DIY bracelets with jewellery cords & hexnuts

How's it going everyone, hope you're all doing well.

I've been really in the mood for DIY and make some new bracelets or arm candy since I always love to wear something on my wrist with my outfits as I feel it ties the outfit together and also adds character and definition to who you are and your outfit.

Here are a few bracelets I made using jewellery cords and hexnuts, inspired by 'Anneorshine' on Youtube.

I really think these bracelets look really cool, edgy yet subtle enough for a classy look. Both bracelets are fitted nicely around my wrist without sliding around since I thought they looked better when they're fitted on the wrist.

To make these bracelets, all you'll need is:
→ Hex-nuts (I use 4mm hexnuts found at hardware stores)
→ Waxed Jewellery cords (I use black 1mm waxed jewellery cord)

For easier references to make the top bracelet which has a zipper effect, please watch the following video by Anneorshine:

The technique involves a basic 3-part braid, slotting in hexnuts on each side and braiding through.
You should end up something like or simile to this:

The bottom bracelet is more complex and requires a more complicated technique called square knotting.
Here is a great video by Secretlifeofabionerd on how to square knot:

While square knotting, you add a hex-nut in the centre rope and do the square knot and then insert another hex-nut in the centre rope and do another square knot and repeat the steps to the desired length. You should be able to achieve something like this:

It's preferred that you get the hang of the square knotting technique because then adding the hex-nut and square knotting will be extremely easy. I also made the bracelet adjustable with dangling hex-nuts.

To make the adjustable part, I also used the square knotting technique. Please watch the following video to learn how to do an adjustable square knot closure (the voiceover is quite bad imo) :

And you should be able to learn how to make an adjustable square knot closure :)
Once you learn the many techniques such as basic braids and square knotting, you're free to be creative and make many bracelets like the one I made here using different type of jewellery cords:

That's it for the post. Sorry that it's not much of a DIY, really just wanted to share my experiences and my creativity and where I learn and get it from.

Until then, stay well, take care and goodluck!

「Sukitte ii na yo」 bracelet

Hope everyone is doing well.

Went out to hang with my good cosplay friend Grace and her friends today who were down in town to buy fabric for their cosplays and yeah, was good fun seeing them.

There was no mail when I got home and it was already about 2.30pm-ish, so started cooking lunch and yadayada. 30 minutes later I hear my doorbell ringing and the mailman gives me our mail and 3 packages for me. SUPERRR HAPPYYYY because i was waiting for these packages to arrive as they included:

- A cheap Ebay long wallet (because I always wanted a long male wallet ever since seeing japanese men in japan having it and looking classy with it)

- and the rest of my beads and the elastic to make the bracelet from the anime manga 「Sukitte ii na yo」

Gathered all my equipments, tools, materials and reference together; ready to get started on the bracelet. All the beads and elastic was purchased on Ebay and colors was selected based on using references of the bracelet from the anime. To search for these beads, type in "irregular beads" or "chips beads" in the search bar and they should come up. The elastic is just black jewellery elastic.

Started making these babies for Yamato (myself) first and just tried to follow the reference as much as I can for any specific pattern but in the end, I just made it really random and made sure some of the beads where evenly distributed. This is what came out after threading the beads.

Was actually quite happy how it turned out because it was really similar to the cosplay style and also somewhat similar to the anime style. So that was good. Now, the problem I had was ending and tying it together to form the bracelet. The thing is with this bracelet is that, its not a simple joint- there's actually some form of braid or knot and ends with two dangling ends.

It took me a while to figure it out so i came up with this:

It looks somewhat accurate to the anime style BUT honestly just really messy and I wasn't really happy. So I posted that picture on Instagram stating how I wasn't too happy with the ending joints, and had some comments from friends on Instagrams and Twitter showing me about square-knots. So i looked around and was linked to a video about square-knots, attempted and practiced with hemp cords and yeah, decided to try it out and work on Mei's bracelet.

This was the result with the square knot:

Super duper happy with how Mei's bracelet turned out with the square knots. I used different clamps with loops so that the black rope can stay in place and yeah. 

Got the hang of square knots and decided to fix up my bracelet for Yamato and got this:

So here are the couple bracelets for both Yamato and Mei from Sukitte ii na yo.

 Was so much fun to make and since I have quite alot of spare beads and elastic, I decided to make another pair for friends who were also cosplaying Yamato and Mei, as well as making a couple for as gifts for friends. 

I know it's still quite sloppy but I think it'll do for now :D

ANYHOW time to sleep, almost 4am. Wow time flies when you're blogging, i started blogging like at 3.15am I think but yeah. Must prepare self for intense hot weather tomorrow and IKEA at night with my good friend Sera.

Till then, will most likely blog tomorrow.

Goodnight!