This fun idea, a spider web in beads, came from my 7 year old son, Loïc, who likes to sit with me when I'm pearling
Loïc likes making things with the brass wire I use for jewelry and sometimes he threads beads on it.
so that when I'm making nice feminine jewelry, weird creatures take shape beside me...like this quirky scorpion.

Our latest family creation came from a spider web design that Loïc wanted to make into a bead design.
Either as :
-a Halloween decoration : pin it on a curtain, for example
- as a brooch,in a smaller version: although for Halloween, we can always let ourselves go a little!

Click on the photo for a bigger picture.

Surprise! Our spider and its web for computer background image, Halloween-style...

Instructions for this activity, which is suitable for kids or people who just love beads...be careful, the brass wire can be dangerous for younger children, watch out for eyes!
Cut three threads of brass wire, about 4 inches long each (or whatever length you want the diameter of the spider web to be, plus a little over a third inch extra)
- Tie the threads through their centers as shown in the diagram.

Thread the beads onto a length of wire, stop a third of an inch before the end. Then make a loop to hold the beads, by passing the end of the wire through the end bead. Kids may need some help with this bit...

Repeat for each thread.

Take 40 inches of nylon thread, thread it through a bead third from the center of any of the 'branches' of the web,center the nylon thread so the bead is halfway along the thread. Thread on four more beads then pass the thread through another bead positioned three from the center, this time on a neighboring branch
Repeat on the other side with the other end of the thread.
Continue all the way round till you've crossed the ends of the nylon thread.

Bring the thread about halfway up the branches of the web, and thread between 10 and 12 beads between each branch.
When the threads join, pull them up to the end of the branches and keep on threading the beads, passing the nylon thread through the loops made at the end of the branch.
When the thread joins up, tie a double knot.


The little spider...

For a web, there's got to be a spider. Easy to make, but you've got to be meticulous about it, given its size.
You need nylon thread, which will help you make this 3D ball shape, black seed beads, 2 bright yellow seed beads for the eyes.
Start by threading 2 beads, bring them halfway along the thread. Next, thread one yellow, one black and one yellow bead. Pass the other end of the thread through these beads.
And that's how you make bead animals. A series of rows of beads that get bigger or smaller according to the shape you're trying to make and through which you pass the other end of each thread a second time. Using nylon thread rather than brass wire allows you to better shape the animal. One row goes underneath, another above it and so on...

The third row needs four beads, the four rows after that, six beads for the body, then reduce the number of beads to achieve a round shape.
Pass the threads through the last row to close the 'ball'.
Pass a thread through each side so as to make the three legs for each side (with one long or two normal seed beads) then for the foot, another bead.
Next fix the spider to the web by a nylon thread passed through its feet.

If, like me, you have more than one child, I wish you the best of luck in making a whole spider family. But the end result's pretty cute.