Bead Flower Wreaths Project, 9/11/01

Vintage French Bead Flower Restoration Project

Make Lovely Pandora Bead Jewelry Inexpensively

It’s currently under construction so please be patient as I put it together for you!

Jillybeads is a supplier of items for artists making beaded flowers, bead jewelry, other bead items and various crafts.  They have a great selection of different kinds of beads.  Some of these are Swarovski, Giverny, charm, lampwork, textile, monochrome and pearly.  They also carry some very unusual metalwork beads.

Beaded flower artists will love their selection of seed beads.  Jillybeads offers Miyuki and Toho beads, very famous beads from Japan.   Japanese seed beads are extremely high quality.  They are very consistent in shape and size.  Their holes are quite large, allowing for the making of both French and Victorian seed bead flowers.

Jillybeads’ selection of Swarovski beads is quite comprehensive.  Shoppers will find crystal pearls, hearts and a wide range of rounds, pendants, bicones, plus stones and ceramic beads.  There are plenty of kits as well, for making earrings, rings, bracelets, and even very tiny Christmas trees.

There’s a full selection of bales, findings, spacers and other great items to help the artist get really creative with their jewelry.

An great source for bulk beads is Shipwreck Beads.  Shipwreck gives discounts on larger bead orders, which is a boon for the artist who creates large flowers that need thousands of beads.  Shipwreck has everything a beader could need – kits, charms, beading tools, findings and a large selection of wires.  They state that they’re America’s largest distributor of Preciosa Ornella Traditional Czech Glass Beads, so if those are the beads you use, you know where to shop for them.

They have some unique lamp pendants, too.  If you use a lot of lamp beads, try one of Shipwreck’s lampwork grab-bags!  You might find inspiration in a bead you never thought you would use.

Their selection of seed beads from Czechoslovakia is beyond compare.  They offer over 2,700 colors, and all the sizes you could possibly use.  The beads come threaded on hanks, not loose in a bag, so if you prefer to string your beads from the hank or you don’t use a beadspinner, you’ll love Shipwreck’s beads.

Shipwreck also offers pewter charms, kits for making earrings and small ornaments, and beautiful gemstone beads for when you want to make a special project.

Shipwreck is wonderful to deal with.  Their service is lightning-fast, even coast-to-coast, and they’re very personable.  Their prices are very competitive, especially if you buy enough beads to get the discount.

Parawire, or Paramount Wire Co. is a manufacturer of wire for all kinds of arts, crafts and other purposes.  You can find a special link for Beaded Flowers on their homepage.  Parawire has worked very closely with many flower beaders and has developed special wires just for our purposes.  There’s also a special link for Jewelry Wire on their homepage, so jewelry beaders can find exactly what they need quickly.

Parawire’s products come on small or very large spools, and they’re available in lots of different colors and gauges.  You can even find the most delicate lacing wires at Paramount.  The wires are consistently high-quality and are very easy to work with.

On their site you’ll find wires that are painted or cotton coated, galvanized, brass, aluminum or bronze.  There are “chain mail” wires available too.  Parawire can also supply you with stemwires, pliers and cutters.

Parawire’s staff members are helpful, friendly and knowledgeable, and their service and shipping times are excellent.

You are making a lovely French beaded flower. You want it to keep its beauty for years and years. Did you know there’s an easy technique to keep it looking its best for the long term? Learn how to lace them.

One of the most important things you must do is to lace the petals and leaves. It may seem like an unnecessary step, but it will make a big difference in how well your flowers hold up over the years. Without lacing, the rows can become separated and look “spidery,” ruining the grace and flow of the piece. A good rule of thumb is to lace any piece that has thirteen rows or more in the French technique.

I recently restored four vintage bead flower arrangements. One of the biggest problems with these flowers was that they had been laced poorly or not at all. In the large white daisies, the artist had laced with heavy wire which had rusted and turned black over the years. Rusted, thick black wire on white daisies is not a great look! I replaced these wires with modern, very thin, white-colored wires. The flowers suddenly looked fresh and new again.

