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Everyone loves monkeys, and this cute little beaded monkey keychain is hard to resist. Made with pony beads and cord, your little primate takes shape bead by bead, complete with long arms, legs and a curling tail. It's a fun project for monkey lovers, animal lovers and anyone who enjoys jungle and zoo animals.
Attach the finished monkey to a key ring, backpack, bag or zipper pull, or make one as a handmade gift for your favorite monkey fan. This pony bead monkey also makes a great summer camp, classroom or group craft, can be used as a monkey mascot, or made in quantity for school, club and group fundraisers.
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.
Lace was once made entirely by hand, one painstaking section at a time. Beginning in Europe centuries ago, skilled lace makers created intricate designs using techniques such as needle lace and bobbin lace. Because of the time and skill involved, fine lace could be expensive and was often a sign of wealth or status. The development of lace-making machines during the Industrial Revolution eventually made lace much faster and less expensive to produce, turning what had once been a luxury into a material almost anyone could use for clothing, decorating and crafts.
You will need one connector such as a 
Lanyard hook,
or any type of 
Key Ring.
Cord:
You will need about
2 yards of cord for your monkey.
There are lots of different types of cords you can use. For the monkey you will want a cord that is not thicker than 1mm thick because you will be feeding it through some of the rows multiple times and a thicker cord will be difficult to feed through at best. 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 choice is
Monofilament Cord. Other good choices would be jute or hemp cord, leather necklace cord, rattail cord, shoelaces, ribbon, paracord, or a strong jewelry cord like tigertail.
We used a 1mm brown leather round cord.
Beads needed:
72 - Brown Pony Beads.
Other Things Needed:
GlueOptional: For a stiffer monkey 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. The monkey's head is done a little differently and may be difficult to follow the cord diagram for because it goes back up and through previously done rows so we will attempt to explain. After completing the 4th row of the head, with the longer side of your cord, add 2 brown beads and go back up and thread your cord through row 2. Once you've pulled it through then add 2 more brown beads and feed your cord back through the 4th row again. You should end with one cord coming out of each side of row 4. Continue using the diagram to complete your monkey.
4. After finishing the pattern tie a double knot in the cords at the bottom and apply glue to secure.
5. If you've chosen to stiffen your monkey weave your wire or pipe cleaner through your beaded monkey keychain. You probably only need to do this near the top.
(Seed beads or E beads can be used in place of pony beads to create smaller characters.)
The illustration below uses red and blue to show you how each cord side is woven into the beads. Your cord, of course, will be all the same color.
28 - Beige Pony Beads
3 - Black Pony Beads
