A bead penguin with a white belly bead in the center of every rowPony beads, 3 colors. Make every row three wide, black, white, black, and end with two orange beads as feet.
A five-point star bent from wire already filled with beadsSeed beads, 1 color. Thread the whole wire first, bend it at four points and twist the ends at the fifth.
A dusk strand: five bands of beads from pale gold down to navyMixed beads, 5 colors. Blend each change by alternating the two neighboring colors for four beads.
A bead goldfish whose tail is three loose strands of single beadsPony beads, 2 colors. Work the body in rows, then split the cords and add a short knotted strand for the tail.
A bead lizard key ring built row by row on one doubled cordPony beads, 2 colors. Both cord ends pass through every row from opposite sides. Rows of 2, 3, 2, then the legs.
A bead penguin with a white belly bead in the center of every rowPony beads, 3 colors. Make every row three wide, black, white, black, and end with two orange beads as feet.
A bead strawberry: red rows narrowing to a point under a green cap rowPony beads, 2 colors. Begin with a row of four green beads, then red rows of four, three, two and one.
A bee key ring in yellow and black rows with two clear loop wingsPony beads, 3 colors. After the third row, thread six clear beads on each cord end and loop back into the row.
A caterpillar zipper pull: five wooden beads with a knot between eachWooden beads, 5. Knot the cord after every bead so they sit apart, and draw a face on the first with a pen.
A crocodile key ring with a white tooth bead outside every other rowPony beads, 2 colors. Keep the body two beads wide and long, and put one white bead outside the green ones.
A ladybug charm with black spot beads set into red rowsPony beads, 2 colors. Thread five rows of red and swap a black bead into the second and fourth rows.
A rocket charm with a red nose bead and two flame strandsPony beads, 3 colors. One bead for the nose, rows of two for the hull, and orange singles on each loose cord.
A striped bead snake key ring, widest in the middle rowsPony beads, 2 colors. Start with one bead for the nose, widen to three across and change color every two rows.
A turtle charm: a shell of green rows with four single-bead feetPony beads, 2 colors. Add each foot as one bead on a side loop of cord before the cords cross into the next row.
Your initial woven flat in bead rows, a letter you can hang on a bagPony beads, 2 colors. Chart the letter on squared paper first, one square a bead, five beads to a row.
Glued mosaics and pictures 12
A bead border glued around a photograph, corner beads firstMixed beads, 3 colors. Set one large bead at each corner and fill the sides between with a repeating run.
A fish whose scales are pearl beads laid in rows like roof tilesPearl beads, 2 colors. Start at the tail and set each row half a bead over from the row before it.
A grid picture of pony beads glued hole-up in rows like cross-stitchPony beads, 4 colors. Rule a grid on card with squares the width of a bead and fill it one row at a time.
A landscape in three glued bead bands: sky, hills and earthSeed beads, 3 colors. Draw two wavy pencil lines across the card and fill one band at a time, top first.
A night sky on black card with a crescent of pearl beadsSeed beads and pearl beads, 2 colors. Glue the crescent first, then dot single beads around it as stars.
A peacock feather's eye built outward in oval rings of glued beadsSeed beads, 4 colors. Work from the dark center out, one oval ring of each color, and let each ring set.
A rainbow arch of seed beads pressed into drawn glue linesSeed beads, 6 colors. Draw one arc of glue at a time, sprinkle one color on it and tip off the spare.
A snail shell drawn as one coiled line of beadsSeed beads, 3 colors. Draw the spiral in glue from the center out and change color once a turn.
A sunflower with a seed-bead center and tube-bead petalsSeed beads and bugle beads, 2 colors. Lay the long tube beads end out around a filled brown circle.
A wooden egg covered in rings of glued beadsSeed beads, 5 colors. Stand the egg in a bottle cap, brush glue around the widest part and work toward each end.
One tree on four cards, its bead leaves changed for each seasonSeed beads, 4 colors. Draw the same bare trunk four times and glue pink, green, orange or white beads on it.
Your initial filled edge to edge with glued beads on stiff cardSeed beads, 2 colors. Outline the letter in the darker color first, then flood the inside with the paler one.
Sun catchers 12
A bead sun: a yellow ring with twelve wire rays tipped in orangeTranslucent beads, 2 colors. Close a beaded ring, then twist twelve short wires onto it, a bead on each end.
A crescent moon bent from wire and strung with pale yellow beadsTranslucent beads, 1 color. Thread the beads on first, then bend the wire into two arcs and twist the points.
A raindrop strand of clear beads, small to large, hung in a windowClear beads, 3 sizes. Knot the fishing line under the largest bead at the bottom and thread upward to the smallest.
A red bead heart on wire with one strand hanging through its middleRed glass beads, 1 color. Shape the filled wire into a heart, twist the top and tie a short strand inside.
A see-through disc: beads set in clear glue inside a plastic lidTranslucent beads, 4 colors. Fill the lid one bead deep, cover with clear glue and peel the disc out when dry.
A six-armed window snowflake of clear and blue beads on crossed wiresClear and blue beads, 2 colors. Twist three wires together at the middle and bend a tiny loop at each tip.
A window curtain of seven bead strands in rainbow orderTranslucent beads, 7 colors. Tie the strands along a stick, one color each, all cut to the same length.
A window garland of bead clusters spaced along one lineTranslucent beads, 5 colors. Thread five beads, pass the line back through the first to bunch them, then leave a gap.
A wire hoop spiraled with clear beads and one cluster of dark onesClear beads and 3 dark ones. Wind beaded wire inward from the hoop like a web and twist the dark beads on.
A wire spiral threaded with see-through beads that turns in the lightTranslucent beads, 3 colors. Fill a length of wire, wind it around a jar and hang it from the middle.