Lacing is a technique borrowed from sewing. There are several ways to lace. If you sew, the terms running stitch and back stitch will be familiar to you. When you lace your beaded flowers, you are actually doing a running stitch or back stitch to hold the rows of your petals and leaves together.

If you are doing a flower such as a rose, with basically flat petals, you can lace each petal separately. If you are making daffodils or perhaps Bells of Ireland, you will lace all around the head of the flower, then tie the ends of the wire together. This actually forms the shape of the bloom. On a lily, lace all the petals together in a line, then tie the ends of the lacing wire together when you are done. This keeps the petals in the proper alignment, side by side.

So. How do you lace? It’s not a hard technique at all. We will explore what might be called the “backstitch” method in this article. Other techniques, including one I developed to be the least visible technique of all, will be explored in other articles.

First, you will need 30-gauge or 32-gauge wire. It’s best to use a wire that matches your petal or leaf color as closely as possible. Modern lacing wires come in a variety of colors plus almost-clear, so it shouldn’t be hard to find something that will hide inside your flower very well. You will also need a sewing needle.

Measure the piece you are about to lace. For our purposes, let’s say the piece is two inches across. Measure and cut a length of lacing wire three times the width of the piece to be laced – in this case, six inches. Now fold the wire in half. With the ends of the wire, straddle the front of the basic or middle row of the petal, in the middle of all the beads on that row. Gently draw the wire-ends through. Twist the wires at the back of the piece to lock the wire in place. Work from the back of the piece so as to hide as much of the wire as possible.

Thread one of the wire ends through the needle eye and twist about a quarter inch of the end around the long part, to lock the wire onto the needle so you won’t lose the wire. Move the needle to the outside of the row right next to the center row. Thread the wire through to the front of the piece, stitch over that same row toward the center row, and bring the wire through to the back. Keeping the wire free of kinks, gently pull it taut so the rows are snugly held together.

Move the needle to the next row, or the second row out from the center row, and stitch through on the outside of that row. Stitch over the top of the row and come back through between the first row out from the center and the second row. Repeat this process until you reach the end of the petal, knot the wire and cut it. Tuck or curl the wire end out of sight. Repeat the process on the other side of the petal.

You’ll be surprised at how much better your flowers will look when they are laced. This simple technique keeps the rows in line and the whole flower in good shape. The flowers will stay much more beautiful for many years and will stand up much better to handling and cleaning. It seems like a detail, but really, don’t skip this step! You’ll be glad you laced your beautiful flowers.

You might have seen or made French bead flowers that were beautifully made, but didn’t look quite right. Possibly they looked stiff and artificial. Here is some advice to help you make bead flowers that are graceful and charming.

Here are a few ideas that will help your flowers to be their loveliest and most natural-looking. You can use these tips even if you are making a “fantasy” flower. A flower is a flower, after all, and even if the one you have created doesn’t yet grow in nature, odds are that someday some botanist will develop it.

When making the petals and leaves, reduce the bottom basic wires to two instead of three. It may seem insignificant, but this one improvement will make a big difference in each flower. The flower stems should be as narrow as possible, so reducing these wires is important.

Be sure to cover all stemwires of each leaf, center, petal and sepal before construction of the flower. Tape tightly and use as little tape as possible. This will reduce “wobble” in your finished flower. Living flowers’ parts don’t move and neither should the parts of bead flowers. Be sure you have used enough wire for the stems of petals and leaves; leaving these wires too short can cause the flower to fall apart.

During construction, wrap the construction wire and tape as tightly as possible. If you are adding many layers of petals, stop after each layer and cover the construction wire wraps with green tape. I have found that, on large flowers that require many rows of flowers, construction wires for early rows tend to show through later rows. If green tape is all that is visible, the eye will ignore it; messy wire will pull the eye and ruin the flower’s beauty. Push sepals right up under the base of the flower. Think of sepals as being a warm muffler in the winter: you plump that up right under your chin. A sepal that seems to spring right from the base of the flower will make the flower look rich and luxurious.

