This sparkly Christmas beaded star decoration is perfect for either hanging on the tree or sitting right at the top!. It uses pre-made wire forms, so its really just threading beads on! How easy is that?
Ive had these snowflake wire forms in my stash for ages, and haven’t known what to do with them. A single one by itself seemed a bit spindly and underwhelming, and other patterns to create snowflakes with them seem over-complicated. Then I had a thought – what if I attach multiple wire forms together to make it look more full? So much better!
You can use any beads you want, in any colour, but these work best with smaller beads in the centre, larger towards the middle and smaller at the ends. I have included a diagram showing the exact pattern I used.
You Will Need:
- Snowflake Wire Forms x 3 (I used the 15cm / 6 inch size)
- 0,4mm Silver Plated Wire
- Glue (Optional)
- Beads! I used size 11, size 8 and size 5 seed beads and some 4mm Preciosa Bicones.
- Heavy duty wire cutters
- Chain nose pliers
- Fishhook Guards, stoppers or memory wire ends (optional)
How to make a Christmas Beaded Star Decoration
1.We are going to use three of the medium sized snowflake wire-forms to create our star. One will stay the same, but the other two are going to be cut shorter before we add beads.
2.Take one of the wire-forms and use a marker pen to mark 5.5cm / 2 inches from the centre. Do this on all six spokes.
3.On another wire-form, mark at 3.5cm / 1.5 inches from the centre on each spoke.
4.Use these marks to cut off the excess wire. It is really important NOT to use your nice jewellery making cutter on these wire forms! They are made of hardened steel that will blunt most cutters. If you have memory wire cutters, use those, if not, a standard pair of household or garden wire cutters will do the job. Be careful of the ends of wire flying about too.
5.You should now have three differently sized wire-forms! Lay the largest one down, them add the medium with the smallest on top, spacing them out equally.
6.To hold the three forms together, we are going to use a piece of 0.6mm wire. For added strength, you can also add some glue before adding the wire-wrapping.
7.Wrap from one side to the other, moving around one each time until you get back to where you started. Cut off the excess wire and flatten down the end with pliers if needed. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed there are only tow wire forms in these photos. Well, I added extra glue to mine (I own a cat that likes attacking my Christmas tree!), but I then forgot to add the wire before I started adding my beads. So I had to go back and take photos of the wire wrapping after, but I only had two wire forms left!
8. Now to add beads! I have used size 11, 8 and 5 seed beads in a mix of clear, AB and silver lined along with some Preciosa crystal bicones in crystal. You can use the diagram below to recreate my design, or create your own! Pick one of the longer spokes and thread on your beads. Do one of the longer spokes first, them go to the next step to see how to finish the end, before moving on to the next spoke. Make sure that there is at about a 1cm / quarter of an inch of wire left at the tip. If there is more, trim it down slightly.
9.There are a few ways you can finish the ends of the wire-forms to stop the beads from coming off. You can bend the wire back on itself, or roll a loop which is my preferred choice. However, this wire is pretty tough and not easy to bend at all. If you use memory wire and roll the tips using roundnose plier, you can do the same here. But if you aren’t used to using wire, you can glue a bead to the end, or use fishhook guards (small plastic stoppers used on the back of earrings) instead.
To bend the tips over, use a pair of chainnose or flat pliers to bend it back on itself, using the thumb of your non-dominant hand to brace against.
10.Then once it is most of the way over, squash it down firmly, being VERY CAREFUL not to crush the beads.
11. You want the tip of wire to come fully back so the beads can’t slip past.
12.Work you way around the form, adding beads and securing the tip of each spoke in turn.
13.Once you are finished, add your star to the top of your tree, or use some twine threaded through one of the ends to make a hanging decoration!
