Earlier this week, a reader asked me how to make super-simple beaded leaves. Although there are lots of ways to stitch up beadwoven leaves, few of them are in the category of super-simple.
But, if you're willing to expand your creativity to wire -- rather than thread -- you can achieve some pretty quick and simple designs.
The precise technique you use for your wired leaves depends on the style of leaf you're looking for. The most common styles used for beaded flowers and foliage (a specialty area of beadwork in itself) are referred to as French and Victorian.
French wire leaves typically have long central wires, along which curved wires of strung beads are layered.
Victorian leaves use a form of single-needle or two-needle ladder stitch . . . sans the needles. You make them by stacking row after row of beads on top of one another, varying the numbers of beads along the way. To make this week's holly leaves, I used relatively narrow rows that taper at the ends.
Are you interested in more bead and wire leaf or flower tutorials? Let me know in a comment!
In the meantime, here are some great research resources on the Net:
The History of Beaded Flowers
Beaded Flower Encyclopedia
If you're feeling a little behind with holiday gift acquisition this year, you're not alone! I'm amazed at how the winter 
months seem to speed by faster and faster each year, leaving less and less time to get things together -- or so it seems.
As you scramble with last minute preparations, don't forget that books make great, affordable gifts -- and better yet, you can use them strategically to encourage friends and family to get involved in beading.
Need help deciding which book to buy? Check out these reviews and overviews by current and former About.com Guides:
Which craft books are you gifting this season?
Which would you most like to receive?
Registration is now open for the slew of jewelry making and beading classes scheduled for the 2012 Bead&Button Show. It's being held at the Frontier Airlines Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 1 - 10.
Don't forget that this is the show during which the Bead-It-Forward quilts and other donated items will be auctioned to raise more money for breast cancer research. If you go, be sure not to miss it! It's just $10.00 to attend the auction gala - you can sign up here - and attendees receive goodie bags stocked with freebies from Rio Grande.
So, are you going?
This week I published a few more free bird patterns that everyone is welcome to use and modify for Bead-It-Forward 2012. What do you think of the quail? (It's my state bird, and I just love the little head plumes on these guys).
To learn more about this year's Bead-It-Forward, jump to the cute two-owls pattern from last week. To read the official guidelines, visit Bead&Button magazine's quilt project page.
If you need help attaching your square to its backing, never fear - there's a tute for that, too. (If you need more help with your backing stitches, let us know in the Beadwork forum.)
Also new this week:
Diagram Tutorial for the Ubiquitous Square Knot
