Benedikte brought an old barrette she had to a beading party. She really didn't like it anymore but rather than throwing it away she decided to give it a makeover with some wire and beads.

As you can see, the shape is not rectangular which made it tricky but Benedikte did a splendid job that afternoon. She started by anchoring the wire at one end and then proceeded to add an eclectic mix of mostly peridot colored glass beads as well as some blue toned ones.

As she had never done any wire work before, we decided she use seedbeads on the reverse side to keep the main beads in place. That seemed to work!



FREE TUTORIALS

1.How Stuff Works has a fantastic list of tutorials for all kinds of embellished hair barrettes for kids.

Not all their tutorials use wire - floss and nylon lines are also used. Some of the tutorials are mixed media i.e. they use fabric and ribbon. Others use bobby pins. But all are super!

2.A.M. Helmenstine wrote a great tutorial for beaded bobby pins which I highly recommend. These take only 15-30 minutes per pin. They will be suitable as little giveaways or craft projects for the younger set.

3. Heavenlight has a funky party barrette tutorial that's sure to please the beaders amongst you.

4. I particularly like Jen Funk Weber's beaded barrettes patterns (left) for fabric beaders.

5. The Needlepointers have a resource list for beaded barrettes and hair adornments.

6. E. Hackbarth on About.com's Beadwork first introduced me to beadwork. The Celtic Beaded Barrette uses seed beads and odd-count flat peyote or brick stitch.

Beader Design #:535
______________________________
Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips