LOOKING 4 SOMETHING?

Honestly WTF

DIY Braided Hex Nut Bracelet

Posted by on

We’re nuts for nuts. Is there a more versatile and inexpensive DIY component than a hex nut from the hardware store? You can imagine our excitement when we first discovered Philip Crangi’s Giles & Brother Hex Collection. Honestly, nuts braided into jewelry is WTF genius! With a few items that we always seem to have lying around, we tackled the technique and made our own spine-like braided hex nut wrap bracelet.

You’ll need:

Gather the 3 strands of twine and tie a knot at the top, leaving about 2 inches of slack. Start braiding. At about an inch of the way down, you’ll begin braiding in the nuts. Before you braid the far left strand over the middle strand, thread on a nut, push it against the base of the braid, and crossover. Depending on the thickness of the twine, you can wrap tape around the bottom tips to prevent the twine from fraying. (Click images to enlarge)

Keep your thumb at the base of the braid, holding the nut in its place. Before you braid the far right strand over the middle, thread on another nut, push it against the base of the braid and crossover. Again, hold your thumb tightly against the base of the braid, keeping the nuts in place. Thread another nut onto the far left piece and crossover.

Repeat the steps, by threading the rest of the nuts to the outer pieces of twine before they are crossed over. Thread, cross, thread, cross. Finish the bracelet with another inch of braided twine and a knot.

The bracelet should wrap around your wrist at least two or three times. Trim it to your liking.

Good luck!!

(top image from here, rest of images by Honestly…WTF)

582 Comments

  22. Adalita    February 22, 2011

    Oh this is great – I think I could do this. Especially that you have instructions via illustrations! It would go great with the winter military look.

  30. {gemmifer}    February 22, 2011

    You’ve made me SO happy with this DIY! I’ve been wanting to figure out a way to make one of these myself, but you’ve done the legwork for me. I have a batch of small hex nuts that have been waiting and dreaming of becoming part of this bracelet; now their dreams will come true ;)

    Thank you thank you thank you!

  31. Trix    February 22, 2011

    I love this project! Thanks so much for sharing. Now, to go look for stray nuts lying around the house :D

  32. lauraline    February 23, 2011

    i just made this :]
    its not quite as pretty or neat as yours but i love it!
    thanks so much for the idea & tutorial!

  37. Kujaku    February 23, 2011

    Really nice. I’d like to make the original necklace version now. Looks like you could even reproduce the chain part at the end with some pull chain from the same hardware store and a larger jewelry clasp.

  40. Nika    February 24, 2011

    Oh my, this tutorial / diy is the best I have seen in my life. Have to make it for summer. With coral or mint.

    And I also shared it with slovenian readers on my blog http://cvetlicnilonec.blogspot.com/ (and also – if you mind, I can delete it, though I did put a link of your page on my blog and atributed the photos, hope it is ok).

  44. Michelle    February 25, 2011

    I love this. I am terrible at arts and crafts but I actually think I could do this.

  45. Kelly    February 25, 2011

    oh la la….me likely! I’m going to try this this weekend as the bf is away! weeeeeeeeee

  53. Suzy    February 26, 2011

    Saw this post this morning and I went on a mission this afternoon to look for all the materials! I JUST finished making mine and it’s adorable! My sister was so impressed and loved it, so my next task is to make her one as well. I’ll show you how it came out on my blog! Thanks so much for showing me how to do it step by step. You’re amazing!

    -Suzy

    http://www.suzyful.com

  55. Jackie    February 27, 2011

    Can’t wait to try this! But how did you end it? Tie a knot?

    Thanks for the inspiration!

  61. doroffee    February 28, 2011

    I’m si glad I found this post through I blog I follow… this bracelet looks gorgeous, and still, it’s so easy to make (even for someone like me with 2 left hands :D )! Thanks! :)

  63. Helen    February 28, 2011

    So effective and so simple, i’ll be showing mine off around and about London town for sure!

