Mandela cuff tut w/photos: 3
Hi there!! I'm Reece, and today I'll be teaching you how to make a Mandela cuff XD
I don't know if this counts as art, but I'm saying it does LOL.
This is my first tutorial, so please feel free to lmk if I can improve anything: 3
First you need at least 5 colours in a gradient. You can use as many beads as you like, but I'm limited on beads today, so I'm using 4.
I chose dark orange, light orange, yellow, and white.
- something to cut the cloth elastic with [I used a knife, but I encourage you to use scissors]
- cloth elastic [at least 3 meters of it]
- and lastly, I used a tapestry needle to help "sew' the cuff together.
You'll want to start by making a basic X base cuff [the tut I used is linked here] You should use your darkest and second-darkest colors on this part; it'll make sense later.
Now that you've finished the base of the Mandela cuff, it's time to make it interesting! [AKA; 3d spikes]
you'll want to thread into one of your lighter colored beads, known as connector beads in this case. Do this the whole way around. remember to keep your elastic pulled tight for this part!
[side note; I realize my colours look like candy corn lol]
You'll want to get your second darkest, your middle and your second-lightest colour here. Basically just follow the photos but with your own pallet.
Once you've done that, tie off and thread your string into the point [in this case the white bead].
You'll be making the lower half of the spike now, so use the darker colour [orange] and the lighter one [yellow] and thread into the lower orange bead on the cuff.
Just like that! [My cuff is upside down in this image, but it doesn't really matter, as long as you're copying the pattern] now do that all the way around.
once it's done you'll have lovely 3D spikes.
for the final step, get 5 beads of your lightest colour and string them through the points on your spikes.
and then you're done! a lovely mandela cuff to enjoy. you can infitely make these bigger, with each X you add onto the base X cuff you'll be able to do more rows of spikes [as long as it's an even number] have fun!
[the orignal tutorial i followed is https://youtu.be/cCy6-iftnh4?si=N_Rn2K68MC7Vtiz2 ]
