Nothing says summer quite like a favorite pair of sunglasses! Celebrate sunny days with this colorful beaded sunglasses keychain made from pony beads and cord. This easy project works up quickly and is a great choice for beginning beaders as well as experienced crafters.
Clip your finished sunglasses to a backpack, beach bag, zipper pull, or key ring to carry a little summertime fun wherever you go. Make several in different colors to match your favorite outfits, school colors, or simply to share with friends and family.
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44 - Purple Pony Beads (We used a pearl finish pony bead)
36 - Black Translucent Pony Beads (called Smoke) (We used a smoke pony bead because it looked like sunglasses)
1 - Lanyard hook
1 - Key Ring
5 feet of pony bead cord, plastic lacing, satin cord, or similar stringing material.
Scissors
1. Locate the halfway point of your cord or lacing and fold it in half. Attach the folded cord to your key ring or lanyard hook using a lark's head knot as shown in the photo. You should now have two cords hanging from the key ring.
2. Using the bead diagram for the sunglasses keychain located at the bottom of the instructions as your guide, begin adding the rows of beads one row at a time, starting at the top of the sunglasses. For each row, pass both cords through the beads from opposite directions as shown in the diagram to the right. Pull both cords gently and evenly so that the beads rest snugly against the previous row.
3. Continue working downward through the sunglasses pattern, carefully following the cord paths shown in the diagram. After completing each row, pull the cords snug and check that the beads are lying neatly in place. Maintaining even tension throughout the project will help your finished sunglasses keep their shape.
4. When you reach the final row, bring both cords around the outside of the bottom row and tie the cords together with a double knot and apply a drop of glue to secure the knot from unraveling. Trim the excess cord after the glue dries.
Your beaded sunglasses keychain is now complete and ready to clip onto a backpack, beach bag, zipper pull, purse, or set of keys!
The illustration below uses green and red to show you how each side of your cord is woven through the beads. It opens to a larger image if you click it.
Have fun experimenting with different color combinations. Try making your sunglasses in bright summer colors, neon shades, translucent beads, pearl finishes, or even your favorite school or team colors. Each color combination creates a completely different look.
Sunglasses have been around for hundreds of years. Inuit people once used eye coverings made from ivory, bone, or driftwood with narrow slits cut into them to help reduce the bright glare reflected from snow and ice.
