I made a bracelet for every single student in my program this year. Why? Because now more than ever, I want them to feel like chorus is something they can be a part of, whether we're physically together or not.
Also, I thought it'd be a fun way to track our Choir Karate progress.
Each bracelet was made with leather cord, and polymer beads that I made myself. Here's the tutorial for how I did it.
Watch some tutorials, then get your materials ready
This was the main tutorial I used when making my beads. I wanted something simple that still looked cool.
For my setup, I got a lid off of a plastic tub to act as a smooth surface, a box cutter, tooth picks, kabob skewers, rubbing alcohol, and q-tips.
I picked up four blocks of polymer clay: black, white, dark red, and bright red. Following the video, I cut slices from each block, rolled them into a ball, and then stretched them out before rolling all together.
keeping your hands and work surface clean is pretty important. See the red staining on my lid? That rubbed off onto my white clay. But never fear! That's what the rubbing alcohol is for. Just swipe the white clay (if you're using it) with the rubbing alcohol on a
q-tip after you've made your bead, and it cleans it right up.
After you've formed your rope and twisted it to get the pattern you want, begin cutting small sections and rolling them into beads. It took me a few tries before I figure out the best way to cut, roll, and shape my beads, so make sure you have some extra clay to experiment with. Once you've formed your beads, make the hole by inserting a toothpick or other pointy object to get an opening wide enough for whatever cording you use.
Bake in the oven following package directions. You can take them right out of the oven and remove the toothpicks to cool. I just plopped my finished beads into a little glass dish.
When you're ready, string your beads to make the bracelets. I made a practice bracelet for myself first to determine the length I would need for each bracelet. 10 inches seemed to work for my project. I watched another YouTube video to figure out how to make adjustable knots, so that we can easily re-tie them as we add karate beads.
Annnd voila!
Repeat a million more times until you have enough for your kids, plus MANY extras. You know they're going to lose or break them!