Today I'm going to talk about other kinds of beads. Specifically, tri beads, starflake beads, and faceted beads. All of these can be used to make some very beautiful and simple ornaments.
My friend hosted an evening where several of us made winter hat ornaments using simple materials of yarn and a small ring cut from a toilet paper tube. It was a fun evening. Her intent was to donate the ornaments to an organization called Operation Ornaments. This organization collects handmade ornaments and distributes them to people who have lost everything in a disaster. This year's contributions are headed to Lahaina, Hawaii, which was devastated by fire in 2023, among other places.
It gave me an idea to see if there were some simple ornaments our church children's group could make for this effort. Of course, I thought of beads. My first idea was tri bead candy canes. I have bunches of these that I hang on our Christmas tree instead of regular candy canes (no one in our house will eat the real ones).
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| Candy Cane made from Tri Beads |
Tri Bead Candy Cane
These are really quite easy to make. You just need tri beads in two colors (red and white, or transparent red and clear, for example), one half of a chenille stem, and a ribbon to make the hanger. For the pictured candy cane we used 20 red beads and 19 clear beads.
Start by making a small bend at one end of the chenille stem to form a thicker bit, to stop the beads from falling off. Then thread beads onto the stem, starting with red and alternating with the white or clear, ending with red. Then bend the remaining chenille stem up to hold the beads on. When adding the ribbon for the hanger, slip it in between two of the beads and it will stay in place easily.
I realized that candy canes might be a little simple to make, and I wanted to have other options, so I looked around on the internet and saw several kits to make bead ornaments. My favorites were wreaths and Christmas trees.
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| Wreath made from Tri Beads |
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| Wreath made from "starflake" beads and faceted beads |
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Christmas tree made from "starflake" beads and a couple of pony beads
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I didn't want to order kits, though, so I turned to my trusty bead source, Bolek's Craft Supplys. They are the place where I get all my pony beads because they have the best quality beads and have by far the largest selection of colors, especially for the mini pony beads, which is my preferred size to use for making Beadie Critters.
Sure enough, they had the tri beads and the starflake beads (they just call them star beads) in a variety of colors. At the end of this blog post, I will do some price comparisons and calculations.
Tri Bead Wreath
For the tri bead wreath, we used tri beads in green and red, or transparent green and red. You will need 33 green tri beads and 11 red. You will also need a chenille stem. Slide the first red tri bead about 3/4 of the way along the chenille stem (not to the end), then add 3 green tri beads, then a red, and continue in this pattern.
When you've added the last red bead, check to make sure that the chenille stem left on either end is even. Make your wreath into a circle. Then twist the two ends together like a bread tie, right where the two red beads meet up.
Now you will use the remaining chenille stem to form a bow and twist it so that it stays. Add a ribbon to hang.
You can make these wreaths in different combinations. Online I saw versions with 5 green beads and 1 red bead, one with alternating white/red/green beads, etc.
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Wreath made from Tri Beads
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Starflake Bead Wreath
I always called these beads "paddlewheel" but it seems that nowadays they are called "star," "starflake," or "sunburst" beads. For the wreath you will need 18 green 18mm starflake beads, and 10 faceted red beads - size can be 6mm or 8mm. The wreath in the picture above uses 6mm. And of course a chenille stem.
Slide 1 red faceted bead about 3/4 of the way along the chenille stem, then add 2 green starflake beads. Repeat 1 red faceted, 2 green starflake until you add the last red faceted bead.
When you've added the last red bead, check to make sure that the chenille stem left on either end is even. Make your wreath into a circle. Then twist the two ends together like a bread tie, right where the two red beads meet up.
Now you will use the remaining chenille stem to form a bow and twist it so that it stays. Add a ribbon to hang.
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| Wreath made from "starflake" beads and faceted beads |
Bead Christmas Tree
For the Christmas tree, you will need green starflake beads in 3 sizes: 2 25mm, 3 18mm, and 4 12mm. You will also need a brown regular pony bead, and a gold glitter star pony bead, and half of a chenille stem.
Put the brown pony bead on the chenille stem and twist to secure it. Then add, in order, the 25mm starflake beads, the 18mm starflake beads, and the 12mm starflake beads. Finally add the star pony bead. Loop the remaining chenille stem back down to the star as closely as you can, and twist. This will make the hanger for the ornament. You will have extra chenille stem which you will cut off.
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Christmas tree made from "starflake" beads and a couple of pony beads
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Last week, I had the children in our church group make the candy canes and the wreaths. They enjoyed it so much, and they were so quick at it that they made 65 ornaments in less than an hour!
We wanted to continue to have them make more of these ornaments, so I had to order some more beads from Bolek's. I ordered materials for more Christmas trees, and tri bead and starflake bead wreaths. I also ordered materials for a new ornament, an icicle.
