Free Tip Friday: Snowflake Earrings with Kate & Drea

Hi Everybody!

Wasn't it great to have Drea on the broadcast today? We had so much fun creating these festive snowflakes!
Here are the materials we used:

• SuperDuos in the following three colors: Crystal Bronze Pale Gold, Pastel Emerald, Full Labrador
• 3mm Czech Firepolish Full Silver
• KO Thread Smoke Green
• Size 10 Seed Bead Needles
• Bees Wax
• GS Hypo Cement
• 24G Silver Wire
• Xuron Thread Scissors
• Round Nose Pliers
• Chain Nose Pliers
• Xuron Maxi Shear Flush Cutter

The steps are pretty easy! There are 3 rounds of beading...or four if you do the extra 3mm Fire Polish row.

Start by stringing six SuperDuos. We used the Crystal Bronze Pale Gold to begin...and we'll just refer to them as "gold" from here on out.

 String through the same beads in the same holes again, to "double up" for a secure base. Pull tight so the beads form a tiny six-pointed star, and tie two overhand knots. Add a dab of GS Hypo Cement, but don't cut the tail.

String up through the top hole of the closest SuperDuo, string on two new SuperDuos (we used Pastel Emerald, hereafter known as "teal"), then through the top hole of the next gold bead. Your teal beads should nestle in a neat little V shape right inside the V of the gold beads. Continue through, adding your pairs of teal SuperDuos, then circle through the circuit again for security.

Now come up and out the top hole of a teal SuperDuo so your needle exits into the center of the V.

Add a single SuperDuo (we used the silver Full Labrador) and go out through the next teal Superduo so the silver bead is nestled right inside. Circuit through those three beads again to secure, then carefully go down to the gold bead, go through the top hole, and back up to the next teal bead's top hole. Pick up a silver Superduo, through the next teal top-hole, circuit through to secure, and down through the next gold and back up through the next teal. Continue around until you have all six silver "spires" or points of your snowflake.

If you'd like to finish your snowflake as-is, weave your thread back down through the SuperDuos to meet with your original tail in the center. Tie together, add a dab of glue, and trim the ends.

If you'd like to keep embellishing, go for it! We added 3mm Full Silver fire polish, which adds a nice bit of sparkle. They fit nicely in between the tops of the teal V's. When you string through, be sure you string through all three holes of the snowflake's point, if you skip the silver bead's bottom hole the point won't sit right.

Again, end in the same way: weave down through your beadwork and tie the tails together, glue, trim.

These cute little components can be used in a variety of ways. We created earrings with ours, but you could also use as a pendant, string several together to make a chain, use as a garland, ornaments, and more! Tons of ideas were tossed around on the Live's comments and they were all fantastic!

We wire-wrapped to create earrings. Make a wire-wrapped loop, stringing your loop through the top of a silver SuperDuo. Add a 3mm Full Silver, and wire-wrap another loop to attach to your earwire. Tahdah!

Watch the entire broadcast below for the complete step-by-step with Kate & Drea.

 We are dying to see what you all create! Please share with us! Send us an email or share on our new Facebook Group, Beadshop.com Community: The Bead Table.