How to Make a Pony Bead Bee

This pony bead bee is a cute seasonal craft, perfect for bee lovers and beading enthusiasts. Follow our detailed step-by-step tutorial below to make your own beaded bee keychain!

Active Time10

Total Time10

Yield: pony bead keychain

Author: Debbie Chapman

Cost: $1

Equipment

Materials

Rattail cord
Split ring keyring
Pony beads (black, yellow, & clear)

Instructions

Step 1: Find what you need

Gather your supplies and materials.

Step 2: Prepare the cord

Cut a 40 inch piece of rattail cord.
Fold the cord in half and add it to the split ring keyring using a lark's head knot.
To do this, slide the folded loop through the keyring and then bring it over the ring towards you. Pull the knot tight.
Attach the keyring to your working surface with a piece of painter's tape. This will keep it in place as you add the beads.
Then gather the pony beads to make your bee. We're using black, a soft yellow, and clear beads for the wings.

Step 3: Start making the bee

To make a pony bead keychain we'll be attaching beads to both cord ends. Add 2 black beads on the left cord to make Row 1.
(You can also start with the right cord if it's more comfortable -- the pattern will work either way.)
Take the end of the right cord and push it through the right side of the beads, so they're attached to both cord ends.
Pull the cord ends down and out so the beads go up to the top center, below the keyring.
For Row 2 add 3 black beads to the left cord. Connect the right cord just like you did for row 1.
Pull the cords so these beads are centered below row 1.
Then add 5 yellow beads to make Row 3 in the same way.

Step 4: Add the wings

To make the first wing add 6 clear beads to the left cord.
Take the end of the left cord and put it through the right side of the leftmost bead (the one that would be closest to the body if you let the beads fall down the cord).
Pull the cord end until the beads form a rounded wing. You can purposefully shape the beads so there's 2 each on the top and bottom, and 1 on each side.
Repeat the last few steps on the right cord to make the 2nd wing.

Step 5: Make the rest of the bee

Add 6 black beads for Row 4, attaching the beads to both cords like you did for the first few rows.
Follow the same steps to add the rest of the beads:
Row 5: 6 yellow
Row 6: 5 black
Row 7: 3 yellow
Row 8: 1 black

Step 6: Finish off the keychain

Make a knot in each cord, tying them as close to the beads as possible.
Then cut off the excess cords close to the knots.
Optional: Hold a lit lighter next to the cord ends for a couple seconds. This will melt the end of the cord, stopping it from unraveling.
Your pony bead bee is complete!

Video

Notes

Looking for more fun pony bead crafts? Here's a few of our favourites:

Pony Bead Ladybug

Kandi Star

Pony Bead Ice Cream Cone