Tuestorial - A Portable Craft "Braided Friendship Bracelet"

This week, I thought I'd teach you how to do something that you could bring with you to the Etsy Craft Party next weekend!

When I was a little girl, making friendship bracelets was "the cool thing to do"... I loved taking my bracelet projects on the road and would spend hours and hours of a road trip knotting floss. Now, my patience is just...well, not the same... and ...like all trends, it's BACK... I keep seeing macrame bracelets on top fashion blogs and I've been itching to get my hands back into that world.

When I found this tutorial online on Youtube I was excited to learn how to use a braiding disc.
I hadn't ever heard of a braiding disc before, but in my research online I found that this is actually a technique from Japan. The original technique used 16 pieces of yarn, but the tutorial I found was 7 cords.

TIPS FOR THIS PROJECT:

1.)
Unless you want to be braiding for ages... it's taken me over an hour to get this far with floss:

Although it's cute and I think it will be a nice little gift, I think if I had used more floss, or thick yarn, I would have been a lot happier with this bracelet.

2.) DO think of how your braid will be used...this type of braid might be great for a dog leash or a leather cord for a necklace. I made this one for my friend's ceramic flask and it looks great! Durable and useful.



3.) Be sure to use a stiff board for your braiding disk. I tried a card-stock and also a cardboard. The cardboard was MUCH easier to use. It's not necessary for your disc to be cut perfectly round, but it it necessary for your disk to be stiff enough not to bend every time you take a string from one spot to the other.

I think next, I might try this "Friendship Wheel" Style...I like that there are heart shapes on one of the designs. But before I do...I gotta think of a reason to make it... :) Ideas?

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!