(this post has been updated Sept 2020 to restore and resize pictures and get rid of the weird formatting you may have seen for this post in the past.)
Like the past two days, today is another bead pet craft, but tommorrow we’re on to something new. If you are looking for more bead pet or small beaded item patterns, there are plenty of great books out there (along with plenty of online ressources) and FlamyFox13 of Peace in the Pines also has some patterns for leaves & flowers and animals.
Okay, so this one is one of my favourites – a flamingo!
The flamingo is definitely more complicated than the other two but I have drawn step by step images to help you out. As with the others, please do not hesitate to ask questions and please send me a picture if you have made any of the crafts and such this week. I may not respond right away (I’m sailing this week), but soon enough, I will.
Materials Needed:
- 1 eye bead (brown/black/blue/green/whatever)
- 3 beak beads (bronze/brown/black)
- 32 pink beads
- wire or string
- pliers
Note: Pull wires a lot tighter than shown in images!
1.Do the first three rows as normal, not including the beak. Make sure the right/”blue” string/wire is much longer than the left/”red” to leave room for the body.
2.Take the “red” wire (the one on the left) and string all three beak beads on. Thread the wire through the bead closest to the pink ones, but not through the way you normally would. Instead, thread it through so it comes out on the side touching the pink beads. You may have to fiddle around with the wire until you get the right shape.
3.Wrap/weave the wire around the existing wire between the three pink beads closest to the beak.
4.Now commence with the neck, beading one row/bead at a time.
5.Thread 15 beads on the “blue” wire, ignoring the “red” wire.
6. Hold the beads out, with the flamingo head on the left, and go back through four beads, skipping the first 5 beads. Follow the pencil illustration to the right and go to the end of the beads you strung on in step 5. Go back through the closest 5 beads to the neck, leaving one bead not gone through at all. Pull tight and perhaps do some rearranging to get it to look like the above right illustration (the marker one).
7. Twist the wire through the existing wire between the first/second and second/third row.
8. String three pink beads on the wire.
9.Skip over to the other end of the 3 pink beads and go back through the two on that end.
10. Twist the wire around the existing wire between the first and second rows of the body. Pull tight on the wire and finish it off by weaving it back through the body, as done for the panda.
11. Now stop ignoring the “red” wire and bring it through the very first bead on the body, then twist/loop/weave it through the sides.
12. For the legs, take a new piece of wire, twist it around a wire going between the beads in the bottom row and fold up the ends (unless you plan on using the flamingo as a defense mechanism – not recommended!) (I did bead the legs of my flamingo, but I have decided they are too thick, which is why I said to just use a wire.)
13. Admire your beautiful flamingo!
Happy Beading,
ForestPoodle88🐩
Hedgehog Hollow 