Beaded Flower Basic Petal Instructions

	These instructions describe the "basic method" which is the technique used to make most French beaded flowers.
	Beads are prestrung on the wire and left attached to the wire spool. Make a small loop and twist several times at the end of the wire to prevent the beads from sliding off the wire.
	Row 1 (the "Basic" row) The petals starts with a basic row. Pattern instructions will tell you either how many beads or how many inches of beads are in this first row. For a practice petal start with 6 beads (Figure 1).	Figure 1
	Slide the beads close to the knot and with your left hand grip the wire about 3 inches below these beads with your thumb and forefinger (Figure 2). Grip the wire in the same way with your right hand approximately 5 inches from your left hand.
	Figure 2
	Figure 3	Bring your hands together to form a loop and twist 7-8 times to secure this loop (Figure 3).
	Row 2 Figure 4   Figure 5   Figure 6
	Row 2 is formed with the wire extending to the left from the bottom of the basic row at a 90 degree angle (Figure 4) to the basic wire. Twist the wire once around the basic wire at the top of the basic row. Figure 5 shows an exploded view of the techniques. Figure 6 shows how the completed row should look. Note that the wire is at a right angle to the basic wire. Wrapping the wire at a right angle forms a round petal, wrapping the wire at a 45 degree angle forms a pointed petal. The number of beads will vary but try to keep your rows close together and the wire and the beads packed one against the other so the wire doesn't show through the beads. These instructions use red beads with silver wire for contrast but if you match your wire color as closely as possible to your bead color the little bits of wire that show through in these pictures will be nearly invisible.
	Figure 7	Row 3 Row 3 and subsequent rows are formed in the same way as described for row 2. Figure 7 shows a basic petal with 3 rows.
	Figure 8	Finishing Cut the top wire approximately ¼ inch from the petal as Indicated by the arrow at the top of Figure 8. Fold the short piece to the back so it doesn't show. Cut the petal from the loop but don't forget to make a knotted loop on the spool or you'll lose your beads! Cut the bottom loop where shown in Figure 8. Twist the 3 bottom wires. The 3 wires end at tapered lengths so as to minimize bulk of the petal stem.