They say that one can make a silk purse from a sow's ear. That being the case it is not surprising that you can make this colorful, fashionable cuff bracelet from a handful of safety pins and a couple of packages of beads.

The mundane materials used to craft this bracelet are half the fun. The other half is the staggering array of patterns that can be beaded into it just by varying the colors and combinations of beads.

Each safety pin is beaded separately with seven beads. When the pins are strung next to each other, patterns emerge.

Go as far as you want. Alternate color patterns on every other pin. Vary a simple pattern by one bead on each adjoining pin to create a pattern that moves across the bracelet. Take a little time to experiment with colors and patterns before settling on your final choice.

Another key to the design of the bracelet is that "plain" un-beaded safety pins are alternated with the beaded ones. The added shine of the metal brings coherence to the design.

Safety pins come in sizes both smaller and larger than the ones we used. Make a tiny safety pin bracelet with opalescent glass beads for a delicate effect, and a larger one if you're feeling more dramatic. Remember that the larger the safety pin, the longer the shaft and the more complex you design can become.

What You Need:

80 1/14" safety pins
Packages of size E beads in desired colors
Elastic, 3/4 " wide, about 8" for each bracelet
Scissors
Saucer

What To Do:

1. Count out 40 safety pins. Set aside. These will be left unbeaded and incorporated into the bracelet as spacers.

2. Count out an additional forty safety pins. These are the ones you will bead.

3. Open the packages of beads at the corners and carefully pour some of each color onto the saucer.

4. Pick up a safety pin and open it. Next, feed beads down the open shaft of the pin. The easiest way to do this is to bring the point of the pin down to a bead on the saucer and then tilt the pin up to capture the bead. Hold the first bead in place with your thumb and index finger as you add the next bead, and so on. If you use the sizes of materials given above, you will be able to fit seven beads down the shaft of each pin. Once you have as many beads as the pin will hold and still be able to close, close the pin. Before deciding on the pattern you will use, experiment by lining up several beaded pins next to each other to see how they look. Keep changing the colors and spacing of your beads until you are happy with the resulting pattern.

5. Bead all forty pins. Depending on your pattern, you may bead them all exactly the same, or half one way and half another, and so on.

6. When all the pins are beaded, cut two pieces of the thin elastic cord, each about 14" long. Attach spare safety pins to one end of each cord to act as "knots" which will keep the pins from sliding off the ends of the cords.

7. There are two key factors in stringing the pins on the elastic. The first is that all of the beaded pins must be facing the same direction on the elastic. The second is that the "plain" pins must be strung on the elastic upside down. This is necessary so that the top edge of the bracelet and the bottom edge will be the same length. We will consider the end with the clasp the "top" of the safety pin and the end with the "loop" the bottom.

8. You will be stringing the elastic through the space that forms when the safety pin is closed.

9. String the pins in this manner: first, a right side up beaded pin, then a wrong side up plain pin, then a right side up beaded pin, and so on until the strung pins measure seven inches without stretching the elastic.

10. Mark the seven-inch point. Cut elastic allowing a seam allowance. Sew the elastic together, tuck ends inside safety pins.