How to make a birch from beads with your own hands

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:47

Beading is loved by many craftsmen of our country. It is interesting to watch how a beautiful decoration is born from tiny details. Many crafts have already been invented from beads. These are earrings and bracelets, beads and small toys, three-dimensional flowers and vases for them. They decorate bags and clothes, shoes and various accessories with beads. One of the spectacular crafts for decorating a room is a small tree.

In the article, we will consider how to make a birch from beads with step-by-step explanations of the work. The reader will learn all the subtleties of the assembly, how to make the trunk white, what materials are used in the work, how to firmly strengthen the tree in an upright position.

Required Materials

To create a beaded birch, the first thing to do is to decide on the size of the future product and the color of the leaves. If the tree has green foliage, then pick up the details of different shades of green - from light to emerald. A variety of colors will give the foliage brightness and brilliance. Autumn tree requires other colors - from light yellow to orange.

It is necessary to string the beads on a wire of different thicknesses. The thinnest0.2-0.25 mm - used to create foliage. A wire of average thickness - 0.8-1 mm - is needed to combine blanks into large branches. It is advisable to use copper wire. The thickest should have a diameter of 5 mm, an aluminum option is suitable. She strengthens the birch trunk from beads.

To fasten the branches together, you will need strong nylon threads, you can use "iris". And to create a trunk and large branches, you need to have a floral or masking tape. Also buy some plaster or alabaster powder, white and black acrylic paints, PVA glue and acrylic varnish, wide and narrow brushes.

Beaded birch should be in a vertical position, so consider a low capacity where it can be installed. Making the "land" near the roots will also require materials. The base of the tree can be sprinkled with green or brown beads, make “grass” out of felt, or lay out with small pebbles. This is already done at the request of the master.

Getting Started

Beaded birch starts with small twigs with foliage. We take the thinnest wire. We retreat 5-7 cm from the edge and string 9-15 beads of different shades. We shift them tightly together and twist a few turns of wire into a loop. The next one is done 1.5 cm from the previous one.

The length of the stem of each leaf should be the same. So they collect a long row of an odd number, for example, 13 or 15 leaves. Then the edge of the wire is cut off at a distance of 5-7 cm, leave the samelength, as at the beginning of the workpiece.

Find the center sheet and carefully twist the left and right wires together. Connect the two parts of the branch side by side and continue winding to the very bottom. It turned out a thin branch with many leaves. For a beaded birch, such branches will need from 100 to 150 pieces, depending on the size of the tree.

Top of the tree

On a tree in nature, branches have different sizes. The lower branches are usually larger and thicker. The upper ones are a little thinner and shorter. The top should be small. Therefore, for a beaded birch with our own hands, we will put together only 3 blanks with leaf loops.

The first of them is connected to a piece of wire 15 cm long with strong threads, winding them in tight turns along the entire length. Then sticky paper tape is wound over the threads. Stepping back a few centimeters down, another 2 or 3 blanks with foliage are strengthened in a similar way. It turns out a thin top with branches falling down. Further work continues on the rest of the details.

Large branches

On a step-by-step photo of a beaded birch, you can see what different branches are. Connect them together as described above, but arrange them differently.

First, the blanks with eyelets are connected to each other at different levels, then another branch is attached to them at the base, the next one goes down a few centimeters. Forattaching the harvested branches to the trunk, you need to leave a free distance of 4-5 cm at each end, and even more for the lower branches - up to 5.5 cm.

Tree trunk decoration

To create a strong and thick trunk, use a wooden stick, a tree branch, a pencil, aluminum wire rolled up in several layers or a tube. It can be straight, branched or curved. All branches are connected from top to bottom, starting from the harvested top.

Fastening is done first with threads, then everything is wrapped with paper-based floral tape. Gradually descending to the lower branches, the trunk thickens. When the tree is fully formed and has a dense, tight trunk, a crosspiece must be made to set it in a vertical position.

How to strengthen a birch

You can clearly see how a beaded birch cross looks like in the photo. It functions as the roots of the tree.

To do this, take the thickest aluminum wire, bend its lower edges with loops or just at a right angle and wind it to the barrel first with nylon threads, and over the winding - with several layers of mounting tape. They are arranged in all four directions like a cross for a Christmas tree. Thus, the tree is already standing exactly on the surface of the table. The next step in working on the birch will be the design of the base of the craft.

Birch base

The trunk can be fixed both in a tall topiary type flower pot and on a flat base. To do this, take gypsum powder and dilute it with water, adding it gradually, in small portions. Stirring all the time, bring the gypsum mortar to a state of thick sour cream. Prepare the mold for pouring separately. You can take a low round tin can from sweets or cookies. At the bottom, a layer of polyethylene is first laid out, and then a birch is placed. The wire cross should be in the center of the container.

When the solution is kneaded, pour the tree to the smooth surface of the trunk so that the wire is not visible. It is best to do this at night so that the gypsum mixture dries well. You can also use alabaster powder. So that the base does not dry out and crack, drying should take place gradually, it is better not to put crafts in a warm place.

Stand design

Further work is on the design of the tree trunk. In a bowl, stir a couple of tablespoons of gypsum with PVA glue. The mixture should not be liquid or thick, without lumps. With a wide brush, the solution is applied to all the branches and the trunk from top to bottom. So that the beads on the birch branches do not get dirty during work, it is recommended to carefully wrap each detail with pieces of foil.

Do not forget that all thin branches are flexible, and with the slightest movement, the gypsum can crack and crumble, so they are covered with a thin layer of gypsum mixture, and an immovable thick trunk can be covered several times.

When the mortar dries, use a thin stick or stack to make longitudinal strips on the bark of the tree, placing them in a free order.

Coloring of branches and trunk

Acrylic paints are used for the outer coating. To paint a birch, you will need white and black paint. The first layer is done in white. Be sure to wipe the brush on the edge of the can before painting so that excess paint is glass. No drips!

You can cover the surface of all branches and the trunk twice. Allow the paint to dry for a couple of hours between coats. Since acrylic paint does not have an unpleasant odor, decoration can also be done at home by spreading plastic wrap or old newspapers on the table surface. Put on rubber disposable gloves on your hands to avoid getting dirty.

When the white layer dries, take a small and necessarily dry brush and, dipping its very edge in a jar of black paint, make spots on the birch bark, like on a real tree. Make the edges of the branches dark too. Be careful not to run the paint, otherwise the whole look will be ruined.

When everything is dry, you need to additionally open the entire bark of the tree with acrylic varnish. The trunk and branches from it will become smooth and shiny. Such a coating will also perform a protective function, the tree will retain its original appearance for a long time.

When everything is dry, carefully remove the foil from the leaves. It remains only to beautifully straighten all the details of the craft - thin twigs with eyelets. The leaves are given a beautiful uniform shape. Our birch is ready! The decoration of the base occurs at will, the main thing is that the gypsum mixture is not visible. The easiest option is to spread the frozen solution with PVA glue and lay it outgreen sisal threads.

The article details how to make a beaded birch tree for beginners. The photos in the article will help make the job faster and easier.