With summer time enjoyable comes outside events, patio dinners and, inevitably, bugs. However should you’re trying to make a pure bug answer to keep away from DEET and different chemical substances present in typical mosquito and bug repellents, a vital oil bug repelling bracelet offers a classy answer.
When infused with oils that bugs hate, resembling citronella, lavender and geranium, these DIY bug repelling bracelets present a wearable technique to preserve bugs at bay, and look cute whereas doing it.
Bounce to:
Make a Bug Repelling Bracelet
The perfect half is that these clay beads are cinch to make and really easy to customise. Right here’s what you’ll have to make your personal. Here is tips on how to make a bug repelling bracelet:
Provides
- DAS Air Dry Clay
- Clay gap reducing instrument (or picket skewer)
- Stretch Magic 1mm Beading Wire (or different jewellery making stretch twine)
- Acrylic craft paint
- Paint brush
- Paint marker
- Scissors
- Water
- Craft paper or wax paper (elective to cowl work floor)
Directions
Step 1: Prep your clay and work floor.
Cowl your work floor with craft paper or wax paper. Reduce or break off a handful of air dry clay. Add a couple of drops of water to clay to melt and knead with palms to include water.
Step 2: Form your beads.
Break off a blueberry-sized piece of clay and roll right into a ball. Every bead doesn’t need to be an ideal sphere — we love the natural, handmade nature of every bead. As you’re rolling every bead, the clay needs to be mushy and moldable, not too dry or moist and mushy. Should you discover that clay appears dry or is cracking as you’re rolling every bead, add a drop of water to maintain clay moist.
Step 3: Pierce holes in beads.
As soon as every bead is a pleasant spherical form, use your clay gap reducing instrument or picket skewer to pierce a gap by means of the middle of your sphere. Be sure that gap reaches by means of either side to make sure you can push string by means of it later.
Step 4: Repeat.
Roll about 20 completed beads. The ultimate variety of beads you have to to make every bracelet will differ as closing bracelet size is set by wrist dimension. Let dry utterly, ideally in a single day.
Suggestions for Texture
To extend the quantity of oil our beads might take in, I used my reducing instrument to make small spherical indentations in a few of my beads. To do that, use your gap reducing instrument or picket skewer to make small spherical indentions on the skin of beads. Rigorously press your instrument or skewer only some millimeters into every bead, ensuring that you simply don’t alter the form of the bead or puncture the opening you’ll use to string every bead.
Step 5: Paint and customise your beads.
As soon as dry, use acrylic craft paint to color beads. A medium or fine-tipped paint marker additionally turns out to be useful to create simple patterns on some beads.
Suggestions for Portray
I used gold, black and white paint markers to make polka dots, strains, squiggles and a few extra organically formed spots. I additionally left fairly a couple of of my beads au naturel as a result of I preferred the cool white hue of the clay.
To keep away from getting paint in your fingers — or having painted beads stick with paper whereas drying — I put some additional wooden skewers to make use of. Merely place a bead on the tip of a skewer by sliding skewer into the opening you’ve made in every bead.
Then maintain skewer and rotate it as you paint the bead. When you’ve completed portray every bead, place the skewer in a glass whereas paint dries. As soon as your beads are dry, merely take away from skewers.
Step 6: String beads + add oils
As soon as beads are dry, lower a size of the stretchy beading twine based mostly on the scale of your wrist, leaving an additional inch or two on every finish for tying. String beads on stretchy twine till you’ve reached your required size. Tie off stretchy twine in a knot in keeping with twine packaging directions and lower off extra. Should you’d like, you’ll be able to add a dot of glue to maintain the knot safe.
Now for the enjoyable half! Apply a couple of drops of important oils to a number of beads. When making use of, needless to say many important oils should not be utilized on to your pores and skin undiluted, so that you’ll wish to apply oils to the sections of beads which can be away out of your pores and skin. Or combine up our Bug Be Gone mix under to dilute the oils earlier than making use of to the beads.
What Important Oils to Use?
If mosquitoes are your fundamental concern, oils like citronella, peppermint, lemon, eucalyptus, basil, clove, thyme, lemongrass, geranium, and lavender are mentioned to repel them.
If fleas are extra of a difficulty, go for oils like cedarwood, citronella, eucalyptus, tea tree, lemongrass, lavender, orange, and pine.
And, should you’re in a tick-prone space, choosing a couple of drops of rose geranium, juniper, rosewood, thyme, grapefruit, or oregano ought to do the trick. Or, if you do not have these important oils available, attempt an all-purpose mix like NOW’s Bug Ban.
Bug-Be-Gone Mix
—1 drop Lemongrass
—1 drop Geranium
—1 drop Lemon
—2 drops Cedarwood
Add the important oils to 2 teaspoons of service oil and place a couple of drops to your beads. You should use the above combination, mix your personal or use only one oil. Do not go overboard; 5 drops of important oil for two teaspoons of service oil is an efficient guideline.
Whereas I like to make use of a customized mixture of among the bug-repelling oils listed above to maintain pests at bay in the summertime, you’ll be able to at all times combine it up relying in your temper or ailment. As soon as the scent wears off, you’ll be able to reapply the identical combine or attempt a brand new mix. I’ll be including citronella to mine for weekend BBQs!
Nonetheless acquired bugs? Strive including these bug-repelling crops to your patio.