Beaded Icicle Ornaments

All you need for these pretty and simple ornaments, is beading wire (or other thin flexible wire) and sparkly beads.  We used 28 gauge beading wire which is thin and very bendy. If you want a sturdier ornament you could use a lower gauge wire.  We used inexpensive plastic beads from the craft store this time, but I have also made them with faceted glass beads.

 I start with roughly 24" of wire length, though we like to vary the sizes.  In order to secure the beads, the first bead is slid to the middle of the length of wire and the wire is doubled over.All of the other beads are threaded on both strands of the doubled wire.

 After the beads are strung to the desired length, the ends are looped back and threaded through the last couple of beads to secure them and to make a loop for hanging the ornament.

 (All close-up hand photos were taken by Sylvia :)

 The wire can be wrapped around a finger or a pencil to create a spiral, and then stretched to lengthen it for a traditional icicle ornament, or they can, of course, be free-form shaped, or made into a letter of the alphabet, or a bracelet, or...

 We strung the icicles on green wool yarn because it was handy, but you could slip on an ornament hook or use a pretty thin ribbon to hang your ornaments.  They look equally pretty hanging in the window or on a lit-up Christmas tree reflecting the colorful lights.

We had fun sharing this craft with our homeschool group after practicing Christmas carols yesterday.  

This post is shared at Natural Suburbia's Creative Friday, and The Magic Onion's Friday's Nature Table, and Ordinary Life Magic's Saturday's Artist: Holiday Edition.  The links at all of these spaces are often crafty, fun, and inspiring.