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Handicraft Instructions Wooden Bead Garland
Colourful Decoration: a Rainbow Garland Made of Wooden and Crochet Beads
When being at home, we want to feel good and relax. That's why many of us want to have a beautifully decorated home. Instead of white walls, pictures, photos or posters decorate our walls. But how about hanging up a garland?
Our colourful assortment of handicraft materials offers you the opportunity to use wooden as well as crochet beads to make your very own garland. Of course, these crafting instructions can be individualised: Our proposal of a self-made rainbow garland is quite elaborate and colourful. You could make a simpler version, for example with wooden beads, crochet beads, textile stars or textile hearts. Please keep in mind that the longer the garland is and the more garland elements you use, the heavier the garland becomes.
Making a bead garland is quite a big project. In any case, take at least one afternoon for creating your garland. Would you like to try out simpler handicraft tutorials? Then enjoy browsing through our other handicraft instructions for home accessories. We wish you lots of fun!
Interesting questions and answers about the wooden bead garland in advance
If you make a garland from wooden beads, you can not only easily individualise and personalise it – it is also particularly durable.
This means you can regularly reuse the DIY wooden bead garland for special occasions or admire it for a long time as a permanent decoration. When you've had your fill, you can easily re-combine the craft materials to create a new garland.
You have a great idea for a homemade garland made of wooden beads, but you are still missing the right festive occasion for this special decoration piece? Then take a look at the following events for inspiration:
The handicraft material you need for making a wooden bead rainbow garland:
The small tools you need:
needle and thread
large needle
scissors
lighter
tweezersHandicraft Material for Wooden Bead Rainbow Garlands:
Step 1: Sketching and Experimenting With Beads and Half Rings
Making a garland of wooden beads is a big project. To make sure that your individual, home-made garland comes out just the way you want it to be, we recommend sketching your desired design first.
Then you can arrange the required beads and half rings for your garland design. It is sufficient visualising only one part of the sketch by arranging the materials. That's because usually the garland's elements are repeated (mirror-inverted) to create a harmonious garland.
A tip for planning your design: We recommend using safety beads for all bead strands' ends. A safety bead has a hole that's larger on one side in order to hide a knot inside of it.
Step 2: Stringing the Horizontal Bead Strand
Let's string the horizontal bead strand first: To do this, place two satin cord pieces on top of each other. Important: They must be long enough for making two additional middle strands for two half rings as well as long enough for two loops for hanging the garland.
Melt the cord ends with a lighter. Doing this prevents fraying and makes stringing the beads easier.
Now string the horizontal bead strand, bead by bead. Slide the beads to both satin cord pieces' middle.
Step 3: Making the Loops for Hanging the Garland
Now make a loop at each end of the bead strand. Make a knot by folding a loop with both satin cord pieces and then pass the loop around itself. Take care tying the second of both knots as close as possible to the last bead. Pull the knots as tight as possible.
Step 4: Adding the Loops' Safety Beads
To hide the loops' knots, we are using two safety beads. String one safety bead on each loop so that its larger opening is pointing towards the knot. When stringing, it can help pushing the loops carefully through the bead hole with a sewing needle.
Now pull on a loop with one hand and press with the other hand against the safety bead until it successfully slides over the knot.
Step 5: Preparing the Crochet Beads' Stringing
Now we want to string the half ring's middle bead strand. In our example it contains crochet beads as well.
To make stringing them easier, stretching their holes with a large needle is a good idea. We have used a sack needle. But it also works with another large needle, for example a carpet needle.
Our crochet beads are filled with cotton wool. That is why stringing them can sometimes be a little difficult, despite the prepared hole.
Step 6: Stringing the Crochet Beads
First, string the beads that are meant to be in front of, so above, the half ring. The wooden beads can be easily slid on the cord ends which have already been slightly melted. However, for stringing the crochet beads we need a little trick.
Thread a piece of sewing thread through a sewing needle. Pierce both cord ends with the needle and tie a double knot in the thread. Now you can easily string on the crochet beads.
Step 7: Stringing the Middle Strand
As explained before, you can now string the middle bead strand of your garland's first garland element including the half ring. Please do not string the final safety bead yet.
Step 8: Making the Knot That Stabilises the Safety Bead
To make sure that the safety bead is really tight and the bead strand is nice and tight as well, let's do the following: Make a knot. You will see that a simple knot sinks into the crochet bead's soft material. Therefore, make more knots until this multiple knot is clearly visible on the crochet bead. Then it will be able to give the safety bead a firm hold.
Step 9: Finishing the Bead Strand
Now pull with some force the safety bead with its smaller opening over the prepared knot.
Make more knots into the larger opening. As the satin cord is narrower than our PP-polyester cord, several knots are necessary instead of the normally used, usual double knot. Simply try how many knots are required to fill the safety bead's larger hole. According to experience it is around 6 knots.
Then carefully shorten the cord ends with scissors. Weld the multiple knots with the flame of a lighter. Finally push the knot into the safety bead's opening. Using tweezers can be helpful.
Step 10: Adding the Side Strand's Upper Safety Bead
For the first side strand, double another piece of satin cord. String a safety bead so that its larger opening faces the loop. Make a tight double knot in the end of the loop by passing it twice around itself.
Pull the knot into the safety bead. If necessary, you can fuse the knot with a lighter and use tweezers to press the knot neatly into the hole.
Step 11: Passing the Cord Through the Half Ring's Side Hole
Now pass both cord ends through the half ring's side hole. Since satin cord is narrow and flexible, this usually works by simply pushing it through.
If necessary, you can also use the blunt tip of a sewing needle to push from above and pull out the cord ends from below with tweezers.
Step 12: Adding the Half Ring's Remaining Beads
Now add all the beads of the started bead strand as well as a second side strand. Voilà! Your garland's first element is finished!
Step 13: Adding Pieces of Cord for the Remaining Garland Elements
For making the garland elements at the garland's ends, we can use the excess string hanging down from the loops.
If your horizontal beads strand has an even number of beads, the following applies: For all other garland elements, simply knot an additional piece of satin cord at the desired position for the respective middle bead strand. Then you can complete each garland element as usual.
If your horizontal bead strand has an odd number of wooden beads, as in our example, you can add the garland elements as described above, but leave out the central one.
Step 14: Adding the Central Garland Element
Proceed here if your garland has a horizontal strand that has an odd number of wooden beads: you have now added all elements as described above, except for the central garland element.
To make sure that the central element hangs in the horizontal bead strand's exact middle, we now use not one but two pieces of satin cord. Knot both of them together from the most central wooden bead's left and right side.
Stringing the crochet beads is easiest if you use needle and thread for both cord ends, just as described before.
Step 15: Finishing the Garland
Complete the last garland element just as the other ones.
You're done! We hope you and all people will enjoy seeing this DIY wooden bead garland when entering the room that's decorated with this beautiful home decoration piece!
Important Notes for Using Wooden Bead Garlands
Please observe the following notes regarding the use of your self-made wooden bead garland:
Advantages of Using a Wooden Bead Garland
A hand-made wooden bead garland is a unique wall decoration piece. Use these handicraft instructions making your very own individual garland for different rooms or occasions:
The choice is yours. Make your very own individual garland.
