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Balloon Dog Kandi Cuff

I've puzzled over this post for weeks upon weeks (no joke) because I wasn't sure how I wanted to do this. The original intention was to do a tutorial but let's be frank... I'm no good at tutorials. Anyhow, I'll give it a go anyway, I suppose! Let's see if I'm any good at this.

First, a photo of the pieces and supplies that I used! 1. needle-nose pliers 2. scissors 3. 1mm elastic stretch cord 4. Jump rings 5. balloon dog charms 6. Beads in the colors that match the balloon dogs, plus a base color (white)

First thing I do is begin with the first row for my X base of this cuff. Specifically, the way I do it is 2 of each color (totals 10 beads) and then the base bead color of white, of which I use 20 beads. A total of 30 beads for the first row of the X base.

String them all, in a 1-2 pattern, with the matching bead colors "next" to each other as pictured below:

After this, is when the X base begins to take its magical form! This row will also take a total of 30 beads. Take 1 of each color bead, and then the rest (25 beads) will be your base color. In this sample (obviously) I'm using white. You will string from one colored bead from the first row, skipping the 2 white beads, and stringing through the next colored bead.

White-color-white for the first one, then 3 white for the second one, then white-color-white for the next one. In this pattern until you've completed the row. It will look like this when you've finished this step:

For the next row, you'll have the same quantity of beads as the very first row; 2 of each color, and then 20 white (or base color) beads.

You'll do the white-color-white pattern again for this row.

As with the previous step, you'll be skipping some beads to continue the X shape for the base of this cuff. This time, you'll go through the center bead from each "bump". Your cuff will begin to take more shape, although it may still look a little bit like a crown.

For the final row of the base of this cuff, you'll need 20 white (or base color) beads only. You'll string 2 at a time, going from the center colored bead to the next one. This row will look like the first row does now, and will pull your cuff into shape rather than looking like a flared crown.

Now comes the fun part! Beginning to build the 3D shape to this cuff. For this particular cuff, I've made it more complex than I usually do. Rather than just 5 beads for each "bump", it will alternate between 5 and 3 beads.

Using more colored beads, the color "bump" will run from the edge color bead to the matching color in the cuff. This will keep the colors together, so the pattern builds correctly.

5 beads for the bump that goes from (example) purple to purple will be color-color-white-color-color. The next section, which will fall between two colors, will be 3 white beads.

It should look like this now:

Now comes the really tricky part (and I hope my explanation makes sense here!) Forming the 3D X's while keeping the 3 white bead "bumps" separate.

Your string should be coming out the white bead of one of the 5 bead bumps; you can see my string in the above photo doing just this.

From this, matching whatever color the current bump is, you'll string 2 color beads and it will string through the matching color bead on the other edge of the cuff. This will pull the larger bump toward the middle, and as you build it, you'll see the 3D X shape forming. You'll be working on the opposite edge of the cuff from the first row of 5 and 3 bead bumps. When you reach the 3 white beads between the colored sections, you will NOT pull the beads toward each other as with the 5 bead bump. Instead, you'll do those 3 exactly the same as the first edge.

Below is how the cuff is intended to look with this step completed:

After the above step, you'll use the needle-nose pliers to attach the balloon dog charms to the center white bead with one of the jump rings. Match up the color of the balloon dog to the color in that section of the cuff, and it will look as the below completed cuff!

I hope this made sense! Thank you for reading my tutorial!

Beads used in this tutorial: white opaque 9mm pony beads purple adrenaline translucent 9mm pony beads teal adrenaline translucent 9mm pony beads green adrenaline translucent 9mm pony beads yellow adrenaline translucent 9mm pony beads pink adrenaline translucent 9mm pony beads

All pony beads used came from BeadTin.com

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