Draw inspiration from luminous beads this holiday season. Metal or glass, new or vintage, big or small -- they're all rich in possibilities. Thread beads onto slender wires and watch ornaments and decorations take shape: shimmering snowflakes, icicles, flowers, dragonflies, even a pair of metallic dancers doing a gleeful jig. Each piece will be richer in detail than the previous -- and will bring a little polish to all of your celebrations.

Wreath with Beaded Flowers and Buds
Golden beads become jewel-like decorations for a Christmas wreath. The beadwork flowers have wavy wire stems (they get their shape when the wire is wrapped around a spool). Picks attached to gold beads are planted throughout the boughs, and the wreath is finished with a two-tone ribbon. When making the flower stems, refer to our illustration, below, or for a larger version, click here.

See a larger image of the finished wreath.

1. Make the first petal: Cut a 12-inch length of 26-gauge wire. Slide a 2 mm bead onto the wire. Secure bead by looping and twisting wire as shown in illustration A. Slide a long petal-shaped bead onto the wire, below the first bead.

2. Make additional petals (see illustration B): Pull wire back against the long bead, creating a V shape. Slide a long petal-shaped bead onto the wire, followed by a 2 mm bead. Using chain-nose pliers and your hands, feed the wire back through the long bead and out the other end. Repeat the process until you have made five petals total.

3. After finishing the last petal, wrap excess wire around the base of the first petal; secure by continuing to wrap the wire over and under the bases of the other petals. Cut wire near base.

4. Make flower centers (see illustration C): Cut a 3-inch length of 30-gauge silver wire. Slide a 2 mm bead onto the wire, stopping at the wire's halfway point. Twist the wire at base of the bead to secure. Slide one flower-center bead over wire until it abuts the small bead. Secure with a dab of glue.

5. Insert wire into middle of flower petals. Wrap wire under base of petals, and trim excess. Repeat process to make more flowers. We used two sizes of flowers: one made with large beads and one with small.

6. Cut two 8-inch lengths of 20-gauge gold wire. Thread a 3 mm silver bead onto end of one. Fold edge with chain-nose pliers; add a dab of glue. Wrap beaded end of wire around a wire spool to curl it; gently loosen to create a curve. Repeat with remaining wire. Twist the wires together about 3 inches from straight end (see illustration D) to make a sprig. Using 30-gauge gold wire, attach a flower above twist. Make a bud: Follow step 4, cutting a 4-inch length of wire and using one bud-tip bead and one small gold oval. Attach bud to sprig. Repeat process to make more sprigs.

7. Fasten the sprigs to a wreath, bending wires around base to secure. Fill in wreath with single flowers and glass-bead picks.

Bow
Sew a wide metallic-gold ribbon to a slightly wider silver one, stitching down the sides.

Get more instructions on how to tie the perfect bow.

Sources
Wire for sprigs: 20-gauge nontarnish brass (NTB), $3.99 for 6 yards; wire for attaching: 30-gauge nontarnish brass (NTB), $3.99 for 30 yards; wire for flower centers and buds: 30-gauge tinned copper (TC), $2.99 for 30 yards; and wire for petals: 26-gauge tinned copper (TC), $2.99 for 15 yards; from Artistic Wire, 630-530-7567 or artisticwire.com. Small and large flower centers and petal tips: 2 mm silver balls, $2.50 per strand; small silver clusters (CCB114NK), $1 for 12; and large silver clusters (CC1133NK), $1.50 for 12; large petals: large gold twists (TS514G), $3.50 for 12; small petals: small gold twists (B508), $2 for 12; buds: small gold ovals (No. 058G), $1 for 15; bud tips and sprig ends: 3 mm silver balls, $2.80 per strand; and glue: 527 multipurpose cement, $3; from Toho Shoji, 212-868-7465 or tohoshoji-ny.com. 38 mm silver ribbon (No. 4569), $15.55 per yard, from Mokuba New York, 212-869-8900 or mokubany.com. 1 1/2-inch vintage gold ribbon, $24 per yard, from Tinsel Trading, 212-730-1030 or tinseltrading.com. 16 mm gold-ball picks (No. 386GD), $33.95 for 2 gross, from B&J Florist Supply, 212-564-6086.