French beaded flowers: bead and wire poinsettia

Four years ago, my husband purchased a large pot of poinsettias from a Black Friday sale. I was inspired to make a French beaded version. I toiled away that winter making the prototype. I was at the tail end of finishing my first book, Bead Flora: the Revival of French Beaded Flowers (amazon) (for signed copy, find here) at the time. I didn’t finish it. I finished it the following the year.

And there, this mammoth of a poinsettia that measures 10 inches in diameter, sat until I felt inspired this year to remake and write the pattern tutorial. And I’m glad I did wait on making this French beaded poinsettia because my beading prowess has increased along with how I write tutorials.

Due to the size of this bead and wire poinsettia, I use 22 gauge wire to make the bracts and leaves. I do understand that not everyone can use 22 gauge wire comfortably, I’ve included 2 work-arounds in the tutorial. The first option is to use 24 gauge wire for the smaller bracts and then reinforcing the twisted wire stem by adding another piece of wire to make the stem part strong. The second option is making a 22 gauge wire basic frame and attaching 24 gauge wire to make the rows.

Beaded poinsettia project level: Advanced

You need to have an understanding of French beading terminology and how to read a pattern. I do go over the spokes technique as that is not a commonly used technique.

Basic Frame
Scallops
Spokes
Triple Split Basic
Twisted Wire Fringe
Fringes
Continuous Loops
Lacing

How long will it take to make this French beaded poinsettia?

This beaded poinsettia project will take about 30 to 40 hours to make. It’s the type of project where it’s best to work in small chunks throughout the year. Work on a small bit daily throughout the year to have it ready for next Christmas! Each of the outer bracts can take close to 2 hours to make. I worked primarily on this project and it took 1 month to finish two colorways. A third one will be in the making as styling an odd number of flowers is best. So I recommend that you either stick with one or three. I find that having a shorter stem in a short vase, about 6 inches (15.2 cm) works very well.

However, like I said, I will be making an arrangement with three beaded poinsettias and will include my beaded willow as well. Stay tuned! Maybe I’ll finish it by next year. I will be making this last poinsettia in small chunks of time since I have other pressing projects to work on.