French beaded flower technique: Continuous Wrap-Around Loops

Level: Beginner

The Continuous Wrap-around loop is a French beading technique where all the units can be made on one continuous wire. Most of the time, this technique is used to make small flowers.

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Technique: Continuous wrap-around loops
Practice petals – 11/0 seed beads/24 gauge wire
Pattern:
Practice Blossom A: Five 10-bead double continuous cross-over loop (CWL)
Practice Blossom B: Five 8-bead triple continuous cross-over loop (CWL)

Prepare: String 18 inches (45.7 cm) beads onto a spool of 24-gauge wire for each blossom unit.

1. Practice Petals A. Double CWL: Leave a 3 inch (7.6 cm) tail. Move 12 beads over from the spool and make a loop. Move the working-wire (spool wire) to the left. Photo 1.
   

   Photo 1

   Note: I am right handed and prefer to wrap from left to right. You can keep the working-wire on the right if you prefer to wrap from right to left.

2. Feed enough beads onto the working-wire and wrap it around the initial loop. Tip: Re-position so that the tail-wire is facing upwards so that it’s easier to wrap. Photo 2.
   

   Photo 2

3. Take the working-wire and wrap it around the the tail-wire at the base and bring it back to the right. Photo 3.
   

   Photo 3

   Now you have one (1) 10-bead double continuous wrap-around loop (CWL).

4. Leave about 1/8 inch (.3 cm) in between. Make another 10-bead loop and move the working-wire to the left if you prefer to wrap left to right. Photo 4.
   

   Photo 4

5. Feed more beads onto the working-wire and make another wrap-around loop. Photo 5.
   

   Photo 5

6. Follow the above steps and make five (5) 10-bead double CWLs in total.
7. Cut another tail off the spool. Twist the two ending tail wires together. See final Practice Petals A in Photo 6.
   

   Photo 6

8. Practice Petals B. Triple CWL: Leave a 3-inch (7.6 cm) tail and make an 8-bead double loop. To make a triple wrap-around loop, feed enough beads onto the working-wire and wrap it around the double loop. Photo 7.
   

   Photo 7

   Remove any excess beads and wrap the working-wire around the tail wire.

9. Leave about ¼ inch (.6 cm) of space in between and start another wrap-around loop. Photo 8.
   

   Photo 8

10.  Make five (5) 8-bead triple CWLs. Cut another tail off of the spool and twist the two ending tail wires a few times.
11.  Shaping: Shape the blossoms by holding each petal firmly with one hand and then folding it in with the other hand. Photo 9.
    

    Photo 9

    See Practice Petal B in Photo 10.

    

    Photo 10