Make a Bead Loom and Bracelet

I've wanted a bead loom for a while now. What better incentive than an Instructables contest devoted to jewelry? There are many loom designs out there in the googlesphere. I chose this one because, the finished bead piece only has three loose threads to weave in when completing the project.

For the Loom I used:

Table saw

Box joint jig

Drill press

Hand sander and vacuum table

Metal chop saw

Jig saw table

Assorted clamps

Glue

Scrap pieces of oak

Screws and screw driver

1/4 20 threaded rod 2ft and two wing nuts to match

1/4 inch diameter solid rod 2ft

4 eye screws

2 knitting needles

3 step golf tees

For the bracelet:

#8 seed beads, one tube each of silver, black and turquoise.

#10 beading needle (My strongest specs for threading the tiniest eye I have ever seen)

Beading thread

1 sliding bracelet clasp

1 playing card

I hate to throw away cut offs. These oak pieces have been sitting in a box waiting for a project like this.

These will fit together nicely.

I filed the edges a bit then glued them up.

The three pieces looked to long for the base so I cut one down a bit. I just lined the saw up with the existing joints and cut a few off each end. With the box joint jig I cut two joints then flipped the board and cut two from the other side. This made the fingers even with a wider finger in the center. The width was not negotiable after joining in the previous step.

I glued these in two steps to avoid buckling.

I used my sanding vacuum box to keep the dust down. The joints look great, in my opinion.

Another piece of scrap oak for some blocks. I didn't measure the size here, I just eyed up what I felt would look nice.

I used the base to measure and cut the blocks to length. They fit nicely on the beautifully finished base.

For the uprights I will use a few of the shorter scraps. Here the joints are cut and they are all glued up. One upright is 1/4 inch shorter than the other. It will be mounted on the base with metal rails and slide to the required size for each beading project.

The hole saw on the drill press does a great job of this. In retrospect, I would use longer pieces. A hole saw has a normal drill bit that centers the hole before the larger saw makes contact. Without that anchor, its hard to align the hole. As with most of this project, measurements aren't all that important.

My previous sanding kicked up more dust than I wanted. I rigged up this sheet to redirect the dust down into the table. It worked great. While sanding I straightened out the tips of the uprights. They look nicer without the curve.

I use a chop saw to cut the 1/4 inch threaded rod and two 1/4 inch solid rod pieces to length. I set the blocks in place on the base and measured roughly 1/4 inch into each block, that should be plenty long enough. I'll drill the mounting holes to match later.

Lots of holes to be drilled. These are more important measurements. The height of the metal rods need to allow the adjustable upright to slide. Wing nuts on the threaded rod need room to turn. The peg holes just need to look evenly spaced and accept the peg diameter. A counter sink drill bit will make a nice finished look. The bottom shouldn't have any screws protruding that could scratch a table.

The holes in the upright piece that will slide on the three metal rods needs a bit of filing. The threaded rod and wingnuts will hold it at the position selected. This will be determined by the length of bead work of each project.

The eye bolts will support the rods that hold the bead work.

The peg holes are counter sunk then drilled to size. This gives a nice look to the holes and allows easy entry for the pegs.

I cut the pegs to length, then cut a groove down the middle.

I sand a bevel on the tip of the peg for ease of entry.

I used a Minwax stain on all the oak pieces and left the pegs natural. I cut 4 pieces of clear hose and poked the support rods through each piece. This will secure them in place while beading. That's it, a beautiful bead loom from scrap lumber.

For this demonstration I'm making a rather basic item. The design possibilities are endless when beading. A quick online search of "beaded bracelet designs" brings up over two million results. My lovely wife picked the colors she wanted. Being that this is my first beading project, I created a simple design. Thanks to Bead-Dazzled for all the advice and sending me on my way with everything I needed for my first project.

My wife's wrist is 160mm. I'll set the loom at that by loosening the wing nuts on the threaded rod and sliding the adjustable upright to the desired location. Once in that position, I snug up the wing nuts to hold that position. I decided to use this measurement because when I add the clasp the bracelet should fit nicely.

The beads are 3mm long so there would be 53 of them in the 160mm length. When lined up with the clasp, 12 beads look good. I used an excel spread sheet to create my design. I chose a grid of 50 by 12 for my design. I'll see at the end how close I am. The design will be simple enough that If I'm off a bit it won't matter.

