How to Make Native American Jewelry

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Use seed beads and bugle beads for dangly earrings.

   Create earrings with small beads in a style often associated with Native American art.
   
   Play around with your own patterns using different colors of seed beads and bugle beads strung together with beading thread.
   
   Look for seed beads in the common 11/0 size and a long size of bugle bead, which can both be found in the beading section of any craft store.
   
   You can use other shapes and sizes of beads, but these are most common for this style.
   
   Use a beading needle and nylon beading thread for the easiest construction of dangling beaded earrings.
   
   You will also need a 4mm jump ring and an earring hook to complete each earring.
   
   These are also found in most craft stores.
2. 2

   Step 2: Make a foundation row with bugle beads.

   String together a row of bugle beads to make the top foundation of your earring where other strands will dangle from.
   
   Use a ladder stitch to make the bugle beads sit side-to-side rather than end-to-end.
   
   To do a ladder stitch with the bugle beads, first pick up two beads with your needle and pull them down almost to the end of your thread, leaving about a 6 inch tail.
   
   Then thread your needle through just the first bead, in the same direction you did to begin, and pull the thread tight until the two beads naturally sit parallel to one another.
   
   Continue the ladder stitch for as many beads as you want your foundation row to have.
   
   After the stitch with the first two beads, pick up a new bugle bead on your thread and put your needle through the last bead in the same direction that you used to thread it on, and pull it tight.
   
   Continue this stitch for each bead in the row.
   
   The number of bugle beads you use in your foundation row will determine how wide your earring is and how many dangling strands you will have.
   
   If you plan on a symmetrical pattern of chevrons, diamonds, etc., note that you will need to use an odd number of beads in your row., Add seed beads above your foundation row in a triangular shape that with taper up to your earring hook.
   
   Use a brick stitch to naturally decrease each beaded row by one until you reach the top.
   
   To do a brick stitch, pick up two seed beads on your thread.
   
   Note where you can see the thread go in and out of each bugle bead in your foundation rows—each of these spots is called a thread bridge.
   
   Skip the first thread bridge and thread your needle with the two seed beads through the second thread bridge and pull tight.
   
   Then bring your needle back up through the last seed bead.
   
   To even out the first two beads, go back down through the first bead and back up through the second bead.
   
   Then continue the rest of the row by picking up one seed bead, threading your needle through the next thread bridge in the row, and bringing the needle back up through the bead.
   
   Continue till the end of the row, then start a new one using the thread bridges on the row you just created.
   
   Keep creating rows until you’ve completed the last one with just one bead., Bring your needle and thread down through all the seed beads on one side of your tapered top section and through the end bugle bead in your foundation row.
   
   Use the rest of your thread to create single dangling strands of beads in whatever pattern you like.
   
   To create the first strand, string all of the seed beads you want in that strand, in order from top to bottom, onto your thread.
   
   Then, skipping the last bead you put on, bring your needle all the way back through each bead till you’re back up at the top.
   
   Then thread your needle back through the bugle bead above that strand and back down through the next bugle bead so you can create your second strand.
   
   Continue in this way for all of your strands.
   
   Make sure that when you pull your thread back up through each strand that you don’t pull too tightly.
   
   You want the beads on these strands to be loose enough that they will dangle nicely, but without showing any thread in between.
3. 3

   Step 3: Make a tapered tip above the foundation row.

4. 4

   Step 4: Create a pattern with dangling bead strands.

Detailed Guide

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