Description
This Christmas star ornament has proved to be one of my most popular patterns. It is made with a central Swarovski crystal rivoli around which you will construct the shaping, using peyote stitch.
The Christmas star is three dimensional, with an identical front and back.
Techniques and Materials
The pattern assumes that you are already familiar with peyote stitch. You will be using tubular and circular variations of these techniques and also doing a lot of ‘zipping up’. So, if you do need some extra help, you can download free tutorials to cover the basic techniques.
The Christmas star ornamant requires
- Size 15 Delicas
- Size11 delicas
- Two 14mm rivolis
If you are looking to save a little money, you can substitute 14mm Chinese crystal rivolis for the Swarovski version. In my opinion, the quality of the Chinese crystals is a little lower than Swarovski, but it is not so bad as to ruin the project!
If you are wondering where to get the beads, then check out my beading supplies department in the BeadShop.
About the Christmas Star Ornament Design
I designed this Christmas star ornament as I was working on a whole series of Christmas project for my book series, ‘A Beaded Christmas‘. I ended up with enough projects to fill three books, but I hadn’t run out of ideas, so you will find a few additional Christmas patterns on here. If you know me, you will know that I aim to add to these each year. So, those of you who like festive beading will always find something new to try!
The Christmas Star ornament developed from a couple of different ideas. I love encasing Rivolis. However, I wanted to work out a way of extending beyond the circular Rivoli to create a more interesting shape. I also wanted to play around with the idea of grading colours. This will give you an intense central section, shading outwards to a more subdued edge. Working out the order in which to pick up the beads and grade them to create just the right effect took a little time, but I was very pleased with the final results.
The finished Christmas Star Ornament measure about 3-4″ (7-10cm). I have made versions in red and green to keep to very traditional Christmas colours. However, you can actually use any colouring you want. Just pick your favourite Rivoli colour. You can see some of the colour choices of my customers in the gallery.