Now that you have the flower built, allow yourself to use some imagination. Take a look at living flowers. Observe two roses or two daisies growing in a garden or at the local nursery. You will see variations among the individual blooms. Examine the way the stems may bend. Do the flower heads tip forward? Do some petals curve or curl more than others? Does a leaf twist rather than unfurl straight?

To copy nature’s variations, you have a few tools at your disposal. The common pencil can help you make your roses breathtaking. Push the tip of your thumb into the bottom third of your rose petal, then curl the top backwards around a pencil. This will give the petal the shape that many varieties of rose possess. To make a twisted leaf, use two pliers (one at the top and one at the bottom) and twist in opposite directions. This effect can also be achieved by holding the leaf in a hemostat and using one plier to make the twist. For more shape, curl the top of the leaf backward a bit. Alternately, you can make a long and pointed shape by creasing the leaf or petal along its central or basic row, then flaring the sides out to complete the curve of the piece. You can combine these techniques to make infinite variations in the look of your flowers.

When the flowers are arranged in sprays, be sure to bend the tallest stem once to the left and once to the right. The top of the tallest stem should usually take another small bend so that it points straight up. Secondary stems can have one bend in them. This will give the spray motion and flow. To get this shape, you can use a plier in one hand or a plier in each hand; if you like going low-tech, just use your fingers.

Most importantly, relax and enjoy the process. As you work with the flowers more and more, you will develop a “feel” for how they should look. With patience and practice, your flower-arranging skills will improve and give you great satisfaction with your arrangements.

How do you make a beaded flower?

One of the “founding mothers” of French bead flowers in America, Virginia Nathanson, wondered the same thing when she saw some breathtaking arrangements in the gift shop of Bonwit Teller in New York City several decades ago. She used a remarkable method to get the answer: She purchased one of the large arrangements, took it home, and completely disassembled each flower. She unwound all the wires, broke the flowers up, cut them apart, completely destroyed them. By this rather drastic forensic method, Ms. Nathanson learned the techniques. She went on to teach the making of French bead flowers for many years. She wrote one of the first series of pattern books to be published in the U.S.

You don’t have to deconstruct existing flowers to learn the methods, however. I can give you the basics right here. There are many different techniques; what I will describe for you for the flower petals and leaf is the “basic” technique, because the center of each petal or leaf is made on what is called a “basic row.” What you’ll actually be doing is making a basic row, then making circles around it with more beaded wire. The flower’s center will be made with what is called the “continuous loop” technique.

You need seed beads, 10 or 11 gauge. I use them from “hanks,” which are comprised of 20 strands of 12 inches of beads, tied together at the tops or ends. You’ll need some in your flower color and about half as much as that in green. You also need wire. Wire that is matched to your flower color is best, but if you can’t find wire the same color as your beads, use gold or silver colored wire. You will also some green wire for the leaves. This wire should be 24 or 26 gauge. You will also need a roll of green floral tape. You can get these materials in local craft stores. If you can’t find beads in hanks, get a bagful; a vial will be too few.

Begin the project with your flower color, in both beads and wire. Move the beads from the hank or bag onto the wire. You can just pinch them off the string and transfer them onto the wire if that works. Curl or “crimp” the end of the wire so the beads don’t fall off.

Move an inch or so of beads to within three inches of the end of the wire on the spool. Make a loop of the wire under these beads, and twist the top of the loop a few times. Make the basic loop quite long – make it six inches at first. You will use the loop wires for your flower stem when you’re done.

Now comes the interesting part. Feed in enough beads from the spool until they are touching the “basic” row beads above the loop. Fit the new beads upwards along the first set of beads so the new beads fit very snugly. Wrap the spool wire straight around the wire just above the “basic row,” leaving no room for the “basic row” beads to move at all. Now turn the whole piece upside down. Repeat this process of feeding beads, tightly fitting in and wrapping until you have seven rows (counting from side to side across the front of the piece). Be sure you finish the last row at the bottom of the piece, where the loop is. Wrap two or three times to finish the final row.

Wrap some empty spool wire diagonally down the wires of the loop. Cut the bottom of the loop open and cut off the spool wire at the bottom. Cut off all but a little “nib” at the top of the piece, where that extra wire is. Bend the “nib” over onto the back of the piece, where you wrapped the spool wire. There! You’ve made your first petal!

