These pretty flowers can be placed in glass vases on the table or made into delicate broaches or hair pieces. They are very easy and satisfying to make, especially if you like pretty things.

thin flexible wire (available from craft stores and bead shops)
beads (range of small beads and at least one large bead for the centre).
metallic cotton
wire cutters

Frame
Cut yourself a piece of wire, I suggest you use about 40 centimetres for the first one, this will be too much but it will give you a feel for how much you need and will provide you with extra wire at the end if you want to make a stalk.

Thread one bead into the middle of the wire and twist it once to fasten it on. This bead will form the base of your first petal and the important thing is that it is big enough to fit two threads of wire through it. Even if the main beads you are using for your petal outline are small, make sure that the base bead is larger. If it’s a slightly different colour or shape, that’s fine, it will be largely hidden by the centre bead anyway.

Now, thread on as many beads as you want to make the petal as big or small as you desire. Make sure you count the approximate number as you will want to use the same amount on each petal so they are about the same size.

Once you have threaded on the desired number, take the end of the wire and thread it back through the base bead (hence the need for a large base bead).

Voila – you have your first petal. Continue using the same piece of wire and repeat the process until you have five petals, all next to each other.

Once you have five petals, twist the two ends of the wire tightly in the middle to secure.

Webbing
Cut yourself a piece of thread. Again, I suggest you take more that you think you’ll need – it’s always better to have too much than not enough. Tie the thread tightly somewhere in the middle of the flower and start pulling it around one petal at a time. There’s no specific formula to this, you just want to avoid seeing the thread between the beads. You also want to keep the shape of the petal so be gentle. Once you have webbed your last petal, tie the ends of the thread off tightly and cut off any excess.

Centre
Now, use some of the remaining wire to fasten your centre bead or button into the middle of the flower.

If you want a stalk, twist the remaining ends of wire around themselves, otherwise, make sure they are pulled together tightly before cutting the ends off.
The wire is also useful for fastening the flower to a broach pin but if you are doing this, make sure there are no scratchy ends sticking out.