DIY Eras Tour Bracelets. Learn how to make two kinds of bracelets to celebrate Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
Is anyone else getting sad that the Eras Tour is almost over? It feels like a lifetime ago that my daughter and I went to see it. We were lucky enough to see night 2 in Glendale, AZ. Now, it seems like a totally different show with all the new TTPD sets.
Today, I will show you how to make two pretty Eras Tour-inspired bracelets. These are not for trading, but for wearing yourself or giving as a gift.
How to Make an Eras Tour Bracelet
I made two different bracelets. One is SO easy! You simply attach charms to a premade bracelet. The second one is a little more involved, but you can make it with basic jewelry-making skills.
Eras Tour Colors
These are the colors I have seen used most often when creating any kind of friendship bracelet.
- Taylor Swift (Debut) – green
- Fearless – yellow/gold
- Speak Now – light purple
- Red – red
- 1989 – light blue
- Reputation – black
- Lover – pink
- Folklore – gray
- Evermore – brown
- Midnights – navy blue
- TTPD (The Tortured Poets Department) – white
Below, you will see that I laid out the design for the seed beads and the teardrop charms before making my bracelets. I made sure I had a color to represent each album before beginning.
Teardrop Eras Tour Bracelet
For this bracelet, you will add Eras-inspired glass gems to a pre-made bracelet.
Supplies:
How to Open a Jump Ring
One of the jewelry-making skills you will need to know is how to open a jump ring.
It is very simple. There is a spot on the jump ring where the two ends meet. You will use two sets of pliers (one in each hand) and grab either side of the jump ring at the opening.
Then, twist one hand towards you and the other away from you. This will open the jump ring.
To close the jump ring, do the opposite steps. Grab each end of the jump right with pliers and twist them towards the middle so the jump ring closes.
To make the bracelet, you will open a jump ring, attach a teardrop charm, and then attach it to the charm bracelet.
I left three rings of the bracelet between each charm to be able to fit all eleven charms evenly around the bracelet.
RELATED: More Taylor Swift Inspired Projects
Braided and Bead Charm Eras Tour Bracelet
This bracelet requires more skills and is more expensive because you will buy eleven charms. However, jewelry-making supplies often go on sale at Michaels, and you can find coupons for a percent off your order to make this bracelet more affordable.
Supplies:
- Gold Chain
- Silver Chain
- Seed Beads
- Jewelry Wire
- Jewelry Findings*
- Crimp Beads
- Jump Rings
- Lobster Clasp
- Charms (see below)
- Jewelry Pliers
*If you are new to jewelry, buying a kit to get all the findings you need is often easier. These usually include jump rings, lobster clasps, headpins, and earring wires. Buying a kit can sometimes be cheaper than purchasing all the individual findings.
Charms
Going to the craft store and finding charms representing each Taylor Swift era was so much fun. I tried to purchase individual charms, but I was able to find the seagull, willow tree, and book in a large charm set from Amazon.
To decide which charms to use, think of your favorite songs, lyrics, or even the color that reminds you of the particular album. If you need more ideas, see my full friendship bracelet idea post to help spark your creativity!
- Taylor Swift – green butterfly
- Fearless – guitar
- Speak Now – crown
- Red – red heart
- 1989 – seagull
- Reputation – snake
- Lover – pink glasses
- Folklore – mirrorball
- Evermore – willow tree
- Midnights – moon and stars
- TTPD – book
Other ideas for charms are cats, stars, music notes, leaves, a dress, a wine glass, red lips, high-heeled shoes, a record (vinyl), a red scarf, TS, 1989, a cardigan, a microphone, a cowboy hat, 13, a clock, a spaceship, a typewriter, a quill pen, a glitter gel pen, a fountain pen, or a piano.
How to Use a Crimp Bead and Wire
You will need to know two skills for this bracelet: opening and closing a jump ring (see above) and using a crimp bead and wire.
For this bracelet, we are adding beads to the jewelry wire. We will use a crimp bead to attach it to the jump ring.
Cut a piece of jewelry wire a couple of inches longer than you need. This bracelet is 7″ long, so cut yours to about 9″. This gives you plenty of extra to work with.
On one end of the wire, thread on a crimp bead. Then, loop the wire around the jump ring. Lastly, pull the wire back through the crimp bead.
This creates a loop that attaches the wire to the jump ring. You can also attach wire directly to the clasp you are using.
Then, flatten the crimp bead using flat-nose pliers. You can fold the crimp bead in half again, but if you don’t have crimp bead pliers, I find this often just breaks the crimp bead.
Add Beads
Now, you should have about 9″ of jewelry wire attached to a jump ring.
Add about nine seed beads of each color to the jewelry wire. Depending on the size of the bead, you may need to add one more or one less to create an even length of beads.
Order of seed beads: green, yellow/gold, purple, red, light blue, black, pink, gray, brown, navy, and white.
I didn’t want to buy different packs of seed beads, so I purchased a kit. These didn’t have exactly the colors I needed, but I could find ones that were close enough to use for this.
Once you get to the end of the beads, follow the same steps above to attach the end of the wire to a jump ring using a crimp bead. I typically thread the extra wire through the first 3 or 4 beads and then snip any extra.
Add Chains
Cut the length of each chain – gold and silver – to seven inches. You can do this by using jewelry snips or opening the ring of the last loop to separate the amount you need from the bulk chain.
Open the jump ring at the green bead end, attach the chains to either side of the beads, and close the jump ring.
Tape the end of the bracelet to the table and braid the strands of the bracelet.
When you reach the end, attach the gold and silver chains to the jump ring attached to the end of the beaded strand. Also, attach a lobster clasp to this ring before closing it.
Add Charms
Many of the charms came attached to a jump ring and a lobster clasp. You can attach yours using the lobster clasp, but I didn’t want my charms hanging off so much, so I only used the jump rings.
Some of my charms were silver, and some were gold, so I used the corresponding jump ring to match the charm.
I found the middle of where a section of the beads was and attached my charm to the silver or gold chain, depending on which one it matched.
So, the green butterfly was attached to the gold chain at about the middle of the green beads, the guitar to the gold chain in the middle of the yellow beads, and the crown to the silver chain in the middle of the purple beads. And so on.
Continue this until all your charms are attached. If your charms do not come with a jump ring or are too small, attach a new one to the charm and the bracelet.
I LOVE how both these bracelets turned out. Charm bracelets can be so fun.
Helpful Tips
- A bead design board can help you plan your design in advance.
- Spread out your charms so they are evenly spaced and complement one another.
- The standard size for a women’s bracelet is 7″. However, it can range from 6.5 to 7.5″.
- If you plan to layer your charm bracelet with other bracelets, aim for 5 to 9 charms.
You may also like:
Leave a Reply