Stretch Ring DIY

My sister loves stretch rings.  And I have to admit, a lot of the ones I see are very cute.  This one, I will warn you now, is not as elaborate as ones you can buy, but it does not mean at all that you cannot make one that is as elaborate as you want.  Part of my challenge has been to use what I already own.

Materials:
-Beads the size of smaller pearls but that have a hole big enough for string to go through twice
-Small beads, the cord will not go through twice on these
-Stretch cord
-Charms or desired embellishments

 Cut a length of stretch cord, enough so that doubled over it has enough room to go around desired finger with at least an inch or so to spare for tying.  I like to err on the side of extra.

Put the bead (pearl in my case) on the cord so that the cord only goes through once and the bead is in the middle of your length of cord.  On each side, put a smaller bead.  Put your next pearl on, sending both sides through the bead from opposite directions.  They will cross through the bead so that the left side cord becomes the right side and so on.

Repeat this process with your bead selection until you have enough to just stretch around your finger (you don't want it to be too loose).  If you find that you have run out of beads, do what I did and use two starkly different beads where your charm will hang.

 If you find that some of your beads have a small film blocking their hole, just poke through it a few times with wire or a toothpick or anything you have on hand, like a needle, to clear the passage for the cord. 

Some of my beads just did not work and I had to use others, so have extras on hand.

To attach my two sides I simply laced one end of the cord through the first part of the strand and tied the other side to it.  I put about a triple knot in it, just to make sure it was secure.

Attach your charms with a jump ring in the center or between your statement beads.



You could also do this with any larger pendant or charm or whatever you desire, as long as you find a way to attach it to your bead strand.  For instance, you could make a wire base for a pendant or similar and attach that to the center of your ring.
You can also use much larger beads or different shapes than pearls.  It is worth experimenting with to determine what you like best.

This is a very easy project to use up some of those leftover beads that inevitably are lying around after you finish some other project.