by Alice Korach materials • 2 Hanks 110 seed beads, red • 1 Hank 110 seed beads, silver-lined gold or yellow • 1 Hank 110 seed beads, silver-lined green • 1 Hank 110 seed beads, pink • 1 Spool 26-gauge craft wire, gold • 1 Spool 26-gauge craft wire, green • 1 Spool 26-gauge craft wire, red if making red and pink roses • 1 18-gauge Stem wire (I like the threadwrapped green ones) • 1 Roll green floral tape Tools: wire cutter, chainnose pliers After making the roses for Cheryl Phelan’s wedding bouquet (“Your Work,” B&B #48), I wanted to make more for my niece’s wedding. Meagan didn’t want to carry all those beads, but she couldn’t say no to a bouquet of beautiful, bi-color bead roses. I adapted my rose pattern from Virginia Nathanson’s cabbage rose in The Art of Making Bead Flowers and Bouquets (reissued by Dover). Virginia’s rose is enormous, 7 in. (18cm) across, and takes at least three full hanks of beads. Mine is about 31⁄2 in. (9cm) across, takes a little more than one hank, and can be completed in an afternoon. stepbystep When making bead flowers, you usually string 4-5 strands of beads from a hank onto the appropriately colored wire. But since these flowers have two colors in most of the petals, you have to string as you go. For this flower, make a looped center of gold beads, 24-25 petals, 5 sepals, and 10 leaves. Don’t cut the wire off the spool until instructed to do so. center String 1 strand directly from the gold hank onto the gold wire. To string beads from the hank, unwind the wire from the spool for a foot or two (30-61cm), but don’t cut it off the spool. Straighten the end for about 6 in. (15cm). Insert the end of the wire along the thread of beads from the knot toward the bottom of the hank strand for 2-3 in. (5-7.6cm) (photo a). Carefully cut the thread just below the knot. Don’t let it drop, but slide it out of the beads that are also on the wire. Now, catch the end of the thread between the middle and index finger of your non-dominant hand and lay the beaded part of the thread over the space between the top of your index finger and your thumb. Slide the wire straight through the beads toward your thumb (photo b). You can transfer 3-4 in. (7.6-10cm) of beads at a time this way. Never pull the thread out of the knot at the top of the hank, or the hank will eventually disintegrate. Always cut away empty threads a bit below the knot to prevent their tangling. Slide 7-10 beads about 3 in. from the end of the wire and form them into a loop. Twist the wire together about 3 times at the base of the loop (photo c).Slide another 7-10 beads up to the twist and make another loop. Twist it about 3 bi-color-hybrid-tea-rose Click the link above to view full Pattern with Adobe Reader download Adobe Reader here <!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>