enjoyable process.

Steps

  1. Select the safety pins. Decide how large you want the safety pins to be––obviously, the larger the pins, the larger the bracelet size. Small to medium size safety pins work best; whatever you choose, they must all be of the same size. Approximately 85 safety pins are needed to complete this project but you might need to add or remove a few depending on your wrist size––experiment as you go.
    • As well as the safety pins, select seed beads that are of a size suitable to fit inside the pin space. The colors are up to you––they could be all one color, a variation of the same hue or a rainbow of colors, depending on the final look you're after.
  2. Decorate each safety pin with the seed beads. Open each pin and place a row of seed beads onto each safety pin. Make sure each pin has enough beads on it before closing.
  3. Close the pin. Use pliers to press down on the head of the safety pin to hold the pin firmly closed.
  4. Use pliers to squeeze the pins shut. Squeeze the metal where you locked the pins in place.
  5. Continue to decorate all 85 pins this same way. Once they're all decorated and closed tightly, you can move on to threading.
  6. Notice that there is a hole in the pinhead and another hole at the other end of the safety pin where the metal is turned, creating a circle. These holes will be used for threading up the pins.
  7. Cut two lines of sheering elastic. Two lines will be used, one at the top and below, with the pins threaded onto the elastic lines like the rungs of a ladder.
  8. Thread together. To begin, thread the top line through the head of the first pin and the bottom line and through the circle hole. With the second pin, thread the top line through the circle hole and the bottom line and through the head of the pin.
  9. Continue adding pins to the lines in this way, alternating which way you add each pin. Make sure when you add the safety pins that all the beads are visible on the same side.
  10. Finish off. When the last safety pin has been added, tie the two ends of the top line of sheering elastic together so that all the pins sit closely together. Then tie off the bottom line in a similar way. Make sure the knots are tight and stable.
  11. Try the bracelet on. Stretch the elastic gently and slip over your hand and onto your wrist. The fit should be comfortable.

Tips

  • A simple schematic like this will help you be able to predict the amount of beads and the design of the line.

Warnings

  • Be careful with pins, they could prick you.

Things You'll Need

  • 85 silver safety pins of the same size
  • Small beads of different colors
  • Sheering elastic
  • Scissors (the sharper the better)
  • Bead tray (or some other container to hold beads)
  • Pliers (or something to tighten the safety pin head)

Related Articles

Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Make_a_Bracelet_out_of_Safety_Pins&oldid=305699"