Preparations for the New Year holidays are exciting and joyful. In an attempt to choose light and delicate decorations for my green beauty, I thought about the possibility of making wire snowflakes, and now I will share them with you! :)

For the work we will need the following tools:

• round-nose pliers;
• needle-nose pliers with flat nose;
• a hammer;
• an anvil;
• wire cutters (or side cutters).

And the materials:

• crystal beads;
• with a diameter of 4 mm;
• metal beads with a diameter of 2 and 3 mm;
• and, of course, wire (with a diameter of 1 mm and 0.4-0.5 mm).

If you haven't worked with wire, it is better to choose copper, if wire stories have been in your life for a long time, it is possible to use stainless steel (as in my DIY), brass, nickel silver or any other wire you can find.

We should start with a sketch, it is better to draw on graph paper or crossruled paper, so it will be easier to create a symmetrical pattern. Consider the course of the connecting wire and the position of the beads, mark on the drawing. I decided to make a very openwork snowflake with lots of individual parts.

After the sketch is drawn in detail, you can start bending the base. To do this, take a piece of wire (I had 45 cm, but it is better to cut a little longer piece) and fold it in half, then according to the sketch bend a tetrahedral base. Throughout the process, we are able to constantly consult the pattern and apply the wire directly to it.

When the base is ready, start shaping small parts. They are ornaments for our snowflake, the more you make them, the richer our beauty will be on a tree! According to my sketch I have 28 different ticks and curls, which I have drawn in detail on a separate sheet of paper and marked the number to avoid confusion.

For me, one of the necessary steps of working with wire is its crushing with a hammer and an anvil. Hold the end of the handle of a hammer easily and without tension and with slow measured movements strike to moderate flattening of details. This procedure will further give the ornament a finished look and extra shine.

The prelude came to an end and we begin the most important, complex and interesting part — assembling! As a starting point I chose the lower face of the future snowflake. From its top begin to weave (or rather wrap) the wire attaching small parts and beads as pictured.

Your heart will tell you where to add an extra bead and where to strengthen a curl. But in the beginning all the details will slip out, trying to get away from needle-nose pliers and to shift... It's only temporary difficulties! If you can't hold all the blanks at once, you can fix them in advance with a thin wire (preferably of a different color). As weaving, this basting is carried out and the parts remain in their places.

Once you approach the edges of the wire base, cut the tails at the same level at a distance of about 1.5 cm from the last curl of the thin wire and using round-nose pliers wrap 2 wires together — this will be a loop for attaching a ribbon.

Do the same thing with the remaining two faces (not counting the moment about the loop). With needle-nose pliers help yourself to pull up the wire loops and align the rows of wire spirals on the base. The more accurately each curl lies, the more attractive the finished work will be. If a thin wire ends, cut the tip as close to the snowflake as possible and bend it around the base with a tool so that it can't scratch you or unwrap in the future. Then make a few turns around a new piece of wire near the edge of the old one, cut and bend the tail of the extended piece and continue to weave.

When you manage to get a half-finished snowflake (wrapping only the base), more than half of your tortures are behind :) Then you can turn your imagination and take a little break from constant holding of the base in correct position.

Add additional faces, strengthening the edges of the already wrapped curls.

Add crystal beads (at the last minute I decided to add a few more things, for greater beauty and strength of design (and who can forbid me!) :)

And at the end we tie a satin ribbon with a bow.

You can try our snowflake on a Christmas tree, photograph it, show it to your family... :) I really hope that this DIY was interesting to you, and I want to believe that my modest work will help someone to get inspiration for new masterpieces!

I wish you all happy New Year!)

Yours, olhawire