Beaded Snowflake Ornament #3

This ornament is very similar to Beaded Snowflake Ornament #2. After I made #2, I noticed that the bicone beads sat very close to one another. I decided to make another ornament that would allow me to save a few beads, after all the Swarovski beads are fairly expensive. This snowflake is made with three rounds.

Beaded Snowflake Ornament #3

Beaded Snowflake Ornament #3

As you can see, this snowflake is very similar to Beaded Snowflake #2. I’ve added a round. Also, for the center round, all of the beads are the same. It is still done by the same method though. I used 4mm swarovski bicones, bugle beads and 32 gauge wire to make this snowflake ornament.

Round one:String 12 4mm bicone beads on to the wire. Leave about a 3 in ch tail. Thread the wire through the beads again, draw them snugly together to form a circle.  Take the tail and wrap it tightly around the wires between two beads. Once it is good and secure trim off the excess.

Round 2

Round 2

Round 2: Where ever your wire is, we will say it is between bead 1 and bead 12. You can work this in either clockwise or the counter clockwise direction. Which ever way you go, the first bead will be #1. Take the wire and string on 1 bugle bead, 1 bicone bead and 1 bugle bead for a total of three beads. Thread the wire through bead number 2 and out the other side. Repeat this pattern, weaving in to the even numbered beads until you have worked your way around and you have 6 spokes. you wire should come out in the same place that you started, between bead #12 and #1.

You need to position the wire for round three. Weave the wire up through the first bugle bead and bicone bead that you added in round 2.

Round 3 will finish off the snowflake

Round 3 will finish off the snowflake

Round 3: String on 1 bugle bead, 1 bicone bead, 1 bugle bead and then 2 more bicone beads for a total of 5 beads. I am going to call the last two bicone beads that you added, bead A and Bead B. Bead A is the first one that you added to the wire. Take the wire and double back through bead A. This is done the same way that it was done in Snowflake #2 Then add on 1 bugle bead, 1 bicone bead, and one more bugle bead. Thread the wire through the bicone bead on the next spoke from round 2. Repeat this pattern until you have worked all the way around the ornament.

Finishing off: Technically you can finish off the wire as soon as you bring it back through the last bicone bead. I like to keep things snug and secure, so I weave the wire up to the last bead on the next spoke. I make a loop large enough to go over a tree branch, thread the wire back through the bead and then tightly wrap the wire between the last two beads. If you want you can make a smaller loop so that you can use a pretty beaded ornament hanger to hang the ornament. Once you have finished off your ornament, go back over the out spokes and neaten them out so that they resemble flower petals.

I will be adding one more snowflake this afternoon and then I need to get busy making snowflake kits for my son’s class. I’ll take photos of those as I go along. If I get them knocked out early enough I will also post those later tonight. They are a bit more child friendly as they are made with pipe cleaners. Tomorrow’s post will be about the difference between making a star and a snowflake, using a pattern I reverse engineered.