The Martha Stewart Beaded Wreath Project
Supplies needed:
8" — 10" floral wreath styrofoam form
3 or 4 sizes of round druk beads (6mm, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm)
Straight pins like you would use when sewing
Red nail polish (to paint over the pin heads)
Red wrapping tape or ribbon for wrapping the styrofoam form
Wide ribbon or cloth for a bow
The Martha Stewart Wreath
In 1999, Martha Stewart, on her TV show, demonstrated how to make a Christmas Wreath, using round druk beads. (“Druk” means plain, smooth, roundish beads.) And she started an avalanche of orders. Her powers to send millions of women to their bead stores was, and still is, enormous. So big, in fact, that it is difficult to visualize. With this project, there were not enough red druk beads in the entire world to fill the demand in 1999 and several years afterward.
This first year saw over 2800 orders to our Land of Odds website. We were able to fill about 1700 of them before the beads started running out. In both 1999 and 2000, (and now, by this time, the instructions also had been published in a Martha Stewart Christmas Projects book), our suppliers ran out of the 10mm size druks around October, and we were unable to fill orders past the first few days of December. The 10mm beads started coming back in stock in February or March. The 12mm size ran out soon after, but wasn’t available again until much later. (NOTE: There are 25mm in an inch.)
Traditionally, there has never been a large supply of larger beads — 10mm and 12mm — in any color, because the main purpose of beads is to be used in jewelry, and these larger sizes tend to be heavy, and usually not in style. When a particular bead in size and color runs out, it usually takes 3 or more months before it is back in stock.
This is because these beads come from the Czech Republic and must be imported, and also because every color, type and size of bead is not always in production all the time. Beads are usually produced from lightest to darkest. That is, they try to make clear and light colors first in the kiln, and gradually over the course of a few months make darker and darker beads. In this way, they can use the kiln for the longest period of time before having to clean it out.
Martha Stewart provided one set of directions in 1999, and a new set of directions in 2000. In both, we believe she underestimated the number of beads needed, so with some interpretation, your two design choices are:
Design Option A. 300 each of 6mm, 8mm and 10mm for a 10-inch wreath (the original 1999 version)
Design Option B. 200 each of 6mm, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm for an 8-inch wreath (the new 2000 version)
We have a personal preference for choice “A”.
Colors: Ruby (also called Siam) is the color of choice. A slightly lighter Light Siam works well also. For a contrast, either Red Opal or Garnet will work.
Red is one of the most expensive colors to make, so there are few color choices in this area for the druk line of round beads. Many of the reds that exist are very close in color in this particular bead, so do not provide much if any contrast. We offer ruby (also called siam), and suggest either garnet (very dark, almost black), and/or red opal (a translucent red), as workable contrasting or complimentary colors. There is a cherry red, but this doesn’t have the same effect as the transparent and translucent colors. There is also a dark ruby (or dark siam, sometimes called light garnet) which we do not offer.
Using the smaller 4mm beads, such as in a 4–6–8mm configuration, doesn’t work very well. It doesn’t look realistic enough.
NOTE: It is also important to get your styrofoam wreath form. Stores run out of these as well. Try these types of places: Wal-Mart, K-Mart, craft stores, floral shops and floral supply places. We prefer the 10-inch wreath that is a half dome in shape. On this wreath, you only cover the domed part, not the back of the wreath. You can also use a completely round (tube) wreath, which you would cover entirely with beads.
Other Articles of Interest by Warren Feld:
Best Way To Thread Your Needle
Bead Stringing With Needle and Thread
Turning Silver and Copper Metals Black: Some Oxidizing Techniques
Color Blending; A Management Approach
Cleaning Sterling Silver Jewelry: What Works!
What Glue Should I Use When Making Jewelry?
When Choosing Colors Has You Down, Check Out The Magic Of Simultaneity Effects
When Your Cord Doesn’t Come With A Needle…What You Can Do
What To Know About Gluing Rhinestones
Know Your Anatomy Of A Necklace
How Does The Jewelry Designer Make Asymmetry Work?
How To Design An Ugly Necklace: The Ultimate Designer Challenge
I hope you found this article useful. Be sure to click the CLAP HANDS icon at the bottom of this article.
Also, check out my website (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com).
Subscribe to my Learn To Bead blog (https://blog.landofodds.com).
