How to Make a Keychain with Natural Wood Beads and a Tassel

Boho style keychains are so fun and cute. Plus it turns out they are pretty easy to make. The natural wood beads paired with a soft suede tassel is perfect to decorate your purse, backpack, or bag.

To make a boho style keychain you will need a keyring, natural wood beads, suede cord, and embroidery floss. This easy diy takes approximately 5 minutes to make after you gather your supplies.

This was a project I wasn’t even intending to make, but got inspired looking through various macrame projects.

While this isn’t a macrame diy, it falls into the bohemian category – or at least I think so! Whatever style you want to call it, it’s certainly fun!

Jump to:

• Materials for Keychain
• 1. Tie Cord onto Keyring
• 2. How to String Wood Beads onto Cord
• 3. Trim Cord to Preferred Length for Your Keychain
• 4. How to Make a Suede Leather Tassel and Attach to Keychain
• 5. Trim the Ends of the Looped Cord for an Even Tassel
• 6. Finish the Tassel Neck by Wrapping String Around Top
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• Wood Bead Keychain with Tassel

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I literally had everything I needed on hand for this super cute keychain. But, I tend to keep way too many craft items around the house. Know that you can vary the specific materials for your keychain, so you may just have everything YOU need lying around your home.

Neutral hues were what I chose, but you could mix up colors any way you’d like.

The natural wood beads turned out really cute and I love the texture of the suede leather cord tassel. However, you could easily use embroidery thread for the tassel and it would still be adorable.

Related: How to Make a Bookmark with a Tassel

1. Tie Cord onto Keyring

I used a simple knot to attach the suede cord to the keyring. In the process of deciding on the kind of knot I should use, I got a bit distracted by a site that shows ALL different types of knots. It likely won’t matter, but in case you want the perfect knot for your keychain, you can always read more on how to tie knots.

When attaching your cord, you will want to make sure you allow both ends of the cord to hang down as you will use these to tie onto the tassel later.

2. How to String Wood Beads onto Cord

When making your keychain: to string the beads onto your cord, simply thread each bead onto both pieces of your cord and push them all the way to the keyring.

Initially, I imagined using a tiny pony bead between the natural wood beads. BUT, after getting started, I felt like simple was better for this keychain.

In my case, I added three beads in a row to the suede leather cords.

The wood beads I linked to are a tad bit different than the ones I had on hand. Mine didn’t have holes that went all the way through, so I had to take an extra step to drill a hole! Not a big deal, but that takes a little extra time and if you can avoid that, I certainly would.

3. Trim Cord to Preferred Length for Your Keychain

Once you determine your perfect length, cut the ends with scissors. Let me advise you to leave them a bit longer than what you want the end result to be. You can always trim more later, but you cannot add length back!

After you have added your beads is a good time to measure the length of cord you want your keychain to be. If I’m being honest, I didn’t measure mine;-) Just ‘eyeballing’ it worked fine for me.

Next up is making the fun tassel!

4. How to Make a Suede Leather Tassel and Attach to Keychain

Making a suede tassel is no different than making any other tassel. Simply loop the cord several times (~6) and tie the looped cord with a knot, at the center, directly under the wood beads. If you prefer to have perfect loops, wrap the cord around a cardboard cutout.

You will be tying the looped cord (or string) with the cord pieces you just trimmed in the previous step.

Suede is a bit more difficult to tie and manipulate than regular string, but not terribly challenging.

5. Trim the Ends of the Looped Cord for an Even Tassel

Cut through the loops and trim the edges of your string (in this case, the cord) to ensure the ends of your tassel are even. Then adjust tassel shape.

Since I was dealing with suede, I actually liked the ends not being perfectly even. It’s up to you how particular you want to be with even tassel ends.

6. Finish the Tassel Neck by Wrapping String Around Top

To finish off the tassel: tie a knot at the top of the tassel neck using embroidery floss. Then wrap the floss around the neck of the tassel several times and tie in knot to complete.

The color combination of cream embroidery floss and brown leather added to the boho look. Therefore, I left the ends of the embroidery thread the same as the ends of the tassel.

Trim the edges of your tassel as needed and you are finished!

Now…to decide which purse I want to use to display my new suede tassel keychain!

Have a great week and happy keychain making!

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