  68. Tang    March 1, 2011

    Thanks for this amazing DIY! Just made mine and it turned out great!!

  69. Rachel    March 1, 2011

    Love this tutorial! What type of twine did you use? All I have was jute twine. What specific type of twine did you use to make this?

  75. danielle    March 2, 2011

    this is pure, unadulterated genius. thank you for such a wonderful idea, i’m off to the hardware store first chance i get. :)

  77. Mila Soares    March 3, 2011

    Saw this post through a Braziliam blog that I follow.

    Loved the creativity! I will give it a try!

    Thank you so much for sharing.

    Mila.

  78. shannon    March 3, 2011

    Just made it, and absolutely love it!!! , thanks for the most , top notch!!

  80. Beth    March 4, 2011

    Made the bracelet today! Had to go back to hardware store to get more nuts for more bracelets for friends! Guys at store saw my bracelet and were amazed! Offered to sell them at the hardware store if I make them! Keep up the great diy projects! Love em!!!!

  81. Lydia    March 5, 2011

    Just made this! Best DIY ever! So easy and it looks amazing! I used black hemp cording with brass nuts and it looks badass!

  83. janet    March 7, 2011

    I love this bracelet and just finished making one! I did find it a little tricky at first but once you get the feel of it, it gets easier. One tweak I would make to the directions is the measurements. I have really small wrists and following the directions exactly as they are given above, I couldn’t even close the bracelet around my wrist once. So I upped the initial braiding part to two inches, added all 18 of the hex nuts and then (because I did want it to wrap around my wrist twice) I just continued braiding almost all the way down the rest of the string until I reached the length that I wanted. I think its also useful to add that the size of hex nuts really does matter. I used a size 6 and I think anything over a 10 might be too loose. Thanks for the idea! :)

  84. Jodi    March 7, 2011

    Loved! Loved! this idea. Made it this weekend. My husband thinks it is totally cool. P.S. He usually doesn’t particularly comment about my craft project. Thanks!

  86. beadinggem    March 8, 2011

    I will never look at hex nuts the same way again! Thanks for the tutorial – I will feature/link to it in a future blog post so others can come visit! Pearl

  87. ethel deitz    March 11, 2011

    Can you tell us where the silver and crystal bracelet is from. The one next to todays diy project. I bought a bracelet yesterday that is so similar but I don’t know anything about it – I bought it at a consignment shop! would love to know more about it. ethel

  88. brittany    March 11, 2011

    i love this so much. think the string i have is too thin. or the nuts are too big.
    What size are these hex nuts?

  89. susannah    March 12, 2011

    i loved the original so much that i am dying the twine to match (still in the process, so we’ll see how it goes)!
    one question: how do you fasten it? just tie the two ends together?

  91. erica    March 12, 2011

    Brittany, the hex nuts we used #6-32 brass hex nuts a 1mm diameter twine. You can also use a size up #8-32, depending on the thickness of your twine/string.

  93. Angela    March 13, 2011

    Thank you!!! I made mine with leather and a hook and it looks amazing!! I’ve already made one for my friend and she loved it. Wish I could post a pic of it…You girls rock!!!

  98. Dana    March 22, 2011

    I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make a DIY jewelry holder…thinking mesh/wire, picture frame, etc would work but I need some tips!!

  101. Theda    March 25, 2011

    can you tell me, how you close it? There is a normal bend, isn’t it?

  102. erica    March 25, 2011

    Theda, you can close it the same way you started it: with a braid and a knot. Good luck!

  103. Claire    March 25, 2011

    I tried this. It came out wonderfully, but I have one suggestion: use small hex nuts. The ones I used were kind of medium-sized and it turned out loose. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to do that, but I like it anyways :)

  105. shannon    March 27, 2011

    My daughter found this DIY and sent it to me. My husband and I made a team project out of it. He was pretty helpful at the hardware store. I ended up using light weight Veneitan blind cord because the twine seemed too scratchy (before I saw the suggestion to use butcher string). The bracelet turned out VERY cool. Not sure how it fastens either, but I will keep watching this site for suggesions. THANKS!