Repeating the process exactly, make four more petals just like this one.

To make a leaf, repeat the process with the green wire and beads. Feel free to make more than one leaf if you like.

Make the center of the flower with some green beads on green wire. Move twenty to twenty-five beads to within two inches of the crimp on the end of the wire. Make a very tight self-loop with these beads. Pinch the loop quite tight so it stands up straight. Move along the spool wire just a little bit and make another loop. Make about ten to twelve of these self-loops on the same length of wire. When they are done, cut the wire off the spool. Bunch these loops together and twist the wires together.

Wrap the stems of each piece. This adds stability and “tooth” in the finished flower. Here’s how: Stretch a length of tape until it turns a lighter green than unstretched tape. Wrap the end around the top of the stemwires. Turn the tape diagonally down the stem and turn the piece so that the wires are covered completely with tape all the way down. Be careful of overlapping the tape too much; you don’t want a thick stem. Keep stretching the tape as you work; stretching is what activates the wax in the tape and makes it stick. Tear the tape off at the bottom of the wires.

When all the pieces are taped, you can assemble them. Take the flower center and start the tape wrapping straight around the stem just under the beading. After 1 1/2 wraps, add a petal with the front, or right side, facing the center and wrap another 1 1/2 times. Add the second petal in the same fashion. Repeat this until all the petals have been joined. Now turn the tape diagonally down the stems as you did before, and wrap down about an inch. Now add in the leaf or leaves. Continue wrapping all the way down to the bottom of the wires, and tear the tape off. Shape all the parts like a real flower.

You’ve made a French bead flower! Good work!

If you wanted to be a tap dancer, jazz dancer, Irish-step dancer, gymnast, or even a modern-dance dancer – you must learn excellent technique before anything else. For all these kinds of dance, the best place to develop superior technique is in ballet class. There, you will learn to point your feet, to stretch your back as long and supple as it can be, the right way to carry your head and how to make your arms move as gracefully as the neck of a swan. After you have mastered this, you can then modify a classic ballet move into a wild jazz leap – because you now know how to do it correctly.

For the construction of French beaded flowers, you also must learn excellent technique. And, in my opinion, what is the one most important technique for this art?

Rule # 1 – Keep a straight basic wire.

It sounds so easy. Naturally you will keep a straight basic wire, you say. Easiest thing in the world, isn’t it? For someone who has never done French bead flowers before, this can be a stumbling-block.

How do you stop a basic wire from going wrong in the first place? Here are a few hints. 1 – Have a tack or nail fastened into a cutting board for a working surface. Wrap the top of a very long basic wire around that. Keep tension on the leaf or petal as you wrap the spool wire around the top basic wire. 2 – As you are about to wrap the spool wire around the top basic wire, tug on the top basic wire. Wrap the spool wire, and tug the top wire again. Turn the piece over to check if the wire is bending in either direction. 3 – Learn to work with the beads and wire a little bit on their terms. If you can’t fit another bead in the row that you’re about to wrap, the top wire can bend to one side just a little bit on that row, as long as you straighten it back up the next time you come up to the top basic wire, and if the overall look of the petal or leaf is straight.

Once you have finished a few rows on your piece, turn it over and see if the wire is looking straight. If it isn’t, the best solution is to take it out and try it again. Try it a few times without pressuring yourself too much. Don’t worry about making a misstep; that’s the best way to learn. It’s only little glass beads and metal wire – they are gentle teachers. This is a whole new project for your mind, your heart and your hands.

Give yourself a chance and plenty of time, and before you know it you’ll be making perfectly straight basic rows. After that – If you want to make a flower with petals that curve in unusual directions, you will be able to control it and get the look you want.

In 1865, Godey’s Ladies Book published a flower pattern that suggests the flowers could be used as decorations for hair and clothing.

The Dritz Traum Company released the earliest U.S. pattern, in 1928. It was titled “Hiawatha New Imported Crystal Bead Models.” You may recognize the Dritz name, since they still produce needles and other items.

