Beadwork is loved by many masters of our country. It is interesting to see 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, voluminous flowers and vases for them. Beaded bags and clothes, shoes and various accessories. 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 intricacies 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.
Necessary materials
To create a birch from beads, the first thing you need to decide on the size of the future product and the color of the leaves. If the tree is with green foliage, then pick up the details of different shades of green - from light to emerald. A variety of colors will add brightness and brilliance to the foliage. Autumn tree requires other colors - from light yellow to orange.
Stringing beads is necessary on a wire of different thicknesses. The thinnest - 0.2-0.25 mm - is used to create foliage. The average thickness of the wire - 0.8-1 mm - is needed to combine the workpieces into large branches. It is advisable to use copper wire. The thickest should have a diameter of 5 mm, an aluminum variant is suitable. It is strengthened by a birch trunk made of beads.
To fasten the branches together, you 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 gypsum or alabaster powder, white and black acrylic paints, PVA glue and acrylic varnish, wide and narrow brushes.
The birch from the beads should be in an upright position, so think about a low capacity where it can be installed. Making the “ground” near the roots will also require materials. The base of the tree can be sprinkled with green or brown beads, made of “grass” from felt or laid out in small pebbles. This is already done at the request of the master.
Beginning of work
Bead weaving begins 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 colors. We move them tightly together and twist several turns of wire into a loop. The next is done after 1.5 cm from the previous one.
The length of the legs of each leaflet 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 at a distance of 5-7 cm, leaving the same length as at the beginning of the workpiece.
Find the center sheet and carefully twist the wire to the left and right together. Connect the two parts of the branch next to each other and continue to wind up to the bottom. The result was a thin branch with many leaves. For birch from beads such branches will need from 100 to 150 pieces, depending on the size of the tree.
Treetop
On a tree in nature, twigs have different sizes. The lower branches are usually larger and thicker. The upper ones are slightly thinner and shorter. The top should be small. Therefore, for birch from beads with our own hands, we will collect together only 3 blanks with leaflets.
The first of them is connected to a 15-cm-long piece of wire with strong threads, winding them in tight turns along the entire length. Then, sticky paper tape is wound over the threads. Having retreated 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 remaining details.
Large branches
In a step-by-step photo of birch beads, it is seen that they are different branches. They are interconnected in the manner described above, but they are arranged in different ways.
First, they connect the workpieces with loops at different levels, then they attach another branch to the base, the next one drops a few centimeters down. To attach the prepared branches to the trunk, at each end you need to leave a distance of 4-5 cm at the end, and for the lower branches - even more - 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 flat, branched or curved. All branches join from top to bottom, starting from the harvested top.
Fastening is done first with threads, then everything is wrapped with paper-based florenta. Slowly descending to the lower branches, the trunk thickens. When the tree is fully formed and has a tight, tight trunk, you need to make a cross to install it in a vertical position.
How to strengthen a birch
You can clearly see how the cross for a birch from beads looks in the photo. It performs the function of the roots of a tree.
To do this, take the thickest aluminum wire, bend its lower edges with loops or just at a right angle and wind it first with kapron threads, and over the winder with several layers of mounting tape. They are placed 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 a birch will be the design of the base of the craft.
Birch base
The trunk can be strengthened both in a high 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 solution to a state of thick sour cream. Prepare the fill mold separately. You can take a low round tin can of sweets or cookies. At the bottom, a layer of polyethylene is laid out first, and then a birch is placed. The wire cross must be centered in the container.
When the solution is kneaded, pour the tree to a smooth surface of the trunk so that the wire is not visible. This is best done at night so that the gypsum mixture dries well. Alabaster powder may also be used. So that the base does not dry out and does not crack, drying should take place gradually, it is better not to put the craft in a warm place.
Trunk decoration
Further work is underway on the design of the tree trunk. In a bowl stir a couple of spoons of gypsum with PVA glue. The mixture should be neither liquid nor thick, without lumps. A wide brush is applied to the solution on all branches and trunk from top to bottom. To prevent the beads on the branches of birch from getting dirty during the work, it is recommended to carefully wrap each piece 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 solution dries, using a thin stick or stacks make longitudinal strips on the bark of the tree, placing them in free order.
Coloring branches and trunk
For external coating use acrylic paints. For coloring birch need white and black paint. The first layer is white. Before painting, be sure to wipe the brush on the edge of the can so that excess glass paint. There should be no drips!
You can cover the surface of all branches and trunk two times. Between the coatings, let the paint dry for a couple of hours. Since acrylic paint does not have an unpleasant odor, decoration can also be carried out at home, laying a plastic film or old newspapers on the table surface. Wear rubber disposable gloves on your hands so as not to get dirty.
When the white layer is dry, 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 twigs dark. Act carefully so that the paint does not leak, otherwise the whole appearance will deteriorate.
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 has dried, the foil is carefully removed from the leaves. It remains only to beautifully straighten all the details of the craft - thin branches with eyelets. The leaves are given a beautiful, uniform shape. Our birch is ready! Dressing of the base occurs at will, the main thing is that the gypsum mixture is not visible. The easiest option is to smear the hardened solution with PVA glue and lay out green sisal threads.
The article describes in detail how to make a birch from beads for beginners. Photos in the article will help to make work faster and easier.