  107. erica    March 28, 2011

    Nicole, as long as its not too wide, I’m sure ribbon would work. It’s worth a try! xx

  108. erica    March 28, 2011

    Shannon, way to be resourceful with the Venetian blind cord! The bracelet fastens by just double knotting the ends together onto your wrist like a friendship bracelet. xx

  109. Ashley    March 28, 2011

    It’s awesome! But its really heavy–when you go to the hardware store, but the smallest nuts possible!

  112. Claire    April 3, 2011

    Thank you so much for this DIY tutorial. I am a rower and hex nuts are my life. Everything is held together with hex nuts. It is so cool to turn an ordinary piece of metal that I use everyday into a edgy bracelet. Thank you so much for the idea and keep on creating amazing DIY ideas.

  113. Kristi    April 13, 2011

    This is so silly, but I keep struggling with this. Has anybody done a quick video of them braiding a few in, that they’d be willing to share? I figure you keep just passing over the outsides, without a twist in between, but somehow I keep messing it up.

    Thanks WTF-DIY, this looks like such a cool project…I’m loving all your tutorials! Can’t wait to see what you do next.

  114. Kristi    April 14, 2011

    Never mind guys, figured it out! I think my twine was just too thin for the size nuts I had, though I had chosen the smallest at my hardware store. But I just had to be extra careful to keep things tight, so the nuts didn’t flip over under loose strands.

    My place didn’t have the nicely finished brass nuts, they have a slight coppery sheen to them. But they look nice and a little rough against the twine. I’d like it to be longer, or to use thicker twine, like the awesome pictures in the tutorial. But I think it turned out pretty good!

    http://img860.imageshack.us/i/photoon20110414at1500.jpg/

    I just crossed the knots under after doubling up…I played with slip knots, but this works better. Can’t wait to play with adding colored twine!

    Thanks again!

  117. Leah    April 19, 2011

    This is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing. I’m definitely going to make one or 2 for myself. :)
    xoxo
    Leah

  118. Daughter    April 20, 2011

    mommy this is so cool thankyou for sending me this attachment i will try to do this later.:-) LOVE U

  121. mariel    April 28, 2011

    what a marvelous tutorial! can’t wait to try it out now that summer break is here ;)

  126. Kathryn    May 20, 2011

    Just made my first. So simple! I have a feeling I’ll be making loads more…

  128. Lauren    May 29, 2011

    Can anyone tell me where I can find the other bracelet in the photo, the one with oversized rhinestones??

  130. Mariana D    May 31, 2011

    Hi! I’m just now trying this DIY! I need to start over again because the braid kept twisting! If only I had 3 hands! It’s a lovely project, though, thanks for posting it!

  133. KaraM    June 21, 2011

    Me and the girls are sitting here making the bracelet. We are having a hard time with finishing it! How do you tie it? We love the idea, but our ties are so bulky. Any ideas?

  135. Aina    July 2, 2011

    Thanks for the DIY! So amazing! Im definitely doing this!

    Keep up the great work! Also, come visit my blog if you’d like!

    Smiles,
    Aina

  137. Mo    July 9, 2011

    I finally got around to making mine. Just wondering how you guys are making a closure? I closed mine by passing a knot through a loop. Any other ideas out there?

  139. tess    July 15, 2011

    love this! it turned out so so well :) just a suggestion, it’s a lot easier to make if you hold your threaded nut steady and tight with a bobby pin, while you thread your next nut. solves the lack-of-three-hand conundrum.