An embroidery hoop strung across with beaded threads like a harpClear beads, mixed sizes. Tie each thread to the top of the hoop, bead it and tie it off at the bottom.
Bead strands hung from a stick with a metal washer at the foot of eachTranslucent beads, 3 colors. Tie the washer on first as the weight. It keeps the strand straight in a draft.
Wire and bead figures 12
A bead bird sitting on a swing inside a wire hoopRound beads, 2. Bend a hoop, hang a short wire perch across it and wire the bird's body bead to the perch.
A bead dancer who can be bent into a new poseWooden beads, 1 large and 10 small. One wire runs down from the head and splits into legs. A second wire is the arms.
A doll-sized crown: a beaded wire ring with five peaksSeed beads, 2 colors. Twist a beaded zigzag onto a plain beaded ring at every low point of the zigzag.
A five-point star bent from wire already filled with beadsSeed beads, 1 color. Thread the whole wire first, bend it at four points and twist the ends at the fifth.
A flower of five beaded wire loops twisted onto one stemSeed beads, 2 colors. Thread a short run, twist it into a petal loop and repeat four times on the same wire.
A tiny bicycle with two wheels of beaded wireSeed beads, 2 colors. Bead two wire circles the same size and join them with a frame bent from bare wire.
A two-bead spider on eight bent wire legsRound beads, 1 large and 1 small. Thread four wires through the large bead and bend each end down, then out.
A wire dachshund with a wooden bead at every bend of its bodyWooden beads, 7. Bend the body from one wire and thread a bead wherever a leg, the neck or the tail turns.
A wire snail whose shell is a spiral strung with beadsSeed beads, 2 colors. Fill most of the wire, coil that part flat and leave the bare end as the body and feelers.
A wire tree rooted around a pebble with a green bead on every twigSeed beads, 1 color. Twist a bundle of wires for the trunk, fan the ends and trap a bead in each tip.
A wire-wrapped ring with one big bead held on topLarge bead, 1. Thread the bead to the middle of the wire, wrap both ends around a marker and coil them beside it.
An ant from three round beads threaded on one wire, with twisted wire legsRound beads, 3. Thread three beads on one wire and twist three short wires between them as pairs of legs.
Patterns sorted by color 12
A birthday strand: one bead for each year and a gold one every fifthPony beads, 2 colors. Count the years aloud while threading and swap in gold at five, ten and fifteen.
A black-and-white strand where each white group doubles the lastPony beads, 2 colors. One white, a black, two whites, a black, then four, then eight.
A bracelet that repeats rainbow order, one bead of each colorPony beads, 6 colors. Thread red through violet, then start again, until the strand closes around a wrist.
A checkerboard of two bead colors glued eight by eightPony beads, 2 colors. Rule the squares first and fill all of one color before starting on the other.
A clear jar layered with sorted beads in rainbow bandsMixed beads, 6 colors. Pour each color in as a flat layer and tilt the jar a little for one slanted band.
A dusk strand: five bands of beads from pale gold down to navyMixed beads, 5 colors. Blend each change by alternating the two neighboring colors for four beads.
A gray scale glued in a strip from white through grays to blackSeed beads, 5 shades. Rule five equal boxes on card and fill them in order, palest at the left.
A growing bead pattern: one red, then two, then three, a blue betweenPony beads, 2 colors. The blue bead is the marker. Add one more red to each group until the cord is full.
A mirrored strand that reads the same from either endMixed beads, 4 colors. Choose a center bead, then add the same bead to both sides of it each time.
A strand split in two: warm colors on one half, cool on the otherMixed beads, 6 colors. Put red, orange and yellow left of one clear center bead and green, blue and violet right.
An ombre strand in one color, darkest bead to palestBeads in 5 shades of 1 color. Lay them out in a row by eye before threading and swap any that jump.
Your initials in dots and dashes: round beads for dots, tubes for dashesRound beads and tube beads, 2 colors. Leave one plain spacer bead between letters so the code can be read.
How it works
A bead is a small object with a hole through it, so it can be strung on cord, threaded on wire or glued flat. These 60 ideas are sorted the same way, plus sun catchers and color patterns.
Read the full guide
Art project ideas with beads: string, glue or wire
Cord makes the flat animals: both ends pass through every row of beads from opposite sides, and the rows stack into a lizard or a bee. Glue turns beads into a mosaic on card. Wire holds a shape, so a bead dancer keeps her pose.
Which bead
Every hint starts with the kind. Pony beads are the big-holed plastic ones for cord. Seed beads are the tiny round ones, and bugle beads are their tube-shaped cousins, longer than they are thick.
Lay a strand out on a towel before threading. Beads stay where they are put on a towel.
Tape one end of the cord to the table and no bead slides off the far side.
Questions and answers
What can you make with pony beads?
Flat charms on a doubled cord: a lizard, a striped snake, a ladybug, a bee, a strawberry and a rocket, all under Threaded animals and key rings. Pony beads also fill the checkerboard, the growing pattern and the birthday strand.
What are small bead art ideas?
The seed-bead ones. Seed beads run from under a millimeter to several millimeters, which suits glued pictures: a rainbow arch pressed into drawn glue lines, a snail shell drawn as one coiled line, a peacock feather's eye built outward in oval rings.
Does any of this need an iron or an oven?
No. Nothing here is melted or fused. Beads are strung on cord, threaded on wire or glued down, so fused bead boards and oven-melted sun catchers are left out.
How do you make a sun catcher with beads?
Use see-through beads and hang them where light passes: a raindrop strand on fishing line, a wire spiral, or a disc of beads set in clear glue inside a plastic lid and peeled out when dry.