https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/beaded-star • Posted by Christine L.
I'm a little unsure with the time - I kept being interrupted, and I fell asleep halfway through and finished this in the morning...so I put down three hours, but for you it might be different. I've seen a few different tutorials on stars, but they all sort of ended up being the same...don't use wire, leave an open hole in the center, follow these complicated looking looping steps with your beads...so instead of using one of those, I decided to make my own star. This is a 2 part tutorial, with the second part being optional. I showed this for a small 5 point star, but you can do this for any size or any number of points you want. I look forward to seeing your versions!
I'm a little unsure with the time - I kept being interrupted, and I fell asleep halfway through and finished this in the morning...so I put down three hours, but for you it might be different. I've seen a few different tutorials on stars, but they all sort of ended up being the same...don't use wire, leave an open hole in the center, follow these complicated looking looping steps with your beads...so instead of using one of those, I decided to make my own star. This is a 2 part tutorial, with the second part being optional. I showed this for a small 5 point star, but you can do this for any size or any number of points you want. I look forward to seeing your versions!
Start out by making 5 separate triangles, each consisting of 5 rows. I used the beading techniques from this tutorial: http://www.instructables.com/id/Beaded-Dragons/ VERY IMPORTANT: Do not cut these wires! You will definitely need them. Also make sure one of the triangles has a super long wire.
Now is when you need to put all the triangles together. Take one side of your super long wire and string the rest of your triangles on it, like so. You still don't want to cut any of those wires. I know - they're annoying. But I cut one, and ended up having to take it apart and start over again. I don't that to happen to you!
Now is when you actually get to make the star shape! Take the end of your wire, and string it through the original triangle it came from. If you did it correctly, you should now have something that looks like this.
You can finally start cutting off some wires! Pick the orientation of your star, and make sure to leave the top left and bottom right corner wires in place. As for the rest of the wires, you'll notice everything comes in a set of two. Tie these wires together - I just used a simple knot - and cut them as soon as they've been tied. DO NOT tie the wires you are leaving on your star.
From here on, the tutorial is OPTIONAL. If you are making a center for your star, skip this step and continue. If you are not, follow these instructions. PLEASE NOTE, once you follow these steps adding a center to your star (at least the same way I did) will be impossible. You should have a total of four wires hanging off your star now. You may feel free to tie them and clip them, and you can consider this project done. If you're making this an ornament, you may wish to leave two of the wires on, or cut them off and string a wire through the top bead of your star. I don't have pictures of this, but feel free to ask me if you have any questions. Feel free to look through the rest of the steps!
I'm assuming if you're here, you want your star to have a center - which is good, because in this step we make it. Depending on if your star is the same size as mine or not, you might need a different center. My center is 5 rows, each consisting of 6 beads. It's not a perfect fit, so the perfectionist may wish to do something a little different. Anyway, this part should be pretty easy for any beader. I started at what would be the top of my star, and worked my way down. You can do it in the opposite direction, if you like. Feel free to use different colors, too. Don't cut the wire from this - mine is a bit longer than it needs to be, but you don't want it too short either.
This is just a picture to show the approximate size of the star vs the center. You caught me - I actually clipped my wires later than I showed. I was a little unsure of how to attach the center, so I couldn't figure out if I needed them or not.
Anyway, now you should have both your star and your center! If your center isn't an exact fit, I recommend placing it on the back of your star. Once you're done with this project, no one will know the difference anyway. The next steps have no pictures, but hopefully you'll be able to follow along. If not, you may be able to find your own method of attaching the center to your star!
Take the longest wire of each pair. String one through the top row of beads, and one through the bottom row of beads. You might have to fight with the wires a bit to get everything perfectly centered.
Now, you'll want to match up pairs of wires again. The two original wires coming from the center of the beads should be paired up, but don't do anything with them yet. Instead, take a wire coming from the star design with one coming from the center, and tie them together before cutting them. Repeat this on the other side.
Your last two wires should be pointing towards the bottom of your star. If not, don't worry. You can use the same instructions. Take each wire separately , and tuck it under the wire between 2 of the flags. I used the bottom left and bottom right spaces of the star for this. Before the wire is completely through, loop it back through itself to tie a knot. This doesn't make much sense when I read over it, but you should be able to see it. Once the knot is tied, feel free to cut the wire. When all your wires are cut, you can consider this project complete! If you want to use the star as an ornament, you can use one of your discarded wires through the top bead to hang it off of something.
Here's the final product! I modeled mine after a Dark Nova on Neopets, but you can do anything you like with yours. Happy beading!