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Last weekend, my troop taught me something new. They taught me a craft! One of the girls had discovered a bracelet made with paracord and taught it to the troop. (Great use of her leadership skills!)
Now I’ll attempt to share it with you! There are many different techniques to creating paracord bracelets. You can search YouTube for different knots, etc. This is the one we were taught this weekend.
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Skill Level: Juniors – Ambassadors (adult supervision with fire)
Supplies: Paracord (6 feet of 2 colors or 12 feet of one color), plastic buckles, fire starter or lighter, wax paper, scissors
Directions:
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Step 1: Cut cord the length of your arm span (about 6 feet). This is great if you’re at camp and don’t have a tape measure! Do this for both colors.
Melt two ends of cord together. This must be done with adult supervision! It takes two people to do this step. (Do this step over a piece of wax paper.) One person holds the two ends of the cord while the other person lights the lighter. The ends are brought into the flame and “pushed” together. The ends should be melted together to “create” one long cord. You can blow on the end to help cool the ends. When the cords have cooled, test the strength of the joint by pulling. If the joint comes apart, remelt. (You may want to do this step outside – there are some strong odors from the cords.)
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Step 2: Take the loose ends of the cords and fed them through one side of the buckle. When you get the ends feed through to the buckle, you will have a loop, feed your loose ends through the buckle and pull taut.
Put the two halves of the buckle together (this insures that you don’t twist the cords). Now feed the loose ends of the cord through the other end of the buckle – one end will come from the “bottom” and feed up, the other end will come from the “top” and feed down. (Hopefully the photo helps describe this better than I can!)
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Step 3: Unbuckle the buckle. Measure the length of your cord to fit your wrist. You will be measuring the actual cord (not including the buckle). This is usually anywhere from 6 to 9 inches. If you are camping you can wrap the cord around your wrist and rebuckle – adjust to fit.
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Step 4: Starting with the loose ends – one will be in front and the other cord will be at the back (there will be two cords in the middle – these are your base that all the cords will tie around!).
A. Using the cord from the back – make a “4 or P” with the cord (in this case, mine was the white cord).
B. Then take the cord from the front (black in the above photo for me) and feed it behind your base cords and through the loop of the “4 or P”. Pull taut.
C. Continue using the cord you started with (for me, it was white) until you get to the other end with the buckle.
Notes: Another tip – the color that shows up in the “middle” is the color you use to create the “4/P”. If you pull your knots tight, your bracelet will be very stiff. If you make the knots a little looser, you will be able to see your base cords and it won’t be as stiff – individual preferences!
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Step 5: To finish off the ends, cut the cord to about 1″ in length. Do this step over the wax paper again. With adult supervision, heat the ends until it is melted and roll it to attach the end to the bracelet. Repeat with other cord. (Warning melted cords are very hot, do not use your fingers to “push” the cord onto the bracelet.)
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These make up super fast (faster than I can write about it!) and are super cute. You can make up any combination of colors to make everyone happy!
Enjoy! Happy crafting!
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