Bracelet Dark Night Tutorial - Svetlana.Gallery

The beaded bracelet “Dark Night” video tutorial is for everyone who likes Cubic Right Angle Weave and stylish contemporary designs.

I created this design a while ago and published it as a CRAW bracelet idea. Since then, I received many requests to make a tutorial.

If the CRAW technique is new to you, you are welcome to watch and practice with my Cubic Right Angle Weave tutorial for beginners.

For this tutorial, I chose blue seed beads because Classic Blue is the color of 2020!

You will need

13 X 18 Double-drilled Black Onix beads
11/0 seed beads of two colors. I used blue and black seed beads.
15/0 beads. I chose a darker color than the blue of 11/0 beads.
4 X 6 Faceted crystal beads
A Clasp – I used three-strand tube slide-in clasp
Beading thread. And a lot of it! I used Fireline 6 lb
Beading needle size 12
Sharp scissors
Beeswax

Bracelet “Dark Night” Tutorial Part 1

Before you begin, I suggest you consider waxing your thread. Why do I think waxing is good? Because it protects the thread in finished beadwork.

Step 1

Video time 1:58

Make the first CRAW unit. (Check my video tutorial for beginners)

Step 2

Video time 4:24

Add one more unit

Step 3

Video time 6:17

Continue adding CRAW units until you have 7.

Step 4

Video time 7:40

Add 6 CRAW unit at 90-degree angle

Step 5

Video time 10:50

Add three CRAW units at a 90-degree angle. Then weave through the beadwork to prepare for the next step. Your thread and needle should be exiting one of the beads of the corner unit.

Bracelet “Dark Night” Tutorial Part 2

Step 6

Video time 0:44

Add 5 CRAW units building up on top of the three units you have added in the previous Step (5)

Attention!

Later on, I chose to add 6 units instead of 5 because I felt the design will look better. You have a choice either to keep it shorter or to add 6 units as I did. In Part 3 of the tutorial, I show how to add a unit after the basic structure is already completed (see Step 14). That’s the beauty of the CRAW stitch, you may build up and change the design at any point.

Step 7

Video time 2:09

Attach the double-drilled bead. Don’t forget to reinforce!

If you chose to add 5 units on the side, you will attach the top part of the double-drilled bead to the corner bead of the last CRAW unit.

If you have 6 units on the side, please, see the next Step (Video time 7:26).

Step 8

Video time 6:15

Attention!

This step is marked in the video as “7” by mistake! Please, accept my apologies for this mistake.

Continue building up the bracelet structure, and the support for the second double-drilled bead.

Add 6 CRAW units at a 90-degree angle.

Then add 6 more units turning 90 degrees again.

As I mentioned above, attaching the double-drilled bead will be slightly different, when you have 6 units on the side. Video time 7:26

Where to attach the double-drilled bead on the opposite side? It depends on many factors: your choice of seed beads and their size (manufacturers’ size differ) and on the exact location of the hole in the double-drilled bead. Make sure you eyeball the point of attachment correctly. Otherwise, the structure of the bracelet might look crooked later when you add the embellishments.

Tip

When you continue adding to this bracelet structure, your thread might get tangled around the units. If you don’t pay attention to that and keep beading, you might end up having loops that you won’t be able to fix later.

Continue adding beaded motifs until you have enough to form a bracelet of your size.

Bracelet “Dark Night” Tutorial Part 3

I strongly recommend attaching the clasp before embellishing the bracelet. There are a couple of reasons for it.

Weaving a lot through the beadwork to secure the thread before and after attaching the clasp will be easier before you embellish it.
Attaching the clasp with a separate thread will make your life much easier if you need to change it. However, please, keep in mind, it is always hard to “undo” Cubic Right Angle Weave stitching.

Step 9

Video time 1:18

Using seed beads size 15, attach the three-strand clasp to the bracelet structure. Reinforce each connection at least twice.

Since I recommend attaching a clasp with a separate thread, please, see Step 13 below for the details.

Step 10

Video time 4:34

Add a faceted crystal bead using seed beads size 15 and seed beads size 11 (second color – accent). String 15/0 seed bead, then a faceted bead, then 11/0 seed bead, stitch through the faceted bead again, add one 15/0 seed bead before you stitch through the base beadwork. Repeat, but do not add 11/0 seed bead on top, instead, just stitch through the top bead, then the faceted bead.

Step 11

Video time 6:26

Adding 11o seed beads of the second color to each corner of the structure.

Step 12

Video time 7:06

Add 15/0 seed beads between CRAW units everywhere except corners.

Step 13

Video time 12:31

In this part of the tutorial, I show how to attach a clasp with a separate thread. Also, you will see how to avoid mistakes when attaching a slide-in clasp, like the one I use in this tutorial.

Step 14

Video time 15:08

If you need to add one or more CRAW units, I recommend adding it before you embellish the bracelet. Even then, you can still add units. It just will be less comfortable.