Make your glasses a fashionable accessory with our Beaded Glasses Chain DIY!

Difficulty Level: Easy

Download Instructions

Step 1: Organize Your Beads & Start Building Your Pattern

First, organize your beads. They’re tiny and you want to prevent them from rolling away! Next, start building your pattern. When working with small beads it’s sometimes best to measure approximately how many you need instead of counting them out. As shown, 2” of the small black beads are measured instead of counting. Build the pattern changes in roughly 1” increments. In the example, 5 larger beads are arranged into a consistent pattern and then 2” of small black beads are added. Repeat until you have roughly 26” of beads to string.

Step 2: Start Threading Your Beads

Using the 2mm silk beading cord and a twisted beading needle, start stringing your beads in the pattern you have laid out. Give yourself an extra few inches of cord to tie off knots and tuck your tail string.

Step 3: Attach the Lobster Clasp

Thread the lobster clasps onto each end of the glasses chain. Keep the beads tight between each end to avoid gaps in your pattern. Tie a double knot to secure the lobster clasp in place and use the beading needle to tuck the end of the string back through 5 beads to hide it. Snip off any excess string and you’re finished with your chain!

Step 4: Create Closures

a. Use a ruler to make a 1 cm mark on your round nose pliers.

b. Start wrapping your aluminum wire at the 1 cm marking you made until you have roughly 2” long of tightly coiled wire

c. Cut the coil into 1 cm increments. You will need two 1 cm sections of coil for the chain.

d. Use your pliers to bend one end of the coil up, making a hook to clip your lobster claw to.

e. Make a loop with the jelly elastic; measuring so the loop fits around the arm of your glasses and add a bit extra to feed through your coil. Feed the open ends of the loop into the coil, through the side without the hook.

f. Once you have the jelly elastic sized and in place, use the chain nose pliers to clamp the coil shut to secure the jelly elastic.

g. Clean up the ends by clipping any excess jelly elastic. Clip the lobster claws to each hook and attach your new chain to your glasses. All done!