Bead ball for a Christmas table centerpiece
This idea will surprise and delight your guests: "Christmas ball table decorations" adorned with crystal beads and placed on your Christmas dining table, elegant, decorative and fun, all in one... fun, because your guests can touch them, feel their weight, roll them around in their hands, be amazed at how light they are...
The technique is easy: you fix crystal beads to a polystyrene ball with the help of small pins.
Create a pattern, a star, a striped effect - you'll soon get the hang of it!
The technique is easy: you fix crystal beads to a polystyrene ball with the help of small pins.
Create a pattern, a star, a striped effect - you'll soon get the hang of it!
To make a 2.4 inch diameter ball, you will need about:
- 340 three mm faceted beads in Czech crystal (here we're using AB Crystal, Siam, and golden bronze beads),
- 300 four mm faceted beads (here they're two tone Crystal/Silver beads, dark Siam and AB Crystal),
- some 4mm faceted bicone beads in Swarovski Crystal (the faceted bicone shape is perfect for this type of decoration, but they are more expensive),
- and a sufficient number of short pins (i.e 650).
So, you have to allow (for 3 to 4mm diameter beads) between 5 and 6 beads per cm².
For a ball with a 3 inch diameter, you therefore need around 1150 beads.
If you use oval cabochons (those seen here are in Czech crystal and are red), they must have holes at top and bottom, and you will need to reduce the number of beads you use in accordance with the surface area taken up by the cabochons.
Do you need to make a hook from which to hang it?
If the ball is going to be hung from somewhere, it's best to work out how you will do this before you begin. All you need to do is wrap a long ribbon around the ball and make a loop: fix the loop and the ribbon using a few beads on pins - as the different bead designs slowly spread over the ball, the ribbon will be held fast. The ribbon will hold the ball securely, being strong enough to take the ball's weight. You wouldn't imagine that a 2 inch diameter ball weighs in at a sixth of a pound!
Helpful hints
The basic idea is to set out the main design(s) that you want to create, then to finish these designs off with lines and arabesques, creating contrasts and effects with the different bead colors and sizes.
Star design bead ball
To make a ball with a star design, you must start with the star, using beads all of the same color, then surround this star with rows of beads in contrasting colors.
To create the designs using the cabochons, fix each bead with a pin at the top and the bottom, placing them on the "equator" of the ball, then ring them with a row of beads all of the same color, then add another row etc. Keep fixing cabochons along this same line. 