To create this pattern :

Click in cell 1-A

Scroll down and locate cell 50-L

While holding the shift key click in the 50-L cell

This will highlight all the cells needed.

Select the format tab in the upper right end of the excel tool bar. Here you find row height and column width tabs. These allow you to make the selected cells look more like the shape of the bead work being created.

Now you can select sections of the grid and color them. If you click one cell and hold the shift key when selecting another cell the range of cells in between will be selected. You can add cells one at a time by holding the ctrl key and clicking on the cells you want.

To color the cells select the arrow to the right of the paint can in the left side of the excel tool bar and chose the color you want.

Now print the pattern to reference while beading.

The support rods need to be secure. I use pieces of clear rubber hose poked on ends.

Loosen the wing nuts. Slide the adjustable upright to the desired location. Measure twice. Snug the wing nuts without moving the upright.

Slide the tread through the groove cut into the peg and wind it around the end a few times. Now go back through the groove before pushing it into the second hole of the stationary support.

WHAT! The threads that go between the support rods are called warp threads.

Take the spool over the first support, wrap it over the rear support and pass it through the u shaped opening. Continue to wrap around the two rods until there are 13 strings between the two rods. You always need one more warp thread than the number of beads wide the project requires. Now wrap the warp thread onto a peg and push it into the adjustable rod support as shown.

I used a large playing card to do this step. It doesn't have to be this large, it was just handy. The threads are spaced vertically because they are wrapped around the support rod. Sliding this card into the threads in this way will bring the threads closer together vertically. The first upper thread is pushed down under the card then the first lower thread is slid on the top of the card. Repeat this with all the threads as shown. This will help when adding the first row of beads.

WHAT! OK, just another looming term. The thread that the beads are strung on is called the weft thread. Wrap it and peg it into the first hole.

Pull out the length of weft thread you feel comfortable working with, then cut the spool away. Use sharp scissors or you'll be cursing the next step. Thread the needle. AAAAHHHH where are my heavy duty spectacles?

Here we go. Pass the weft thread over the left hand side of the support rod then pass it under the warp threads and out the right hand side. Pick up 12 beads for row 1.

Slide the beads down the thread until there is just enough to hold in your left hand. While holding the thread between the thumb and second finger. Balance the beads on the index finger and press them into place. One warp thread will need to be on each side of every bead. This is the hardest row to install. Once you have them in place insert the needle into the beads from the right side. Press up on the beads so the needle slides above the warp threads that separate each bead. In this way there will be two weft threads running through each bead one above and one below each warp thread.

Now the card has completed its job and can join all it's friends in the deck. Now pull the needle through and snug up the row. Be careful with the excess thread. You don't want to get it tangled. The longer the thread, the less times you will need to tie it off, weave it in, and add a new piece.

Row number two will be much easier to deal with.

Now you just keep adding rows. With this pattern it's pretty easy to get the proper beads, in the correct order. The more intricate the pattern the more care that must be taken.

When your thread is to short, pass it back into the previous row. Angle it up and out between two beads. Pull the slack up. Poke the needle through between the beads and back up encircling a row of weft thread and tie a knot. Then poke the needle back into the row of beads. Slide it through a row or two and then cut it free. Now thread the needle onto the spool of thread and pull some free to work with. Slide the needle into the last row you made and repeat the tying off procedure. Now pull the spool to create your new working weft thread. By now I was better at handling the extra thread so I pulled much more from the spool than I had previously.

Continue until it looks like the end is near. I need 4 rows at the end and I want it to be a tight squeeze. When the support rods are removed, the extra weft thread loops must be absorbed into the piece so the last row needs to be tight.

I can take a few rows out if things don't look tight enough. This looks good though.

I'll need to work the beads back a bit to fit the last row in. The wrinkling will flatten out when the weft loops are absorbed. I fit 54 rows into the project. I measured it to be 53 but squeezing in the last row gave me the extra. My excel design was set at 50, it wasn't an important error with this pattern, just a lesson for future projects.

That's it, Remove the pegs and slide the support rods free.

Now lay the piece flat and massage it. Rubbing the beads will remove the wrinkles and the loops will disappear.

There are three threads left to deal with. I use two of them to tie the clasp on. The other gets tied in and the excess cut away.

She loves it!

The day after I finished my first bracelet, I created a more complex pattern with the same colors. It went smoothly. I'm excited to work with more colors in the future.