We had a fun weekend, finally getting to spend some time outside as a family! On Saturday we did a short hike and then had a picnic at a secluded spot on top of a rock outcropping. Saturday we went to the tiny local airport near us and sat at a picnic table near the runway watching the planes during lunch. We even got to see a little cessna land, right before we got up to go! Julius declared afterwards, “I love airplanes”.
On top of all that, I hosted an online ladies’ night and got to see all my friends! It was lots of fun and worked out pretty well. But I’ll talk about planning for that next week! This week I’m going to give you the how-to for the craft I chose for ladies night. These Morse code bracelets are super cute and also secretly super nerdy! I’ve made several versions to wear together and I also made versions of these bracelets for mother’s day. Fun fact – Ezra Cornell (Uncle Ezra) made his money in the telegraph industry and was friends with Samuel Morse. The ECE department at Cornell (my alma mater) has the telegraph that received the first telegram. They bring it out every year at the graduating senior ceremony and as an ECE graduate I got to touch it! Super cool.
Here is the silly card I made for Mothers Day. I attached the bracelet to the card by poking two holes, and pulling part of the bracelet through each hole, and tying in the back of the card with string.
Morse Code Bracelet
What you’ll need:
- 1mm nylon cording cut into a 12″ and 18″ segment (I used this)
- 2 colors of glass beads in size 6/0 (I used these)
- A lighter
- Choose a short word or phrase.
This is an example of one I did – but note I screwed up in the translation, the bracelet is correct… “r” is .-.
- Convert into morse code (use this if you don’t feel like thinking, this if you do.)
- Convert morse code into beads… I used two dark color beads for a ‘-‘ and one gold bead for a ‘.’. Note there is no differentiation between letters, so this bracelet will be tricky to decode… but you will know what it says!
- String your beads onto the 18″ long cord, careful not to let them slip off. If you have trouble stringing them, you can place one end of the cord near a flame to melt it and gently press it so it will not unravel when trying to thread your beads.
- Fold 18″ cord with beads in half so beads are in half as well. Where one end of the beads is, tie a knot.
- Let beads press firmly against the knot and tie another knot as close as you can to the other end of the beads to prevent them from sliding around. Use the pearl knotting technique to achieve the tightest fit.
- Next, we are going to create a sliding knot using the 12″ cord.
- I think this tutorial is the best. Start by overlapping the ends of the 18″ cord. Then form a small loop in the 12″ cord and place on top of the overlapped 18″ cord ends.
- Take the long end of the looped 12″ cord and wrap it around the other 3 cords 5 times, keeping the loops consecutive.
- Thread the long end of the looped cord back through your 5 wrappings.
- Gently pull the long end of the looped 12″ cord and the short end of the looped cord until the coils tighten forming a knot. You want the knot tight enough that there is tension on the cords to hold the bracelet in place.
- Tie the bracelet cords together lightly to mark them so you don’t accidentally touch them. Finish off the ends of the 12″ sliding knot cord by pearl knotting very close to the end of each side of the knot. Trim ends to 2 mm.
Knots on end of sliding knot before trimming.
- Use lighter to melt end of the pearl knots in step 12 so they don’t unravel. Note you barely need to put the cord near the flame to melt it.
- Untie the bracelet cords that you were setting aside. Adjust the bracelet size to where it will fit easily on and off your wrist. Make sure the knot and Morse code beading are both centered.
- With the bracelet expanded to where it will fit on your wrist, tie a knot close to where one bracelet thread leaves the sliding knot.
- Add an additional bead, and then tie a second knot as close as possible to the bead. Trim to 2mm and melt the ends.
- Repeat steps 15&16 for other end of bracelet cord.
- Voila!
This is the cutest gift – I love the one I received for Mother’s Day!
So glad you liked it Amy!