The tubular peyote beading stitch comes in two “flavors” — odd and even count. Either way produces lovely jewelry, and depending on your project, one or the other may be more appropriate.
(Check here if you want a full overview of the peyote beading stitch.)
Tubular peyote odd count is undoubtedly easier in many cases, as the rows keep spiraling up the tube. Even count involves a little more attention, as you have to “step up” at the end of each row. But once you get the hang of the step up, it’s just as easy as the odd count.
As with regular flat peyote beading, the first two or three rows are the hardest. If you’re just learning tubular peyote, I suggest you try either size 8 or size 6 seed beads for the learning process. Size 11 seed beads produce a beautiful tube, but they are hard to see to determine the first few rows. So hold off on the size 11 until you are confident with the stitch, to save yourself some frustration.
Tubular Peyote Bracelet
You can see in the photo a tubular peyote bracelet I did, using odd-count in size 8 seed beads. It’s hard to tell because of the colors I used (all three have an AB finish), but the colors actually spiral up the tube. In any case, they produce a bracelet that fits in with Autumn and Spring colors very well.
I started my initial round with 7 beads. After the first two rows, I ended up with three “up” beads. At this point, I just used a different color with every stitch, producing a 3-color spiral. (One of these days I’ll have to do one of these in three very different colors so you can really see the spirals.)
Once I finished the peyote tube, at just a little over 6 inches, I ran an 18 gauge piece of red artistic wire up through the tube. I did this because of the end caps I am using (using thread just didn’t work right for me).  I threaded the wire through the end caps, and added a copper spacer and a copper bead before making a wrapped loop.
I then added a copper S-clasp and voila! A finished tubular peyote bracelet that is 7.5 inches long (including the clasp).
Tubular Peyote Video Demonstration
Here’s a video that shows how to make an even-count tubular peyote bracelet. Karla is pretty good about showing you up close how to start the tube and explaining the step up at the end of each row.
So without further ado, here’s the video lesson on tubular peyote.
Wonderful video! Thank you! Too often it is difficult to see what is being done… this is really clear and the explanation is excellent too!