  140. Cassie    July 16, 2011

    I made one! i wish i had seen tess’s comment about using a bobby pin to hold the nut on before i did… i tried using a clippy sort of thing but it was too large. i totally underestimated the “dexterity” you mentioned needing, haha.
    my hardware store didn’t have bronze nuts, only silver and this weird greenish gold color, so i bought the silver ones and spray painted them gold. worked like a charm! i wish i had bought more so I could have made a necklace.

  145. pearl    July 21, 2011

    I had a really tough time closing it too, but i ended up just knotting it at the end and then used a tiny gold safety pin to hold the beginning and end knots together!

  147. ErikaJean    July 26, 2011

    Awesome! I just did mine! I used 8-32 zinc hex nuts with 1.2mm hemp cording – turned out amazing! Sent them to a few friends for gifts!

    -Erika

  148. ErikaJean    July 26, 2011

    oops here is my finished product – I also continued the braid farther and then used spring findings on the ends and added a clasp!

    Thanks for the tutorial!

  155. Adina    August 10, 2011

    I just made these with zinc hex nuts on black twine and brass nuts on ivory twine, they both look sooo cool! the hardware is amazing and i want to wear these all the time. thanks for posting this :3

  156. Kristen    August 10, 2011

    Just made one and I already love it. It’s so simple that it’s genius. I can tell that I’m going to make a lot more of these =]

  159. alia    August 16, 2011

    love the idea but can’t seem to execute the DIY. lol

    any suggestions for materials?
    i’ve tried this with twine and small hex nuts but found it kept twisting. and got as far as 3 rows of hex nuts.

  160. Aisha    August 16, 2011

    This is AMAZING, I must try this. I think I’ve going to have a DIY Bracelet party this weekend :)

  163. Alice    September 1, 2011

    how do you tie the ends so its practical enough to slip on and off? getting frustrated, other than that its lovely!

  164. Deborah Wong    September 6, 2011

    Hey, I am trying to buy brass hex nuts for this project online but I don’t know what all these numbers mean. Like 1/4-28 or 0-80. What size did you use for this bracelet?

    Thanks! :)

  167. Gabrielle    September 12, 2011

    How did you make a clasp for this bracelet so you can remove it and wear it again and again? I’m having trouble finding a good solution.

  170. Rachel    September 17, 2011

    I’ve now made two different bracelets. I have been using yarn instead of twine because I think it would be softer on your skin. I use silver hex nuts and have made one with white yarn and one with red yarn. The one with red yarn is my favorite!! I’m still experimenting with the number of hex nuts on each bracelet. Thanks so much for this idea!!!!

  171. Annelise    September 20, 2011

    I went out and bought hex nuts and twine yesterday and have been trying for countless hours, it’s a bit frustrating haha. I think the problem is the twine is a bit thin, hopefully it’ll work when i get thicker twine because they look amazing and i’m super excited :D Thank you for sharing this amazing idea.

  172. Mrs. L    October 10, 2011

    Thank you so much for this DIY tutorial! I LOVE my hex nut bracelet. It’s crazy awesome.

  175. Kimberly    October 27, 2011

    Just made this, and I love it! I safety-pinned the first/starting knot to my pants so it stayed in place and secure. Thanks so much for the idea!

  178. Eileen Goddard    October 30, 2011

    this is really cool. as someone who has a huge stash of hardware items from my previous life as a theater technician, i find this very inspiring. maybe i can put some of my hardware to good use!

  180. Chels    November 21, 2011

    Where did you find the brass/hold nuts?! I have had such a hard time finding large quantities of them besides in packs of 3!

  181. bobby    November 26, 2011

    great tutorial – but I was really struggling until I figured out this HUGE tip. You can thread all of the nuts on at the very beginning: just divide them between the three strands and leave them at the bottom of each. Then, simply slide them up as you need them. This works since you’re only braiding, not knotting. hope this helps others who couldn’t manage to hold the nuts in place while threading on new ones!

  182. mayumi    November 29, 2011

    hi omg this bracelet is gorgeous!!! i will definitely try it this weekend~ can you tell me what size hex nuts you used?

