With just a few supplies you can create your own versatile mandala pendant that can be worn as a necklace, attached to earrings or even form part of a larger bracelet. Just pick any two or three complimentary colours of your choice and follow these easy instructions for a piece of simple, craft jewellery. This is just one of Kate Haxell's many quick bead projects featured in The Seed Bead Book.
MATERIALS
18 lime green two-hole seed beads
30 size 10 pale green seed beads
18 turquoise luster two-hole seed beads
12 green-yellow prong beads
Beading needle
Olive-green beading thread
Narrow double-sided satin ribbon for hanging
1. Don’t fix a stop bead, but leaving a 4in (15cm) tail and starting with a lime green two-hole bead and ending with a seed bead, pick up six alternate seed and two-hole beads.
2. Take the needle through the beads in the same direction it went through the first time.
3. Pulling on the tail of thread and the working end, draw the beads into a tight circle. Knot the ends of thread firmly using a double knot, but do not cut the thread. This makes the first ring of the mandala.
4. Take the needle through the second hole of the closest two-hole bead. Pick up three turquoise two-hole beads, then take the needle through the second hole of the next green two-hole bead in the ring. Repeat around the circle, adding three turquoise beads between each green one. Pull the thread tight as you work. This makes the second ring of the mandala.
5. Take the needle through the second hole in the first blue bead of the first group of three. Pick up a green two-hole bead and take the needle through the second hole of the second bead in the group. Pull the thread taut so that the green bead fits in between the two blue ones.
6. Pick up another green two-hole bead, then take the needle through the last blue bead of the group of three and through the first one of the next group of three. Repeat the process around the ring, fitting a green bead between the first and second and second and third of each blue group and pulling the last bead of a group up next to the first bead of the next group. This makes the third ring of the mandala.
7. Take the needle through the second hole of the closest green bead. Pick up a seed bead, a prong bead, and another seed bead and take the needle through the second hole of the next two-hole bead in the ring.
8. Repeat Step 7 around the ring to make the fourth ring and complete the mandala.
9. Cut a length of ribbon long enough to go over your head, thread it through the center of the mandala and knot the ends.
Variations on this design and more seed bead projects can be found in The Seed Bead Book by Kate Haxell.
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