To hammer home my point of always testing out my projects before I have my scouts do them, I had one go wrong the other night. Like a "what was I thinking?!" moment. I've had a template for making numbers for a pony bead key chain, and thought my guys might like having something to hang on their school bags once we get back in school mode and the pack numerals sounded good to me.
In my ever growing arsenal of project supplies, I grabbed a box of pony beads, a bag of keychain rings, and a roll of 1mm stretch magic.
I made a simple loop knot (I know it actually has a name, but it escapes me at the moment).
Ah, but the knot wouldn't stay tight. I kept pulling and pulling, but no dice. I kept going anyway.
Making these keychains is pretty simple; it helps to have all of your supplies right next to you, and have a nice flat surface to work on.
Separate the strings, and put your entire row of beads on to one string.
From top to bottom, we'll call them 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Next, take the other string, and string it back through the beads in opposite order; 5, 4, 3, 2 then 1. Pull the strings so there isn't any slack at the top. You might have to wiggle and jiggle a little to get it even.
Keep using this method one row at a time, adjusting the strings as you go along. I added two more rows to mine before I gave up!
Stretch Magic was NOT the best choice of lacing material! I couldn't get it to lay flat, nor could I keep the strings from slipping and sliding around! Luckily, I hoard string and embroidery floss and yarn and hemp string...see where I'm going with this?
I took all of the beads off, put some hemp string on, and got back to work. Here's how it ended up.
Much better! One and a half numbers in, I stopped. I realized that doing a 3 number keychain would be pretty big, and would take up more time than I wanted to devote in a den meeting. Solution? Switch out the beads to blue and yellow and have them make their den numbers! The number template link can be found here. You may have to add rows to some of the numbers to keep them evenly sized, but the template makes it easy to figure out!
Until next time,
CubMom
