How to make beaded feathers – jewellery making for beginners

String 4 TOHO beads of the same colour.

Tie a knot. We need to pull the thread tightly each time to make the feathers stiff.

As we have the first loop, pass the needle so that the thread comes out of the bead opposite the knot.

String 3 TOHO and pass through the bead you exited once again. There’s a 2^nd loop. Pull the thread tightly. It’s really important!

The thread comes out of the central, bottom bead. String 3 TOHO and pass through the bead you exited.

Make 15 loops this way. Pull the thread tightly all the time. At the end, make the 16^th loop of 4 TOHO. We will attach a pin with a ball to it later.

Now, we will move down adding the parts of our feather on each side. They will come out of the side beads of the loops. They are marked with dots. We will add “processes” in the marked places on each side until we’ve reached the last loop.

String 2 TOHO of 1 colour and 1 TOHO of the 2^nd colour.

Pass the needle back through 2 TOHO beads (omit the outside one of the 2^nd colour) and pass the needle through the bead of the loop you exited. Pass to the other side through the beads marked with dots. Remember to pull the thread.

As it was done previously, string the beads in a sequence of 2+1 and pass the needle back omitting 1 bead that is our stopper bead.

We need to pass towards the outside bead of the lower loop. Pass the needle through the beads marked in the picture.

As the thread comes out of the outside bead below, string the sequence of 2+1 beads.

Pass the needle back through 2 beads and then through 3 beads of the loop to go to the other side. Pull the thread really tightly.

String the sequence of 2+1 beads and repeat the previous steps to get to the loop below.

Make following „processes” the same way. Below you may find a list of sequences of beads you need to add to make a shape of a feather. The first number is for the beads of the feather, the 2^nd one – for the stopper bead.

The thread has to come out of the central, bottom bead. Add 1 bead at the end of the feather.

Thread in a ball to the pin. Open the loop and attach it to the feather. Attach the earring wire and the first feather is done. If you followed me carefully and pulled the thread tightly, the feather should be stiff. What now? The 2^nd one?

Now you know how to make a beaded feather using TOHO beads. We hope you were patient enough and you made a beautiful pair of earrings. You may also use them as a pendant and many other various ways. It’s all up to you. We will look for your beaded feathers  on our Facebook group.