Welcome to the beaded cube bead diamond-shaped ring pattern instructions! If you have any difficulty following this tutorial, please post a comment at the bottom of the page on which you are stuck, and I'll do my best to help!
Step 1 : You may have noticed that I have switched back to the red colour scheme. This is because truthfully I completely forgot to take pictures of making the band of the ring when I made my first model. That's why repetition is good! Anyways, so now is the time when you must decide whether you want this beaded ring to be square or diamond-shaped because this will affect where we start adding the beads to make the band that will wrap the ring around your finger. If you wanted it to sit on your finger as a square shape, you would take the two ends of the fishing line to the middle of the straight edge of the ring (like say the outer medium-lengthed bugle bead) and start adding beads from there. I chose to make this a diamond-shaped ring, so in this case you will take the two ends of your fishing line to the corner of the ring, to the seed bead marked by the green dot, as shown. As always, you do this by going through beads until you reach your destination. Ideally, you would then cross the green-dotted red seed bead with the two ends of the fishing line, but in practice, this isn't always practical if it's easiest to approach it from the same side with the two ends of the fishing line, so you don't have to cross it (to cross it, you would have to be approaching it from opposite sides with the two ends of the fishing line). If it is the case that you can't cross that corner seed bead because your fishing line ends are on the same side of it, then just go through that seed bead with one end of the fishing line and not the other, that way they are at least on opposite sides of the bead. By the way, if you're wondering why there is a lot of fishing line showing in this picture, it is because the pattern is flipped over in the picture, and showing the underside of the ring.
Step 2 : Now we are starting to add the beads to make the back of the ring! (a.k.a. the band of the ring). Simply add 3 small seed beads to each end of the fishing line (they are all marked with yellow dots), and then add 1 more small seed bead (marked with a blue dot) and cross it with both ends of the fishing line in opposite directions, as shown by the arrows in the picture.
Step 3 : This is what it should look like after you pull the fishing line tight. What you see is one repeating unit of the band of the ring. Now keep going that way, adding 3 small seed beads to each end of the fishing line and then 1 more small seed bead and crossing it. Do this over and over until the band of the ring reaches the desired length.
Step 4 : Here it is pictorially after having done that repeating motion over and over to make the band length longer. You can see that I added beads, then crossed, then added beads, then crossed. It's important to note that you always add 3 beads to each end of the fishing line, to keep the pattern always pointing in the same direction. Had you at one point added 1 seed bead to one end and 5 to the other, the pattern would make a sharp turn. By the way, I also teach how to do the band of a beaded ring in the diamond-shaped ring pattern of this website. I actually go into slightly more detail there if this confuses you. One thing to note is that in that pattern, I used a combination of bugle beads and seed beads to make the band of the ring. I have since renounced bugle beads for making bands for two reasons. Firstly, bugle beads are less gentle to the skin and can feel abrasive (not painfully, but seed beads feel much smoother). Secondly, bugle beads have sharper edges and can wear away at the fishing line, and in fact, a ring or two of mine have broken after a year of use because of this. So now I only use seed beads to make the backs of my rings.
Step 5 : This is the final step of the cube bead ring!! I have been consistent between this picture and the last one in using a yellow dot to depict the same small seed bead in the band of the beaded ring. So then you add 3 more small seed beads to each end of the fishing line (all marked by turquoise dots). Now I have marked the corner seed bead of the ring base with a black dot. This is not the corner seed bead where you started the band of the ring, nor is it either of the corners beside it. It is the OPPOSITE corner of the ring (they are not beside each other). For the ring to be diamond-shaped, you must attach the band of the ring to this corner. So what you do is take one end of the fishing line (either end) and go through that corner seed bead (marked by a black dot). The other end of the fishing line doesn't go anywhere. Now, tie a knot between the two ends of the fishing line, as shown in the picture. In fact, tie several knots (I would say 3 to 4 knots is safe). Then, go through several more beads (of your choice) with the two ends of the fishing line to secure them in place. Then cut the two ends of the fishing line short. I didn't show these steps in pictures, but if you are not clear on them, you can check the diamond-shaped ring tutorial, as it goes much more in depth into this step. One difference to note though is that in that tutorial, I was a little bit security-happy, and told you to go over and over through the beads, back and forth, with the fishing line. This isn't really necessary, it's just extra security. Part of the reason higher security was necessary for that pattern was because I used bugle beads in the band of the ring, and here we used seed beads, which are much kinder to both your finger and the fishing line. Okay, the ring is done!!!! Don't just sit there, go show it off!!!
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| Beader Comments: | |||
| R. Gonor on March 12, 2008: | |||
| Although it is a nice ring, my favorite tutorial in beading and jewelery making is that cool pendant. | |||
| Angela on March 10, 2008: | |||
| Oh thank goodness it's finally here!! I have been looking forward to this beaded ring pattern for days since the preview picture was posted. It's so beautiful. I can't wait to make it, wear it, and show it off!! You can't even tell it's beaded! | |||
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