The Wordless Bracelet

*I would just like to take a moment and say this is a craft blog and I on occasion will post things that are cultural therefore I hope that no one takes offense. *

Hello all,
I thought I would talk to you all about the wordless bracelet. Yes it is a religious bracelet but it is subtle and also a neat craft, especially if you are a camp counselor or a youth pastor. I made my first bracelet when I was in Sunday school with plastic pony beads but as I got older I wanted a slightly nicer one that does not look as little kiddish. I found one in my room which was probably an older siblings at one time but it fit my wrist alone so I have kept it to the point where the colour had come off the bracelet itself. This began my search for new beads and also new leather because the bracelet is suppose to be adjustable so that it can be taken off to swim or what not. Mine however was just big enough for my wrist and was a giant pain to remove.
The search for beads brought me to a website where I ordered all the colours I needed, by the way the beads I have are wooden or coco is another word for them. However when they arrived the hole was in them was actually too small for the leather cord I had so I thought to my self well I will just restring my old beads and wait till I get a smaller cord, then it dawned on me, why not just re paint my old beads, so that is what I did. I am however still going to make another bracelet with the new beads I bought when I find a cord for them.


Now for the bracelet, I'll give you a bit of the meanings behind the colours a few variations and then a picture because yes I have figured out how to put a picture up.
So the colours on my bracelet are:
Purple, Green, Blue, White, Red, Black, and Yellow.
However you can make the bracelet with just Black, red, white, and green, or with these 4 colours you can add in yellow.
Purple is the representation of the glory of our God or in some instances I have read it to mean Royal, most of the ones that have this colour refer to it as the glory of God so that is what it shall mean in this tutorial.
Green is the representation of our growth through Christ.
Blue is the representation of the Holy Spirit and Baptism. Our acceptance of Jesus and God into our hearts
White is the representation of a new clean heart that we achieve through God. Or the washing away of our sins. This bead can also be clear if you are using a pony bead system.
Red is the representation of the blood of Christ. This is a reference to Jesus dying for our sins.
Black represents death which came through sin. Some references of the bracelet mention just sin but more and more state that it is the death that came from sin.
Yellow or (Gold) represents heaven.



Back to the making of the bracelet.
I prefer leather cord as the bracelet part because I find it wears down nicely to a smooth surface but if you don't have anything I am sure any kind of rope is fine. I will just state that most of the tutorials on the net use leather.
First measure out a length of cord, for my own because I wanted it to be able to adjust I made it 2 wraps around my wrist. Then fold the cord in half and about an inch from that point make a know.
From there you will start adding your coloured beads. Now I'm not quite sure if there is a specific order you have to follow, mine personally follows the way I mentioned the colours before in this blog (purple, green, blue, white, red, black, and yellow) which if I take the bracelet off can be switched to read the other way around as well. However if most of the bracelets of 5 colours I notice the order is Yellow, black, red, white, green. And in others still with the blue I have seen it before the green and after the green. For me I think it does not matter which order but more the meaning of the beads and also maybe the order you think they should go in. Therefore for this step you can put them in any order.
After your beads are on the cord tie another knot to secure them in place.
Now here is the part I had trouble with, you know have to tie a not at each end of the cord with the other cord passing through it so that it will be adjustable. I tied one end around the cord and then adjusted it to my wrist before tying the other end, and then with some clear nail polish secured the knots. However an easier way to do this step is to take 2 more beads, I believe on my original pony bead bracelet they were clear, slide them on to one side of the cord and with the other side slide it through the beads in the opposite direction and then tie a knot in the ends of each side. This way you don't have to worry about the cord getting stuck in the knot and it is also easier for younger kids to do it this way.
There you are done.


If you have any questions about how to do this just let me know.
Signing off
-Photo Alley