Peruvian Friendship Wave Bracelet

*This post contains affiliate links which help support Mommy Maleta at no additional cost to you

Welcome to our 3rd week exploring Peru at Mommy Maleta. According to our exploration pattern, today is craft day. I am going to show you how to make a Peruvian friendship wave bracelet. If you have not seen the previous posts in this series, you may want to start here:

Week 1: Explore Peru
Week 2: Meet Elijah & Alessandra in Peru

As the name implies, these bracelets are crafts you can make and give to your best buddies as symbols of friendship. They are also pretty practical, because you really only need thread and a pair of scissors to make them. And because they are small and lightweight, you can easily slip a bracelet into an envelope and send it to a friend as a thoughtful little gift.

Before we get in to the “how to’s” of making the bracelets, I want to show you a couple photos. The first one shows two children selling bracelets in Peru.

Photos Of Bracelets In Peru

You can see that the bracelets vary in color and design. Friendship bracelets are often made with embroidery yarn, floss, or thread. The designs are formed by tying lots of tiny knots to create different patterns. This is one type of an art form called macrame.

It is common in Peru and many other countries to sell handmade items in markets, or in areas that attract a lot of tourists. I absolutely love shopping in open markets in foreign countries. It’s a great place to practice speaking the local language, use local currency, better known as money, and practice bartering.

Bartering

Bartering is price negotiation. In other words, if the seller tells me that his bracelets cost $2 each, and I don’t think $2 is a fair price to pay, I can offer to pay $1.50 instead. The seller will then probably, counter my offer by saying something like, “How about $1.75.” I can then, accept that offer, decline the offer, or offer to pay a different amount until we reach an agreed upon price.

Now that we’ve gotten a glimpse of these bracelets in Peru, let’s find out how to make them at home. As previously mentioned, you really won’t need many supplies.

Materials

• 7 different colored strands of embroidery thread/floss, or yarn
• scissors
• tape
• clipboard or friendship bracelet maker, optional (This is the bracelet maker my daughter has. She uses it very frequently and loves it. Makes a nice gift for crafty girls)
• *The objects pictured below are affiliate links available for purchase at Amazon

Instructions

• Choose seven colors of thread that look good together.
• Cut one base thread (this thread will not show) to measure 12-15 inches in length.
• Cut the remaining 6 strands of thread to measure about 20-25 inches long. (The girl in the tutorial said to make these strands 55 inches long, but my daughter thought that was way too long. It depends on how large your wrist is.)
• Place the ends of each strand of thread together and tie a knot at one end, making sure that there is extra thread, called access thread, at the end of the knot.
• Attach the knotted end of the threads to a clipboard, friendship bracelet maker, or use a piece of tape to tape the knotted end to a counter top, chair, table, or any object that holds the threads in place.
• Watch and follow the steps in the video tutorial below.
• Give the bracelet to a friend!

https://youtu.be/y25grlzVGbA

I hope you just completed making a Peruvian friendship wave bracelet and enjoyed learning a bit more about Peru. Making crafts inspired by other countries and cultures is a great way to explore the world from your own backyard. Again, if you missed the first two posts in this series you can check them out here:

Week 1: Explore Peru
Week 2: Meet Elijah and Alessandra in Peru

Thanks again for joining me today. Before I sign off, I’d like to ask you a question…

If you had to pick a craft that would help someone learn about your home country, what type of craft would you choose?

This post is linked up over at… Smart Schoolhouse , Sincerely Paula , With A Blast ,Cornerstone Confessions , Social Media Saturdays , Laugh & Learn Link Up , Castleview Academy, All Things With Purpose , Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop, Bowl Full Of Lemons, Jennifer Dawn, Strangers & Pilgrims On Earth , Mom Resource, Three Kids And A Fish