French beaded flowers – bead and wire trillium

You may know trilliums to be white, but they do come in a variety of colors including red, pink, yellow, purple and even green. Once trilliums are picked, the plant can take years to recover. That’s why I was very gentle in my flower study approach when I came upon of patch of gorgeous trilliums last Spring. I placed a sheet of paper underneath the parts and gently traced the shapes.

For this woodland forest floor arrangement, I also added in French beaded snow drops and French beaded wood violets as well as there’s a small window of time that they all bloom at the same time. I had studied the snow drops not too far away from the trilliums were blooming. And of course, wood violets are prolific and can be found everywhere.

Where can I get the French beaded trillium pattern?

You can find the PDF for the trillium pattern in my pattern shop. As a convenience, I’ve also put together some trillium bead sets with all the beads I used. The bead set and the pattern are sold separately.

How to make the beaded trillium, snow drops, and wood violets woodland forest floor arrangement

Gathered Materials:

Bark – dry
Shelf Mushroom, dried – you can use any hard shelf mushroom. I used Ganoderma applanatum (aka Artist’s Conk). It’s plentiful in our woods here.

Purchase Materials:

Clay – see below for explanation
Modge Podge (glue/sealer)
Brush for applying modge podge – I used a foam brush
Moss
E6000 glue
Hot Glue

What type of clay should I use?

There are different types of clay you can use. There’s air dry clay and non-hardening clay. I decided to use the air dry clay because it’s a permanent arrangement. It’s also more economical to use air dry clay. If you want the ability to remove your stems and rearrange, then you may want to use non-hardening clay. The air dry clay is not as sturdy as the non-hardening clay so you will need to put more clay around the stems to keep them in place. The non-hardening clay is harder to work. Consider these pros and cons to determine what will work best for you.

Instructions for making beaded flowers woodland arrangement:

It was my first time making beaded flower woodland arrangement so I had some kinks to work out. The instructions below include some “how I would do it” next time instructions.

Put some scrap papers down on your table as it’s going to get messy.
Apply the modge podge with the brush to the bottom of the bark and let dry.
Apply the modge podge to the shelf mushrooms and let dry.
Put some clay on the bark.
Have some clay rolled out in long worms.
Insert the stem into the clay on the bark.
Roll the worm of clay around the stem to keep it in place. Add more clay to places where the stem may need support.
Let the clay dry overnight if using air dry clay. If any clay falls off the bark after it’s been dried, glue it back on using E6000 or hot glue.
Decide where you’d like to apply the shelf mushrooms. Apply E6000 and hot glue onto the mushroom and attach. The E6000 will keep lasting hold while the hot glue is to help it stay on initially.
Attach moss to the dried clay with hot glue.
Apply modge podge to any bare spots of bark if desired.