Kumihimo bracelet

I tried out Kumihimo again, though I know the beads I have are not really suitable — the more even ones are too small, show the thread, and don’t settle down well; and the larger ones are too uneven. :)

This is a 12-strand Kumihimo bracelet. After braiding only with the threads for about 0.5cm, I threaded an equal number of beads into all strands, and incorporated them into the braid. I added 1+2+1 cream+brown+cream beads for the next section. At this point, I became involved in another project and forgot all about this one. When I came back to this, I realized that I’d forgotten how many beads I’d added in the first section! 😀

I tried counting, but lost track. Then deciding that I didn’t want to undo the braid just to count the beads, I just winged it, and added 6 beads in each of the strands. It looked fine then (though it doesn’t now…) Anyway, I continued with the two sections until the rope was about 16cm long. I braided some 0.5cm more with just the threads, applied glue on the braid and snipped the threads off. Then, forming two pieces of wire eyelets at both ends, I secured bead caps at both ends.

To finish the bracelet, I attached jump rings and a lobster claw clasp. I also added a little leaf charm to one of the jump rings. So cute! ❤

In other news, I decided to take the plunge into international orders, and placed one for beads (not seed beads) with Fire Mountain Gems and Beads during a sale recently (not a Thanksgiving one). I’m delighted with the purchase! The downside is that the shipping costs end up being more than 50% of the order, and customs duty is about 30% on order+shipping, which means my pocket will be lighter by almost double the actual price of the items. Worth it? Only if most of my purchases happen during a sale and are 50% (or more) off! 😀