Although beaded flowers are now made by people from all walks of life, they were originally made by European peasants. These peasants farmed in the summer, but in the winter they were idle. They were commissioned by the European nobility to sew beads onto the court clothing of the nobility. The beads that were not used for that task were strung on wire and turned into flowers.
Eventually, the art moved to the United States. One of the first known authors of beaded flower patterns in this country was Virginia Nathanson.
Beaded flowers seem to be very complex. Admittedly, they’re more complicated than, say, friendship knot bracelets. The work is usually very dense, but aspiring flower beaders should not be discouraged. With a little practice and patience, the techniques are easily mastered.
The materials are easy to get now. As recently as the 1960’s it was a bit more difficult to find all the beads and colors a flower bead could want. The Internet has made shopping for beads as easy as shopping for anything else: just a few clicks and your beads are on their way to you.
Along with flower materials, French bead flower instructions can be found online. Sometimes the patterns are free. Those that are not free are usually very cheap. If the seller or author sends you the patterns by email, you should not pay any shipping costs. Also, you can often contact a seller or pattern author with questions after your purchase if something in your pattern isn’t clear.
If you or someone you know is interested in learning how to make beaded flowers, don’t be shy. This art is very rewarding and produces beautiful results. Don’t be afraid to work with beads and wire. If you make a mistake or don’t like your first few tries, you can disassemble the part and try again.
What is a bead stringer? It may be your new favorite tool when learning how to make beaded French flowers.
A bead stringer, or bead pin, is a favorite tool used by bead artists. They use a bead stringer to quickly and easily move loose beads on string or wire. Basically, it’s a bowl with a hollow dowel through it. The pin sits on a spike in a holder. The bowl apparatus easily rotates on this sink.
Bead shops sell loose beads in bags, small jars, or strung on skeins or master skeins. Moving the beads onto your wire or thread can be tedious work if done by hand, especially if you’re using Swarovski beads or other beads of odd shapes or sizes. The bead spinner or bead stringer can greatly reduce the time it takes to complete this task, as well as save the artist from sore shoulders and stiff fingers.
I make beaded French flowers, which can require up to thousands of beads to complete. Even a smaller project like friendship bracelets can require so many beads that stringing them by hand can be a real pain. Even a low-tech tool like a bead stringer is a great investment because of the time and effort it saves.
Many artists have also made their own bead spinners from readily available materials. You may have everything you need at home in your kitchen cabinets or garage right now. You can google instructions for this project and make some of your own spinners in an afternoon.
How do you use a bead stringer or bead spinner? If you are making beaded flowers, you will use beading wire. Pour your beads into the spinner bowl until the bowl is about ¾ full. Open your spool of wire and make a hook out of the last few inches of the wire. Hold the end of the spool of wire just below the surface of the beads. Slowly begin to rotate the bowl of the rotary tool. It will take some practice to find the correct location for the wire and the correct speed of rotation.
Once you’ve found the right combination of spin speed and string angle, you’ll be delighted to watch the pearls zip along the string.
If you’re doing a project where the beads need to be threaded, just thread a needle and use the spinner in the same way.
Having a bead spinner will make your bead projects go 10 times faster. Do a search for “bead spinner” and you’ll find several places that sell them online, or instructions for making your own. Happy beading!
