Tutorial for a French Beaded Iris

 

This is the prototype of my Iris.

And here is a tutorial on how I made it.

It is made in the French style of beaded flowers and I have tried to explain my method in step by step pictures. The basics are the same as making any French beaded flower with just a few differences that I devised to get around some of the steps that didn't appeal to me.

 

 

Here are some of the things you will need to make this iris.

Size 11 seed beads. Approx., 38 grams in each of the following colours. Dark blue, light blue, green, yellow, and just a small amount of orange.

A bead threader. From my point of view this is a must as you will be threading yards of beads onto the wire.

Spools of coloured wire to match up with the colours as listed above. You will need one of each colour in 26 gauge and one each in 28 gauge. Use gold for the yellow ('pistils,' I'm no gardener, the yellow part of the flower). I found that these coloured wires are a lot softer to use than the the plain silver or gold so are easy on the hands.

Basic tools needed, are really only the basic beading tools, a wire cutter, and a pointed end pliers. you will also need some fencing wire for the stems. This is a picture of the wire I used. It will have to be cut into 30cm, (12') lengths. Three of these lengths bound together will form the stems of the iris.

If you can't find this sort of wire, then use either florist wire bound together. French beaded flowers are fairly heavy and irises need a nice straight stem so use your own judgement.