By 1957, Samuel Wallach of the Walbead company was packaging and selling kits, “Bead a Bouquet,” which included a wide variety of beaded flower instructions.

In 1965, Aleene, of Temple City, California, released what was possibly the first U.S. book of patterns, simply titled “Bead Flowers.”

The art of beaded flower making was popular in the U.S. in the late 1960′s to early 1970′s. Years 1966 through 1983 brought us a flurry of publications. These books are now considered the “bibles” of the French beader. The noted authors of these books include the highly respected Virginia Nathanson, Bobbe Anderson, Samuel Wallach, Helen Leibman, Ruth Wasley/Edith Harris and Virginia Osterland. Although these books sometimes appear in garage sales, collectors are willing to pay well in excess of $100.00 each, when they can be found.

Virginia Nathanson was a Vaudeville performer in her youth. Later on, she saw a bead flower arrangement in a department store in New York City. She wanted to discover the secret of these everlasting flowers, so she bought the arrangement, took it home, and took each flower completely apart. By this rather drastic forensic method, she learned the four basic techniques of French bead flower making.

Mrs. Nathanson’s first book, “The Art of Making Bead Flowers and Bouquets,” is now in reprint in softcover. The instructions in this book are very clear, and this is an excellent book for the beginner.

In the late 60′s and early 70′s, most of the seed beads sold in America were imported from Czechoslovakia. With the last phase of the Cold War, around the late 1980′s, Czech beads were difficult to find, and popularity for the craft diminished.

In 1991 Helen McCall produced a book dedicated entirely to miniatures, and in 1995, Leisure Arts produced a few patterns, in an ornament book. Still, the art seemed to be fading away in the United States.

Then, the late 1990′s saw a dramatic interest in beaded flowers around the world. Books were published in Japanese, French, Italian, Russian, German, and Dutch. Although some of the styles “cross over,” most of these books use the Victorian technique.

In the last several years, Mario Rivoli bought up many vintage bead flowers and spray-painted them to create astonishing effects on the flowers. These beads are often seen in shops in New York City, and in magazines and on the Internet.

With the start of the new millennium, the United States has shown a renewed interest in French beaded flowers. Magazines are describing the art as “what’s hot” and French-style pattern books are once again appearing.

Quality beads are now available from many sources. The Internet is making the books and materials available to all beaders, regardless of their location. Many of the books are available from Amazon, and wire, beads and other supplies can be found online at very reasonable prices.

The art of bead flower-making is very old, but is new all over again!

Beaded flowers can be used in every way you use silk or fresh flowers. The only difference is that, because these are petals and leaves of glass beads, it will be many, many years before bead flowers deteriorate. Therefore, they make ideal inserts in bridal bouquets, bridal headdresses, hair barrettes, pins, napkin rings, corsages, “potted” plants, 3D pictures and wall hangings.

A few notable people who owned and treasured examples of this fine art were Marie Antoinette, Madame Pompadour, Napoleon’s Josephine, Princess Grace, Princess Caroline, Patricia Nixon and William Randolph Hearst.

Beaded flowers can be made out of many kinds and styles of beads, and beads can have a wide variety of finishes. The most common type of bead used is a seed bead, gauge 10 or 11, and used on wire of 24 or 26 gauge. I have seen very tiny flowers made with gauge 15 seed beads. The edges of the beads can be squared off or rounded, depending on the artist’s taste. Japanese beads are of very high quality and are very uniform.

If you make bead jewelry, you may have used Toho or Miyuki beads in your jewelry and other projects. One-, two- or three-cut beads add sparkle, and trumpet beads and rhinestone centers can be used as an accent. Beads can be matte or pearly, colorlined or unlined, opaque or transparent, and the list goes on. Beads can be bought on hanks, or loose in bags and tubes.

As strange as it may seem, weather can have an effect on the availability of beads. Because of weather conditions in many parts of the world, certain colors of beads can be made only at certain times of the year. About six years ago, the fashion industry bought up all the available pink beads, and jewelrymakers and flower beaders had to use other colors until the climatic conditions changed again, production of pink beads could resume, and the supply could catch up with the demand.

