In this blog post, Charlotte from Smyks demonstrates how to make a beautiful and decorative mini Christmas tree with small beads wrapped with gold-plated wire and finished with miniature Christmas ornaments. You can make the tree any colour you want. Of course, you can also make other types of trees, such as bonsai-style trees or flower bouquets with crystals or semi-precious stones as petals. Only your imagination sets the limits.
You may also want to check out related blog posts like:
Seed Bead Mistletoe or Christmas Crystals
And remember you can always visit our store in Copenhagen for more inspiration and help for your beaded Christmas tree 👌🤓
For this Christmas tree, we used the following materials:
3 bags of Miyuki seed beads, size #11 light topaz
Miyuki seed beads size #15, golden
Miyuki bugle beads, pearl white
Miyuki bugle beads. twisted, golden/silver-lined
1 spool of wire, 0.4mm, gold-plated copper (for the twigs)
1 spool of wire, 0.3mm, gold-plated copper (for the star and the candles)
1 spool of wire 1mm, gold-plated copper (for the trunk)
4 beads, hematite, golden, 6mm
3 beads, hematite, golden, 8mm
2 stardust beads, 6mm, gold-plated brass
12 bails with cup and peg, gold-plated brass
approx. 40cm facetted ball chain, gold-plated brass
8 wooden beads, 12mm, light brown
1 wooden bead, 20mm, light brown
1 piece of string e.g. waxed cotton string, 1.2mm, sand-coloured
+ glue
Use a bead spinner to thread many beads at a time.
This Christmas tree is made up of twigs with leaves. First, you make all the twigs... then you assemble the tree... one twig at a time.
For this Christmas tree you need 3 twigs with 3 leaves .... 18 twigs with 5 leaves .... 14 twigs with 7 leaves.
The twigs are made with 0.4 mm wire. Thread beads onto the wire until you have a 6 cm long piece with beads (appx. 30 beads). Then push all the beads forward on the wire.
Do not cut the wire until the entire twig is finished.
Pull back 2cm of the beads on the wire (appx. 10pcs). Stop about 9cm before the end of the wire.
Bend the 2cm long piece with beads...
... and twist the wires just below the beads... about 4-5 times.
Pull back another 2cm of beads on the wire ... and stop about 1cm before the first winding.
Then you bend the 2cm long piece of wire with beads again...
... and twist the pieces of wire around each other beneath the beads.
Make the last leaf on the twig in the same way... with 2cm of beads placed 1cm away from the last winding.
Wind the pieces of wire around each other again directly beneath the beads.
Pull the centre leaf one way and the wire ends the other way... so the leaves are positioned as in the picture.
Wind the wires underneath the centre leaf around each other a few more times.
Then you wind the wires under the other two leaves around each other a few more times so that the windings meet in the middle.
Bend the outer leaves closer to the centre leaf (see picture).
Twist the two long wires together for a length of about 2cm.
Finally, you cut the wire.
All twigs are approx. 5cm long. However, the length can be varied according to preference and taste.
All twigs are made in this way... with a 1cm long piece between the leaves.
Make 2 more twigs, each with 3 leaves.
Thread beads onto the wire until you have a 10cm long piece with beads ... and make 5 leaves out of it.
Pull the centre leaf in one direction and the wires in the other direction so that the leaves are positioned as shown in the picture.
Twist the wires under the centre leaf a few more times...
... then the wires under the leaves to the left and right of the centre leaf, until the windings meet ...
... and after that the wires under the outer leaves until the windings meet in the middle (see picture).
Twist the two long wires for a length of 2cm.
Then you cut off the excess wire.
Make a total of 17 twigs with 5 leaves.
Thread beads onto the wire until you have a 14cm long piece with beads ... and make 7 leaves out of them.
Proceed in the same way as with the other twigs. Assemble a total of 13 twigs with 7 leaves.
The next step is to assemble 5 double branches.
Place 2 twigs, each with 5 leaves, on top of each other – to do this, place the second twig slightly below the leaves of the first twig (see picture).
Twist the wires about each other... until you have a 2cm long piece with windings.. Cut off the excess wire.
After that, you make 7 double branches, each consisting of two branches with 7 leaves (see picture).
Next, you make the star using 0.3 mm wire. Cut 20 cm of wire to size ... and thread on 1 bugle bead and 1 golden seed bead.
Skip the golden bead... and run the wire back through the bugle bead.
Pull the wire tight. Thread on another bugle bead and another golden bead... and pull the new bugle bead close to the first bugle bead.
Skip the golden bead again... and run the wire back through the bugle bead.
Tighten the wire.
Assemble a total of 5 star points in this way.
Pass both wire ends through 1 bugle bead + 11 green seed beads.
Take the wire with a diameter of 1 mm and cut a length of approx. 15-20 cm to size. This will be the tree trunk. Wrap the ends of the wire around the trunk and apply a little glue if necessary.
Make 5 leaves, bend the wire into a ring and close the ring with a few twists. These will be the top branches of the tree.
Twist windings under each of the leaves so that the hole in the middle becomes smaller.
Pass the trunk through the middle of the top branches.
Bend the leaves upwards... and wrap the excess wire around the trunk.
Wrap some wire with a diameter of 0.4 mm around the trunk... about 1 cm downwards.
Use the rest of the spool of 0.4 mm wire to secure one twig at a time.
Next, you fasten 3 twigs, each with 3 leaves... one twig after the other.
Place the first twig a little further down... and attach it to the trunk with 4-5 windings.
Place the next branch a little further down...
... and fasten it to the trunk in the same way.
Attach the last branch in the same way.
Use the same method to attach 4 twigs with 5 leaves each.
The length and density of the tree depend on how closely you place the branches.
After that, you fasten the 5 double branches (each with 10 leaves) in the same way.
The tree is now getting wider.
Then you attach the 7 double branches (each with 14 leaves) in the same way.
Now there are 4 twigs left, each with 5 leaves. Fasten these remaining twigs underneath the double branches.
Cut off the excess wire.
Now you will make small Christmas tree candles.
Cut a small piece of the 0.3 mm diameter wire. Place one white bugle bead + 3 golden seed beads in the centre of the wire.
Skip the last golden bead ... and pull the wire back through 2 golden beads + 1 bugle bead.
Tighten the wire.
Select a leaf on which to place the candle. Thread the wire ends in different directions through 3-4 seed beads each...
... tighten the wire ends... and cut off the excess wire.
Next, you make the Christmas tree stand.
Thread 8 wooden beads with a diameter of 12 mm onto a string. For our example, we used waxed cotton string with a diameter of 1.2 mm.
Tie a double knot to form a ring.
Apply some glue to the double knot... and cut off the excess string.
Place a large wooden bead with the hole facing upwards in the ring made of smaller wooden beads. Glue the ring to the large wooden bead.
The Christmas tree stand is now complete.
Glue the Christmas tree into the stand. Add some wire or cut off a piece so that the tree trunk fits into the hole in the wooden bead.
Make small Christmas tree baubles as tree decorations. We used beads with diameters of 6 mm and 8 mm and glued a bail with cup and peg into the hole of each bead.
Use jumprings with a diameter of 4mm to hang the baubles on the tree.
Finally, you can use a piece of ball chain as a garland.
Your Christmas tree is done... beautifully decorated with candles, baubles, and garlands. 🎄🎁😍
The Smyks team wishes you a Merry Christmas! 💕
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