Bead Merry and Bright…..Part 1

Gather round’ all ye crafty gift makers!  If you are looking for super cool, sparkly, and FAST presents to make for all your friends and family, then look no further.  Beaded snowflake ornaments are the answer.  I first ran into these snowflake wire forms a couple years ago in Germany.  I admit, they were in a stash of ornament stuff…un-made.  Then Cynthia reminded me about them on a recent blog post.  I dug mine out, but they were small.  I wanted the 6 inch-ers….and I wanted them NOW.  So, I gathered my wire, bought a soldering iron and went to work….with Botch, my husband.  First we straightened the wire.  Then I cut it into sections.  We plugged in the soldering iron and were working on the marble floor.  Bad.  Then the back side of a cast iron skillet.  Nope.  Then we decided we needed something wood.  I rustled around in my office a bit and determined my cork board was going to have to take one for the team.  You see, it was a bit of an ordeal.  Well, we made it through one and then POP!  There went the soldering iron.  *%&$#@! I gathered my wires and headed for the door—first stop: diet coke/caffeine—second stop: find someone who could weld. 

I first tried this shop I had seen on the way to the studio where they weld all kinds of bars and window coverings.  In my crummy Ch!nese and a lotta pointing, I explain what I want.  He said he couldn’t use my wire, but he had some of his own.  OK.  I turn around to check out this junk/salvage store and as I look back, sure enough the man welded it.  He’s standing there looking at me arms up with one side of the snowflake in his left hand and the other in his right. Both of us start laughing.  Neeexxt.  As I was perusing the salvage man’s shop I saw a soldering iron on the ground.  As it turns out he could do it, but he was busy helping a guy repair his motor.  So I sit on a spool of wire, drinking said diet coke and wait. Bob (because I don’t know his name) fired up the soldering iron and away we went! I laid the wires out and Bob multi-tasked fixing the motor then soldering wires.  Repeat.  Every time I looked up another dude had lined up to watch.  By the end there were five guys standing there watching us put wires together!  That’s an indicator how exciting it is over here.

The moral to the story is, you don’t have to go to all that trouble!  Simply click on over to Ornamentea. They have three different sizes of snowflake wires right on the main page–can’t miss em’!  While you’re waiting for your order to arrive, you can stock up on beads.  Inexpensive glass beads with AB coating work great.  And don’t forget to check the thrift stores for necklaces to cut up and reuse.  For those you need to impress, don’t mess around, use Swarovski crystals. 

Go traditional with blue, white, and clear….or how about psychedelic snowflakes with pink, orange, chartreuse and purple!  You really can’t go wrong here and they are so fun to make!