Hair Jewelry Project

It may be the influence of the recent popular pirate movies, or possibly just people looking for new ways to express themselves and new jewelry to wear, but hair jewelry is becoming very trendy again. While you could stick with the old stand-bys, of barrettes or hair clips in various designs or colors, why not create a whole new hair jewelry style?

Items Needed

• 12 inches of Beading Wire
• Two Crimping Beads
• One Split Ring
• One Charm
• Metal, Glass, Acrylic and Wood Beads to Decorate
• Alligator Clip or Hair Band (rubber band style)
• Wire Cutters
• Jewelry Pliers
• Bead Crimping Tool
• Optional items: Leather or waxed cotton cord

What you are going to create is a beautiful strand of jewelry that can be worn in your hair or be attached to a bandana or other item that is worn on the head.

There are a few ways to make this piece of jewelry. For the example, we are going to use an alligator clip, but there are other options at the end of the instruction.

You need to have a surface where you can lay charms and beads where they will not roll away. If you do not have a beading table, you can use a towel for this.

Now select the design you want to create. Most hair jewelry pieces range from 6-12 inches long (ours will be about 10 inches long). Keep in mind, as long as the hair jewelry is, is how far it will swing around as you move and may hit you in the face. Therefore, if you are a very active person, you may want to start with a shorter piece of hair jewelry until you get used to it.

Lay the beads out in the design you want to use, with the charm at the bottom. Keep in mind that this will be a piece that is relying on your hair to hold it in place, so you may not want to put too many heavy beads in it, because they will end up pulling your hair and may become bothersome over time.

Now you're ready to string the beads.

1. Thread a crimping bead onto one end of the wire.
2. Now string the charm onto the beading wire after the crimping bead.
3. Loop one inch of the beading wire through the hole in the charm and back up through the crimping bead. This will hold your charm in place and help you make and ending for the strand.
4. Using your crimping tool, tighten the crimping bead.
5. Trim the excess wire.
6. Now thread the rest of your beads onto the beading wire.
7. Add a crimping bead to the top.
8. Loop the wire through the hole or loop in the alligator bead and back through the crimping bead.
9. Using your crimping tool, tighten the crimping bead.
10. It can now be clipped into your hair or on to a bandana

Design Options

The Leather or Cord Option 
If you would like a more fun, primitive look to your hair jewelry, you can use leather or waxed cotton cording instead of beading wire. You need to select leather or a cord that is thin enough to thread beads onto. The piece of cord you cut should be two times the length you want it to be, plus 4 inches. So, if you wanted it to be 8 inches, you would cut 20 inches of cord.

1. Fold the cord in half and tie the top in a knot, so that you have a loop at the top, a knot, and then two strings hanging down from it. You will thread each of these pieces independently (so your completed hair jewelry piece will have 2 dangles).
2. Add beads onto the cord. You do not have to create a solid line from the top to the bottom; you can use knots to create open spaces. For example, thread three beads onto the leather, push them up towards the top, and then tie a knot or two beneath them. When you hold it up, it will keep them in place, when you put the next beads on, they do not have to be flush with the first set. This has an especially nice effect if you use colored cord, then you can leave an inch or more gap between the knotted segments of beads and let the color show through.
3. Once you have all the beads you want on a strand, you can knot a charm onto the bottom of the strand.
4. Reinforce this knot with a dab of super glue, to keep it from fraying in the future.
5. Do the same for the second strand of cord. If you would like a little variety in the appearance of the cording, you may want to cut one side shorter than the other so the strands are of varying length.