I’ve been making loom-woven beaded amulet bags for over 30 years. The basic principles are very simple and allow for a wide range of variation and personalization. Changing any of the elements can make this bag as unique as the maker or the recipient.
This little beauty is 2.75″w x 3″l
The neckband is .5″w x 24″l
Start with a good pattern.
This pattern, shown right, is the shortened version. Just lengthen to suit your needs.
The PDF of the pattern with bead list, graph and detailed beading row-by-row detail is here. The neckband I made is a simple stripe. If you’d like a matching lattice band, it would look like this, below. The pattern for that is here.
The main thing you’ll need is a beading loom. Over the years I have either owned or made a wide variety of beading looms. Really, anything that can suspend the warp threads to hold the beads will work, even a shoebox. This is my favorite beading loom, the Butterfly Loom by Shasharama.
[Click any thumbnail image in the series below to view the larger image.]
1: It always seems like slow going once you begin.
2: The first step is to begin the inverted chevron which will be the inside.
3: The beads are a combination of iridescent and matte.
4: The metallic copper is a nice accent.
5: After a few days, the design begins to show.
6: The pattern is showing nicely now.
7: Nearing the end, it’s time to begin the decreases which will form the triangular flap.
8: The finished piece off the loom.
9: All the end woven in.
10: Showing the piece on the loom.
11: Still on the loom but with a white
background to show the warp threads.
12: It feels so nice in the hand.
13: Folded over to show how it will be once it’s finished.
14: Opening the flap allows a peak inside.
15: Oh, almost forgot to make the neck strap. I wanted to make a strap almost 30″ long, so I had to improvise and make a new loom.
16: Digging out the tools, I took the end boards from a cheap toy loom and screwed them onto a 48″ long piece of 3″ pine.
17: With a cup hook on the end, I hung the loom from the top of the desk hutch and began beading the neckstrap.
18: The neck strap is only 9 beads wide, .5″.
19: Got bored with making the strap so it finished at only 24″long.
20: The two pieces are ready for finishing.
21: On the bag I decided to go with a combination of bugle and Delica seed beads.
22: After watching several movies and several hours later, the piece just wasn’t looking right…
23: …so I cut off all the looped and beaded fringe and began again.
24: A simple roped effect ended up being the right finishing touch.
25: Perfection!
26: The amulet bag is now complete.
The finished beaded amulet necklace. Of special note is the attachment of the necklace to the main bag. I used two soldered links from a chain to allow the bag to move freely without putting any extra strain on the thread. It’s a nice design element as well as functional.
