Making your own beaded snowflakes

There are so many usages for beads especially in decorations. You can create a beautiful, everlasting Christmas ornaments such as snowflakes by using beads.  The snowflakes in this project use a combination of various types of beads. You can use small beads such as rocailles beads, long and thin bugle beads or combine with larger smooth round beads (druk beads). But you have to make sure the beads can passed through the wire along the process. Feel free to use your imagination and creativity of using any type of beads. It will give your beaded snowflakes its own uniqueness as your masterpiece. You can hang them on the Christmas tree, windows or any part of your house.

Tools and materials

• Tinned copper wire (20, 24 and 30-gauge size)
• Beads (any type of your likings)
• Wire cutters
• Round-nosed pliers

How to make

• Cut about three 10-inch lengths of 20-gauge wire. To make the snowflakes, form a crisscross of the three 10-inch lengths of wire. Crisscrossing the wires so their midpoints meet and the wires extend. The pattern will look like an equally spaced snowflakes curve.
• To make sure the middle of the snowflakes shape is stable, wrap 30-gauge wire around it several times until secure. Or you can solder the wires together.
• Insert four rocailles beads to one arm of the snowflakes. Then wrap one end of a 12-inch length of 24-gauge wire on the arm as close to the last bead as possible.
• Next, insert a large, a small and another large durk bead onto the 24-gauge wire. Repeat the process until the next arm. Wrap the wire close to the last bead.
• Keep inserting the combination of beads until an inner perimeter is formed. Then, add two rocailles, a bugle bead and a large druk bead to each arm of the snowflakes.
• Finally, loop the end of each arm of the snowflakes closed by using round-nosed pliers.

Additional Reading:
http://www.marthasteward.com

Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teagrrl/2426685/