Creative glass-beaded vase

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Delicate twisted wire and flower-shaped metallized beads are all that are needed to decorate this pretty colored vase. To make a matching set, try to arrange the beads exactly the same distance apart on each wire and wind the wire in the same direction. Use a glue that is suitable for sticking beads to glass.

You will need:
• 5 feet of 24-gauge silver-plated wire
• colored vase, approximately 8 inches tall
• ruler
• safety glasses
• wire cutters
• masking tape
• vise
• cup hook
• hand drill
• silver flower beads, 5/16 in., approximately 20
• silver crimps, approximately 40
• flat-nosed pliers
• glue

Click here to see instructions with images.

1 Wrap the end of a reel of 24-gauge silver-plated wire around a glass vase and make a note of its length. Wearing safety glasses, cut the wire approximately two and a half times this length.

2 Fold the wire in half and tape the ends together with masking tape. Secure the taped ends in a vise. Fit a cup hook to a hand drill. Slip the folded loop over the cup hook and walk back until the wire is fairly taut. Wearing safety glasses, turn the drill to twist the wire. Reverse the drill for several turns to take the tension out of the wire.

3 Carefully unhook the loop from the cup hook and cut the masking tape from the other end of the wire. Thread a silver flower bead onto the twisted wire from the cut end, followed by two crimps and another flower bead. Thread on approximately twenty flower beads with two crimps between each.

4 Bend the wire at the cut end over the first bead and cut off the excess. Use flat-nosed pliers to squeeze the first crimp to hold the bead in position. Move 3/4 inch along the wire and squeeze the next crimp. Push the second bead into position and squeeze the crimp on the other side of the bead.

5 Continue squeezing crimps until all the beads are held in place, 3/4 inch apart. Bend the wire over the last bead and trim the excess.

6 Wrap the beaded wire around the vase and hold it in place with masking tape at either end, just on the inside of the end bead. Lift up the end beads and fix in place with strong glue. Leave the tape in place until the glue dries.

Safety
Remember to always wear safety glasses when twisting wire, since wire has a tendency to snap if the tension is too high.

[For more detailed instructions on working with wire and beads, see pp. 12 -13 (Wirework) and pp. 14 - 15 (Beadwork).]

Photgraphy by John Freeman.

Excerpted from Creative Glass by Dorthy Wood. Copyright 2002 by Dorthy Wood. Excerpted, with permission by Raincoast Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.