Bead and wire floral work is an old medieval art form. Its origin is murky but probably started in Germany with the development of steel needles and wire. The technique was popular in Italy with all the bead making there and in France. The French made "immortelles" - funeral wreaths which were placed on grave sites. Perhaps that's why it is known as French beaded wire flowers. Victorian ladies also loved decorating with beaded flowers.
The art is still flourishing today. One example are the moving memorials to the victims of September 11. Three beaded wreaths were made by an international group of artisans - United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, England, Switzerland, and France. They are now on permanent display at Ground Zero in New York, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. (Update - link no longer available).
FREE TUTORIALS
There are many tutorials available to make all kinds of flowers. Use them as focals in necklaces, as brooches and hair ornaments. You can also use them for non-jewelry articles like napkin rings, bridal bouquets and home decor. Seed beads are inexpensive unlike Swarovski crystals.
There are two distinct styles. Victorian beaded flowers are made with the beaded wires running horizontally across each petal. An example is this awesome tutorial by Bead Studio shown above which I featured before in the post about 3 bead and wire flower tutorials. If you've made little beaded animals before, you will be familiar with the right angle weave technique. You add beads as you go along.
Rachel Dayan's video tutorial shows you how an individual petal is constructed. There are more tutorials to follow to complete the bouquet if you check her Youtube channel.
Vintage Beaded Flower tutorial by Craftbits.com is similar and has an accompanying tutorial for easy beaded sprays.
This Victorian Beaded Flower tutorial is by Jewellery from Craft Cove.
Beadjewelrymaking.com has a lovely bead and wire rose tutorial.
French beaded flowers are made by bending the beaded wires over as you can see in Jennifer Walker's French Flower tutorial on eHow.com. You have to thread all the beads onto the wire spool first. The wire only goes through each bead once unlike the Victorian style. It's a matter of personal preference but some people find the Victorian method neater.
The Glass Butterfly has this lovely bead and wire Orchid tutorial in the French style.
Simple Twisted Wire Flowers
This earring tutorial by maryafoya is really easy and will suit a beginner if you are daunted by the above classic tutorials. (update : link no longer available)
I also love the DIY twisted wire wedding beaded bouquet and boutonnierre tutorials by Project Wedding. Both are relatively easy to do and fast if you use a power drill. The bouquet is just stunning!
The Artistic Wire company has a beaded floral bouquet brooch tutorial which you might like (update : link no longer available).
There are tons of books on the technique. Check out your local lending library - it's free. However, a drop dead gorgeous how to book I have to show is the one by Minako Shimonagase's Bead Flowers. Click on the link or the image to be taken to Amazon where you can look inside the book and see why I rave about it.
If you missed that marvelous Swarvoski bead and wire Secret Garden bracelet tutorial, check my past post. Many readers were nearly hyperventilating when they first saw it!
______________________________
Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips
The art is still flourishing today. One example are the moving memorials to the victims of September 11. Three beaded wreaths were made by an international group of artisans - United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, England, Switzerland, and France. They are now on permanent display at Ground Zero in New York, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. (Update - link no longer available).
FREE TUTORIALS
There are many tutorials available to make all kinds of flowers. Use them as focals in necklaces, as brooches and hair ornaments. You can also use them for non-jewelry articles like napkin rings, bridal bouquets and home decor. Seed beads are inexpensive unlike Swarovski crystals.
There are two distinct styles. Victorian beaded flowers are made with the beaded wires running horizontally across each petal. An example is this awesome tutorial by Bead Studio shown above which I featured before in the post about 3 bead and wire flower tutorials. If you've made little beaded animals before, you will be familiar with the right angle weave technique. You add beads as you go along.
Rachel Dayan's video tutorial shows you how an individual petal is constructed. There are more tutorials to follow to complete the bouquet if you check her Youtube channel.
Vintage Beaded Flower tutorial by Craftbits.com is similar and has an accompanying tutorial for easy beaded sprays.
This Victorian Beaded Flower tutorial is by Jewellery from Craft Cove.
Beadjewelrymaking.com has a lovely bead and wire rose tutorial.
French beaded flowers are made by bending the beaded wires over as you can see in Jennifer Walker's French Flower tutorial on eHow.com. You have to thread all the beads onto the wire spool first. The wire only goes through each bead once unlike the Victorian style. It's a matter of personal preference but some people find the Victorian method neater.
The Glass Butterfly has this lovely bead and wire Orchid tutorial in the French style.
Simple Twisted Wire Flowers
This earring tutorial by maryafoya is really easy and will suit a beginner if you are daunted by the above classic tutorials. (update : link no longer available)
I also love the DIY twisted wire wedding beaded bouquet and boutonnierre tutorials by Project Wedding. Both are relatively easy to do and fast if you use a power drill. The bouquet is just stunning!
The Artistic Wire company has a beaded floral bouquet brooch tutorial which you might like (update : link no longer available).
There are tons of books on the technique. Check out your local lending library - it's free. However, a drop dead gorgeous how to book I have to show is the one by Minako Shimonagase's Bead Flowers. Click on the link or the image to be taken to Amazon where you can look inside the book and see why I rave about it.
If you missed that marvelous Swarvoski bead and wire Secret Garden bracelet tutorial, check my past post. Many readers were nearly hyperventilating when they first saw it!
______________________________
Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips
Great round-up of tutorials Pearl. I've tried a couple of these before and I'll be interested to see how the rest turn out x
ReplyDeleteThese are stunning! Thanks for sharing *rifles through supplies for wire and glass beads*
ReplyDeleteI've always admired those who can work with seed beads. Personally they'd drive me crazy! Can you imagine a whole bridal bouquet of beaded flowers -beautiful!
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention crystal bouquets -I've done four of them during my beading career. In fact, I have two at home to picture...might just be the kick I need to get them repictured and posted on the site! I only wish I had known about them when I got married.
-Stephanie
Awesome post! Can't wait to go through some of the tutorials. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThese beaded flowers are stunning, I never realised there was so much history behind them. I admire those who work with seed beads too, you need plenty of patience! It must be worth it though, if at the end you can make something so beautiful with your beads.
ReplyDeletegreat tutorials
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing
These beaded flowers are stunning, I never realised there was so much history behind them. I admire those who work with seed beads too, you need plenty of patience! It must be worth it though, if at the end you can make something so beautiful with your beads.
ReplyDeleteA lot of our customers have been working on beaded flowers but I hadn't realised the history behind them, always good to have some extra info!
ReplyDeleteWhat a talent!!! How smart to turn fish net making into these beautiful necklaces. Thanks Pearl. Another winner!!!
ReplyDeleteCarol
the orchid link on this post is now dead BUT thankfully the web archive still has it cached so you can see the tut here: http://web.archive.org/web/20120525155248/http://www.theglassbutterflyetc.com/Orchid.html
ReplyDelete(hopefully the spam catcher won't just ditch this comment because it contains a link - the way back machine rocks because you can find almost anything, including old geocities sites that had a ton of craft tuts)
Thanks so much for not only getting the old link but also for telling me about Way Back Machine. Simply awesome!!
ReplyDelete