History of Beaded Flowers

The art of making flowers out of beads is many centuries old. Although there is very little documentation on the development of this art, research has shown that the first primitive bead flowers may have been made as early as the 1300′s in Germany, when steel needles and wire were developed.

In the ensuing years as the craft spread across Europe, different methods were developed: the Victorian method, also known as the English or Russian method, and the French method. The main difference is that in the Victorian method, which is similar to modern bead jewelry-making techniques, the thread or wire passes through each bead twice or more, and the wire passes from row to row on the sides of the piece; in the French method, the wire passes through each bead only once, and passes from row to row in the center or on the bottom of the individual piece.

One of the reasons that flowers are associated with churches has to do with beads. In the thirteenth century a form of prayer using a string of beads was instituted by St. Dominic. The string, called a rosary, consisted at that time of 15 units of beads. Each unit contained 10 small beads, preceded by one larger one. A prayer was recited at every bead.

The word “bede” (sp) is Middle English for “prayer.” Because of the length of the original rosary, it became customary to pay someone, usually a resident of an almshouse, to recite the prayers. These people were referred to as bede women or men, and it was they who made the first beaded flowers. The craft was handed down through the centuries and came to be associated with the church and its decorations.

The French used beaded flowers as funeral wreaths. These wreaths were called “Immortelles,” and ranged from 3 feet to 4 feet in height. They would be left at the grave of the deceased. Since they were made on metal wire and were exposed to the weather, most of these items were destroyed within a year, but a few examples remain today. Occasionally you will see one on Ebay.

Once an Immortelle disintegrated, leaving only a pile of beads, the beads would often be recycled into other projects. Not only are there bead flowers mounted on the frame of the Immortelle, but the frame wires are wrapped in beaded wire as well. Wires strung with beads might have been coiled or braided as well before wrapping onto the piece. The whole surface of the Immortelle would be wrapped over with wire strung with thousands and thousands of beads.

In Venice in the 16th century, middle class and poor women made beaded flowers for churches, banquet tables and parade floats. At that time, someone could walk down the streets of Venice and see women sitting outside every door, making ornaments out of wire and tiny glass beads.

At one time Venice was a center for the actual production of beads. According to one source, at one point all the beadmaking activity in Venice was moved onto the island of Murano. Murano glass vases and other items are still treasured today.

Around the Napoleonic era (1768-1821), Italian and French peasants who tended the vineyards in the summer were recruited to work with beads in the winter. They would be assigned to embroider the ball gowns and jackets of the court nobility with beads. Imperfect beads or beads that would not fit over the needle were saved and made into flowers. These imperfect beads may have been strung onto wire for the flowers with horsehair or human hair. These flowers were used to decorate church altars, and were carried by altar boys for Easter and Christmas.

In Victorian times, royal European brides often wore wreaths or circlets of bead flowers and carried bead bouquets on their wedding day. The custom was for the bride to abandon the fancy hair styles of the time, and wear her hair simply, straight down her back, and adorn her head with a floral wreath. If she were getting married at a time of the year when fresh flowers were unavailable, bead flowers were an excellent solution.

Wreaths

In response to the 9/11 tragedy, many flower beaders from around the world collaborated to make a modern-style funeral wreath for each of the three crash sites. These wreaths are now in the Pentagon, the Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, and the New York Wreath was temporarily placed in the Wheaton Museum of American Glass in Morganville, New Jersey. Recently the New York Wreath was moved to a permanent display case in a board room at the World Trade Center Museum Foundation Headquarters. The Pentagon wreath is in a large, glass wall-mounted case in a new hallway in the Pentagon. This hallway leads to a chapel commemorating those who died on 9/11.

Swarovski Project

Several years ago, when the Swarovski Crystal company was first making their line of crystal beads, they commissioned several bead flower artists to design and create the first Swarovski crystal bead flowers. The beaders adapted existing patterns and wrote new patterns to accommodate these new, larger beads. A sparkling garden of flowers was the result. This collection of flowers toured the world, and is now back at the main offices of the Swarovski company in Austria.