Ladder, multi-stitch, peyote, X-base, rotator. What each one is, what it looks like, and the order to learn them in.
Kandi has a small number of stitches, and almost every piece you will ever see is one of them or two of them stacked. The names get thrown around loosely at shows, so here is what each one actually means, roughly in the order most people learn them.
One row of beads on a loop of stretchy cord. No stitch at all, really, just stringing and a good knot. If you have not made one yet, start with how to make a kandi bracelet.
Difficulty: easy. Good for: stacks of bracelets, word bracelets, learning your bead count.
Little stacks of beads side by side, held together by two ends of cord that cross through each stack. The beads line up in straight rows and straight columns, like squares on graph paper. That makes ladder the easiest way to put a simple pixel picture on a flat cuff, because the chart looks exactly like the finished band.
You work it one stack at a time, keeping each bead squarely on top of the one below. Join the two short ends at the end to make a cuff.
Difficulty: medium. Good for: pixel art, letters, stripes.
The wide cuff with a picture across it. In multi-stitch every new bead sits in the dip between two beads of the round below, so the columns are offset by half a bead, like brickwork. Beaders outside the kandi scene call the same thing tubular even-count peyote, which is why you will hear both names.
The one rule: your base round must be an even number of beads. An odd base will not close up, and you will not notice until you are three rounds in. Most wrists end up somewhere around 28 to 34 beads around.
Multi-stitch is the most popular cuff because it holds a detailed picture well. It is also the one where you most need a pattern, since you have to know which color goes in which gap, round after round. That counting is what KandiCon's pattern maker does. Read more in kandi cuff patterns.
Difficulty: hard at first, then very satisfying. Good for: characters, logos, photos.
The same offset weave, worked back and forth instead of round and round, so you get a flat panel instead of a tube. Useful for patches and wide flat bands.
A sturdier, more open cuff. You start with a single strung in threes, two base beads and one connector, over and over. That means your base count has to be a multiple of 3. From each connector you add three beads (an arm, a tip, an arm) and go through the next connector, all the way round. That makes a ring of little spikes that join into Xs. Climb up to a tip and do it again for another layer, then finish with two beads between each pair of tips.
Every extra layer adds three beads per connector, so bag more than you think. A two-layer X-base on a 30-bead base uses about 140 beads. X-base is also the foundation for the next two stitches.
Difficulty: medium. Good for: chunky cuffs, a base for spikes.
An X-base with a bumper on each edge and a loose single around the middle that spins. You build the X-base, add the top bumper, then make a single about 15 beads bigger than your base ring and slide it over the bottom edge. The order matters: the spinning ring has to go on before the bottom bumper, or it can never go on at all.
Difficulty: hard. Good for: fidgeting, showing off.
A 3D layered cuff stacks rings of little bead pyramids up an X-base, so the whole thing is bumpy and stands off the wrist. A flower cuff is a ring of small flowers, each one six petals around a middle bead. Both are covered with charms in 3D kandi and charms.
Not a stitch so much as an add-on. String a pony bead, then a spike bead, then go back down through the pony bead and skip the spike. The spike stands up off the base. Spacing them every two or three beads looks cleaner than packing them in, and an X-base holds a heavy row of spikes without sagging.
The KandiCon app has a learn path that builds up the same way, with a step-by-step build guide for every stitch on this page and the bead counts and cord lengths worked out for your wrist. When you finish one, post it to the feed. Other makers like and comment on first cuffs, and some makers go live while they bead, so you can watch someone do a stitch before you try it. People sometimes search for it as Kandi Con or Candy Con; it is KandiCon.
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More guides: How to make a kandi bracelet · Pony beads guide · Kandi cuff patterns · 3D kandi and charms