Visit Land of Odds online (https://www.landofodds.com)for all your Martha Stewart Christmas Wreath, as well as other jewelry making supplies.
Enroll in my jewelry design and business of craft video tutorials online.
Add your name to my email list.
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CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE: Between the Fickleness of Business and the Pursuit of Design
How dreams are made
between the fickleness of business
and the pursuit of jewelry design
This guidebook is a must-have for anyone serious about making money selling jewelry. I focus on straightforward, workable strategies for integrating business practices with the creative design process. These strategies make balancing your creative self with your productive self easier and more fluid.
Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I help you plan your road map.
Whether you are a hobbyist or a self-supporting business, success as a jewelry designer involves many things to think about, know and do. I share with you the kinds of things it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you, including
· Getting Started: Naming business, identifying resources, protecting intellectual property
· Financial Management: basic accounting, break even analysis, understanding risk-reward-return on investment, inventory management
· Product Development: identifying target market, specifying product attributes, developing jewelry line, production, distribution, pricing, launching
· Marketing, Promoting, Branding: competitor analysis, developing message, establishing emotional connections to your products, social media marketing
· Selling: linking product to buyer among many venues, such as store, department store, online, trunk show, home show, trade show, sales reps and showrooms, catalogs, TV shopping, galleries, advertising, cold calling, making the pitch
· Resiliency: building business, professional and psychological resiliency
· Professional Responsibilities: preparing artist statement, portfolio, look book, resume, biographical sketch, profile, FAQ, self-care
548pp.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER
Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
588pp, many images and diagrams Ebook , Kindle or Print formats
The Jewelry Journey Podcast
“Building Jewelry That Works: Why Jewelry Design Is Like Architecture”
Podcast, Part 1
Podcast, Part 2
PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way
Easy. Simple. No tools. Anyone Can Do!
I developed a nontraditional technique which does not use tools because I found tools get in the way of tying good and well-positioned knots. I decided to bring two cords through the bead to minimize any negative effects resulting from the pearl rotating around the cord. I only have you glue one knot in the piece. I use a simple overhand knot which is easily centered. I developed a rule for choosing the thickness of your bead cord. I lay out different steps for starting and ending a piece, based on how you want to attach the piece to your clasp assembly.
184pp, many images and diagrams Ebook, Kindle or Print
SO YOU WANT TO DO CRAFT SHOWS:16 Lessons I Learned Doing Craft Shows
In this book, I discuss 16 lessons I learned, Including How To (1) Find, Evaluate and Select Craft Shows Right for You, (2) Determine a Set of Realistic Goals, (3) Compute a Simple Break-Even Analysis, (4) Develop Your Applications and Apply in the Smartest Ways, (5) Understand How Much Inventory to Bring, (6) Set Up and Present Both Yourself and Your Wares, (7) Best Promote and Operate Your Craft Show Business before, during and after the show.
198pp, many images and diagrams, Ebook, Kindle or Print
BASICS OF BEAD STRINGING AND ATTACHING CLASPS
Learning Bead Stringing Is More Than
Putting Beads On A String And Tying On A Clasp
There is an art and skill to stringing beads. First, of course, is the selection of beads for a design, and the selection of the appropriate stringing material. Then is the selection of a clasp or closure, appropriate to the design and use of the piece.
You want your pieces to be appealing. You want them to wear well. You want someone to wear them or buy them. This means understanding the basic techniques, not only in terms of craft and art, but also with considerations about architecture, mechanics, and some sociology, anthropology and psychology.
In this book, I go into depth about: (1) Choosing stringing materials, and the pros and cons of each type, (2) Choosing clasps, and the pros and cons of different clasps, (3) All about the different jewelry findings and how you use them, (4) Architectural considerations and how to build these into your pieces, (5) How better designers use cable wires and crimp, as well as, use needle and thread to string beads, (6) How best to make stretchy bracelets, (7) How to make adjustable slip knots, coiled wire loops, and silk wraps, (8) How to finish off the ends of thicker cords or ropes, so that you can attach a clasp, (9) How to construct such projects as eyeglass leashes, mask chains, lariats, multi-strand pieces, twist multi-strand pieces, and memory wire bracelets, (10) How different teaching paradigms — craft vs. art vs. design — might influence the types of choices you make.
452 pp, many images, illustrations, diagrams, Ebook, Kindle or Print
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