| Peyote Stitch Beaded Garden Snake |
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This Garden Snake Bead Pattern is made using size 11.0 seed beads and Even Count Tubular Peyote Stitch.
To begin, pick up 8 beads and tie them in a circle, leaving a long enough tail to weave in later. Using Even Count Tubular Peyote, work a tube 5 to 6 inches long. I suggest you use a single color for the body and one for the eyes and mouth the first time you try this. A bead with a variegated finish would look great. Once your tubular Peyote stitch piece is as long as you want it, begin the following sequence to create the head. Make sure you have completed the previous row before you begin. The pattern references the color of the beads used to create the snake body as as "body color" and the color of the beads used to create the mouth and eye color as the "feature color."
First you will need to increase to begin shaping the head. Add two beads in place of one for the first stitch, 1 regular stitch, two more beads in place of one, and one more regular stitch.
In the next row, finish the increase by adding a bead in each of the "v"s created by the two bead increases you added in the previous row and working the other beads in the row normally.
In the third row of the head we will add the eyes and begin the mouth by adding one feature bead, 1 body bead, 2 more feature beads, 1 body bead, and one feature bead.
For the fourth row, work a round of body beads.
For the fifth row, work 2 body beads, 1 feature bead, 1 body bead, 1 feature bead and 1 body bead.
For the sixth row, work a round of body beads. For the seventh row, work one body bead, 1 feature bead, 1 body, 1 feature, and 2 body beads. For the eighth row, work a round of body beads. In the ninth row, we need to start decreasing. Work one feature bead, one body bead, one feature bead, skip a space, one body bead, and skip the last space.
For the tenth row, work a round of 4 body beads.
For the eleventh row, work 1 body bead, one feature bead, one body bead, and one feature bead.
For the twelfth row, work a round of body beads.
For the final row, work 1 feature bead, skip a space, one feature bead, and skip the last space.
Now run your thread through the to feature beads you added in the last row and the two top body beads from the previous row a couple of times to tighten the snout. If you find that you have gaps created by the decreases in the ninth row, go back and tighten them up now by looping through the two beads on either side of the skipped space and the bead added below them in the tenth row.
To add the tongue, weave your thread so that it is coming out of the top of one of the two feature beads you added in the last row. Pick up 4 red beads, skip the last one and go back through the rest. Go up through the bottom of the feature bead that you originally left. Then go down through the top of the second feature bead added in the final row. Go down through the first two red beads and pick up two more. Skip the last one and go back through the whole tongue and up through the bottom of the second feature bead. Now weave your thread into the work to secure and snip.
Now we need to taper the even count tubular Peyote stitch to make the tail. Re-enter the tube an inch or two from the open end and weave down to the first row. Start tapering the tail by skipping a space in every other row until you are left with a row of three beads. Loop through all three beads several times to tighten it then come up through the hole in the center of the three beads, pick up one more bead and go back down through the hole. Re-enter the snake and weave your thread in to secure.
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