How to Make Beaded Key Chains

Beaded key chains are a great way to personalize your key chain, or to make a special and inexpensive gift for someone. Beaded key chains may also be sold at any local craft fairs, as they are inexpensive to sell, and everyone has keys.

These are not like the beaded key chains in Napoleon Dynamite. By using beads that are polished, your finishedkey chain will have a look of class.

Skill Level Required for Making a Beaded Key Chain

A beaded key chain is a great first beading project for kids, teens, or adult crafters. Construction of the beaded key chain is easy and by making multiple beaded key chains, the new beader will quickly learn how to properly make beaded crafts.

Materials Required to Make a Beaded Key Chain

a key ring
a jump ring
2 inch-long eye pins
assorted glass, polished stone, metallic or plastic beads, pendant beads
optional: a piece of narrow wire, a needle and thread, or a piece of yarn

Tool Needed to Make a Beaded Key Chain:

needle-nose pliers

Constructing a Beaded Key Chain

Select an outstandingly pretty bead, or one of an interesting shape, to stand as the "centerpiece" of you handcrafted key chain.

Find a flat surface on which to make your beaded key chain. Use a bead tray, or a cloth place mat to keep beads from rolling off the table. Select the beads you'd like to use for the beaded key chain and arrange them. Another way to easily arrange the beads and experiment with potential beaded key chain patterns is to use the optional piece of string to runthrough each bead. This way you can see the "finished" design without actually committing to it.

Next, take one of the eye pins and open it with the needle-nose pliers. Kids or people with arthritic hands may need help with this step in the beaded key chain making process. Place a bead or a pendant bead on the eye pin and close it up with the pliers.

String more of your selected beads onto the eye pin, leaving at least 3/8 of an inch bead-free. Using the pliers, bend the end of the eye pin into a ring shape. Attach the second eye pin to the first, and then close the first eye pin completely. The use of two eye pins allows for the key chain to be flexible and bendable,eliminating the problem of a tangled beaded key chain.

Next, string the rest of the beads onto the second eye pin and close the ring around the jump ring. To finish, close the jump ring around a key ring. Now you have your own beaded key chain.

Design Ideas for a Beaded Key Chain

When making a beaded key chain as a gift, use a centerpiece bead that is appropriate for the intended recipient. For example, if you purchase letter beds, use their initials, or if they like the ocean, use a nautical-themed or sea-colored bead as the focal point.

Or, use beads in varying shades of the recipient's favorite color, for a monochromatic design.

The amount of designs and variations on beaded key chains is endless.