  184. leah    November 30, 2011

    does anyone have any idea what material is used in the blue version of this bracelet at the top??? thanks!!!!!!

  185. Chelsea    November 30, 2011

    OMG
    i love this soo much
    going to make all my friends these for christmas!!
    does anyone know if i can use leather cord instead of twine?
    thanks<3

  186. Emma&Lizzy    December 1, 2011

    Instead of hex nuts we used brass ‘flat washers’ which can be found in the same aisle of home improvement stores. Also, we soaked our bracelets in chai tea over night to give the rope a nice worn tint. Looks really cute!

  187. Nix    December 10, 2011

    I loved this but definitely not as easy as it looked. lol Until you get the hang of it, for lack of an extra hand, I used a binder clip to attach it to the top of my laptop to hold as I braided. I also played around with embroidery thread for the range of colors and desired thickness…
    Good Luck!

  188. Justin    December 11, 2011

    Hi, I wanted to know how big the hex nuts were that you used in this DIY?

  189. Aryana    December 20, 2011

    I found it really hard to keep the nuts in place while continuing the braid. The solution I found was to tape the top end (the 1″ braid and 2″ of slack) to the table! That helped a lot. Mine turned out a bit sloppy because the smallest nuts I could find were 8-32′s.

    May try embroidery thread as Nix said (I’ve got the hang of working with that through your DIY woven bracelet tutorial!) and also try leather cord and smaller hex nuts (maybe Lowe’s will have a better selection than my Home Depot).

    @Justin, they answered that question a bit earlier in the comments. They used 6-32 size nuts.

  193. Gloria    January 12, 2012

    Would embroidery thread not work? I tried using embroidery thread (I braided 15 strands with each other) because I wanted to a more luxurious look (I juxtapose silver hex nuts with a royal blue) but I think it’s not sturdy enough to hold the hex nut.

  194. KKate    January 16, 2012

    OMG wow those people were trying to sell stuff that are a dime a dozen for 300 dollars. that seems ridiculous to me

  196. Envious Gems    January 20, 2012

    Wow! The look of that bracelet is amazing. I’ll have to take a second look at my hardware store for DIY jewelry ideas.

  200. Roomi    January 31, 2012

    Love this!!
    Does anyone know/can anyone guess the size of the hex nuts that appear in the last picture??
    I have to order mine online so I need exact-ish dimensions.

  202. Mens Bracelets    February 11, 2012

    I enjoy this site.This site is more beneficial for how to create Mens Bracelets.I love this sort of Bracelets.This looks like a great resource.I’m very interesting to read your blog. Thanks for posting this.

  205. Connie    February 21, 2012

    Love this – I think like a lot of people on here maybe first attempt wasn’t brilliant but practise makes perfect right!

    Going to make lots of these with more hex nuts and lots of colours!

  206. Jelyn    March 5, 2012

    this was a little difficult didnt get the same results.. made it in my home ec class

  208. MaryAnn    March 8, 2012

    I didn’t ready through all the comments so this may have already been mentioned.
    My husband says that the threads in a hex nut can be pretty sharp so, for a longer life of the bracelet, you may want to file/smooth them out a bit.

  209. Casey    March 10, 2012

    I put be slow b/c this is insanely hard & cannot get mine to look anything like this. I love this bracelet so I’m gonna keep trying :-/

  210. Sarah    March 12, 2012

    LOVE IT. all of your diy’s are genius and very simple. cant wait to make a trip to the craft store and get started !

  211. Em    March 13, 2012

    You should of been clear on what kind of rope to use. I was getting the supplies to make the bracelet and you have “twine” listed. However what you are using is not twine. Twine is a more slippery rope which makes this DIY impossible. Now I have all this slippery twine with nothing to do with it…also no bracelet until I go buy the correct rope to make this.

