So the idea for this came from window shopping essential oils on a facebook business page. I love essential oils for many reasons.
Mostly I find certain smells very uplifting or relaxing, depending on the oils. If essential oils kill germs in the air, keep me from getting sick, help me focus, or alleviate pain that is a total bonus! I’m not here to talk you into essential oils but if you enjoy them then this could be a project for you!
On the facebook page I had been browsing on, the business owner was giving away lava beads if you purchased a certain amount of oils.
I was window shopping and pricing out items for a future purchase, and listening to my inner voice that said “you have a whole bin of oils and you really just want that bracelet.
I don’t even believe that the bracelet she was showing had chakra style beads. It was just lava beads in blues and browns, very pretty, but not exactly the same.
The beads had me fascinated though (yes, I liked geology class). I know I am a nerd but life is more fun when you get excited about things.
Anyway the porous nature of these lava beads allows them to “drink in” the essential oils and slowly diffuse the oil for a nice smell.
If you are only looking for an aromatic experience, this is a nice way to experience your essential oils. People with sensitive skin don’t always want to apply a lot of oils, so this is a nice option vs applying oils to skin directly.
Also if you are unimpressed by regularly putting oil on your skin (like Billy) this may work better for you.
OK, so maybe it’s a little gimmicky but I thought it was fun. I mean most bracelets just look pretty and have no other purpose? The “feel” of the beads is cool too, literally. These beads feel smooth despite the crater-like surface texture, and are cool to the touch but warm up as you wear them.
Back to shopping I instantly went on to amazon and checked out how much a lava bead bracelet would cost. With prime it was about $9 at the time but it has dropped since then. That wasn’t a bad price but I didn’t order it right away. It sat in my shopping cart waiting. Our Amazon cart is like a ever changing wish list.
I think I passed on ordering the bracelet 1 or 2 times, so I had awhile to consider the purchase. Then it hit me! I made many bracelets like this when I was a kid.
Not only that but when bracelets break we keep the beads and re-string them to wear again. Why would I buy such a simple beaded bracelet without checking to see how much the beads were. We love crafts so any excuse, right!
So I find several lava bead kits on Prime and I’m super excited. For around $6 more than the 1 bracelet, I could get a whole 512 pc. bead kit! I wasn’t even sure how many bracelets that would make but I was sold. I figured we would get more than 2 bracelets and it was a good deal.
We have since made several bracelets out of this kit and the kids have loved it. The chakra “gem” beads don’t soak up essential oils but they are a nice accent to the lava beads.
I chose this kit in particular because I liked the colors of the chakra beads, and reminding myself to balance different needs sure doesn’t hurt.
Although this particular kit isn’t available anymore, there are several other similar ones like this.
Click here to visit Amazon to see what all is included in the kit above.
Anyway I will break down what my kit included. I didn’t need to breakdown the cost/savings “this far” for me. I was happy with getting more than 2 bracelets for the price of 2 ready-made ones.
That meant all my family members (that won’t eat the beads) could make, and have a bracelet.
Anyway knowing the cost is good for anyone who may be considering an Etsy shop, or selling bracelets at farmer’s markets. Or maybe you are a doTERRA, Young Living, or Melalueca rep who does “How to Use Essential Oils” classes.
My kit included the following:
- 94 “gem” beads (about 12 of each color)
- 12 colored lava beads (blue, green, purple, yellow, and brown)
- 152 black lava beads
- clear 0.8 bracelet string (stretchy plastic)
- black 0.8 bracelet string of the same material as the clear
- 7 bags of silver-tone beads/separators
So we got about 258 regular beads and a bunch of the metal bead/separators. Billy’s bracelet takes the most beads because he has the biggest wrist of the family.
He likes about 24 beads on his bracelet and I prefer around 22. The metal beads are different sizes. Because of variation in the size of the metal beads, bracelet size is a rough estimate. We always test our bracelets for size before we tie them off.
We have made 9 bracelets so far and have enough beads to make 4-5 more. Now we all have pretty thin wrists so this is not a guaranteed number for everyone, but I think everyone can agree this kit saves you money over ready-made bracelets.
Someone got smart since I ordered this kit and started selling packs of bracelets. So now you can now purchase a pack of ready-made bracelets for a similar prices as the DIY beading kits.
The downside of buying bracelets already made is that you can’t customize the size of the bracelet without re-stringing most of the time. The style of the bracelets is usually the same or pretty similar too.
So are you still considering which way to purchase lava bead bracelets? When I purchased my kit, if I were to buy 14 bracelets it would have cost me around $126. I spent $16 so I figure I saved $110, not that I would have spent that much on bracelets.
It certainly was worth the money I spent on my kit though. I was excited to have a nice craft to do with the kids. They love wearing their bracelets and we haven’t even added essential oils to them yet!
Something I have spotted that wasn’t available at the time I purchased bracelets, are lava bead bracelets on cord. These are definitely more durable then the stretchy plastic, so keep that in mind.
Another option is using the beads to make braided bracelets with hemp string.
We plan to try this but wanted to try lacing on the smooth string, with the kids, before we tried something harder.
Final Thoughts
Although there are plenty of different ways to make a lava bracelet our kids liked the speed of lacing the beads onto the elastic string. Our crafting-age kids are 7 and 10 so they lack the patience of longer projects. They really liked that they could make more than 1 bracelet in a sitting.
They felt accomplished at the end of making their bracelets. I think that crafting helps people practice problem-solving skills and helps boost self-esteem.
I did tie off their bracelets when they were done stringing beads. I didn’t want all the beads to falling off their bracelets and getting them get upset (this happened to my daughter).
I probably would have helped them learn to tie off after the 2nd one, if we had had time to continue. Alas it was a school night. They are so happy with their bracelets and they have been wearing them often.
Are you an essential oil user? Have you considered making or buying a lava bead bracelets? Please feel free to leave any tips and tricks I may have missed down in the comments.
Thank you for spending time with me and I hope you have a great week! Oh and please pin and share this post to help us grow. Thanks so much!
Signing off,
Kat @CraftingGlow
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