I love making ornaments. Some of my fondest childhood memories are from Decembers spent inventing hideous ornaments to put on the tree. They usually involved lots of glitter, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners. Now my homemade ornaments are a bit more dignified (although my Christmas cookies aren’t). I whipped up this little snowflake from wooden beads and copper wire. I think it would look great on any tree—rustic, traditional, or modern. Although googly eyes might take it to the next level…
you’ll need:
wooden beads in assorted sizes
16 gauge copper wire
round nose pliers (the kind you use to make jewelry)
needle nose pliers (or something else to cut the wire)
1. Uncoil the length of wire and use round nose pliers to bend one end into a small loop.
2. Thread an assortment of beads onto the wire. The more beads you add the larger your snowflake will be.
3. Use the round nose pliers to bend the wire sharply at the end of the last bead.
4. Fold the wire back on itself making sure the length is the same as the section of wire you already beaded. Pinch the loop at the top with pliers to make it as narrow as possible.
5. Thread beads onto the doubled-up wire. Use round nose pliers to open the loop at the top, which will keep the beads from sliding off.
6. Repeat steps 3–5 to create the other arms of the snowflake. Six arms looked perfect to me, but you can make more or less.
7. Use needle nosed pliers (or your desired cutting device) to snip off the excess wire leaving about an 1.5″ long tail. Tuck the tail up into the bead holes of the first snowflake arm you made (the one that has a single length of wire inside).
8. If necessary bend your snowflake arms into their proper positions. Fashion a hook from a scrap of leftover wire, and your wooden snowflake is ready to hang.