    Cool idea though…

  213. lauren richards    March 29, 2012

    this is awesome (which you already know). I saw this posted on Pinterest earlier today, went over to the hardware store on my lunch break (3 blocks down, 3 blocks over) picked up cotton twine $2.99 and 20 brass nuts .37 cents each and braided this sucker at my desk. I wish I could share a picture – it’s smashing.

    Thanks!

  216. Beth    April 10, 2012

    Just a thought…about the need for three hands…I haven’t attempted this particular bracelet, but I have made braided bracelets and necklaces in the past, and I have found that a clipboard serves nicely to hold the beginning knot and keep the braid taut while working on it.

  217. Holly    April 15, 2012

    i love the idea but i cant get it to work. does the string have to be twine?

  218. amy    April 17, 2012

    awesome! I found quite heavy but lovely! I couldn’t wear all night.
    I’m going to try with different beads.

  224. Bree    June 27, 2012

    I clearly suck cause this is so HARD hahah… cant get the bolts to stay put!

  227. Carolyn    July 9, 2012

    Clearly I’m missing something. Trying to do this right now and am incredibly frustrated! Can’t seem to get bolts to stay in position and I’m only only bolt 4.

  228. Wonder Ladee (@wonderladee)    July 17, 2012

    I am honestly in love with your creations, not only they are creative, as a matter of fact, I don’t get to spend a lot of money. keep it up girl, and some time, I can feature this tutorial in my page too.

  230. Tina Acock    August 1, 2012

    Any way of finding out what the size nuts is and the mm on the twine?
    also would anyone know where I can get a squeeze lock that will finish the ends and where I can attach a clasp lock to??

  231. marandia    August 13, 2012

    where do you find the cotton butcher’s twine? or can it be any cotton twine? and where would i find that at?

  232. Harmony    September 8, 2012

    Just finished doing this. Biggest tip I can give is to keep all three strands under tension the entire time while putting the nuts on, or else they’ll just turn into a mess.

    Other than that, it turned out beautifully! Thank you so much!

    [For materials, I used household twine (cotton/polyester) and machine screw nuts (#10-24), both from Home Depot.]

  233. Laura    September 10, 2012

    I’m a bit of a crafting newbie so forgive my ignorance. How do you get the finished bracelet to tie on so tightly? Is there a certain type of closure or knot? I absolutely love this project. I’m going to try it with leather, too.

  235. Erica    September 15, 2012

    @Laura, for this particular tutorial we’ve just fastened the bracelet by tying it into a double knot. because the string is so thick, it’s pretty easy to remove and tie again.

  236. Phoebe    October 3, 2012

    Such a great DIY! I wanna try this out for a set of bracelet and necklace. I will start getting the materials pretty soon before my mom will learn about this post, LOL. I will be making the set for her. This is a unique gift idea. Thanks for sharing.

  237. Valery    October 5, 2012

    okay i made the bracelet. now what kind of clasp systems can i use to put it together and stay on my wrist? do i just tie the twine in another knot ?

  243. Anonymous    November 29, 2012

    I did this yesterday with washers instead of hex nuts and added toggles for a closure. I love it!

  245. Tanya    December 19, 2012

    This is awesome! I made one with silver screws and black cording instead of twine and it looks gorgeous too :)

  250. Rebecca    January 23, 2013

    $185.00–NO WAY. Thank you for the tutorial/pattern, will make my own (thanks to you)

  251. Paula    February 22, 2013

    OMG!! I just have to try this! I hope that i’ll find enough of these golden hex nuts at home. Thank you very much for this awesome tutorial!

  252. Daniel    February 25, 2013

    I guess I’m the first guy to take a stab at this. Made this for a girl I am fond of.

    Thanks for the idea!

    Cheers.

  253. Paul    May 1, 2013

    Love the jewellery, so pretty and individual – love the creativity and attention to detail. Would love any feedback you might have on my engagement ring website http://www.perfectring.ie – Many thanks

Leave a Comment

© 2010-2013 Honestly Media
Pin It