Beaded Tree

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• Topaz AB Shell Beads
• Blue AB Shell Beads
• White 6mm Wood Beads
• Popcorn Shell Beads
• Brown 10mm Wood Beads
• Brown Triangle Nugget Beads
• 20-gauge brown wire
• 20-gauge gunmetal wire
• Heavy rock with flat base
• Wooden Chopsticks
• Round Nose Pliers
• Wire Cutters

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut multiple brown and gunmetal wires – each 70" long, roughly 30 pieces.
2. Take a few pieces of wire and lay them out on a worktable. Place the rock directly in the middle on top, and pull both side of the wire up the rock so they meet in the middle. Keep these wires as tight to the rock as possible and twist. Continue adding wire in this manner, anchoring them to the rock in different directions. The trunk will be 7" tall before splitting out into smaller branches.
3. Once trunk is about 1" in diameter, stabilize it. Use plain wooden chopsticks, which can be covered in wire or spray-painted brown to camouflage. Use three chopsticks around the trunk and wrapped them with lots of wire to create a strong tree trunk.
4. Separate the trunk wires into smaller branches that are clumps of several wires that are twisted together going off in different directions.
5. Add beads to the branches. Use light shell and light wood beads to keep the overall weight of the piece down.
6. To finish each beaded branch, curl the ends of the wire back onto itself to form a loop locking the beads in place.