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Create a personalized beaded boy or man keychain with a little cord and pony beads. Change the hair, shirt, pants, skin tone and shoe colors to make the figure represent a boy, dad, father, grandfather, friend or someone special. The design can also be made in school or team colors for a personalized mascot or spirit craft.
Attach the finished beaded figure to a key ring, backpack, bag or zipper pull, or make one as a handmade gift for Dad or another special person. It makes a fun Father's Day project, summer camp craft, classroom or group activity, and can be made in quantity for school, club and group fundraisers. A matching beaded girl pattern is also available, making the pair especially useful for teachers, camp leaders and group craft organizers.
If you make this project please share your photos with us. With your permission we'll add it to the page and credit it to you.
Some patterns in our collection date back far enough that a material originally called for may no longer be available. That can become an opportunity: modern beads, trims, cords and finishes can bring an older project forward without losing the idea that made it appealing in the first place.
You will need one connector such as a 
Lanyard hook, or any type of 
Key Ring.
Next, you will need 2 yards of cord for your male figure beaded keychain. There are lots of different types of cords you can use. We prefer a cord that is 1mm to 2mm thick because it helps your keychain person keep it's shape better and isn't too thick to thread back through your beads. Alternatively, you can use a thinner cord and weave a little wire or a pipe cleaner into your keychain critter to help it keep it's shape that way. Either way works just fine but you can experiment with it to see which method you prefer.
One good option is 
Monofilament Cord or 
2mm metallic cording. Other good choices would be jute or hemp cord, leather necklace cord, rattail cord, shoelaces, ribbon, paracord, or a strong jewelry cord like tigertail.
You will need 
4 - Brown Pony Beads (or the hair color of your choice). As a variation you might like to use glitter pony beads in place of the brown.
You will need 
10 - Ivory Pony Beads (or the color of your choice).
You will need 
28 - White Pony Beads (or the color of your choice). As a variation you might like to use glow-in-the-dark pony beads in place of the white.
10 - Black Pony Beads (or the color of your choice) for belt and shoes.
24 - Dk Blue Pony Beads for the pants. (or the color of your choice).
Optional: For a stiffer figure you can include a little wire or a pipe cleaner with your cord to help keep it's shape
Beading Wire or 
Pipe Cleaners
3. After finishing the pattern tie a double knot in the cords at the bottom of your bunny, on the last row and apply tacky glue to secure. You can hide the knot inside one of the beads.
4. Weave your wire or pipe cleaner through your beaded boy keychain to make it stiffer and hold it's shape.
(Seed beads or E beads can be used in place of pony beads to create smaller characters.)
The illustration below uses green and red to show you how each side of your cord is woven through the beads.
