Giant (Old School) Beaded Bracelet

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I made this giant woven beaded bracelet with spray painted pieces of PVC pipe!

Story time: I was visiting my friend Brian- who also happens to be a fabulous interior designer- and we were sitting in his new playroom for his daughter, Clover. Brian loves a gallery wall more than anyone I know so when he was doing the playroom, he asked for contributions from students and children to help. Do you see that little beaded bracelet that someone made from pony beads? It brought me RIGHT back to my childhood making these woven beaded bracelets on a loom and working row by row to make these. Why not do the same thing, but… super size it?!

A colorful living room with a blue couch, stuffed toys, a ball pit, and a gallery wall filled with framed art and drawings. A large white circle and arrow highlight some childlike sketches on the wall.

Step 1. Wipe Down the PVC

Obviously I wanted my ‘beads’ to be colorful so I needed to spray paint them. I’ve learned the hard way that in order to spray paint PVC pipes, you need to wipe them down first with acetone. I had 4 1-inch PVC pipes and wiped them down first before cutting them into smaller pieces.

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A person wearing gloves works on a long white PVC pipe at a wooden workbench in a workshop, surrounded by tools, boxes, and equipment.

Step 2. Cut the PVC Pipe

I’ve used a miter saw to cut PVC pipe before and you certainly *can* but… for smaller sections like this, it can be dangerous. There’s also SO much plastic dust which is just annoying so I far prefer to use a handheld PVC cutter like this one. For a project like this, no question it was hard on my hands because I had to make so many cuts, but I spread it out over a few days and ended up getting through it. I cut each ‘bead’ 1.5-inches long.

A person uses a pipe cutter to cut a white PVC pipe on a workbench in a workshop, with tools and supplies visible in the background.

Step 3. Map Out Your Pattern

Before spray painting, map out your pattern just so you have a sense of how many ‘beads’ you need for each color. I set up little spray stations all around the garage using tarps and boxes and trash cans. It took a couple of days to get through the painting because each piece had to dry before I could pick it up and move onto the next.

A hand-drawn bead weaving pattern chart with a grid filled with blue, yellow, green, and pink squares. Color key, notes, and calculations appear around the chart, including "16-20" long x 1.5" wide," and “733 (363 beads).”.

Several small cylindrical objects, some lime green and others blue, are arranged in rows on a surface with a gradient of yellow and blue colors in a workshop or studio setting.

Step 4. Make the Loom

These beaded bracelets require a loom. I used some old plywood and a couple of pieces of scrap wood to make the base of my loom and then stapled that green nylon cording in place for the actual weaving.

A wooden board on a workbench has green string stretched and tied across it in parallel lines. Workshop tools and materials are visible in the background.

Step 5. Begin Weaving

For my “needle” I’m using a stick that I think is meant for cleaning my daughter’s flute. Assuming you don’t have something like that kicking around, I was planning on using a down with an eye hook screwed into the top. I tied a piece of pink cording to the green loom rope and started weaving. Start by loading your needle with the first pattern of beads. Bring this UNDER the loom ropes and makes sure one bead is between each rope and then bring the needle back through the beads but OVER the loom ropes. Repeat one row at a time with each pattern of beads and watch your design come into focus.

A hand holds a rod with colorful plastic cylinders being threaded onto it. Several rows of similar cylinders are already strung on green cords on a wooden table. The colors include blue, green, pink, and yellow.

A hand weaving neon green rope through rows of colorful oval beads, arranged in a pattern on a wooden surface. The beads are blue, green, gray, yellow, pink, and red.

Step 6. Tie Off the Loom Ropes

Knot off each pair of loom ropes (two ropes per knot). Then tie one more knot with the new pairs of loom ropes (four ropes per knot). Repeat on the other end. Make sure that your ‘beads’ are pulled as tight together as possible… they will naturally want to sag a bit with gravity once you hold them up vertical.

Colorful plastic tiles are woven together with green ropes on a wooden frame, resting on a workbench. Hands are seen at the sides, suggesting an ongoing crafting or weaving project.

Step 7. Finishing Touches

I used a wooden dowel to hang the bracelet but decided to cut up the excess dowel to help keep the rows of beads better aligned. I slid one dowel into every 3rd of 4th row of beads.

A colorful craft project with rows of plastic spools in blue, green, pink, and white threaded together on a wooden table, with wooden dowels attached underneath. Tools and supplies are visible in the background.

To hang the bracelet, I just used a length of rope looped on the dowels and then hooked onto picture hangers.

A colorful paper chain wall hanging in blue, green, pink, and yellow hangs from a wooden dowel on a wall with pastel horizontal stripes. Loose strings dangle from the bottom of the hanging.

I decided to leave the ropes loose just like a real beaded bracelet might be and I love how it looks hanging in our colorful playroom. When I hung it up, I had to move the beads into place a bit since they naturally fell down and out of order slightly, but once they were shifted into place, they stayed put!