Christmas Bells
These can be made in a range of colours and are great way of using up small numbers of beads left over from bigger projects.
Materials:
38 Size 6 glass pearls (pearl)
300 approximately Size 11 seed beads (No 11), 60 of which can be a different colour (contrasting or complementary) and should have large holes (LH).
10 approximately bugle seed beads
2m of beading thread such as Wildfire.
Step 1: Pick up 12 pearls and tie into a circle with a square knot leaving a short tail. Take the thread through at least three more beads and pull tight. The tail can be left to be sewn in at the end or I prefer to sew it back through the circle, secure with a further knot, go back another couple of pearls and cut off. This avoids it getting caught up in later steps.
Step 2: If you are right-handed work your circles anti-clockwise, or clockwise if you are left-handed. Pick up five No 11s, miss a pearl go through the next pearl. Repeat five times until you have completed the circle.
Step 3: Pick up five No 11s, miss a pearl and go through the next pearl. Repeat until you have completed the circle. These beads should sit above beads in the previous row.
Step 4: Pick up three No 11s, one LH and three No. 11s, miss a pearl and go through the next pearl. Repeat until you have completed the circle. These beads should sit above the previous two rows. Step up so the needle is coming out of a LH.
Step 5: Pick up a pearl and go through the next LH. Repeat until you have added six pearls and completed the circle. Pull thread tight to draw the circle together.
Step 6: Pick up three No 11s, one LH and three No 11s and go through the next LH, repeating until you have completed the circle. Step up so the needle is coming out of a LH.
Repeat steps 5 and 6 four times ending with the thread coming out of a LH.
Step 7: Pick up three No 11s and go through the next LH. Repeat until you have completed the circle, then go through the first three No 11s and the next LH again. Pull gently to draw into a small circle. If it feels necessary, you can knot the thread to ensure it remains taut.
Step 8: Pick up three No 11s, one LH and three more No 11s. Go through the LH directly opposite in the circle in an anti-clockwise direction. Continue through the next three No 11s and the LH. Pick up three No 11s and go through the central LH left to right, then pick up three more and go through the LH opposite right to left. Continue through the next three No 11s and LH. Pick up three No 11s, go through the central LH, pick up three more No. 11s and go through the final LH opposite, which will be the final one in the circle. Go back through the three No 11s last added and the central LH.
Step 9: Pick up a pearl, then a No 11 and a bugle bead alternatively until you have sufficient to make a loop (about seven bugle beads depending on their length) finishing with a No. 11. Go back through the pearl and then through the central LH in the opposite direction to the direction the thread last came out. Pull taut.
Step 10: Drop the needle between the arms and down the centre of the bell. Pick up (a seed bead and a bugle (say three times) then a pearl and a seed bead. Feed the thread back through the pearl, seed beads and bugle and then back through the central LH in the opposite direction. The central LH acts as an anchor. Loosen the seed bead at the end and gently ease the thread through so that it becomes taut.
Finish off by threading back through the beadwork and when you feel it is secure, cut the thread.
Tips
The holes of seed beads can vary a lot, so it is useful to select a large-hole bead where the thread has to pass through the bead more than once. Takumi seed beads from Toho have larger holes than the normal No. 11s and are available from www.robins-beads.co.uk . Using a different colour or type of seed bead for the centre bead in the netting pattern, makes it easier to pick up the correct centre bead. For the central bead at the top of bell, which acts as an anchor with the thread passing through multiple times, it would be a good idea to use a No 8 if the No 11s you are using don’t have particularly large holes.