Beaded Holly Necklace
I wanted to make a cute Christmas inspired necklace with a holly motif. To get the look of holly, I used red fringe beads in a right angle weave strand and then added seed bead leaves. I used gold-colored seed beads to add to the holiday theme and brighten the piece further.
Materials:
- Size 11 Japanese seed beads, Transparent green
- Size 11 Japanese seed beads, Silver-lined gold
- Fringe beads, Red AB Frost
- Gold-plated filigree clasp
- Gold-plated clamshells, 2
- Small jump rings, 2
- Beading Thread, about 7 ft.
Step 1: Cut and thread a comfortable length of beading thread. String on a fringe bead followed by a red seed bead. Repeat 3 more times. Leaving a one inch tail, tie a square knot so that the beads form a loop.
Step 2: Pass the needle through a seed bead, fringe bead.
Step 3: Begin working right angle weave. String on 2 gold beads, a fringe bead and 2 more gold beads. Pass back through the first fringe bead, through 2 gold beads and the added fringe bead.
Step 4: String on red seed beads and fringe beads as shown below. Pass the needle through a red seed bead, a fringe bead, seed bead and another fringe bead. Make sure to keep the fringe beads upright.
Step 5: Continue steps 3- 4 until you have 24 repetitions.
Step 6: Pass the needle through a red seed bead, string on a fringe bead and pass the needle through the top left seed bead and following fringe bead (as shown).
Step 7: Form a holly leaf: String on 5 green beads and pass the needle back through the 4th bead.
Step 8: String on 4 green seed beads and pass the needle through the 3rd bead. Repeat 3 more times. String on 1 seed bead and pass through the first 2 seed beads.
Step 9: Weave through the beads and repeat steps 6-8 until you reach the end. Add the last fringe bead and tie a surgeon's knot with the remaining threads and trim.
Step 10: Cut a new length of thread to about 15 inches. Pass the thread through the left fringe bead so that there are equal lengths of thread on each site. String 100 gold seed beads on each side of the thread.
Step 11: Add a clamshell to both strands and a random seed bead to one strand. Tie a surgeon's knot, trim the treads and close the clamshell. Repeat to the other side.
Step 12: Add the clasp with jump rings.