Seed Beaded Bobby Pins - tutorial

With seven girls in the house we fix a lot of hair and the newest rage in our home are these decorated bobby pins. They work great for all the girls big and little alike and are quite versatile. Amber is our resident artist and has come up with some lovely creations.

To decorate one basic bobby pin you will need:

• A small (standard size) bobby pin


• 25-28 seed beads


• 18-20 inches of 28 gauge wire


• fingernail clippers

1. Hold the bobby pin with the straight side up, opening toward your body. Place the center of the wire on top of the bobby pin near the bend and hold there with your thumb.

2. Grasp the wire to the right of the bobby pin and slide it through the rubber tips and up to the bend in the bobby pin. Continue to wrap up and over the bobby pin so that it ends up back on the right again.

3. Now repeat with the wire on the left side, pulling it through the rubber tips and tight up to the bend in the bobby pin up and over the top of the bobby pin so that it ends up back on the left.

4. Clip the ends of your wire so that they are even. (They should be 9-10" each.)

5. Thread a bead onto both wires and pull it up tightly to the bend in the bobby pin. Pull one wire to the right of the bobby pin and through the rubber tips. Pull the other wire to the left of the bobby pin and through the rubber tips. Be sure to pull the wire tightly against the bead to secure it. (You will be wrapping around the flat side only.)

6. Continue threading beads and wraping until you get to the rubber tip of the flat side of the bobby pin.

7. Wrap each wire around the bobby pin tightly several times to secure. Poke the ends of the wires back into the hole in the last bead to hide them. If your bead is too small to poke the wire ends through again, wrap the wire around the bobby pin between the last and next to last bead instead of at the end. It will keep the ends of the wire from poking you.

The varieties are endless. My favorites remain the dragonflies.

This is part of Show and Tell Friday .