Beaded Snowflakes
Use as decorations, ornaments or gift toppers

These cute snowflakes are so fun and adaptable. Made from a wire frame with a few clear crystals and colored fire polish beads, they can be large enough for window decoration like the one shown, or small enough to be hung from a tree. Either way, it's a good family beading project, and is fairly inexpensive.

For this beaded snowflake, I used a ready-made form, such as the ones for sale at Bead-Patterns.com.

You can make your metal frames yourself if you have access to soldering equipment. I have tried twisting the frames together with no luck, but found that laying the wires across each other and attaching them with a bit of solder works very well. I have not tried any glues, so I can't make a recommendation there.

Next, add your beads. Decide on a pattern for your beaded snowflake, remembering to place smaller beads (6/0's or 8/0's) next to the hub. Once you get the hub right, use your imagination! Complete one spoke and then snip off the wire (using eye protection) to the desired length and make a closed loop. The wire is sturdy enough that you should not need to make a wrapped loop.

Next, add a stringer of beads around the beaded snowflake, using 24 g. wire and seed beads, or some larger beads. Be sure to measure the distance between the spokes where you are looping, and be prepared to make several adjustments. Attach the wire to your first spoke but do not loop around the second spoke until you are sure the wire is the correct length. Make the stringer a bit longer than the distance between the spokes, and you can bend it out to a point, or join it with another beaded stringer placed higher on the spokes.

Do other variations on these wonderful beaded snowflakes, and hang them all over your house. You can even use them as gift toppers, or swap them in an ornament exchange. Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

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