Dryad Bracelet Tutorial

Halloween approaches.  I bet you're already trying to come up with costume ideas.  Don't forget to accessorize!  If you're pondering anything Faerie-adjacent, Hobbit-related, Elfin, Ewok or Fantasy-Medieval, you might consider this leafy creation.

Bonus: it's simple to make.  Read on for the very fun DIY.

First, get some plastic leaves.

Where to find your leaves?  Try the dollar store, craft store or floral supply shop.  Or you could just denude a branch of the faux ficus that's been slumped in the corner of your dentist's waiting room for the past eleven years.  (Can't find the perfect leaf?  Check my leaf-sculpting post for ideas on how to customize your foliage, for cheap!)

Poke a hole in each leaf. 

Your supplies: beads, leaves and a coil of memory wire.

Cut the wire to approx. twice your wrist measurement.  I think saucer-shaped beads work particularly well here, but any shape will do.

Your tools: round-nose pliers and a big, tough wire cutter.

Don't use delicate jewelry snippers on memory wire!  You will damage them!

Turn a small loop on one end of the memory wire.

 

Now for the very fun part.  Thread on a bead, a leaf, a bead, a leaf...the best look, I found, is to alternate the leaf direction: thread one through the front, thread the next one backwards, etc.

Keep going until the length encircles your wrist.

Grab the wire with your pliers, right next to the final bead. Use the extra length to help turn the final loop.  Then trim off the tail.  Like so:

 

 

 Done!  Here's how the ends will look:

Ta.  Da.

  

With the one above, I used two beads of staggered sizes between the leaves - a different look, less leafy but still cool.

And that's your Dryad bracelet.  The rest of the costume is on you.  Send pictures!