An Easy Bead Spider to Make

I love making these little spiders, and have managed to scare a couple of household members (not intentionally) in the early morning getting ready for work, when they first spotted them on the coffee table.

They are great holiday projects, crafts day, rainy day activities for the family, or just for fun when you have a bit of time to spare.

I have included photos at different stages, although my camera-taking is not brilliant and the batteries kept dying on me, so in-between charges I have done my best to give you an idea of how I have done this, and I'm hoping you will be able to see enough detail on the blurry ones.

When making these bead spiders, and other things, I usually sort through my beads until I find a set I think look good together, and check to make sure the holes are large enough for what I want to do with them.

You can always use a higher gauge wire (28 guage, which is thinner) to string your beads, although this will make the legs more flexible. Be careful not to kink or work the wire excessively, as it can snap.

The beads I used came from a mixed jar I bought. I'm sure you can pick up a mix from many outlets, or you might have some odd beads already that you could use.

You can hang them, dot them around as ornaments and they make a stunning brooch (glue a fasterner to the back), and with the right outfit, are very eye-catching and sure to draw a comment or two. A great Halloween project, great for craft stalls, school fetes and look fantastic as fridge magnets.

They could be easily placed on a card as a small gift,

You will need:

1 large body bead

1 small spacer bead

1 bead for the spider head

2 crimper beads

4 pieces of 26 guage wire, approximately 32 cm long. This will also depend on the size of the beads you are using. I would rather cut a little longer and trim later, than find out at the end the wires are too short.

48 bugle beads for the legs

24 small spacer beads for the leg joints

Bend 2 pieces of your wire leaving one side a little longer than the other (approximately the amount of your body bead size).

Thread the 2 wires through the body bead (the longer side through the hole) and bend top wire back over the top of the bead. You need to keep your wires untwisted doing this, so they lie straight across the bead.

Now wrap the longer wires around and back through the bead, so you should have 4 pieces of wire covering one side of the bead, and 4 ends of wire through your bead hole.

Get one of your crimper beads and slide all four ends of the wire through. This is a good time to trim your ends to the one length, cutting to the smallest length of wire. The 4 wires will fit through the crimper bead although it can be a bit fiddly).

Once your bead is on, I found holding the end of the wires with pliers, and using pointy nose pliers to slide the crimper bead as close to the body as I could was easiest, making sure to keep your bead on the correct angle and the wires wrapped evenly around the top. When the wires are firm, squash your crimper bead in place.

Taking your smaller head bead, repeat the process, threading 2 wires through the bead, bending one end over and around the bead back through the hole and pulling firmly through.

If you don't want the wire seen on this bead, just thread the wire through with the exposed wire underneath. Thread a crimper bead on the 4 wires and firmly push down as close to the bead as possible and squash in place.

It's a good time to straighten your wires now, mine tend to get a bit crinkled sometimes, as you will see from the photos.

Take the 4 wire ends on the body bead and thread through the centre of the smaller middle bead one way, then thread the 4 wire ends of the head bead through the smaller middle bead from the opposite direction. Arrange your wires to keep them as untwisted as possible.

Pull the ends through as firmly as you can (I found using 2 pairs of pliers and grasping the 4 wires firmly and pulling easier). This should bring your body and head together against the smaller middle bead and hide the crimper beads.

Arrange the wires for your legs, and straighten wire if needed. This makes it easier to thread on your bugle beads.

Thread 2 bugle beads on one leg wire, 1 spacer bead, 2 bugle beads, 1 spacer bead, 2 bugle beads and 1 spacer bead to complete your leg.

Get your pointy nose pliers and taking the end of the wire curl around pliers making a small loop. Keep curling until it is tight against the bead, and your beads are firmly in place.

Repeat this for each leg.

Bend each leg up from the body to the first spacer bead joint and arrange until you are happy with their positioning.

You can now use your pointy nose pliers and make a design on the wire wrapped around the body bead to make it look better.

You could easily adapt this into an ant with some small adjustments and creativity.

Hope this has been clear enough, and you have fun making many spiders.

Here is a link to another spider making project:

Make a Bead Spider

A couple of links that might interest you:

How to Make a Bead Dragonfly

Easy Christmas Tree Decoration to Make

Here are some links you may find helpful:

Bead Types

The Basic Tools For Making Jewelry From Beads And Wire