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Star Cuff Basics

  • Star weave
  • Advanced
  • 2 hr 30

Points on an x-base: a 30-bead base, nine beads per point, support columns down the middle. The cuff people recognise from across a dark field.

A star cuff is an x-base with points netted onto both edges and columns holding them apart. It is the silhouette you can identify from thirty feet away in a dark field, which is exactly why people make them.

The numbers matter more here than anywhere else. A 30-bead base gives you five points at comfortable spacing; changing the point count means changing the base in steps of six. Nine beads makes one point. Five beads makes one support column. Get those three numbers right and the cuff assembles itself; guess at them and the points either crowd each other or flop.

Budget a long evening. This is a two-to-three hour build even when you already know x-base, and it uses considerably more cord than you expect because every column gets a doubled pass.

Because height and shape do not survive a flat grid, the star cuffs in the cuffs section carry bead and connector counts rather than a square-by-square chart, and they wait for a real photograph before they go up.

What you need

  • A finished x-base cuff, two rounds tall
  • Pony beads — a point color and a base color that separate clearly
  • Stretch cord, 0.8-1mm — 4 to 6 ft on top of the base
  • Plastic beading needle
  • Scissors

Steps

  1. 1
    Start from a two-round x-base

    Build the base first and get it fitting. For a standard five-point star, string the starting single 30 beads long — the points are spaced off the connector beads, so the base count decides how many you can fit. Add to the base in steps of six if you want more points.

  2. 2
    Lay the top points

    Come out of a connector bead on the top edge. Add nine beads, skip the connector next to the one you came out of, and pass into the second one along. Pull snug — that loop stands up as one point. Repeat around until you have five points sitting evenly on the top edge.

  3. 3
    Lay the bottom points

    Take the working end down to a connector on the bottom edge and repeat the same nine-bead loop, skipping one connector each time, until the bottom edge has five points that line up under the top ones.

  4. 4
    Build the support columns

    Come out of the middle bead of the nearest bottom point. Add five beads and pass through the middle bead of the point directly above it, then bring the cord back down through those same five beads and through the bottom point's middle bead again. That doubled column is what stops the points folding flat. Repeat for all five pairs.

  5. 5
    Tie the columns back to the base

    From the bead at the exact middle of the base between two columns, add four beads and pass through the middle bead of the support column. Add four more and pass into the next middle bead on the base. Work all the way around; this ring is what keeps the columns upright and evenly spaced.

  6. 6
    Tighten, adjust, and knot off

    Go around once more pulling out slack — a star cuff that sags looks like a mistake, and one that is drum tight will not go over your hand. Straighten each support column by hand, then tie the working end two or three times around a bridge of cord inside the structure, weave the tail through several beads, and trim close.

Next

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