Snakeskin Peyote Stitch Seed Bead Bracelets

I was looking through my jewelry box the other day and found some projects I hadn't shared. I made these bracelets back in 1998, I think. I use to sit on my lunch breaks while I was temping and didn't know anyone I worked with. I had a lot of curious folk asking me what I was doing. I really like the feel of these tiny seed beads against the skin. It is very similar to actual snake skin in some ways being cold and smooth.



This black, gray and white pattern was inspired by a diamondback rattlesnake pattern. I found as I was working that the cheaper black beads were larger than the others causing a slight warping in the weave.



This brown, black and off white one was inspired by the pattern found on Burmese pythons.

Beadwork was a good project to travel with. All my supplies fit in a tiny box about 6"Lx4"Wx3"H.



The bottom section of the box has narrow bottles that hold the more expensive rarer beads, while the top section holds some wider bottles of cheaper beads, my needles, bead string, clasps/findings and a gum eraser that I like to fashion into a bowl or "finger" to hold or pick up beads with. Most of the time I just stick the needle into the bottle to string the beads. I received the nice tiny screw top sample bottles from a project manager that I helped write VBscripts for some of her Excel files when I temped at a water testing facility.

I'm using what is called a "Peyote Stitch" to make these bracelets. It's very easy, but time consuming to do.



I start with a strand of beads. Then, add a new bead through every other bead across to create a new row. Then, you just keep repeating this until it is the length you desire. I found a basic Peyote Stitch Video Tutorial or a Text Version for those who want a better explanation of how to make your own. Enjoy!