Beaded Butterfly Key Chain

Materials Needed:

You will need one connector such as a
Lanyard hook,
or any type of
Key Ring.

Cord:
You will need about
2 yards of cord for your butterfly.
There are lots of different types of cords you can use. We prefer a cord that is 1mm to 2mm thick because it helps your butterfly keychain keep it's shape better. Alternatively, you could use a thinner cord and weave a little wire or a pipe cleaner into your keychain butterfly to help it keep it's shape that way. Either way works just fine but you can experiment with it to see which method you prefer.

One good choice is
Monofilament Cord
or
2mm metallic cording. Other great choices would be jute or hemp cord, leather necklace cord, rattail cord, shoelaces, ribbon, paracord, or a strong jewelry cord like tigertail.

For ours, we used a 1.5mm jute cord.

Helpful Hint: If your cord end frays easily try dipping it into melted wax. This will help prevent fraying and also create a stiffer end for threading into your beads.

Beads needed:
 29 - Pony Beads for the body. We used gold glitter pony beads.

 40 - Pony Beads for the inner uppter wing and outer lower wing. We used red glitter pony beads

 38 - Pony Beads for the outer upper wing and inner lower wing. We used blue glitter pony beads

Note: these are the colors we used. Use these colors or experiment with other colors to create the butterfly that is perfect for you.

Other Things Needed:


Glue
(We used "super glue".

Optional: For a stiffer butterfly you can include a little wire or a pipe cleaner with your cord to help keep it's shape
 Beading Wire
OR
 Pipe Cleaners

Instructions

1. Find the half way point of the cord or wire you are using and attach it onto the keyring using a lark's head knot (shown in photo).

2. Begin threading the beads onto the cord following the pattern below. You can click on the image at the bottom of the page for a larger, better resolution photo.

3. After finishing the pattern tie a double knot or surgeon's knot in the cords at the bottom and apply glue to secure.

(Optional) Weave your wire or pipe cleaner through one of the widest rows in the middle of your beaded butterfly keychain to make it stiffer and hold it's shape. Three or four beads can be strung onto the end of the cord as a finishing touch.

(Seed beads or E beads can be used in place of pony beads to create smaller characters.)

The illustration below shows you how each cord side is threaded into the beads.