Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

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Miss Liberty
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Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by Miss Liberty » Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:19 am

Hey there!


i just made a handful of these on a whim, and thought maybe someone else might want to as well. These are VERY simple dread beads/wire wraps that were super cheap to make!

What you'll need:

Scissors
Floral wire - I used gold but it comes in other colors. I had it lying around. A whole spool is about $3 at the craft store and can be used for many different projects
Round nosed jewelry pliers
A Sharpie, pencil, dowel, or something else to wrap around depending on the size you want:
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1. Cut your length of wire. You don't have to be too fused over length. The longer you want the wrap, the more you'll need, but even the smaller ones look ok.
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2. Take your round pliers and twist the wire around a few times. This wire is very flexible, so it turns easy.
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3. You can twist a few times, or lots depending on the look you want. This first one I only twisted a few times:
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4. Wrap the remaining wire around your Sharpie or whatever you are using. Make sure you can easily slide the finished piece off when you are done:
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5. Leave enough of the end so you can use the pliers to wrap a few spirals on this end as well, finishing off the look:
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6. You can make them in different lengths with varying spirals:
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7. Slide them onto your dreads. If they are a little big, twist in the direction of the spiral until they are tight. you can run them up the dread a bit too until they catch on the outside hair:
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8. Viola! you are done! For less than pennies a piece, you have these cool steampunky accents. The BEST part? If you loose them on a dance floor, who cares? You can make dozens more in minutes!
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Maybe it seems too simple and obvious, but I wanted to illustrate JUST how simple it is. I hate losing beads, springs and things while out, so this is a great alternative to throwing out some cash for the nicer, more expensive ones out there. Enjoy!

pixychick
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by pixychick » Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:49 am

OMG!! I love you for this post!! Hey also if you want different colors you can always spray paint the wire. Yay I am so excited

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convenientlust
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by convenientlust » Mon Apr 19, 2010 5:45 am

Thankssss :D I've been searching for a tut on this.

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NaturalistDesigns
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by NaturalistDesigns » Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:24 am

This is exactly how I make mine :3 Great tutorial!

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Jeli
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by Jeli » Mon Jun 21, 2010 2:00 pm

This is great! it would also be dead easy to jazz them up even more by putting little seed or embroidery beads onto the wire before spiralling the end!

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ladykay
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by ladykay » Wed Jun 30, 2010 5:19 am

pixychick wrote:OMG!! I love you for this post!! Hey also if you want different colors you can always spray paint the wire. Yay I am so excited
would you spray before or after? if you did so before, would it crack? note: i've never touched a spray paint can in my life.

liberty, these are very nice and elegant :D if i wasn't so obsessed with premo/fimo clay right now i'd maybe have a go. i especially like the shorter ones

tr1angl3
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by tr1angl3 » Wed Aug 11, 2010 11:38 pm

ladykay wrote:
pixychick wrote:OMG!! I love you for this post!! Hey also if you want different colors you can always spray paint the wire. Yay I am so excited
would you spray before or after? if you did so before, would it crack? note: i've never touched a spray paint can in my life.

liberty, these are very nice and elegant :D if i wasn't so obsessed with premo/fimo clay right now i'd maybe have a go. i especially like the shorter ones

You should probably do it afterwards because spray paint tends to flake when it's bent. I'm pretty sure you could just use colored jewelry wire though.

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Neon Black
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by Neon Black » Thu Aug 12, 2010 8:12 am

That's how I make mine too, they look really effective :)

Kandiihaar
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by Kandiihaar » Wed Aug 25, 2010 3:16 pm

Miss Liberty you are a star!!! This looks so easy!!! xx

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dread_addiction
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by dread_addiction » Wed Sep 15, 2010 6:59 am

omg thats soo easy .. i gatta try

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Flower In Furs
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by Flower In Furs » Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:43 am

DUDE! yaaaah!
I have been searching for away to do this, that is so perfect and easy! Your awesome!
unicorn unity

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MistressH
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Re: Easy and cheap dread beads/wraps

Post by MistressH » Mon Nov 22, 2010 8:44 pm

if you wanted to spray paint them id use plastikote rather than just bog standard spray paint

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