Easy Spike and Stud Bracelet Tutorial

I’ve been in full-swing making my fall accessories, and I’ve got fun and trendy ideas to share with you for going back-to-school!  Studs and spikes have always made a statement, and these easy stud bracelets stack together for some great arm candy.  I’m going to share two different types of stud bracelet designs – they are both simple and fast to make.  Have fun making these great metal bracelets with your girlfriends or sitting down to some quick craft time.

Supplies needed to make your own buckle leather stud bracelet:

• Leather Strap Bracelet with Buckle (I used aqua)
• Sliding Silver Pyramid Stud Beads
• Silver Pyramid Stud & Bar Slider Beads
• Jewelry Pliers

This stud bracelet makes up really quickly and easily!  You can have one done in about 5  minutes!  First, slide one of the bar stoppers onto the leather strap.  Don’t crimp it on just yet – add all your beads first so that you can center it along the band, without adding beads over the buckle holes.

Next, alternate square sliding beads and stopper beads.  When you’re happy with your arrangement, flip the stud bracelet over, and crimp the spines down around the strap to secure them.

The stretch bracelets are equally easy, but take a few minutes more – closer to 10 minutes, depending on the size beads you choose and whether they have one or two holes.

Supplies needed to make a stretch stud bracelet:

• .8mm Stretch Cord
• Pyramid and Spike Beads in varying colors and finishes – I especially like how the 10mm metal pyramid beads and 5mm acrylic half cones in gunmetal finish look.  You will need 2 packs of the metal pyramid beads.  All the other beads shown below, you’ll only need one package.
• Mini Bead Stoppers
• Scissors

As you can see, I got a little bit crazy trying to choose what kinds to use for this stretchy stud bracelet!  All of the stud and spike beads are great choices for stacking stretch bracelets!

To string these beads, you don’t need any special tools.  Just cut off about 12 inches of stretch cord, and string your beads.  If the beads have two holes, you’ll need 2 lengths of stretch cord 12 inches long.  To keep your beads from falling off the ends, you can crimp on a bead stopper.  If you have to run a second line of cord through a second set of holes, you can close off both ends of your stretch cord.  It’s helpful to leave room for the beads to slide along the full 12 inches when trying to string a second cord.

To finish off the stretch stud bracelet designs, make them slightly longer than the length of your wrist.  Just tie a square knot (a double knot) on the cords, and trim the excess.  You want the cord not to be stretched at all when it’s “at rest”.

As you can see, these bracelets look awesome when you layer them together!  The half cones don’t look like much until you put them on your wrist; the flat part of the bead will lay nicely flat against your skin.

Spikes and studs make for sassy back-to-school accessories, and you can make up a half dozen or so different stud bracelet designs in under an hour!  Mix colors, finishes, and shapes for a great finished look.

Are you making any of your fall accessories?  What are some of your favorite trends right now?

Adrianne

Adrianne is a writer, artist, designer, wife, and mom of 2 kids. She blogs at happyhourprojects.com where the theme is tutorials and recipes that can be made in an hour or less. Her favorite projects are jewelry-making, paper crafts, and recycled crafts. She participates annually in ArtPrize, an international art competition, and she’s the author of the book DIY T-Shirt Crafts: 50 Ways to Recycle a T-Shirt (August 2015).