First crystal bead bouquet done!

[tortoisegirl]

What do you think? This was about 200 stems. I have three more to make--two more of the bridesmaid ones, and mine, which will have about 360 stems and slightly larger crystals (black diamond color). I'm not sure about the ribbon yet as it looks a little cheap. I also may have to do something to the ends so they don't unravel in the next year until the wedding...

This was the big DIY project so I'm starting early. So far, I've probably spent about 8 hours as I'm using only a wire twister.

[TeacherSonja]

I LOVE your bouquet! So unique and elegant!

[EarlyBird]

i love the silverish/grey ribbon on it. goes so well!

[SerendipityCrafts]

That sure looks like a lot of work but it turned out so well! Good job :)

[tortoisegirl]

That's so good the ribbon looks ok--it was the $2 Walmart variety! I ended up spending over $200 on beads and wire. Yes, it's been a lot of work. I can only do so much at a time because some of the detail twisting near the bead has to be done by hand and it hurts after awhile. Our main color is silver besides black and white. I'll have to post pictures once I do mine--it should be pretty stunning at almost twice the size, larger grey beads, and I may do slightly longer stems and use shiney ribbon!

These really fit our metallic aviation theme and are a great flower alternative--cheaper, and I plan to try and sell them after the wedding unless I get attached. Thanks for the kind thoughts! It's so nice when you can see a product of your hard work. Hopefully the rest go a little quicker. But, I kinda broke the wire twister so hopefully it holds up.

[tortoisegirl]

Finished numbers 2 and 3, and now I'm doing mine with the longer wire and larger greyish beads. I'll post a picture of mine once I finish.

[tortoisegirl]

Finally finished mine. So excited now because this was the BIG project to be done. Turned out beautiful. Really large. Hope I get a picture of it sometime soon. Ended up having enough ribbon to put a box in my hair to match the wrapping around the stems.

[EarlyBird]

yay i cant wait to see pictures... its so funny b/c the other girl who had an "aviation, travel" theme did crystal bead bouquets

[vicky_vicky]

it looks so pretty! I cant wait to see the other pics.

[tortoisegirl]

Finally got a picture! It could use some arranging, but I plan to do that later on since it needs to store flatish right now. I'm already running out of wedding storage space even with our second bedroom closet.

I originally chose the crystals because I hate flowers, and I wanted something to represent our metallic/airplane theme.

[WebLady]

Pretty :grinhappy:

[tortoisegirl]

I love sparkly stuff

[Kay]

I love flowers... but I LOVE your beads!! NICE IDEA and very well done!

[elsie]

Those look so pretty. I'm considering doing this kind of bouquet too. Where did you get your beads and wire from?

[tortoisegirl]

I got them from firemountainbeads.com. The crystals are Swarovski bicomes (4mm and 5mm I believe). I bought them in bulk packs and based my number of strands per bouquet off that to reduce costs. The wire is silver color coated copper wire, 26 gauge. It was cheapest at the time in spools of 20 yards and I bought a ridiculous amount because each strand is about 30 inches long (then doubled over ans shortened because of the twisting), and I made hundreds and hundreds of strands. The wire actually cost a couple times more the cost of the beads since I got such a great deal on beads.

If you Google "crystal bead bouquet" you'll find some instructions. I ended up using a wire twister (Wild Wire) from Joann's. It broke about halfway through but was still functional. I chose not to use a drill with a hook because I did this while watching tv and I don't like loud noises! Best of luck if you go through with this--it took me days and days and I probably wouldn't do it again if it wasn't for something so important/special. =) They do sell online for quite a bit, but I've already had offers of friends and relatives wanting to buy them from me after. I might just have to keep mine for the memory and sell/give away the rest.

[elsie]

Thank you so much! If I have questions in the future, could I come to you for help? :)

[tortoisegirl]

Of course! I'd love to help. Any idea of what type you want to make, how many, etc?

[elsie]

I think I would use the Celestial Crystal beads, and the silver color coated copper wire. I would be making all of the "flowers" for the wedding party: my bouquet, 4 bridesmaids' bouquets, all of the corsages (6 I think), and all of the bouts (probably about 13 I think).

350 stems for my bouquet
200 stems for bridesmaids
9 stems for the corsage
13 stems for the bouts

While taking a full load of classes at my university. :bbeek: I think I may be crazy... Ha, I'd appreciate any hints and tips once I get started, which won't be for several months because I'm not "officially" engaged yet (we have the date set, but no ring yet).

[tortoisegirl]

Hmm. I'd recommend you get a drill with a cup hook. Anything to make it go faster because that's a significant amount more than I did. Looks good as far as quantity though (# of stems). With my set up I needed to twist the bead on to begin, and then finish it off after the twisting with the tool. My fingers got blistered on the ends. I'd recommend some sort of tape or protection if you plan to do this more than a few hours at a time. I heard a tip to do it with thin gloves on to not get finger oil on the beads, but I didn't have enough grip.

What was easiest for me was once I figured out the length of stem I wanted, was to cut a huge amount at one time and put a twist tie around the middle. Then, I had the wire ready for the bead. If you do use a wire twister, I'd recommend getting a ruler with a hole at the end of it. I held the ruler with my feet and put the end of the wire around the hole end of the ruler so I didn't have to bend down too much.

I'd also sort out the beads into baggies by amount and label them. Also keep track if you are wanting your stems to be longer than the bridesmaids so you can not cut too many of either.

I started this project as soon as I knew I wanted to do it. I didn't finish for over 3 months! Eeek. Definitely not a last-minute project. Recruit friends if possible too.

[elsie]

Oh I'll definitely enlist help. My best friend/MOH has already said she'll help me out as much as she can. I think my dad already have a cup hook, and he has several drills that I could choose from. I'm hoping to start making them in the spring, and the wedding isn't until January 2010.

How did you figure out how long to make the stem? Most of the directions I've seen say to cut the wire about 30 inches long, but those bouquets look taller than what I want. I saw on one site to take the desired height of the bouquet, double it, and add two inches to figure out how long to cut the wires. Does that sound about right to you?

[tortoisegirl]

I think I did about 26 inches for my bridesmaid ones, and I wish I had done longer. Mine was longer than 30 and I like the length but haven't really fluffed it right to get the final effect (it has a lot of weight to it!). You could do a couple test strands, fold the ends up to see how much of a handhold you want, and take it from there. That formula sounds about right depending on length, because the 2 inches could vary based on the overall length.

[Fishlips]

Wow, that is such a creative idea and they turned out so well! Good project. I may include something like that with my flowers to make them less ordinary! I really like the idea!

[elsie]

I want my bouquets to be shorter because I am only 5' and my tallest bridesmaid is 5'6, so I don't want my bouquets to overwhelm us. I don't want a lot of the stem to be showing above the ribbon, I want the beads to be mainly what is shown. I like the length of your bridesmaid bouquet, but it would be more full for my bouquet. Thanks so much for answering my questions, you've been a lot of help!

[stargazer]

Wow - so creative! I love it. And I really loved the ribbon! Can't believe you got it from Wal-Mart.

Your bouquets really reminded me of these rhinestone cake toppers I saw online:

http://www.bridesvillage.com/rhinestone-sprays.html

My sister-in-law is considering this one for her cake:

http://www.bridesvillage.com/rhinestone-vined-crown.html