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| Icicle made from "starflake" beads and faceted beads |
Icicle Ornament
For this ornament, we used ice blue or clear starflake beads in 2 sizes: 12mm and 10mm. We also used faceted beads in 3 sizes: 8mm, 6mm, and 4mm, in the same color. You will need 4 of each bead, and half of a chenille stem. I used a silver tinsel chenille stem for this one, but you could also use white.
Start by bending and twisting a small loop on one end of the chenille stem. Later you will put a hanging ribbon through this loop - this is the top of your icicle. Then slide on the 12mm starflake beads, the 10mm starflake beads, and the faceted beads, first the 8mm, then the 6mm, then the 4mm. Bend the chenille stem into a little knot at the end to hold the beads.
For all of these ornaments, I am planning to do some more step-by-step illustrated directions soon.
Comparing Costs
Now for cost. I mentioned earlier that I had found kits of the candy cane, wreath and Christmas tree ornaments. The kits will contain all the materials you need and would be great for a small group to make just a few ornaments, perhaps for gifts for their family.
This kit that you can order from JoAnn would make 16 of the starflake bead ornaments at a cost of $.82 each.
Another kit, from Amazon. With this you could make 30 ornaments. I believe it is intended to make 30 Christmas tree ornaments, but says that you could make other ornaments as well. At 30 ornaments for $18.99, that is $.63 each.
Another kit from Amazon, that will make 60 ornaments for $14.99, so that is $.25 each.
It used to be that you could find tri beads, starflake beads, and faceted plastic beads at every craft store, but it is becoming more and more rare. I have recently seen red and white tri beads at Hobby Lobby, as well as a package of tri beads with clear, transparent green and transparent red. They also have some simple tri bead kits. You can get a kit to make 24 tri bead candy canes for $2.49 - but they have included some beading wire instead of chenille stems. You can also get a kit to make 12 tri-bead wreaths for $2.49.
Neither Michaels nor JoAnn carry tri beads or starflake beads in store (except that JoAnn has a large bag of assorted colors of tri beads).
So that leaves you with buying kits like the above, sometimes in a store and more often online, or purchasing beads online.
Amazon has small business sellers that sell all kinds of beads. For example, one called "The Crafts Outlet" has green or red transparent tri beads. You can get 1,000 beads for $12.99. They also have green starflake beads in various sizes, in a 100-pack for $7.99 for 10mm and 12mm, or $11.49 for 18mm. They don't have 25mm starflake beads.
Another couple of Amazon sellers, one called "The Beadery," and the other called "BeadTin," offer a larger variety of sizes, and for less money. For example, BeadTin offers 25mm emerald transparent starflake beads in an 80-pack for $3.90. They also have the same color in 18mm starflake beads, a pack of 135 for $2.69. Note that Michaels.com also carries the BeadTin line and the prices are similar.
So with some careful shopping on Amazon, you could acquire all the beads you needed to make a bunch of ornaments.
Now let's look at Bolek's Craft Supplies. This is your one-stop shop for all of the types of beads used in these crafts.
Tri Beads - available in 58 different colors
72 count - $0.80
480 count - $2.50
1,440 count - $5.20
Faceted beads 6mm
72 count - $0.80
480 count - $2.20
1,440 count - $4.20
Faceted beads 8mm
72 count - $0.80
480 count - $3.00
1,440 count - $6.55
Starflake Beads 12mm (they list them as Star Beads)
50 count - $0.80
500 count - $3.30
Starflake Beads 18mm
100 count - $1.70
500 count - $6.00
Starflake Beads 25mm
18 count - $0.90
144 count - $4.00
Regular pony beads (used for the Christmas tree)
75 count - $0.80
1000 count - $4.30
Gold glitter star pony beads (used for the Christmas tree)
144 count - $2.20
Bolek's also carries chenille stems in a bunch of colors, in a pack of 100 for $3.75. Hobby Lobby's price is slight cheaper than this - 140 stems for $2.99. Bolek's doesn't have any tinsel chenille stems, either.
Let's calculate how much it would take us to order the beads, etc. for the same number of Christmas tree ornaments as in the Amazon kit above.
We would need to order:
1 pkg. 72-count brown pony beads ($0.80)
1 pkg. 144-count gold glitter star pony beads ($2.20)
4 pkgs. 18-count 25mm starflake beads (total 72 beads) ($2.70)
1 pkg. 100-count 18mm starflake beads ($1.70)
1 pkg. 144-count 12mm starflake beads ($4.00)
1 pkg. red or green chenille stems (3.75)
For a total of $15.15, which is slightly cheaper than the kit on Amazon.
The catch is, that shipping is $12.50 from Bolek's, unless you order $130 or more. Realistically, it is worth it to get beads from Bolek's if you are ordering enough to make it worth the shipping.
Because we are making so many, I feel it has been worth it to purchase from Bolek's. We will be able to make 520 ornaments at a cost of about $0.25 each, including the shipping fees. But as you can see above, one of the kits from Amazon comes in at about $0.25 per ornament.
Happy Christmas crafting!
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