To start off, cut about 2 feet of monofilament off the spool. Then string 7 seed beads onto one end of the monofilament. Then string both of the tag ends of the line through ONE seed bead in opposite directions, as in Figure 2a. What I mean by this push one end of the line through a bead from the right and then push the other line end through from the left. This is the most basic step needed to make beaded rings like this.
Now, pull both ends of the line so that the first loop of your beaded ring will form, as in Figure 2b. You want this “loop” to be right smack in the middle of your length of monofilament. You can move it by grasping both ends of the line with one hand and moving the loop with the other.
If the loop is NOT in the middle of the monofilament, you will have an unequal amount of line on each side with which to work with to make the ring. While that’s not the end of the world, it’s a good idea to try to make it at least approximately equal so that you don’t run out of line on either side.
Now what you want to do is “pick up” three additional seed beads on either side of the loop. You do this by threading on three beads on one loose line end, and then threading three beads on the other loose line end.
By the way, although some people have said to use “beading needles” or something in order to get the beads onto the line, I find that the monofilament is stiff enough to allow you to just poke the beads to get them on the line. Try this: have the beads laid “flat” on your workspace so that the hole is facing up. Then grab one end of the line with about an inch sticking out and press down on the bead hole. It should pop up onto the fishing line. Repeat that… for me it’s much easier than grabbing a bead with two fingers or tweezers and threading line through it.
Next (similar to Figure 2a) you want to take a SINGLE bead and thread both loose line ends through it in opposite directions. Refer to Figure 2d to see what I’m talking about. Again, remember that you need to thread the lines through the bead from the left with one line and from the right with the other.
Now, pull both ends of the line until the loop of your beaded ring closes up. You’ve got two loops now! You’ve just done the basic “stitch” for many beaded rings and other beaded jewelry. This stitch actually has a name… I believe it is called Hachinoji-ami in Japanese and in English I think it is called Cross-Weaving? Don’t quote me on that though, as I learned this stitch on my own first from just looking at a beaded ring picture and then read somewhere else that it actually had a name.
Now what you basically want to do is to repeat the steps in Figure 2c and 2d over and over again until you’ve got between 10 and 12 loops. Your finished product should look something like Figure 3b.
The number of loops will depend on what size of a ring that you want. You will most likely have to do some trial and error because the size of the beaded ring depends on the size of the beads you use and the amount of loops you make.
One thing nice about using cheaper monofilament is that you can easily take apart your work and start again (almost like yarn when knitting actually), or even discard the line if the line has gotten too many kinks in it.
I’ve found between 10 and 12 loops gives a ring size somewhere from 5-8. One nice thing about these beaded rings: they actually “stretch” a bit so that they can usually accommodate about 1 extra ring size. This is nice because it means you have a bit of leeway as far as sizing them goes.
