Easy Elastic Bracelet Tutorial -

Remember when you were young and made stretchy elastic bracelets with a store-bought DIY kit of colorful beads and letters? Fast forward 10-20 years and let’s take that idea up a notch with a grown-up mentality of elastic bracelets. We love the concept of elastic bracelets because they are easy to make, inexpensive, and if you aren’t crimping the elastic, there are no tools needed.

Elastic Bracelets are simple to create, comfortable to wear and convenient: just slip them on and off! Elastic bracelets are the perfect jewelry piece for people with arthritis or those who have difficulty hooking on clasps with one hand. Layering different elastic bracelets is very on trend and bohemian looking.

We have two easy tutorials on how to finish your very own elastic bracelet.

Our first tutorial is how to tie the elastic cord of your bracelet using a surgeon’s knot.

Step 1: Gather your elastic, beads, spacers, and adhesive.

Step 2: measure your wrist size. An average size is 7″. You may add an inch if you’d like the fit of the bracelet to be a bit looser.

Step 3: Measure the elastic cord to your desired size, add about 4″-5″ and cut. Grab the cord at both ends and give it a tug, to loosen the elastic.

Step 4: String on the beads to the preferred length.

Step 5A: Make a cross knot and secure it by tying a square surgeon’s knot.

Step 5B: Illustrated look at the surgeon’s knot.

Step 6: Complete the bracelet by gluing the knot to reinforce its strength, then cut the excess cord, leaving about ¼”.

Our second tutorial is how to crimp your elastic ends to clasps, connectors, jump rings, toggle clasp, etc. Follow the same bead sequence as above or try your own sequence without tying the ends. For this tutorial, you will need a pair of Crimping Pliers, crimp beads/tubes, and your choice of clasp.

Step 2: First, measure your wrist size. An average size is 7″. You may add an inch if you’d like the fit of the bracelet to be a bit looser.

Step 5: Use a Crimping Tool. There are 2 hole crimpers. Inner hole will have a U-shape that will turn the crimp tube into a U-Shape, while the other will fold the crimp tube. First, crimp to make the U-shape.

Step 6: Then, turning the crimping tool, use the other hole crimp to fold the crimp tube, as if you are folding a book close.

Step 7: Repeat for other end of clasp. Cut off excess cord and done!

A tip when using elastic cord: loosen the elasticity by giving it a tug/stretch before starting your project. This will help in two ways. First, if you start with a piece of elastic cord, sometimes you will find it stiff. Stretching it will help make the cord more manageable to use. And secondly, because over time you will constantly stretch the elastic when slipping them on and off, it will eventually loosen the elastic. Loosening it before starting your project can avoid a looser and larger fit in the future.

Another tip when knotting or crimping your elastic, is to have a large hole bead next to it. You can conceal the knot or crimp inside the bead for a clean and professional looking finish. Or you can use crimp covers to cover the crimp or knot as if it was another bead in your elastic bracelet design.

Here are some inspirational, simple elastic bracelets that we have made using our tutorial above.

Onyx Stone Bracelet

Elastic bracelets can be as simple as this Onyx Stone Bracelet. What makes this bracelet more grown up is the quality beads used for your projects. These Dakota Stone Sardonyx Gemstone Beads have a smooth, round shape with natural white lines. They are also cool to the touch so you know they are high-quality gemstones.

Wrap-Around Golden Ruby Bracelet

You will find that elastic cords are thin yet sturdy enough for seed beads. Here, we used some size 8 seed Japanese Miyuki seed beads that have a hole size large enough for a .7mm elastic cord. Making a fun sequential design with faceted Chinese crystals, brass-plated Bali beads, Miyuki seed beads, and Czech O beads, we strung on a 28” long strand to wrap around four times a 7” wrist. You can always add more or less beads to accommodate your own wrist size.

Elastic Watch

For this piece, we used crimp tubes/beads to connect the elastic ends to the watch face and toggle clasp. This is a fun combination of using a watch face and making it into an elastic bracelet.

Wood Tassel Bracelet

From our Tassel blog post, comes this pair of Wood Tassel Bracelet that were made with elastic cord. Wood beads were strung in a random sequence and an added tassel for extra embellishment. We adore these two bracelets because they are lightweight and trendy with tassel addition.

Birdy Bracelet

Blue Sky Tiger Eye Stretch Bracelet

Blue Jasper Bracelet — Designed by Tory Vezina

Onyx Stone Bracelet

(1) A021634 – Clear 0.8mm Elasticity
(1) SDZ10RD-8 – Dakota Stones 10mm Round Sardonyx Gemstone Beads

Wrap-Around Golden Ruby Bracelet

(1) A002290 – .7mm Stretch Magic Elastic Cord
(49) A016781 – Light Siam Chinese Crystal Glass
(7) A004246 – Silver Brass Plated Bali Style
(84) SB02042 – Czech O Beads
(140+) SB00066 – Size 8/0 Black Miyuki Seed Bead

Elastic Watch

(1) Watch Face
(1) A021634 – Clear 0.8mm Elasticity
(1) A003579 – 17mm Bali Style Round Toggle
(6) PYR10RLLH-8 – 10mm Pyrite Gemstone Rondelle Large Hole Beads from Dakota Stones
(8) A014364 – 7mm Butter Pecan Czech Glass Bead
(6) Z002570 – 6mm Silver Disc Beads
(6) A021125 – 11mm Silver Plated Bali Swirl Bead
(4) A004830 – 2mm Crimp Tubes
Tool: FTTL0003 – Crimping Pliers

Wood Tassel Bracelet

(1) Z002653 – Red Tassel
(1) Z003429 – Brown Tassel
(3) NBWB0003 – 16mm Wood Bead
(8) Rondelle Nut Bead
(26) Z004978 – Red, Black, and Brown Round Wood Bead
(14) Z004009 – 6mm Wood Bead
(4) 10mm Dot Design Wood Bead
A021637 – Elastic Cord
A007224 – GS Hypo Cement

Blue Sky Tiger Eye Stretch Bracelet

(1) A021635 – 1mm Elasticity Cord
(7) TGE8RDLH-F-8 – 8mm Tiger Eye Gemstone Faceted Round Large Hole Beads
(14) BCL8RD-8 – 8mm Round Blue Crazy Lace Agate Gemstone Beads
(2) TC00340 – 8mm Antique Silver Legend Spacer
(6) TC00032 – 5mm Silver Kenyan Heishi Spacers
A007224 – GS Hypo Cement