Description
French Beaded Iris Pattern
In this project you will learn how to use the ‘basic’ technique. Despite its name, I always think this technique is slightly more advanced than the loop techniques that are a great way to start out in French beading.
The French Beaded Iris Pattern includes a detailed description of the technique, with step-by-step photos and diagrams. If you are really new to French beading, then you may find the video demonstrations in my book, ‘Bead Flowers and Wedding Bouquets‘ helpful.
You may also find it helpful to invest in a bead spinner to help you thread your beads, although this is not essential when you are first starting – provided you have the patience to thread by hand! The centres of the flowers are made using a much simpler technique for creating single strands.
Materials
For the French Beaded Iris Pattern you will need size 11 Matsuno seed beads in two colours. Choose one for your petals and one for the centres. Although we perhaps tend to think of iris in the traditional vibrant blue with a yellow centre, or plain yellow, they are in fact found in a huge range of colours. I particularly loved an iris called ‘Fire and Ice’ which has soft white petals and bright orange centres.
The French Beaded Iris pattern makes flowers that are the size of the miniature Iris, rather than the larger iris. However, once you have mastered the technique, you can develop the larger size. To do this, just increase the number of rows on your petals.
You will also need coloured craft wire to match or tone with your beads. For this project, you need two different sizes. I stock both in the beading supplies. Plus, you have a lot of colours to choose from.
You will also need some floral stem tape, some stiffer lengths of wire and some embroidery silk. I show you how to use these materials to finish the stems of your French Beaded flowers. Again, you can buy all of these in the beading supplies department.
